Aer Lingus grounds Tuesday flights as pay dispute deepens

DUBLIN, Ireland (Reuters) -- Disruption at Irish state airline Aer Lingus worsened on Monday as the company canceled all Tuesday flights and baggage handlers staged their third work stoppage, causing long delays for passengers.

Aer Lingus said it had no option but to ground more than 200 flights on Tuesday because of a threatened one-day stoppage by more than 1,000 cabin crew. Some 20,000 passengers will be affected.

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A spokesman for Aer Lingus said the company believed the strike was the result of an inter-union dispute rather than a failure by Aer Lingus to address pay issues.

"We have acknowledged there is a genuine pay issue and we've said we will address that by the end of November. What is happening now is down to inter-union problems," he said.

It was the first time the airline had grounded flights in 22 years, he added.

Meanwhile, passengers faced delays of more than an hour throughout Monday due to a two-hour stoppage by baggage handlers early in the day. It was the third day of action by baggage handlers.

Aer Lingus is in talks with cabin crew representatives as well as pilots, baggage handlers, and clerical staff about pay.

The situation has been complicated by union recognition issues, with some workers represented by the country's largest public sector union IMPACT, and others by Ireland's largest union SIPTU.

Aer Lingus is reluctant to negotiate until matters are resolved between the two unions.

SIPTU is expected to serve strike notice on Aer Lingus on behalf of some 1,400 clerical staff who voted overwhelmingly on Friday for industrial action.

The proposed action will involve check-in and boarding staff, reservations staff, travel shops and workers in Aer Lingus head office.

Aer Lingus, which is expected to be privatized in 2001, is a member of the Oneworld alliance with British Airways and American Airlines.

Pilots are also looking for higher pay, aggrieved that their counterparts at British Airways and American are better paid.

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