Never in its 15-year history had the Labour Relations Commission encountered a dispute as head-wrecking as that at Irish Ferries.
As late as Tuesday afternoon, several weeks of intensive efforts by the commission to broker a deal looked like coming to naught.However, with the temperature rising on board the company's ships as staff began to turn on each other over a possible loss of redundancy payments, the sides got down to serious business.
How much the revolt by Seamen's Union of Ireland members, angry that Siptu's stance could cost them generous severance packages, concentrated minds at the LRC is open to debate. But news of tempers fraying on board the vessels certainly filtered through to the negotiators.
At one point the Siptu team, convinced that management was orchestrating events outside, let it be known to the LRC officials that the prospect of a deal was in danger of being jeopardised.
When the parties settled down to negotiations, however, the atmosphere became remarkably businesslike. Remarkably, that is, given what had gone before. Last week there had been several sessions of a "no holds barred" variety, involving several "full and frank exchanges", to quote one of those present.
By Tuesday night, however, the sides were holding direct negotiations on detailed matters such as pay rates and time-off arrangements for the company's new agency crews. It was midnight before a deal began to take shape, when a draft document was circulated by commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey and his team.
By 4am, the deal was done. Inevitably, it involved compromise on both sides, but there was plenty of scope for both the company and Siptu to claim a victory.
Irish Ferries could go ahead with its controversial outsourcing plan and would also not be opposed in its plan to "reflag" its ships to another state.
Siptu had secured a doubling of pay for the new seafarers as well as vastly improved leave arrangements, while existing staff who chose to remain with the company would have pay and conditions protected.
The puzzling thing for an outside observer was that the deal, while inevitably more detailed, looked remarkably like proposals put forward by the National Implementation Body on Sunday week last. It had suggested that, should the company reflag its ships, it would be required to enter a binding legal agreement to maintain minimum Irish employment standards for its crews.
Some were asking last night why it took Siptu 10 days to come round to the implementation body's proposal, which formed part of yesterday's settlement.
The union had initially rejected the idea on the basis that a legal agreement would be unenforceable if the company's ships sailed under a foreign flag. After taking legal advice on Tuesday, however, the Siptu team accepted that such an agreement could be grounded in Irish law.
It was also satisfied that another element of the deal - namely that all disputes must go to binding arbitration - would further serve to underpin any agreement on pay and conditions.
The company, for its part, liked the binding arbitration element which is, in effect, a no-strike clause and guarantees it industrial peace for the next three years at least.
With the deal done, thoughts in the wider industrial relations community turned towards the prospects of a new partnership agreement.
Settlement of the dispute removes a major obstacle to talks beginning on a successor to Sustaining Progress. But Siptu president Jack O'Connor is not beating a path to Government Buildings just yet. He wants further assurances from the Government and employers that measures can be secured to prevent a "race to the bottom" in employment standards before recommending that the union enters talks.
Siptu will have to reconvene a special delegate conference before a decision is taken, making partnership negotiations unlikely until mid-January at the earliest.
Nevertheless, it will be a surprise if talks have not begun within the first few weeks of next year.
FERRY DEAL: the main points
- Irish Ferries can proceed with its plan to outsource crews on its Irish Sea vessels.
- Its new seafarers must be paid at least the Irish minimum wage - this is about twice what had been proposed.
- Crews will also have more time off than initially planned.
- The company will "reflag" its vessels to another state.
- Pay and conditions of seafarers will be underpinned by a binding agreement grounded in Irish law.
- Industrial peace is guaranteed for at least three years, with any issues in dispute going to binding arbitration.
- Existing ships officers and ratings who wish to remain with the company will have pay and conditions protected.
- The firm will achieve savings of €11.5 million a year, rather than the €15 million expected under the initial outsourcing plan.
- All personnel, on returning to work, to be treated "as if this dispute had never happened".