All the indications yesterday were that the dispute could be a long one, writes Chris Dooley.
The strike at Irish Ferries which began yesterday was well-signposted. Finding a way out of the dispute will not be so easy.
As the company yesterday began laying off its workers, all the indications were that the dispute could be a long one.
The strike by ships' officers, members of SIPTU, is in response to a decision by the company to outsource employment next year on its MV Normandy service between Rosslare and France.
Instead of using its own workers to crew the vessel, the company has contracted an external agency to supply staff for the ship.
Of the 150 crew employed on the Normandy before it was taken out of service last month for the off-season winter period, all but 25 have accepted a voluntary severance package.
The 25 who chose to stay are being offered jobs on the company's Irish Sea services, and some have already transferred.
SIPTU's concern, however, is not confined to the fate of the individual workers. Rather, it is the principle of outsourcing staff that the union is opposing.
It fears that if the company is allowed to replace Irish staff with "low cost foreign crews" on its continental route, it will later seek to do the same on its Irish Sea services.
The company responds that it is prepared to offer guarantees that this will not happen, but claims its unions have so far not been prepared to listen.
It says outsourcing is necessary on its continental route because its Normandy service has become increasingly uncompetitive.
Mr Alf McGrath, director of human resources, said the company made no money on the route in 2003 and this year recorded a loss "just short of a seven-figure sum".
The company cites two main reasons for its inability to compete on the route under present arrangements.
First, competition from low-cost airlines has intensified.
Second, its competitor on the route, Brittany Ferries, is subsidised by local and regional government in France. Rather than withdraw from the route, it says it decided to outsource crew in order to safeguard the long-term operation of the service.
These reasons cut little ice with SIPTU official Mr Paul Smyth, who claims the move is motivated by profit alone.
He says the union is prepared to talk about cutting costs on the route, but it will not countenance outsourcing.
The row, of course, is part of a bigger picture which involves trade union opposition in general to the idea of outsourcing staff.
If the trend takes hold, they fear, more and more companies will replace well-paid, unionised, pensioned staff with "yellow pack labour". The trend has been characterised by SIPTU president Mr Jack O'Connor as a "race to the bottom".
SIPTU has already fought a losing battle at Independent Newspapers over its decision to make most of its non-editorial staff redundant and replace them with outsourced labour. It is opposing similar moves at Aer Lingus.
With the two sides in such fundamental opposition, it is difficult to see how the Irish Ferries dispute can be resolved.
Even finding an agreed basis for discussions has proved beyond the parties. Irish Ferries says it cannot negotiate "with a gun to its head", in other words while a strike is in place.
But every day that passes without a resolution is likely to see more of the company's 1,200 staff laid off, and more exporters struggling to find spare capacity on ferries to get their products transported to Britain.
The MV Ulysses, for example, has space for enough vehicles to cover a three-mile stretch if lined up bumper to bumper. That's a lot of capacity taken out of the system at one of the busiest periods of the year.