Tuesday's planned strike at Dublin Port by members of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) looks set to proceed following the collapse of talks between the union and the Dublin Port Company at the Labour Relations Commission last night.
Both sides issued statements yesterday evening in which they criticised the other for their approach to the dispute, which revolves around the suspension of nine workers for their refusal to work on tugboats.
Arthur Hall, TEEU regional secretary, claimed the union had put a "conciliatory" proposal to the company which would have seen its members undertake a "familiarisation course" on the tugboats for three weeks, subject to parallel discussions to resolve the issue and the introduction of a third party should no solution be found in this time. "The company put a counter proposal that was far worse than the proposal that they put to our members on Monday, January 22nd," he said.
However Dublin Port Company said it had honoured its industrial relations agreement with the TEEU. At yesterday's meeting it had also offered to lift the suspensions in a further effort to resolve the dispute.
This offer was made "on the understanding that both parties enter immediate discussions with a view to resolving the issue at hand, and that all work will continue in accordance with management instructions as provided for in the comprehensive agreement negotiated among Dublin Port Company and the unions".