Pilots at Emerald Airlines, the carrier which holds the regional service franchise for Aer Lingus, have served notice of an escalation of industrial action from tomorrow.
The pilots are members of IALPA, the professional association which represents pilots within Ireland, and a branch of the Fórsa trade union.
The union is accusing Emerald Airlines of failing to engage with IALPA to form a collective labour agreement for pilots employed at the carrier.
The pilots have been engaged in a work-to-rule since 24 June which includes a refusal to work overtime or out-of-duty hours.
The escalation of the industrial action will mean that pilots will not be contactable by the company outside of working hours and will not accept changes to their rosters with fewer than 24 hours' notice.
Fórsa said that the escalation of industrial action is likely to disrupt flight services.
"Management at the airline have ignored repeated requests to meet with the union and to commence discussions on negotiating a collective agreement", said Fórsa official Ian McDonnell.
"We're willing to commence talks with Emerald management at any time," Mr McDonnell said.
"Without a meaningful engagement, a further escalation of the current action will become inevitable," he added.
Emerald Airlines operates regional flights, including the Dublin to Donegal service on behalf of Aer Lingus and UK regional routes trading as Aer Lingus Regional.
Fórsa said Aer Lingus had pledged to make union recognition a condition of the regional franchise deal before it was awarded to Emerald.
Emerald Airlines said its operations are continuing as normal and are expected to remain so.
"Emerald Airlines maintains an active and healthy dialogue directly with all of our employees including pilot employee representatives," a spokesperson said.
"Just last month we presented our pilots with a new pay and conditions agreement, which was overwhelmingly accepted by over 80% of our pilots," the company added.
