Three of the leading figures in the trade union movement are to meet senior management in Aer Lingus today to discuss a decision by more than 1,300 cabin crew members to switch unions.
The company has requested the meeting because it is concerned that the dispute could destabilise the airline's flotation plans at a critical stage and disrupt talks on the employee share-option scheme and industrial relations issues.
The membership dispute also poses problems for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions because the proposed transfer of members is between its two most powerful affiliates, SIPTU and IMPACT. Cabin crews are currently members of SIPTU and wish to transfer to IMPACT, which secured the affiliation of the Irish Air Line Pilots Association.
An indication of the seriousness of the dispute is that the ICTU general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, the SIPTU president, Mr Des Geraghty, and the IMPACT general secretary, Mr Peter McLoone, are expected to attend today's meeting.
Cabin crew are anxious to leave SIPTU for several reasons. One major grievance is its failure to provide them with their own full-time official and general feeling that they are undervalued by the union.
Yesterday the committee representing dissident SIPTU cabin crew members formally announced that it had secured the support of over 80 per cent of members for the transfer.
Last Thursday the ICTU held a conciliation meeting at which SIPTU proposed to the dissidents that they explore their differences in a tribunal under an independent chairperson. The proposal was supported by IMPACT, which has indicated that it will not recruit cabin crew members unless there is a complete breakdown in relations within SIPTU.
Ms Maria Moroney, the vice-chairwoman of the dissidents' committee, confirmed yesterday that 80 per cent of cabin crew members had "signed transfer forms to transfer their representation from SIPTU to IMPACT". She said the committee had attended Thursday's conciliation meeting at congress "as a courtesy and did not do so as part of any investigation, which concerned only the two unions".
She added that her committee "intends to effect the transfer of cabin crew from SIPTU to IMPACT in the near future, fully in accordance with the rules laid down by the ICTU".
However, this could take considerable time. SIPTU has indicated it will resist strongly the loss of such a large and strategically-important group. If the issue is not resolved to SIPTU's satisfaction at conciliation level, the ICTU is likely to refer the issue to independent arbitration.
That in turn would take some weeks to make a recommendation to the ICTU executive. Any decision of the executive could then be appealed to the biennial ICTU conference. Such an appeal has not been made since the 1970s, but informed sources said yesterday that SIPTU was likely to consider all options.
Aer Lingus would be able to deal relatively easily with the situation if the cabin crew members agreed to stay in SIPTU or move to IMPACT. But there is also a possibility that if the unions could not resolve their differences the crew members might seek to join another union such as the ATGWU, which represents British Airways cabin crews.
An even worse industrial relations scenario would be the establishment of a separate union by the cabin crew, in emulation of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association.