Irish Ferries dispute - Future Irish prosperity now at stake

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern reflected the opinion of most right thinking people towards Irish Ferries management when he described as “anathema” their attitude in the current dispute which is threatening the entire concept of social partnership.

In a particularly vehement criticism of the company, the Taoiseach described its management as anathema to everything he has worked for more than 20 years.

In its efforts to replace union members with cheaper agency staff, the company has resorted to disgraceful tactics which could only have the affect of inflaming an already volatile industrial relations situation at the company.

The ferry company inordinately escalated the dispute by introducing on board their ships in Wales flack jacketed-security men and 70 agency workers from Latvia and other Eastern European countries.

Such irresponsible actions were guaranteed to fuel an already very difficult situation, as was their utter rejection of the Labour Court recommendations on the spurious grounds that they did not suit the company.

Irish Ferries made a mockery of the process of resolving industrial relations problems when it flagrantly dismissed those recommendations because the ruling was described as not fitting for the company’s circumstances.

That cavalier attitude was encapsulated in the remarks of Alf McGrath, the company’s Director of Human Resources, when he scathingly dismissed the Labour Court ruling as not being binding and that Irish Ferries, in any case, was not the first company to ignore its recommendations.

Consequently, SIPTU is entitled to expect the support of the entire trade union movement in its national day of protest planned for next Friday. It would be folly not to anticipate that other employers might be tempted to follow the precedent which Irish Ferries is trying to impose, and that would have serious repercussions for other workers in the country.

On a national canvas, the Irish Ferries dispute has the potential to totally undermine the concept of social partnership which, as the Taoiseach is only too well aware, has been a major contributing factor to the economic well-being of this country.

Already the unions have refused to enter discussions with the Government on a new agreement because of the threat to Irish employment as presaged by the Irish Ferries debacle, which seeks to get rid of 500 Irish jobs.

The social partnership cannot be allowed to founder, but the unions will not have been encouraged by the earlier remarks of Mr Ahern to the effect the Government was powerless to intervene in the dispute.

SIPTU is justified in seeking the laws be changed to protect Irish jobs and prevent the exploitation of foreign workers.