IBEC Director General Turlough O'Sullivan said that anyone with a head on their shoulders could see that Aer Lingus was seriously uncompetitive and needs urgent corrective action.
He said that from what he could see, the company's €74m cost cutting package is the minimum required.
Mr O'Sullivan stressed people have a choice between saving the airline and protecting the maximum number of jobs - or the demise of the airline.
He said most reasonable people would want to save it as a key part of Ireland's infrastructure.
However, IBEC's DG warned that although no one wanted to see a strike, it could come to that.
SIPTU National Industrial Secretary Gerry McCormack said that if the company backed off from outsourcing, there might be possibilities of sorting out the dispute.
However, he said it has had no indications whatsoever of that so far from management.
He said SIPTU did not want a strike, and had not looked for one, but could be left with no choice.
SIPTU met with the National Implementation Body today to discuss the ongoing dispute.
National Industrial Secretary Gerry McCormack said afterwards that, the union had outlined its concerns and said it believed a process can be found that will provide a solution to the current dispute at Aer Lingus that achieves the efficiencies sought by the company without outsourcing.
He said that they need to know if management at Aer Lingus is willing to engage with the union in such a process.
He added that NIB has said it will reflect on what has been said by all of the parties and will contact all concerned in due course.
