Irish Ferries dispute - Company has power to end dispute

THE best, and most practical, piece of advice the management of Irish Ferries received over the weekend came from David Begg, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

If there is an iota of common sense remaining among those charged with running the ferry company, they will take that advice and “stop digging”.

Bad enough though the situation is because of the company’s intransigence, it is still not irredeemable.

Irish Ferries’ dogged determination to replace 500 Irish workers with cheaper foreign agency ones, in the face of sound advice from the Government, Labour Court and the unions, has contrived one of the most damaging industrial relations problems to be faced by this country in decades.

Of its nature, it also has extremely serious implications for social partnership, a concept which has been a major contributing factor in fuelling the exceptionally healthy economy that Ireland now enjoys.

David Begg also offered to use an initiative to have the National Implementation Body re-engage with the problem again in an effort to find a solution - an avenue that should not be spurned by the ferry company.

The company has already contemptuously dismissed a Labour Court ruling simply because the recommendation did not suit it. Yet, yesterday it had the temerity to remind Iarnród Éireann of its contractual obligations as operators of the ports of Rosslare and Dublin to allow the MV Normandy to dock after its arrival from Cherbourg.

Quite sensibly, Iarnród Éireann informed Irish Ferries that the docking could not be facilitated on grounds of health and safety, largely arising from the fact that SIPTU port workers refused to handle the ship.

With the MV Normandy literally seeking any port in a storm, believed to be Dublin when refused a berth in Rosslare, Irish Ferries is not acting in the best interests of its customers.

Two other vessels are still tied up in Welsh ports, the passengers having been accommodated by a rival company.

Because there are passengers on board the ferry from Cherbourg, including young children, the unions should relent on the blockade of Rosslare and let the vessel dock on humanitarian grounds, and then resume their action if they feel so impelled.

This is an industrial relations dilemma which is unique in recent history because apart from the workers directly involved, it has the potential to affect the other two million workers who are bound by social partnership.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has, rightly, expressed concern about the effect the Irish Ferries dispute will have on the partnership process and on the industrial relations climate generally.

The company can defuse this dispute. It has contributed enormously to the fact that the dispute has escalated to the extent it has, and has the potential to escalate even further.

Irish Ferries can resolve the dispute by accepting the Labour Court’s recommendation, as suggested by the Taoiseach, or by at least returning once again to the table for negotiations in whatever would be the appropriate forum.