A stark warning that Siptu is seriously prepared to abandon social partnership as a result of the fall-out from the Irish Ferries controversy was issued yesterday by the union's president, Jack O'Connor.
Responding to suggestions that Siptu's position might be a bluff, Mr O'Connor said he believed "genuine social partnership" was still the best way to pursue the union's aims, but he was not prepared to take part in a "charade".
If the employers' body Ibec and the Government chose to side with "predators and parasites" who were prepared to exploit workers, they could "forget about social partnership", he told delegates to Siptu's conference in Cork.
He said employers and the Government needed to be aware of the type of conflict which was likely to unfold if they failed to "cop on to where they're going".
There would be no clear winners "but it will be clear that we were in one hell of a fight".
Mr O'Connor's hard-hitting address drew a sustained standing ovation from the floor and followed an emotionally-charged debate about the implications of the Irish Ferries dispute.
A number of speakers described the battle with Irish Ferries as a seminal one which the union had to win, whatever it took, in order to stem a wider trend towards outsourcing jobs.
"If we make a mistake on this one, then history will record that the mighty Siptu is beaten," said Paul Smyth, the official representing Irish Ferries workers.
Several delegates also spoke against continued involvement by the union in social partnership. There was unanimous support for an emergency executive council motion delaying a decision on whether to enter talks on a successor to "Sustaining Progress" until October 24th.
A special Ictu delegate conference has been called for the following day, at which the trade union movement will decide whether to enter talks. Siptu's stance will be critical to the outcome. Its decision to delay a vote is a direct result of the move by Irish Ferries to lay off 543 seafarers and replace them with cheaper labour from eastern Europe.
The company offered staff the choice of a voluntary redundancy package or continued employment on reduced pay and with inferior conditions.
Following an intervention by the Labour Court this week, new talks between the company and Siptu are taking place.
Mr O'Connor said that the action by Irish Ferries was not a single event, but was part of a trend "that threatens every single worker in Ireland".
What made the Irish Ferries situation different was the public position in support of the company adopted by Ibec. The employers' body had decided that the way to achieve competitiveness in Ireland was through "the exploitation of migrant workers".
Jim Quinn, an ex-seaman and now chairman of the union's retired members' section, said he and others would picket wherever they were asked to in support of the Irish Ferries workers, adding: "If we don't win this I won't be back here, because nobody will be back here."
Stephen Lewis, Dublin services branch, said Siptu had taken part in 18 years of social partnership and, given Ibec's stance in the ferries dispute, the union had clearly been "hoodwinked".
Thomas Tully, one of two Irish Ferries workers to address the conference, said every worker should oppose the company's actions "because this cancer is not going to stop here".
