Unions must not allow Irish Ferries to win the race to the bottom

IN what has to be the understatement of the year, IBEC - the organisation that represents big business interests of this country - described the bizarre events in Irish Ferries as “not normal in Irish industrial relations.”

And they believe, although very few others do, that the circumstances in Irish Ferries are unique to the shipping industry, and have no direct relevance to other companies operating and employing people in this jurisdiction.

While it’s IBEC’s role to give the employers’ spiel, they might also give the rest of us credit for having some little bit of commonsense.