Madam, - Eamonn Rothwell, Chief Executive of Irish Ferries, paints a picture of intransigent unions with a penchant for strikes (Opinion, October 1st).
He does not say that during 2003-2004 the unions negotiated and agreed with the company a three-year arrangement that yielded savings of more than €3 million, or that the agreement has another 21 months to run. The threat of industrial action was provoked by his policy.
Secondly, Mr Rothwell suggests outside consultants were "nominated by Siptu". They were brought in by joint agreement. The terms of reference were agreed and signed by Mr Rothwell on July 15th this year. The consultants conducted a thorough examination of the company's financial and trading position. Their report, if implemented, would have produced over €15 million in savings.
It contained a lot of painful changes for union members but, being pragmatic, they were favourably disposed towards co-operating. Unfortunately, within 24 hours of the report being delivered the company unilaterally rejected it.
Mr Rothwell also misrepresents the Labour Court judgment of February 24th and the pay determination policies of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), which has over 600 union affiliates representing over 5 million transport industry workers, including more than 600,000 seafarers.
The Labour Court merely acknowledged that the use of agency staff is normal in the shipping industry. Within days of its findings being issued we became aware that Irish Ferries was using this phrase as an endorsement of its policy of cheap labour and sub-standard working conditions on the Ireland-France route. We wrote immediately to the Labour Court. Its chairman, Mr Kevin Duffy, replied by return letter making it clear that the court's comments could not in any circumstances be taken as an endorsement of the company's pay policy.
Mr Rothwell seriously misrepresents ITF pay policy when he says we endorse a wage of $17,300 a year for ferry crews on the Irish Sea. By the way, this works out at €4.20c an hour, not €3.60c. As he knows well, this is not an ITF rate in European waters. The rates are set out in our Athens Policy document of October 1995.
In plain English a wage rate cannot legitimately be described as an ITF one, or ITF-approved, unless it is negotiated and agreed locally between the owners/operators of a ferry and the local union(s) affiliated to the ITF.
What Irish Ferries has imposed on the Ireland-France route and now wants to impose on the Irish Sea routes is a unilaterally determined pay rate and conditions of employment - a rate that is less than half the national minimum wage.
The ITF, being a worldwide body, endorses hundreds of pay agreements reflecting local pay norms and conditions. It follows that pay rates vary widely. Since ships travel to ports all over the world, it is possible to find seafarers on rates set by ITF-approved agreements elsewhere that are only a fraction of the legal minimum wage in Ireland.
We have a small number of what we describe as rogue ship-owners/operators in Irish waters who impose pay rates and sub-standard conditions on non-union ships' crews. These operators quote each others' pay rates in a pathetic attempt to create the impression that this is the norm.
We also have ships on the Irish Sea where the officers are members of unions affiliated to the ITF and the sailors are drawn from the Third World. Ship-owners often represent these ships as being covered by an ITF-approved agreement. These are practices we are committed to eradicating.
When a "blue chip" company such as Irish Ferries tries to create floating sweatshops it is promoting a "race to the bottom", with potentially horrific consequences not just for seafarers, but for all workers. - Yours, etc,
TONY AYTON, ITF inspector Northern Ireland & Republic of Ireland, International Transport Workers' Federation, Connolly Hall, Waterford.