A Dublin port company at the centre of a lengthy strike has been granted a High Court injunction restraining two trade union groups and a number of individuals from distributing information or personal details of staff who are working through the dispute.
Mr Justice Kevin Feeney granted cargo handling company Marine Terminals Limited (MTL) a permanent injunction against Siptu, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) and 10 other workers and trade union officials.
The defendants include Ictu assistant general secretary Peter Bunting, Siptu general secretary Joe O’Flynn, Siptu organisers Oliver McDonagh and Christy McQuillan, Ken Fleming of the International Transport Workers Federation, and five current and former employees of MTL.
The company had previously secured an interim injunction against the defendants.
Siptu members at MTL have been on strike for about 10 weeks in a dispute over the alleged implementation of compulsory redundancies and changes to working pay and terms and conditions.
MTL said the defendants, as part of an “unlawful escalation” of the dispute, had tried to “coerce and intimidate” employees who were not on strike to cease working, by calling them scabs, and engaging in a "name-and-shame" campaign.
The defendants, while accepting that there had been “an escalated progression of the dispute” and that they had described other workers as “scabs”, denied that they have engaged in unlawful industrial action.
The court heard yesterday that, last month, a group of protesters travelled to Athy, Co Kildare, where some of the individuals who continue to work at MTL live, and erected posters and distributed fliers identifying those workers.
Mr Justice Feeney said an examination of the evidence suggested the trade union had promoted the "name-and-shame" and fly posting campaign.
He said making the decision was something of a “balancing exercise” as the defendants had the freedom to express their opinions but that this was eclipsed by the person who was identified in the posters right to privacy and right to work.
He granted an injunction restraining the 12 defendants from distributing information or personal details of staff who are working through the dispute.
Mr Justice Feeney also granted an injunction against three of the defendants who were restrained from watching or besetting or accosting anybody employed by Marine Terminals or from intimidating or harassing them.
In a statement issued following the judgement, MTL said it was extremely pleased at the decision which “shows that threats and intimidation have no place in today's industrial relations”.
Siptu said it was a lengthy judgement which its legal team would be studying carefully.
