Irish Ferries has suffered a series of setbacks to its controversial reform plan after the High Court imposed an interim injunction preventing it from terminating any jobs.
Meanwhile the Attorney General has also advised that its staff will not be entitled to State redundancy payments if they opt for a "voluntary" severance package.
As Ibec distanced itself from the company's snub to the Labour Court this week, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern moved yesterday to renew his attack on the company. However, the immediate threat of disruption to sailings from next Tuesday receded after Siptu gave an undertaking not to begin industrial action while the Labour Court examines the case.
Pressure on the company intensified when Mr Ahern accused the company of putting a gun to the head of its workers. "You know - get out or you'll get nothing - and then when they get out the door they bring in immigrant workers the following day. It's just the wrong way to do industrial relations business in this country. Whether the company thinks they'll get away with that, well, we'll see."
Irish Ferries chief executive Eamonn Rothwell writes in The Irish Times today that "almost 90 per cent" of its 543 seafaring staff have signed up for the package. The staff have been told that they must sign up for the scheme by tomorrow or continue with the company on less pay.
But preliminary advice from Attorney General Rory Brady indicates that their entitlements under this scheme may have to be watered down. Mr Brady is understood to have suggested that a State rebate to Irish Ferries of 60 per cent of its statutory redundancy costs should not apply in this particular case.
He found that the company cannot legally claim that the workers are being made redundant because it proposes to replace them with new staff on less pay. If confirmed, such a finding would increase the cost of the scheme to the company. It may also mean that departing workers would have to pay tax on any payments from the company and might not be entitled to social welfare after they leave.
The interim High Court injunction granted to Siptu prevents Irish Ferries from issuing "compulsory redundancy notices or otherwise terminating their employments". It remains in place until Wednesday.
There was no comment from Irish Ferries last evening on the injunction and its spokesman did not return calls. But after turning down two invitations to go the Labour Court on yesterday and today, the company indicated to other sources yesterday that it will attend a hearing Monday.
Its refusal to attend the meetings this week was implicitly criticsed last evening by Ibec, a body that does not usually criticise its own members. The lobby's director of industrial relations and human resources Brendan McGinty said "it would have been better" if the company had attended the negotiations.
"We regret the fact that the company has decided not to attend before the court thus far to engage in those discussions. The merit of the company's case is compelling, in terms of its commercial problems, and it is a great pity that it has not proved possible to conclude an agreement within available procedures," said Mr McGinty.
"Its cost base is seriously out of line and unions have behaved irresponsibly and have frustrated the company at every opportunity."
