More than 20,000 Aer Lingus passengers will be stranded today as the company braces itself to resist a "catch-up" claim from more than 3,000 ground staff.
The prospect of further one-day strikes increased yesterday as a company spokesman warned employees that its competitiveness would be undermined if it conceded their claim for "equity" with 1,650 cabin crew.
Today's 24-hour strike will end at midnight and a full schedule is expected to resume tomorrow. The only flights operating normally today are those taking 2,000 inbound passengers from north Atlantic destinations to Dublin, Cork and Shannon.
Because of the strike, the company's normal freefone reservations service will not operate today. Information on flights and services is carried on page 11 of today's Irish Times and at www.aerlingus.com.
Further 24-hour stoppages are planned for next Friday and Thursday, April 12th, the start of the Easter bank holiday weekend.
The Irish Business and Employers Confederation accused SIPTU of failing to honour the industrial peace clause of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness yesterday, by refusing to cancel the stoppage. IBEC's director of industrial relations, Mr Brendan McGinty, accused the union of "selective commitment to the PPF".
Yesterday the Labour Court was briefed by both sides in the dispute after it was requested to intervene by the National Implementation Body set up to police the PPF. However, when SIPTU said it intended to continue with today's action the court decided it was not possible to intervene at this stage.
The company said after the Labour Court briefing that settling pay claims since November had cost it £20 million. Corporate affairs director Mr Dan Loughrey said these settlements "have had a major impact on our cost base. Declining economies in a number of markets, the negative impact on travel of the foot-and-mouth outbreak and the growing intensity of competition in the airline industry all pointed to difficult commercial times ahead.
"To continue to concede further substantial claims on an ongoing basis which SIPTU is demanding would be to threaten the competitiveness of the business and the future of our employees."
However, SIPTU vice-president Mr Jack O'Connor was unapologetic for the strike action. "It is not reasonable to expect our members to endure the implications for company viability and the security of employment resulting from settlements entered into with other groups, whilst simultaneously suffering less favourable terms as well."
He said "management's virtual indifference to our correspondence of last November and December, and our statements at subsequent meetings" made the action necessary "to focus minds".