IMPACT has withdrawn notice of industrial action at the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) after management agreed that a dispute of air traffic control trainees’ terms and conditions could be referred to the Labour Relations Commission (LRC). Among other things, the LRC will deal with a dispute over trainees’ pay and IAA proposals to recoup thousands of euro in training costs from them after they have qualified.

The IAA has traditionally met the full cost of controllers’ training and has paid trainees around €16,000 a year. It recently said it would stop paying the trainees, and that it would recoup training costs of around €225,000 by reductions in salary for years after graduation.

The authority also agreed to halt proceedings in its bid to get a court intervention to prevent industrial action.