A 2-hour work stoppage at Aer Lingus is still going ahead next Monday.

Shop stewards from the union SIPTU are refusing to withdraw their notice of industrial action in a row over the massive pension deficit at the company.

There was some hope that the action may be called off following the intervention of IBEC and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) at the weekend.

However its now expected the action will ground flights at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports.

Aer Lingus position unchanged

In a statement  Aer Lingus says that the requirement for employment cost stabilisation measures is not new and “Aer Lingus’ position in this regard remains unchanged”.

The airline says it finds it most regrettable that SIPTU has taken this decision.

They say they are in the process of activating their disruptions handling plan and “will do everything possible on Monday 19th November to minimise disruption to our customers’ travel plans”.

SIPTU organiser Dermot O’Loughlin says Aer Lingus is seeking increases in productivity in return for plugging the pension deficit and that is unacceptable to workers.

He says the work stoppage is still going ahead as planned.