Ferry firm agrees to talks on jobs axe plan

Management at Irish Ferries tonight agreed to hold talks with SIPTU officials over its controversial plans to axe more than 500 workers on their ships.

The move came following an hour long meeting at the Labour Court after the ferry company said it would re-enter negotiations to resolve the dispute.

Irish Ferries wants to replace 550 Irish staff on its vessels to Wales with cheap labour from Eastern Europe.

But it is understood the majority of staff who signed up for the redundancy scheme now want to withdraw their application.

No date has been set for the face to face talks but Patricia King, SIPTU regional secretary, welcomed the move.

“We must take it day by day. This is a very tough dispute, there are a lot of issues in it that are causing a lot of difficulties for people, but it is just a step forward,” Ms King insisted.

SIPTU has also deferred planned strike action in a bid to achieve a resolution.

Eamon Rothwell, chief executive of Irish Ferries, has said he intends to implement the voluntary redundancy programme within three to four weeks.

Irish Ferries blamed rising costs for the decision to cut 543 jobs on roues to Wales.

Management claimed the situation on services between Dublin and Holyhead and Rosslare and Pembroke had deteriorated in the last year with a 9% drop in the number of car passengers.

They said the only way to address the threat of huge financial losses was to hire cheap labour from overseas, at one third of the cost of Irish workers. The Government could be hit with a massive bill to cover the redundancy package. But the Department of Enterprise has said it is seeking the Attorney General’s advice on whether the scheme qualifies as a genuine redundancy scheme.

Management warned staff to apply for the voluntary redundancy scheme by last Friday or they could miss out.