SIPTU has written to Ryanair management seeking talks on what the union claims are informal promises of a pay rise made by the airline's chief executive, Mr Michael O'Leary.
The letter claims that, in "direct dealings" between the chief executive and ground handling staff, Mr O'Leary has given a commitment to a pay rise in April 1998, a year ahead of the next scheduled increase.
The union claims that the promise contradicts the company's earlier insistence that it could not offer more money to the ground handlers. It says in the letter that its members "are heartened by your acknowledgment that Ryanair can afford to pay more than at present".
The union also lists a number of other promises it says have been made to staff by Mr O'Leary, including an "absolute commitment" to pay more than its competitors and a promise to review overtime rates. "Given that you have now changed your position on the issues in dispute, negotiations between Ryanair and SIPTU, representing its members, should begin immediately", the letter concludes.
The company declined to comment on the union's claims last night, but repeated that its schedules and more than 95 per cent of staff were operating normally. It also said that no flights would be cancelled even if the union carried out its threat to double the current stoppages next week.
SIPTU is contradicting the company's claims that schedules are running normally, saying that 134 flights listed in the airline's current winter schedule did not operate between the start of the dispute and Wednesday of this week.
