Talks break off in Irish Ferries row

Talks between Irish Ferries and union officials over a worker from the Philippines in a row about “slave wages” have ended without agreement, it was confirmed tonight.

Trade union SIPTU claims Salvacion Orge was being paid slave wages - receiving just over €1 an hour to work as a hairdresser on the Isle of Inishmore Ferry.

The company and the trade union both said this afternoon’s meeting at Irish Ferries head office in Dublin was just for preliminary talks to explore the issue.

They will meet again next Tuesday on board the Isle of Inishmore Ferry, with Ms Orge present, to try to resolve the issue.

Paul Smyth, SIPTU branch secretary, says the union would fight for equal pay and conditions for Ms Orge.

Her contract, which was through a hiring agency, was terminated after the level of her wages were queried with Irish Ferries.

Ms Orge has refused to leave the Inishmore Ferry, which is travelling the Rosslare to Pembroke route, after she lost her job as a beautician.

SIPTU confirmed that she will remain on the ship until next Tuesday when the meeting takes place.

The union claims Ms Orge was hired by a recruitment agency and was being paid just over €350 a month.

It is understood she was expected to work 12 hours a day, seven days week, with just three days off a month – the equivalent to just over €1 an hour.

Irish Ferries has said it should not have happened.

Earlier, Alf McGrath from the human resources department of Irish Ferries, told RTE radio that Ms Orge was working through a contract between herself and a another contracting company.

“It is an aberration, it is an error on our part,” he said.

It is believed that two other women from the Philippines, which the union has claimed were employed in similar circumstances, have been taken off another ferry and repatriated.

Mr McGrath said: “They were dealt with in accordance with the contract that they have and we were, to be absolutely open about this, we were intending to deal with the Inishmore vessel in the very same fashion.

“The person on the Inishmore has become a member of a trade union and the trade union have made representations.”