The National Implementation Body (NIB) is to meet tomorrow to discuss the situation at Irish Ferries, where strike action is in prospect following the company's decision to seek 543 voluntary redundancies.
The NIB meeting was called after the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) intervened at the request of the Seamen's Union of Ireland, which represents around 60 per cent of the workers affected.
The body, which polices implementation of national partnership deals, consists of high-level representatives of the Government, employers and unions who will be mindful of the disruption to trade and travel that any strike on the Irish Sea ferry routes would entail.
Meanwhile, Irish Ferries declined to comment on SIPTU's Monday night decision to issue strike notice, ICTU's intervention or the call by the Minister for the Marine, Pat the Cope Gallagher, for the company to delay implementation of its plan pending consideration of a report on government support for the industry.
However, a spokesman for Irish Ferries said the redundancy package remained "very much on the table", despite Siptu's decision to issue the company with two weeks' strike notice.
The union has expressed its determination to resist the company's move to outsource by hiring cheaper, contracted crews from countries such as Latvia and Poland to replace the workers who decide to depart, while those who remain will see their working conditions deteriorate.
However, the Irish Ferries package, which offers workers up to eight weeks' pay per year of service with no cap, is likely to prove attractive to a large number of workers, some of whom stand to receive more than €200,000.
Robert Carrick, head of the Seamen's Union of Ireland, said he expected take-up of the package by his members, some of whom have up to 30 years' service with the company, to be "extremely high".
But he has sought the ICTU's intervention to negotiate on behalf of those workers who choose not to take the redundancy and are facing big changes to their working conditions, including lower pay and less time-off.
Mr Carrick said he wanted those workers to be "red circled" and their working conditions retained.
Irish Ferries says it needs to cut costs in the face of increased competition from low-cost airlines and other ferry operators who already use outsourced crew. The company is also facing higher oil costs and the prospect of a hike in its PRSI bill.
Analysts estimate the cost to Irish Ferries of the redundancy package at between €10 million and €20 million, depending on the numbers taking up the offer and their grades.
