A Siptu spokesman has said Irish Ferries staff who had accepted redundancy are now changing their minds.
Branch secretary, Mr Paul Smyth called on the company to engage with Siptu and to use the agreed procedures in order to conclude an agreed solution to the dispute.
The dispute is over a plan by Irish Ferries to make more than 500 of its seafaring workers redundant and replace them with staff on lower pay by slowing down the process of reflagging two of the company's ships.
Speaking after the meeting, Siptu branch secretary Paul Smyth said the meeting "was told of the extent of bullying and intimidation being visited on many of our members over the past week. We were told of members being put under extreme pressure by the company to sign the yellow redundancy document before the closure date of today.
"A large number of workers now want their forms returned as they have now changed their mind and wish the union to negotiate a settlement on their behalf," he said.
Staff are required to decide whether to accept the offer of redundancy by 6pm this evening
However, 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.
However, after turning down two invitations to go the Labour Court last week, the company indicated to other sources yesterday that it will attend tomorrow's hearing.
Irish Ferries chief executive Eamonn Rothwell wrote in
The Irish Times
yesterday that "almost 90 per cent" of its 543 seafaring staff have signed up for the package.