Two Irish Ferries vessels remained tied up at ports in Wales last night as the company began the implementation of its controversial programme to replace Irish crews with cheaper agency staff from Eastern Europe, write Martin Wall and Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent.
Senior Siptu officials warned that the decision by the company to press ahead with its controversial outsourcing plan could have wider implications for the future of the 18-year-old social partnership process.
Last night the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, condemned the situation. It marked, he said, an unacceptable resort to confrontation, which was completely at odds with the proper way to conduct industrial relations.
He repeated his condemnation of the fact that the clear recommendation of the Labour Court has been ignored by the company and has directed officials to consider the implications of the developments.
A company spokesman denied that the Government had been told of the plan in advance. On Thursday the Taoiseach said there was "no more" the Government could do about the Irish Ferries' outsourcing plan.
Trade unions claimed yesterday that Irish staff had barricaded themselves into a vital part of the control room on the Isle of Inishmore vessel at Pembroke. The director of human resources at Irish Ferries, Alf McGrath, last night said there were meetings ongoing between management and officers on the Isle of Inishmore at Pembroke and on the Ulysses at Holyhead.
Some passengers scheduled to travel on the vessels last night were transferred to services operated by the rival Stena line from Fishguard. The company said another vessel, the Jonathan Swift, was tied up in Dublin due to bad weather. Siptu sources said some staff had been denied access to the ship.
The stand-offs on the two vessels in Wales came after Irish Ferries sent security personnel onto the vessels without warning yesterday afternoon. Later, groups of agency staff, believed to be from eastern Europe, were brought to the vessels. Mr McGrath said the security personnel were brought on board to protect the vessels and to provide protection for staff. He said the overseas staff would begin "familiarisation" programmes on the vessels before they replaced Irish staff who had accepted the company's redundancy programme. In the meantime existing pay rates and conditions would be maintained.
Siptu said the security personnel had travelled, disguised as ordinary passengers and later changed into uniforms. Siptu branch secretary Paul Smith accused the company of using "jackboot tactics" and of trying to intimidate staff. He could not see Siptu members agreeing to continue with social partnership "with this going on".
Tony Ayton of the International Transport Workers Federation said staff on the vessel at Pembroke would refuse to sail until the security personnel and foreign officers were removed.They had no problem with the eastern European workers who had been brought from home without being told of the dispute.
Mr McGrath said the company had been forced to press ahead with its plans because Siptu had refused to engage with it on its proposals for cross -channel routes. Without reductions in costs Irish Ferries would not exist in two years. He said 90 per cent of staff had agreed to accept its redundancy offer.
Clearly conscious of the impact the affair is having on social partnership hopes, the Minister for Labour Affairs, Tony Killeen was sharply critical of Irish Ferries' latest actions. "It has long since been clear that the company does not intend to comply with the Government's wishes, or indeed to have any regard for the Government's wishes," Mr Killeen said.
Privately, Government sources pointed out that the company would not be open to legal action in the State for its actions in Pembroke, and, indeed, would not be even if the ship had been docked in an Irish port. "Indeed, it would have a legal responsibility for the health and safety of its workers. The statement was no doubt deliberately crafted to ensure that it emphasised health and safety," said one source.