Irish Ferries has rejected a Labour Court ruling that it breached employment agreements when it attempted to replace almost 550 Irish workers with cheaper agency staff from overseas.
In a statement released to the stock exchange, the Irish Ferries parent company, Irish Continental Group, said that the recommendations were not acceptable or possible to implement.
The statement said that unless the company took action to reduce its labour costs by a substantial voluntary severance and outsourcing programme, the outlook for Irish Ferries was for reduced earnings.
The Minister of State at the Department of the Marine, Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher, has called on all sides to work together to end the row before it did any further harm.
Last year SIPTU and the Seamen's Union of Ireland concluded an agreement with the company permitting outsourcing of staff on the French route. In exchange, the company was to maintain normal staffing on its Irish sea routes until 2007.
In a Labour Court ruling, Chairman Kevin Duffy said that the company had not made a sufficiently compelling case to justify its unilateral termination of that employment agreement.
He said the proposals put forward by the company went significantly further than merely seeking to review the agreement.
Mr Duffy also said that the Labour Court was not satisfied that all possibilities of renegotiating aspects of the agreement had been exhausted.
He ruled that the company should continue to honour last year's agreement on staffing and that the parties should resume negotiations on such modifications as may be necessary in order to address any changes in circumstances.
He also ruled that the terms of a Registered Employment Agreement for ships officers was clear and binding on both sides.
This means that both the company and unions will be obliged to give two weeks' notice in writing of any proposed change or industrial action.
This afternoon, SIPTU's General President Jack O'Connor said his union was available to enter negotiations with the company on possible amendments to the agreement.
