A meeting between Aer Lingus and IMPACT to avert compulsory redundancies from the airline’s pilots was postponed today.
An IMPACT spokesman said one of its negotiators was injured lightly in a car crash ahead of a the meeting planned for this afternoon. It has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning.
The union remains hopeful that the redundancies sought can be reached at on a voluntary basis - if pilots receive the same terms as other staff.
The redundancy package being offered to pilots is capped at €65,000 compared with the €230,000 they would receive if their terms were worked out on the same terms as the other 1,600 staff.
Aer Lingus has said it is unable to pay pilots based on the same terms because that would require €20 million of the €50 million funding available for redundancies under the Aer Lingus rescue plan.
Although the company wants to cut 80 pilots from its staff only a handful have expressed interest to date.
The first of the 1,600 staff leaving under the voluntary scheme left the comapny last Friday.