Injunction struck out in Irish Ferries dispute

Siptu and Irish Ferries have agreed to have a High Court injunction - restraining the company from terminating any job contracts - struck out pending talks to resolve the dispute over the company's redundancy plan.

The interim High Court injunction, granted to Siptu last week, prevented Irish Ferries from issuing "compulsory redundancy notices or otherwise terminating their employments".

The union had sought the injunction in the wake of the company's stated intention to replace all 543 staff with cheaper agency workers from eastern Europe.

But in a statement today, Siptu said: "Both parties have agreed to the proceedings being struck today out on the basis of commitments given to the Labour Court on Monday that they would exhaust industrial relations procedures before taking any further action."

Direct discussions between Siptu and the company are due to begin next Monday.

The company has consistently maintained that it is unable to continue operations at it current high cost base.

It blames the situation on low-cost competition and low-fares airlines.

The company also argues that 95 per cent of all ships, excluding those operated by Irish Ferries, sailing into and out of the Republic of Ireland have outsourced crewing arrangements.

It claims that 90 per cent of the workers have agreed to the voluntary redundancy package.

This claim is disputed by Siptu who say hundreds of workers have changed their minds in the wake of revelations that the Attorney General had advised the Government that the severance deal did not meet the certain criteria of the Redundancy Payments legislation.

Yesterday Siptu president Jack O'Connor claimed the Irish Ferries plan reflected a growing culture of greed and exploitation in the economy.

He warned that Siptu's participation in social partnership would be rendered pointless if it fails to protect workers at Irish Ferries.