Social partnership looked under increasing threat last night after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said there was "no more" the Government could do to prevent Irish Ferries from implementing its controversial outsourcing plan, writes Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent.
Mr Ahern said he did not think the dispute at the company was going to be resolved, given its refusal to accept a Labour Court recommendation on the issue. "I think that's a pity. I think they should do that [sign up to the recommendation] and I think it will create difficulties if they don't. But I think there's no more that we can do."
The Taoiseach was speaking shortly after Siptu confirmed that ships officers at Irish Ferries had balloted to take industrial action in the event of the company unilaterally implementing its plan.
Siptu is in dispute with the company over its decision to lay off up to 543 unionised seafarers and replace them with agency workers from eastern Europe on hourly pay of €3.60.
The row threatens to derail the 18-year-old social partnership process.
Talks on a successor to Sustaining Progress had been due to begin last week, but unions say they will not take part in the absence of Government guarantees on measures to prevent displacement of jobs and exploitation of migrant workers.
Union leaders say it will be extremely difficult to secure rank-and-file support for their participation in talks if the Irish Ferries dispute is not resolved.
They had hoped Mr Ahern would follow up his condemnations of the company with action to prevent it from implementing its plan.
Various options, such as the possibility of withholding redundancy payments from the company or preventing it from reflagging its vessels, have been suggested.
Mr Ahern indicated last night, however, that none of these had proved viable. He had been saying for three or four weeks that he was open to people making suggestions, and a number had done so, he told The Irish Times.
The Labour Party, for example, had proposed a Bill designed to restrict the circumstances in which an Irish-registered vessel could be reflagged to another country.
"We have looked at that, but none of that seems to hang together that it will resolve the issue.
"The company is determined to go the way they're going and of course they have their staff who are prepared and waiting for their redundancies. And then they have this plan to bring in people below the wage, which is really the issue that I so fundamentally object to."
Mr Ahern was speaking in Dublin city centre prior to launching the Industrial Relations Research Trust.
Siptu ships officers balloted by 68 to 27 in favour of industrial action in the event of the company implementing the plan.
Irish Ferries says it will give two weeks' notice of implementation.