Irish Ferries ruling - A victory for common sense

The Labour Court ruled yesterday against a plan by Irish Ferries to replace almost 550 of its Irish staff with cheap labour, mainly from eastern Europe.

The company, which contended that it needed to introduce the cuts in order to remain competitive, had planned to introduce new workers at €3.50 an hour, which was less than half the Irish minimum wage.

Since the workers enjoyed full board and accommodation, as well as “favourable income tax treatment,” the company contended the new workers would be better off than people working for the minimum wage in Ireland.

The unions have maintained throughout that they have been prepared to re-negotiate the 2004 agreement.

The Labour Court, which ruled that the company should honour the agreement with SIPTU and the Seamen’s Union of Ireland, concluded that the company’s outsourcing efforts had gone significantly further than merely seeking a review of the agreement, which required that the company maintain normal staffing on all routes until 2007.

The court recommended that the parties should resume negotiations on modifications to the terms of the 2004 agreement.

This was not so much a victory for the unions over the company, which has rejected the Court’s findings; it was a victory for Irish workers and commonsense.