Rabbitte warns on Ibec approach to Ferries row

The attitude of employers' body Ibec to the Irish Ferries dispute may endanger the future of social partnership, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said today.

In an address to the Siptu Conference in Cork, Mr Rabbitte said the plan by Irish Ferries to replace its existing staff with cheaper agency workers from Eastern Europe was a disgrace and could no be tolerated.

Mr Rabbitte said: "The prospect of a company essentially destroying 500 well paid jobs and replacing them with greatly inferior pay and conditions is the direct opposite of moving to a high value-added economy."

He told delegates: "If this kind of race to the bottom can be sponsored by IBEC it will difficult to sustain the practice of social partnership."

Mr Rabbitte said the Irish Ferries plan was not only the example of what he described as "social dumping" witnessed in the economy this year.

He said the treatment by Turkish construction company Gama of its employees was "a clear case in point."

The Labour leader claimed Gama was still receiving new Government contracts "despite its appalling record of abusing its employees".

He said: "This same Government has consistently, and over a long period, refused to develop an adequate Labour inspectorate."

"We have more dog wardens than Labour inspectors. Such is the legacy of eight years of Government by a so-called socialist Taoiseach.