Officers leave ship as dispute finally ends
SIPTU members John Curry, Brian Whitfield, Gary Jones and Vincent Hederington hastily barricaded themselves inside their control room three weeks ago, when security guards hired by management tried to take over their ship.
The men have refused to budge since, leaving the ship stranded and unable to sail.
However, when SIPTU marine branch official Paul Smyth arrived on their ship, after 9pm last night, they finally emerged to hear details of the agreement reached between management and unions in the early hours yesterday morning.
The deal was finally agreed after more than 20 hours of Labour Relations Commission (LRC) talks, described by chairman Kieran Mulvey as one of the toughest disputes the LRC officials had ever encountered.
Speaking from Pembroke last night, Mr Smyth said he was proud that the dispute had "been resolved to our satisfaction".
"I think that's something every SIPTU member should be proud of," he said.
The final agreement allows Irish Ferries to go ahead with plans to register its ships in Cyprus and delivers e11 million in cost savings annually.
However, agency crews from Eastern Europe will be paid the Irish minimum wage under a three-year binding agreement between all sides.
Director of human resources at the company, Alf McGrath, said the deal "should avoid industrial action for three years".
The Isle of Inishmore is expected to begin sailing again by early this morning while the Ulysses had already begun scheduled services yesterday. The Jonathan Swift, stranded in Dublin during the dispute, also set sail yesterday.
YESTERDAY'S groundbreaking deal between unions and Irish Ferries will see the vast majority of the company's 543 Irish staff accept redundancy and leave their jobs.
Those staff will be replaced by agency workers employed by Cyprus-based recruitment firm, Dobsons. These workers are already in place undergoing training.
However, 48 Irish workers who do not wish to accept redundancy will be allowed to remain with the company. These employees will have their jobs "red-circled" which means their current terms and conditions have been guaranteed regardless of what anyone else is paid.
Just eight of those "red-circled" workers are members of the Seamen's Union of Ireland, meaning the union will likely cease to exist.
Yesterday's deal also raises the pay of the agency workers from €3.60 an hour to the Irish minimum wage, currently €7.62. The company is not allowed to make any deductions from this for accommodation or keep.
Although Irish Ferries will be allowed to register its vessels in Cyprus, it has committed to a binding agreement under Irish law to maintain the above standards for three years.
This agreement has never been tested before, therefore it is unclear how effective it can be in enforcing standards of employment for Irish Ferries workers. Although both the Government and SIPTU believe the measure can work, it is likely to be an extremely complicated way of protecting working conditions.
