Two high-level initiatives were under way last night to try to prevent the Irish Ferries dispute from spiralling out of control.
Labour Relations Commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey said he had invited Irish Ferries and Siptu to attend exploratory discussions today. Both parties had accepted the invitation.
The National Implementation Body, the State's partnership "watchdog" which comprises representatives of the Government, employers and unions, is also monitoring the dispute and is expected to become involved if necessary. It will not directly intervene, however, as long as the LRC initiative continues.
The increasing involvement of the National Implementation Body follows discussions at the weekend between the secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach, Dermot McCarthy, and the leaders of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, David Begg and Peter McLoone, all of whom sit on the implementation body.
Mr Begg warned yesterday that the dispute had the potential to "destroy everything" that had been built up through 18 years of social partnership. He appealed to the company to "stop digging" and to pull back from the crisis before it did irreparable damage.
An intervention in the dispute by the implementation body earlier this month failed to get off the ground. It is understood that Mr Begg and Mr McLoone decided to reactivate it at the weekend after Irish Ferries' human resources director, Alf McGrath, said in a radio discussion that the company had not been aware of the first initiative.
The two Ictu leaders subsequently contacted Mr McCarthy, who chairs the implementation body, and are to hold discussions today with their counterparts in the employers' body, Ibec, Turlough O'Sullivan and Brendan McGinty.
If the implementation body does become directly involved, its initial aim will be to try to take the heat out of the dispute and create the space required for negotiations on a long-term settlement. In the first instance, that would involve the company withdrawing the security personnel and agency workers who boarded its vessels last week. That is also likely to be the LRC's objective today.
Ictu's executive council, meanwhile, is likely to go ahead tomorrow with plans for a national day of protest at the company's actions and to highlight union concerns about displacement of jobs and exploitation of workers. Irish Ferries is seeking to replace more than 500 unionised seafarers with agency workers from eastern Europe on pay of €3.60 an hour.
Siptu had called for a national protest this Friday, but it is understood the Ictu executive is more likely to organise the action on Thursday, December 8th, when schools will be closed.
Mr McLoone said Ictu would put all of its resources into organising "a very big, effective day of protest" in the event of the dispute not being resolved. In the meantime, he and other union leaders would put energy and effort into finding a resolution, but they needed the help of the business community and the Government.
Mr Begg emphasised the same point in an interview on RTÉ's This Week programme. "The reaction of the Irish business community is very important. They can exercise an influence that maybe a lot of other people can't."
He again appealed directly to the non-executive directors of the company to use their influence.
"My message to the company, and to its board particularly, is 'for goodness sake stop digging'. This is getting very bad. It will ruin Irish Ferries . . . it will damage the lives of the workers and everybody who is connected with it. It is possible to rescue it, if there is some willingness on the part of everybody to stand back from the brink," Mr Begg added.
