SIPTU National Industry Secretary Gerry McCormack said he is not optimistic at all that talks with Aer Lingus management can resolve the current dispute at the airline.
SIPTU has threatened to take industrial action from Monday if management proceeds unilaterally with its plan to outsource up to 1,300 jobs in ground operations as part of a €74m cost reduction plan.
Arriving for today's talks at the Labour Relations Commission, Mr McCormack described the negotiations as very difficult.
He said the union was exploring the possibility of alternative ways of securing costs savings but said he did not know if that would work.
Asked about the likelihood of industrial action on Monday, he said he did not know yet but that SIPTU would be discussing it later today.
The talks at the LRC adjourned without agreement last night.
Aer Lingus wants to cut around 1,300 jobs through redundancy, early retirement and outsourcing.
SIPTU has put forward another way to save the money, but without an agreement, the trade union says it will start industrial action from 24 November.
