Close to 1,000 Aer Lingus workers marched on the Dβil yesterday to press TDs to act to save the national airline. SIPTU president Mr Des Geraghty told a rally outside the Dβil that the union was determined to keep Aer Lingus in business.

There would be no forced redundancies, and "pin-striped boot boys" who tried to use a "blame culture" to make workers pay for mistakes by the Government and Aer Lingus management would not succeed.

His message was reinforced by Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) general secretary Mr David Begg, who told marchers the survival of Aer Lingus was "absolutely essential" for tourism and industrial development. "Ireland must not become merely a channel into some bigger European hub for international carriers." Mr Begg said ICTU was seeking an urgent meeting with the Government and warned it against taking the privatisation option at this time.

SIPTU members were angered by Aer Lingus management's attempts to use sick lists and attendance records as the basis for selecting staff for redundancies.

A company spokesman said a satisfactory employment record was one of several criteria selected as a basis on which redundancy negotiations could take place. But he added that the key criteria were the operational requirements of the business and the need to retain people with "key skills, qualifications and experience". The final terms will have to be negotiated with the unions. The rally marked the open politicisation of the campaign to save the national airline. The leader of Fine Gael, Mr Michael Noonan, and the leader of the Labour Party Mr Ruair∅ Quinn joined the marchers outside the Dβil to show their support. Green TD Mr Trevor Sergent was also present, along with nine Fine Gael and Labour TDs, mostly from north Dublin constituencies.

SIPTU regional secretary Mr Noel Dowling thanked the deputies for attending and added, "I don't see anyone from Fianna Fβil." Numbers at the rally were contained by union instructions that staff rostered to work should do so. Union sources said it had required considerable effort to prevent spontaneous walk-outs and other disruptive activities at the airport in protest at the scale of job cuts.

The marchers' anger was firmly directed at the Government. Many carried placards bearing the slogan "FF decommissions 4,052 arms at Aer Lingus", in a reference to the 2,026 jobs to be axed.

The secretary of the central representative council Ms Kay Garvey said that, when council members met the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, last week, she said: "Trust me."

"The next time I heard her was in the Dβil yesterday when she said she was going to sell part of the airline. That is the kind of trust we don't nee," Ms Garvey said.

In the Dβil yesterday, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was accused by Mr Noonan of running up "the white flag" rather than fighting for the survival of Aer Lingus at EU level. Mr Quinn said the Government was engaging in a "forced fire sale" of the airline.

Mr Ahern said there would be no forced fire sale. "Any of the negotiations will be concerned with maintaining the maximum number of staff and looking after the staff that have to go."

It is still unclear how the Government intends to provide aid to Aer Lingus. A spokesman for Ms O'Rourke said: "The European Commission may have told us there is no way we can put money into Aer Lingus, but as far as the Minister and the Government are concerned, that is not the end of the story. We have not folded our tent." He added that the Government was retaining a legal team to examine EU rules in more detail.

While the craft unions were represented at yesterday's march by TEEU secretary Mr Eamon Devoy, who said there could be no compulsory redundancies, IMPACT did not participate.

Its senior officials were negotiating a special unpaid leave scheme for Aer Lingus pilots, 30 of whom are expected to avail of it. A similar scheme is already in place for other Aer Lingus employees but so far only cabin crew, most of whom are also IMPACT members, have availed of it.

IMPACT assistant general secretary Mr Michael Landers said every staff member who used the scheme was one less to worry about in terms of redundancies. But the absence of IMPACT at the march and the lack of appeal for special leave for SIPTU's members, who are mainly manual workers and office staff, underlines the continuing divergence in strategy between the two unions.