600 ferry staff face unpaid layoffs over row

ABOUT 600 ferry company employees could be laid off for several months without pay following a conflict with unions.

Irish Ferries, which employs 770 seagoing staff, yesterday warned services on three of its four routes will be suspended unless unions agree to resume talks on cost-cutting measures of more than €3 million annually. The company is part of the shipping, transport and leisure group, Irish Continental Group, which hopes to generate group profits of €23m this year from an estimated turnover of €317m.

Irish Ferries has set a deadline of this Friday for SIPTU and the Seaman’s Union of Ireland to come back to the negotiating table. Talks in the Labour Court broke up in January without agreement.

In a surprise announcement, the company advised staff of plans to temporarily suspend operations on some of its French and Irish Sea services.

And staff, it emerged last night, could be laid off without pay until peak season services begin. The company has failed to reach agreement with unions on proposals to significantly reduce staff levels and force officers and ratings to reduce holiday leave.

Compared to rival sea carriers, Irish Ferries claimed it has the highest crew ratio on the Irish Sea route. Workers were yesterday notified that the company planned to suspend services, possibly within two weeks, if negotiations were not resumed. And the majority of the seagoing staff, it emerged, could be laid off without pay for an indefinite period.

A company spokesman conceded yesterday the lay-off period could extend to several months.

The ferries to be affected are the Jonathan Swift, the high-speed ferry operating on the Dublin-Holyhead route; the Isle of Inishmore, which services Rosslare-Pembroke and the Normandy, on the Roscoff-Rosslare route.

The Ulysses, the world’s largest car ferry on the Dublin-Holyhead route, will be unaffected.

The company plans to reduce its seagoing staff by 52 in the long-term. Officers will also be asked to work an extra four weeks a year and ratings an extra one week. A spokesman said: “The cost-cutting measures would just bring us into line with Stena but we would still be out of line with four other firms we compete with.”

Although both unions are refusing to hold joint talks with the company, Irish Ferries insisted it remained available to negotiate with the unions on any alternative proposals.