A potential deal to end the dispute at Irish Ferries is under threat because of continued disagreement over the company's plan to remove its ships from the Irish register. Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent, reports.
A National Implementation Body (NIB) proposal designed to address the issue was dismissed last night as "a nonsense" by Siptu's marine branch organiser, Paul Smyth. He said it remained his union's position that a resolution to the dispute would have to involve the company's ships continuing to sail under the Irish flag.
Representatives of management and Siptu met the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) yesterday for talks, which are to continue today. The union is in dispute with the company over its plan to replace seafarers with cheaper labour from eastern Europe.
It claims the only way to ensure the company adheres to Irish employment laws, including the minimum wage, is by preventing it from "re-flagging" its vessels to another state. Irish Ferries has applied to re-register its ships in Cyprus.
A compromise formula proposed by the NIB would have allowed the company to re-flag its ships once it had entered a binding agreement to maintain Irish employment standards. Mr Smyth described this proposal last night as a "pipe dream" because, he claimed, it would be unenforceable.
No one had been able to tell him, he added, what the "route of remedy" would be for workers whose employment terms were breached if the ships were sailing under a foreign flag.
He added, however, that the implementation body's proposals had been helpful in that they had got the parties to the negotiating table, and that in itself was a reason for optimism.
The implementation body, which is made up of senior Government, employer and union representatives, intervened in the dispute on Sunday.
It proposed that the parties attend the LRC for intensive discussions with a view to reaching agreement by tomorrow.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he "would really implore" the parties to try to find a resolution, although he knew it was "not going to be easy".
Meanwhile, union leaders will decide today whether to go ahead with a national protest on Friday in support of workers at Irish Ferries and to highlight concerns about a "race to the bottom" in employment standards.
Despite the commencement of talks at the LRC, Siptu said yesterday the event would go ahead as planned. Leaders of some unions, however, believe it should be called off if the ferries dispute is settled in the meantime.
The issue will be debated today by the executive council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.