If you’re due to fly out with Aer Lingus next week, you may need to find an alternative way of jetting off.
Talks to avert a strike by pilots broke down early on Saturday morning, and there are no plans to reconvene the negotiations.
The stumbling block is believed to be to do with pilot rosters. Pilots based out of Dublin and Cork are refusing to work on their days off and as part of the industrial action, say they will turn up an hour later than planned.
87 per cent of the members of the Irish Airlines Pilots’ Association voted in favour of the strike action.
“They are working six days in succession with just one day off a week,” said a union spokesperson last week. “They are long days as well.”
There’s a rumour that things weren’t helped by the pilots’ insistence that they conduct the negotiations via a tannoy from inside their locked cockpits (but this could be a rumour we’ve just made up).
Up to 30,000 customers could be affected, representatives of the 75-year-old Irish airline have said. Aer Lingus has admitted that if the industrial action goes ahead, they could have to ditch their entire schedule.
Passengers are being advised that they can change their flight bookings via the Aer Lingus website if they are due to travel out on Tueday 7 June or Wednesday 8 June – the two days when the action is due to go ahead.
On Saturday afternoon, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar urged the two sides to quickly get back around the negotiating table.
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