Rough Seas
The ongoing dispute at Irish Ferries over the importation of foreign labour has far-reaching ramifications in Ireland. The company in question announced some months back that they were offering voluntary redundancies to some 500 staff and replacing them with cheaper agency workers, mainly from the EU accession states. Any remaining Irish Ferries staff who turned down the voluntary redundancy will have their pay and conditions altered and it is these workers who feel most aggrieved.
Irish Ferries are reportedly going to pay these new workers €3.50 an hour, less than half the Irish minimum wage. How can they do this? By registering their ships in the Bahamas and operating under that country’s minimum wage provisions. This is obviously the crux of the issue. How can a shipping company operating between Ireland, France and the UK justify paying rates more akin to Caribbean standards? Surely the customers that use Irish Ferries are not paying Caribbean prices for their tickets?
The manner in which Irish Ferries have handled this dispute has been nothing short of contemptuous. They have ignored the recommendations of the Labour Relations Commission and even the protestations of ‘Comrade’ Bertie Ahern when he said in the Dail that what was happening was wrong.
Crucially, Bertie has also said there is nothing the government can do about it. This would not be how SIPTU see it and their repeated soundings about the partnership talks being in jeopardy will be ringing alarm bells in Leinster House. Social Partnership has been one of the cornerstones of this country’s success in the last 15 years largely because it put a stop to the industrial disputes which crippled the country in the 1980’s. The government may yet come out of this with more than a bloody nose.
Finally, the plight of the new agency workers must be borne in mind. They were shepherded onto the ships late last week by security guards to start their new jobs only to find themselves at the centre of a bitter dispute. These workers will be paid considerably less than their Irish counterparts and their readiness to take the jobs illustrates the desperation of their circumstances. The willingness of Irish Ferries to exploit their situation reeks of a company who have no intention of being left behind in the ‘race to the bottom’.
Published by Colm.
Irish Ferries are reportedly going to pay these new workers €3.50 an hour, less than half the Irish minimum wage. How can they do this? By registering their ships in the Bahamas and operating under that country’s minimum wage provisions. This is obviously the crux of the issue. How can a shipping company operating between Ireland, France and the UK justify paying rates more akin to Caribbean standards? Surely the customers that use Irish Ferries are not paying Caribbean prices for their tickets?
The manner in which Irish Ferries have handled this dispute has been nothing short of contemptuous. They have ignored the recommendations of the Labour Relations Commission and even the protestations of ‘Comrade’ Bertie Ahern when he said in the Dail that what was happening was wrong.
Crucially, Bertie has also said there is nothing the government can do about it. This would not be how SIPTU see it and their repeated soundings about the partnership talks being in jeopardy will be ringing alarm bells in Leinster House. Social Partnership has been one of the cornerstones of this country’s success in the last 15 years largely because it put a stop to the industrial disputes which crippled the country in the 1980’s. The government may yet come out of this with more than a bloody nose.
Finally, the plight of the new agency workers must be borne in mind. They were shepherded onto the ships late last week by security guards to start their new jobs only to find themselves at the centre of a bitter dispute. These workers will be paid considerably less than their Irish counterparts and their readiness to take the jobs illustrates the desperation of their circumstances. The willingness of Irish Ferries to exploit their situation reeks of a company who have no intention of being left behind in the ‘race to the bottom’.
Published by Colm.
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