Irish Ferries has clarified the circumstances in which it rejected an invitation to talks at the Labour Court today.
A spokesperson for the company said it had written to the Labour Court saying it would be happy to attend at a mutually convenient date on one specific issue related to procedures. But it would not be attending to raise the substantive issue of the 543 redundancies.
The court had earlier invited management and unions to informal exploratory talks
Earlier, the president of SIPTU Jack O'Connor said that all hell would break loose next week if the row over redundancies at Irish Ferries was not resolved.
Mr O'Connor said this was the worst crisis the Irish partnership process had faced in its 18-year existence. He added that if partnership could not protect workers from what he called blatant abuse of their rights, then it was not worth being in it.
Unions have warned that they will use all their firepower to uphold the rights of workers at the company, which is seeking to secure voluntary redundancies from 550 employees by next Monday.
The issue was raised at a meeting in Dublin this morning of the International Transport Workers' Federation, at which the prospect was raised of a blockade of ports by French workers in sympathy with their Irish counterparts.
In a statement last night, Irish Ferries said it recognised that the concern being expressed by the Taoiseach and others about its action was real and genuine. But it said that unless it took immediate steps to reduce its cost base, the competition which it is facing would threaten Irish Ferries' survival.
