SIPTU will not block ports to exporters

SIPTU will not prevent the docking of privately chartered freight ships in Cork and Rosslare this weekend as desperate exporters seek to circumvent the dispute at Irish Ferries.

As SIPTU’s clerical staff at the company voted by three-to-one to support industrial action yesterday, union president Jack O’Connor said his members had no wish “to cause any unnecessary disruption to hauliers, exporters, importers, the travelling public or anyone else”.

“Our dispute is with Irish Ferries. It is about job displacement, gross exploitation and establishing minimum standards for workers below which no employer will be allowed to stoop,” he said.

Mr O’Connor was speaking as the Trade Union Council of Wales prepares to hold rallies in Pembroke and Holyhead today in support of Irish Ferries’ workers still refusing to sail the Isle of Inishmore and Ulysses.

Despite intense behind-the-scenes efforts at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) and the National Implementation Body (NIB), there remains no sign of a breakthrough in the increasingly tense face-off between unions and management, which has left the future of social partnership in doubt.

A national day of protest scheduled for next Friday has already received unprecedented support as the Irish Ferries dispute enters its second week.

The protest, which is endorsed by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) will take place simultaneously in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Rosslare Harbour, Athlone, Sligo and Waterford.

Early predictions indicate that the marches look set to become by far the largest demonstration of trade union muscle in decades.

Pledges of support have already been received from most ICTU-affiliated unions, while the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, which is not affiliated to ICTU, has also called on its entire membership to support the march.

Public sector union IMPACT and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland has also told members to attend, raising the possibility of widespread school closures.

Mr O’Connor welcomed the pledges of support saying it showed the issues at stake were also of concern to the public sector.

“Most trade unionists clearly agree with us that the Irish Ferries dispute is a defining moment about the sort of society we want. We join congress in urging every citizen who feels strongly about the issues thrown up by this dispute to join us, whether they are in a trade union or not,” he said.

Labour party chairman Willie Penrose also called for everyone to support next week’s protest, saying the Irish Ferries dispute had become a defining “battle between philosophies and outlooks”.

He said a clear message needed to be sent out that the battle for workers’ rights in the Great Lockout of 1913 has not been forgotten and would be repeated, if necessary.