Last-minute talks have averted a series of pilots’ strikes at cargo airline ASL, which delivers parcels for Amazon and FedEx.
Around 90 pilots at the carrier were due to walk out on Tuesday night in the first of three stoppages planned for the run-up to Christmas.
Trade union the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) said its members would work as normal after it reached a deal with ASL.
[ Freight airline ASL engages WRC to break ‘impasse’ with pilots and avert strikeOpens in new window ]
“All industrial action is now withdrawn, and our members have been informed to work as normal,” the union confirmed.
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ASL confirmed that Tuesday’s industrial action would not go ahead.
The union has also dropped plans to strike on Thursday and Monday of next week.
Ialpa representatives met management at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Tuesday in a bid to resolve the pair’s dispute over union recognition.
Capt Daniel Langan, the union’s vice-president, said afterwards that they had reached an agreement acceptable to both sides.
“Our members will now have their say on the matter by way of secret ballot,” he added.
Pilots were seeking an industrial relations agreement that would facilitate talks on pay and conditions between their union and the company.
Swords, Co Dublin-based ASL’s customers include Amazon, DHL, FedEx and the French postal service.
The company said it hoped “both parties can now move on to substantive negotiations towards a full and final resolution in the new year”.
ASL and Ialpa began talks last month after pilots initially voted for industrial action in a ballot begun at the end of October.
Negotiations broke down last week, with the union saying that the company had pulled out of a meeting at the last minute.
Ialpa subsequently served notice of three strikes on the company.
ASL said at the weekend that it had asked the WRC, one of the State’s industrial relations agencies, to intervene.
Meanwhile, it is understood that ASL’s French pilots have lifted a threat to stop work this Thursday.
Their union, SNPL, had told members to stop work from midnight on Thursday until the following Monday.
ASL operates airlines in Ireland, Belgium, France and the UK, as well as Africa, Asia and Australia. Its headquarters is in Swords.
While it is not as well known as passenger carriers, the company has significant businesses in the territories in which it operates.
Both sides thanked the WRC following the deal.
