Workers and management at Doyle Shipping Group began talks on Monday in a bid to stave off industrial action over pay and conditions.
Members of trade union Siptu employed by the stevedoring company at Dublin Port planned to begin rolling 72-hour work stoppages on July 19th after serving notice on Doyle's management earlier this month.
However, the union confirmed that it had suspended the industrial action for two weeks to allow talks between workers’ representatives and management.
Siptu said members voted for action in a bid to improve pay and conditions, highlight their concerns about safety, and to get the company to recognise the union.
Workers agreed to suspend indsutrial action pending the outcome of the talks, so have the option of going ahead with the planned work stoppages in 14 days’ time if no deal is reached.
Doyle Shipping loads and unloads cargo vessels and provides other services at ports around the Republic.
Industrial action
Siptu notified the company on July 9th of its intention to take industrial action after members voted by a large majority in favour of the move.
The union said workers made the decision following the company’s refusal to recognise Siptu for the purposes of collective bargaining.
“Our members in Doyle Shipping Group are among the lowest paid workers in Dublin Port,” Siptu official Jim McVeigh said earlier this month.
Siptu maintained that it had tried for several years to engage the company in talks on pay and conditions.
The union also said the company’s refusal to discuss safety issues further angered workers.
The Health and Safety Authority is investigating the death in May of a young man who had been employed by Doyle Shipping Group.
The company was last year fined €850,000 for the death of a worker in 2018.
Doyle Shipping maintains that it “operates rigorous health and safety policies, procedures and training at its operations in Dublin Port”.
