Conciliation talks in ferries dispute
Management and workers at Irish Ferries are to engage in separate exploratory talks at the Labour Relations Commission today to try resolve the escalating row.
Paul Smyth, SIPTU branch secretary, said both sides had accepted invitations to meet with the LRC facilitator.
A delegation from SIPTU will meet the LRC at 10am and the company would hold discussions at 11.30am.
Mr Smyth said: “I am going in to see if we can resolve the substantial issue and I’m hopeful.
“It is more difficult now with people on strike. But it won’t be the first time that we have solved a difficult problem. I’m always hopeful if talks are taking place.”
He said that management at Irish Ferries had no interest in meeting with them up until this point.
Mr Smyth said if the company started to attempt to set conditions for the talks it would not work.
The company began axing staff after a row over plans to cut 150 posts on its shipping route from Rosslare to Cherbourg, France, escalated.
It is believed that more than 700 jobs have been lost in the dispute.
Union bosses claimed they had been locked out by company management who cancelled sailings from Wales and France without warning.
But the company says SIPTU was in breach of agreements and that it was up to the ships’ captains when they wanted to return to work.
The dispute centres on the company’s decision to outsource employment next year on its MV Normandy service from Rosslare.
The union claims the move will result in Irish seafarers being replaced by “low-cost foreign” labour.
Mr Smyth said commitments given by Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher, junior marine minister, on training and other initiatives would provide a platform to cut the employment costs of Irish seafarers.
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