AER LINGUS cabin crew have suspended their proposed strike action after representatives from the IMPACT trade union and from the airline forced a breakthrough in the 17-day-old dispute.

IMPACT this morning said it was suspending the proposed industrial action, and that the airline was restoring hundreds of staff to the company’s payroll, after both sides agreed to accept a binding arbitration of the Labour Relations Commission.

RTÉ reports that the LRC’s arbitration is due in the coming days. The agreement to accept the LRC findings came after talks continued through the night.

An IMPACT spokeswoman told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the resolution reached would see the introduction of the new staff rosters – which saw the flight time for each member of staff increase from 830 to 850 hours a year – be adjusted so that staff with families could plan their working schedules in advance.

The introduction of the new rosters was a key sticking point for many in the cabin crew, who said the new rosters were impractical for those with families.

Aer Lingus’s HR director Michael Grealy said the airline was relieved to be able to get back to focussing on catering for its passengers.

A further ‘industrial peace’ clause in the agreement commits the cabin crew not to pursue industrial action in similar cases in future. The Irish Examiner adds that Aer Lingus has agreed to remove records of disciplinary action taken against staff as part of the dispute.

Neither party would confirm the nature of the two issues being sent to arbitration, but that the issue of meal breaks was not one of them.

The airline had been due to cancel about 20 flights on today’s schedule, but those flights are now likely to proceed as scheduled.