A woman from the Philippines employed on an Irish Ferries vessel for just over €1 an hour was last night at the centre of a continuing row between the company and Siptu over her future.
Salvacion Orge began working as a beautician on the MV Isle of Inishmore, which operates on the Rosslare-Pembroke route, on Wednesday.
Officials in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment yesterday sought details from the company about her pay and conditions, after it emerged she was to work 12 hours a day and receive €355 a month.
Unlike other staff on board the vessel, who work on alternate weeks, Ms Ogre was to have just three days off a month.
Siptu, one of the two unions that represents Irish Ferries' crew, claimed that two other Filipinas were working on its Rosslare-Cherbourg service for the same rate, which it said amounted to €1.08 an hour.
Ms Orge, who is in her 40s and has three children, was hired by Irish Ferries through an international recruitment agency, CF Sharp Crew Management, which has offices in the Philippines and Singapore.
The company's human resources director, Alf McGrath, said the arrangement to hire Ms Orge had been made by a local line manager and had not been vetted by senior management.
The company was now seeking to have the contract with CF Sharp cancelled, provided Ms Orge was not disadvantaged in any way.
"We would not stand over the contract she was given. There is no way we would continue a contract with that content," he said.
CF Sharp, which described itself as Ms Orge's employer, also attempted to have the contract rescinded yesterday by asking that she be repatriated to Manila.
The agency said it wanted to seek alternative employment for her on another vessel.
"We confirm that she will receive all her contractual entitlements according to her contract of employment which is recognised by the Philippine government," it said in a letter issued to several parties.
Siptu, however, said it had taken Ms Orge into its membership and she did not wish to return to the Philippines.
It wanted Irish Ferries to agree "appropriate terms and conditions" for Ms Orge's continued employment aboard the Isle of Inishmore.
In a letter to Mr McGrath, the union's marine ports branch secretary, Paul Smyth, claimed the company was "well aware" that Ms Orge's pay rates were well below the national minimum wage as well as International Labour Organisation (ILO) rates for seafarers.
"It seems Irish Ferries' management wish now to employ slave labour rates aboard its ferries in order to further maximise [ the] profits of its ferry division," he said.
Irish Ferries, however, insisted that Ms Orge was not its employee and said it did not intend to take her into direct employment.
Given that the Isle of Inishmore is an Irish-registered vessel, it is understood that Ms Orge is entitled to at least the Irish minimum wage of €7 an hour, although this could not be confirmed.
Union-negotiated rates, approved by the International Transport Federation to which Siptu is affiliated, would be higher than that.
In a letter to CF Sharp yesterday, ITF inspector Tony Ayton said if the agency continued to send workers to Ireland on "sub-standard terms", it could expect a "firm and decisive response".
Mr McGrath said the company would co-operate with any inquiry by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
He could not confirm whether two Filipinas on the Rosslare-Cherbourg service were on the same rate of pay as Ms Orge. Crew on that service are supplied to Irish Ferries by a third party.