THE Aer Lingus pilots dispute escalated yesterday when the company warned that unless negotiations opened immediately it would be forced to issue protective notice to staff.
The Irish Travel Agents' Association (ITAA) expressed deep concern about the dispute and urged both sides to sort out the problems quickly by entering into talks to resolve their differences.
In a strongly worded statement, the travel agents said: "The Irish public will not put up with having their travel plans disrupted should the threatened pilots' strike go ahead."
The president of the ITAA, Mr P.J. Brennan, said the damage to Aer Lingus could be "enormous". He stressed that the public would very quickly switch its allegiance to airlines which fly to destinations people wanted to travel to.
"While we do not wish to adopt a partisan position on this dispute, the ITAA's principal concern is to ensure that the public experience as little disruption to their travel plans as possible."
About 40,000 passengers travel through Dublin airport every day, 20,000 of whom fly with Aer Lingus.
The 400 pilots, members of the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association (IALPA), have voted by 309 to 13 to strike from Monday in pursuit of a phased 17 per cent pay increase recommended by the Pilot Pay Review tribunal two weeks ago.
If the strike goes ahead it will cause considerable inconvenience to travellers and be a major setback for the company. The pilots say the cost of paying the first 5 per cent on October 1st would be only £200,000 this year.
The company has written to the pilots warning them that the implications for the company were "grave". It said strike action would do irreparable damage to business and would "hugely inconvenience our loyal customers". It said that if the pilots do not lift their strike threat Aer Lingus would have to protect the viability of the company by issuing protective notice.
Ms Maria Kelly, the company's general manager - airline personnel, called on the IALPA to hold "face to face negotiations". She said the dispute could not be resolved without negotiations and added that the threat of industrial action was "already damaging our business".
However, Capt Dermot Rafferty of the IALPA accused the company of adopting "scare tactics", pointing out that the IALPA had received legal advice stating that the company could not legally put the staff on protective notice.
"Counsel indicated that there is a prima facie case that the company does not have the power to place staff on lay off without their consent under existing contracts of employment at Aer Lingus."
He said the pilots were still available to discuss the implementation of the independent tribunal's recommendation on pilot's pay.
Capt Rafferty added that they were very disappointed at the company's rejection of the tribunal's award. The tribunal had been set up by agreement, was comprised of experienced industrial relations practitioners, "including the chairman, Mr Roddy Horan BL, who was their (Aer Lingus's) labour law barrister and their own nominee as chair".
The IALPA said the £200,000 cost of the first phase of the agreement was less than the cost of the new company logo (£250,000). The total cost of implementing the new logo would exceed £8 million.
"Yet the full payment of the independent tribunal's award would amount to less than £3 million on an annualised basis, and the company claims it can't afford it," Capt Rafferty said.
"Which does the company value more, its marketing or its staff?"