Management at Aer Lingus and their disgruntled pilots are to continue talks in the hope that next week’s industrial action can be averted.
Travel chaos may yet be averted if agreement can be made ahead of Tuesday’s planned commencement of industrial action by Aer Lingus pilots.
Since talks broke down in the early hours of Saturday morning, the Transport Minister had weighed in, as had the Head of the Irish tourist authority. Both pointed out that there’s not going to be a resolution to the current row over pilot rosters if the two sides won’t speak to each other.
The two sides have now agreed to attend the Labour Relations Commission.
The industrial action would see Aer Lingus’s pilots turn up an hour late for work. The knock-on effect of this would be to cancel most of the company’s flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, affecting up to 30,000 passengers.
Aer Lingus are currently directing passengers to their website, where details have been posted regarding who can get refunds on flights booked next week and how to cancel a booking and get your money back. The latest, updated information from the airline is available here.
Meanwhile, in a desperate grasp at finding a silver lining, a spokesperson at the HSE pointed out that the cancellation of flights between Ireland and Germany on Tuesday and Wednesday could help stop the spread of E-coli to our shores.
The current German E-coli outbreak, that was initially and erroneously blamed on Spanish cucumbers, has so far claimed 22 people.
It was then believed that the source of the outbreak was either a festival held in Hamburg and attended by 1.5 million people or a restaurant situated on the north German costal town of Lübeck.
It’s now believed that locally grown beansprouts are to blame.
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