Siptu has secured a temporary High Court injunction suspending Irish Ferries compulsory redundancy plan for four days.
The injunction will remain in place until next Wednesday. Under the order the company is barred from issuing compulsory redundancy notices or otherwise terminating the employment of members of the union, pending a full hearing.
The is to meet Siptu and Irish Ferries management will meet at the Labour Court on Monday. The union has given an undertaking not to engage in industrial action while the court is examining the dispute.
Earlier today Irish Ferries claimed more than 80 per cent of its employees had accepted a redundancy package offered to staff. The company plans to replace them with agency staff on lower pay.
A spokesman for the company said as of this morning, 444 people, or nearly 82 per cent of those eligible for the package, had accepted its terms. Six people have informed the company they are willing to remain on the lower pay rates and the remaineder have until 6pm Sunday evening to make their decision.
Unions representing the staff disputed that this number of employees had applied for redundancy, accusing the company of trying to stampede employees to accept the offer.
The company also refused a second invitation to attend the Labour Court this afternoon, deciding instead to attend on Monday, when the final number of those who have accepted the redundancy deal will be known.
The decision by the ferry firm to replace its exisiting workforce by agency staff was last night described as deplorable and unacceptable by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in the Dáil. The company has defended the scheme.
Mr Ahern said the plan - under which staff who do not take redundancy will have to accept lower pay and conditions - as sharp practice which was unacceptable in the Irish labour market.