Aer Lingus Staff Serve Strike Notice

A section of Aer Lingus cabin crew have served a notice of industrial action against the airline over a Labour Relation's ruling.

The staff are members of the IMPACT trade union said they would begin their action on Wednesday of next week, however it is not expected to affect passengers using the airline, either north or south of the Irish border.

Airline management and staff are disputing the implementation of a recent Labour Relations Court ruling on increased working hours and rosters.

The two sides have been in discussions over how to implement the report from but have failed to arrive at an agreement.

Under the ruling, cabin crew at Aer Lingus must increase their working time to 850 hours a year.

Last night, the union said the action would be a work to rule. IMPACT claimed that it had reached an agreement with the company's human-resources department, but that this accord was subsequently overruled by "other senior management figures".

Meanwhile, Ryanair is also dealing with strike action as the budget flyer urged the EU Commission to "remove the 'right to strike' from essential air transport services such as Air Traffic Control".

Ryanair's demands come in the wake of a major strike by Spanish Air Traffic Control which led to delayed and cancelled European flights last week.

Speaking in Brussels, the airline's Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary said: "It is ridiculous that Belgian, French and Spanish ATC controllers can repeatedly strike without any financial penalty, while airlines suffer a 'right to care' to passengers and absorb the costs of these un-necessary disruptions."

(DW/BMcC)