A woman hired to work on an Irish Ferries ship for just over €1 an hour is to remain on board the vessel for the weekend pending an agreement on her future.
Management and union representatives at the company are to meet Salvacion Orge on board the MV Isle of Inishmore on Tuesday to try to find a resolution to her situation.
Siptu, meanwhile, has served strike notice on the company because of a separate row over the outsourcing of crew.
Ms Orge, a 44-year-old Filipina and mother of three, began working on the Isle of Inishmore as a beautician on Wednesday, on a wage of €355 a month. Her contract stipulates that she is to work 12 hours a day and get three days off a month, in contrast to other seafaring staff who work on alternate weeks. Senior management at the company said it was unaware of the nature of Ms Orge's contract when she was recruited through an international agency, CF Sharp Crew Management.
Both the company and CF Sharp initiated moves on Thursday to have the contract cancelled and Ms Orge repatriated to the Philippines.
However, Siptu said it had taken her into its membership and wanted to negotiate "appropriate terms and conditions" for her continued employment aboard the ship, which sails between Rosslare and Pembroke.
At a meeting yesterday in Dublin the company and the union failed to agree a resolution of the issues. Siptu official Paul Smyth said management had refused to take Ms Orge into direct employment as requested by the union. He accepted, however, that the company had legitimate difficulties in this regard.
Mr Smyth said he now wished to explore a number of options with Ms Orge to ascertain "what she believes is the best option for herself". Siptu had no wish to make a "political football" of the issue but it wanted to ensure Ms Orge was not returned to the Philippines with no prospect of alternative employment.
If placing her on the staff of Irish Ferries turned out to be the only viable option, then the union would pursue that outcome on her behalf.
Ms Orge said yesterday she was a single mother who had "big dreams" for her children. "I want to send them to school and [ for them] to find a good job when they finish. "Now I think that I lose my job and all my dream is just a dream," she told TV3 News.
Two other Filipinas who were hired to work on another Irish Ferries' vessel, the MV Normandy, on similar terms and conditions, are understood to have returned to the Philippines.
The two women disembarked from the ship in Cherbourg. International transport federation inspector Tony Ayton said yesterday the two had not had the benefit of proper representation or an opportunity to be independently advised of their rights before deciding to leave the ship.
The decision by Siptu to serve strike notice follows the company's failure to implement a Labour Court recommendation concerning the outsourcing of crew on the Normandy.
