Aer Lingus has cancelled a flight this afternoon from Dublin to Boston and a later service from Boston to Dublin after cabin crew refused to operate controversial new rosters.
The airline said passengers booked on the Dublin-Boston service, which was scheduled to leave at 2.00pm, have been offered seats on a service to New York and a road transfer to Boston or the alternative of re-booking on a flight to Boston tomorrow.
The cabin crew concerned have been invited to attend individual meetings with management in relation to their refusal to operate new rosters, which were introduced by the airline today.
A company spokesman said a number of other staff had refused to operate flights today under the new roster arrangements. He said the airline had managed to operate the flights concerned with the assistance of other cabin crew personnel.
The cancellation of the Boston service today and the invitation to staff to attend individual meetings with management represents a serious escalation of the dispute between Aer Lingus and the trade union Impact, which represents cabin crew, over the implementation of new rosters at the airline.
Aer Lingus warned cabin crew staff last week that failure to comply with the new rosters would be a breach of their contract of employment. It said a continued refusal would result in them being put off duty and removed from the payroll.
The airline and members of Impact who are cabin crew have been involved in a stand-off for 14 weeks since new rosters were proposed to bring down costs at the airline. About 800 members of Impact are engaged in the work-to-rule, with many of them refusing to work certain roster arrangements.
Aer Lingus wrote to them last week, stating that a failure to comply with the new rosters would be a breach of their contract of employment. A continued refusal would result in them being put off duty and removed from the payroll.
Impact says its member have accepted they will have to work extra hours in the air, but they have never agreed to new roster arrangements.