The Irish Ferries dispute Tony Dobbins
A bitter industrial dispute relating to downsizing was ignited in Ireland in September 2005 when Irish Ferries sought 543 ‘voluntary’ redundancies from its unionised Irish staff, who were to be replaced by cheaper non-union Eastern European agency-sourced labour, mainly from Latvia, on much lower wage rates and terms and conditions. While many workers accepted the redundancy terms on offer, many did not and faced a pay cut when Irish Ferries announced lower pay and conditions. In November 2005, the Labour Court issued a non-binding recommendation that Irish Ferries should continue to retain directly employed Irish staff until 2007. Irish Ferries rejected this recommendation. At the end of November, Irish Ferries brought in Eastern European agency crew to replace Irish crew and a number of Irish crew members locked themselves in the ship’s boiler room. These events brought the dispute to a head and the main union (SIPTU) escalated industrial action against the company.
Tens of thousands of people subsequently marched on the streets in a national day of protest in support of the Irish Ferries workers. The dispute had broader national implications because it threatened to endanger the whole model of Irish social partnership at the time. Because of the potential wider spill-over from the dispute, enormous efforts were made to reach a settlement. Finally, in December 2005, a legally binding agreement was reached during talks at the Labour Relations Commission. The settlement permitted the company to proceed with its plans to use non-union agency crews and reflag its vessels to Cyprus. A further element involved Irish Ferries conceding to paying non-Irish outsourced agency workers the Irish minimum wage rate (€7.65 per hour in 2005).
Although much lower than what unionised Irish workers in the company had originally been receiving, it was significantly higher than the €3.57 rate initially proposed by the company for agency crew. Finally, the terms and conditions of employment for those remaining unionised Irish workers (a maximum of 48) were to be ‘red-circled’ and their terms and conditions protected. Although a settlement had been reached, the consequences of this dispute were to place issues such as a ‘race to the bottom’, job displacement and labour standards at the centre of Irish and, indeed, European employment relations. In the aftermath of the dispute, Irish unions successfully lobbied for a new legal framework to prevent future cases of collective redundancies and displacement of workers by employers using cheaper labour. The Protection of Employees (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act 2007 was introduced under a commitment in the then national social partnership agreement. However, uncertainty surrounding pressures for a ‘race to the bottom’ in labour standards remain in Irish, and European, employment relations.
