Intensive efforts to resolve the dispute at Irish Ferries were continuing last night despite a suggestion that management had been preparing to withdraw from the process and close the company. Chris Dooley and Martin Wall report.
A Siptu proposal that the union claimed would give the company a substantial reduction in its cost base was being considered by management in the talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).
Fears for the company's future emerged yesterday afternoon after a meeting of staff was convened on board one of its vessels, the Isle of Inishmore, which is moored at the port of Pembroke in Wales.
A source on board the ship said a senior company official told staff that unless agreement was reached in the LRC talks by 6pm the company would close.
The source said the official also said a redundancy package on offer to the company's seafarers since September would be withdrawn. Staff in such circumstances would receive only statutory redundancy.
The source said several hours later the official convened a second staff meeting, and revised the earlier threat that the company would close. Instead, staff were told the company's board would meet today and consider a number of options.
A company spokesman could not be contacted last night, but other sources confirmed that Siptu officials were told at the LRC that they had until 6pm to reach agreement or the redundancy package would be withdrawn.
It is understood, however, that no threat to close the company was made at the LRC talks.
Several hours after the 6pm "deadline" had passed, talks were continuing. LRC chief executive Kieran Mulvey said the commission was focused on trying to get a resolution.
He said there were "major issues" involved which, if not resolved, were "potentially detrimental to the country".
Siptu is in dispute with the company over its plan to replace up to 543 unionised seafarers with agency workers from abroad on wages of €3.60 an hour.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in protests against the company today at nine locations, including Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.
The "national day of protest" was called by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) to highlight concerns about exploitation of migrant workers and the displacement of jobs.
Protesters in Dublin will assemble at Parnell Square at 1.30pm before marching to Leinster House.
More than 5,000 school teachersare expected to take part in the protests, but teachers' unions said schools would operate as normal.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said teachers not at work would suffer deductions in salary.
There could be significant disruption to public transport services, however.
Dublin Bus said it could not guarantee services after 11am, while Iarnród Éireann said Dart and other commuter services in Dublin would be disrupted. A spokesman said inter-city services should not be affected. Bus Éireann said urban centres would be affected, but hoped disruption would be confined to the "middle of the day".
All three companies said they expected services to have returned to normal in time for peak evening services.
A Garda spokesman said there would be sufficient gardaí on duty at each location to ensure any disruption to traffic was minimised.
The talks at the LRC resumed yesterday at 11.30am, less than 10 hours after they were adjourned following lengthy negotiations on Wednesday that had continued into the early hours.
The discussions began on Monday following an intervention at the weekend by the National Implementation Body designed to break the deadlock and find a basis for talks on a new national partnership deal.