SIPTU is reportedly set to adopt a more hardline stance on social partnership at its biennial conference in Cork today.
Reports this morning said the union had decided to withdraw a motion that would have mandated its executive to enter talks on a successor to the Sustaining Progress agreement.
Instead, the executive is reportedly planning to table an alternative motion that would only allow SIPTU to enter negotiations if the Government provides certain guarantees on employment standards.
SIPTU wants measure to ensure that the current jobs situation at Irish Ferries can never be repeated.
The company is currently planning to replace all its seafaring staff with cheaper labour from abroad as part of a cost-cutting measure.
It is allowed to do so as workers on ferry services are not protected by the laws of either the country of departure or the country of arrival.