Around 50 Siptu members of Irish Ferries yesterday voted unanimously at a general meeting in Dublin to reject the company's plans to offer a redundancy package to its existing workforce and to recruit new staff from abroad on lower salaries.
They called on management to negotiate with the union on the future of the company.
The union said the indications were that hundreds of employees in the company had changed their minds about accepting the severance package. Siptu also claimed there had been bullying and intimidation of workers into signing the redundancy acceptances.
Speaking after the meeting, some workers told of how they were now set to seek the return of acceptance forms they had submitted to the company in recent days.
Kenneth McKenna from Tallaght, a master-at-arms with Irish Ferries, said he had initially accepted the company's severance package but had now changed his mind.
Speaking after a general meeting of Siptu members in the company yesterday, Mr McKenna said initially it had seemed the workforce was "being dumped at the side of the road" and there was no way out.
He said that after 30 years of service in the company he would have walked away with "quite a lot of money" under the Irish Ferries severance package.
"I accepted the deal. I have a family at home. They were the main issue", he said.
However, he said he had changed his mind and would be applying later today for the return of his original acceptance of the offer.
He said that where previously it had seemed there was no way out, there now appeared to be light at the end of the tunnel and the firm may have to negotiate.
Mr McKenna said nobody wanted to see Irish Ferries go under. However, he said if it came to a strike that the workers "would be ready with shin-guards on and mouth-shields ready".
Thomas Tully from Dublin, a boatswain on the Irish Ferries vessel MV Ulysses, said that from day one he had had decided he would not be signing the redundancy offer.
He said that after 27 years of service he would have received a substantial severance payment under the deal.
However, Mr Tully said as a trade unionist - he is chair of the ratings' section of Siptu - he believed the company was seeking to exclude the union.
He said he had no problem with staff from overseas, but he believed everyone should be paid "a decent day's salary for a decent day's work".
