Landmark agreement reached at Irish Ferries

A key element of the December 2005 settlement, in the major dispute between Irish Ferries and the trade unions, was the drafting of a legally binding agreement which was unique in an Irish industrial relations context.

Background

A legally binding agreement, which was agreed in principle as part of the resolution of the dispute at Irish Ferries at the end of 2005, has now been finalised.

Industrial action came to an end at the ferry company when the state dispute-resolution institutions – the National Implementation Body (NIB) and the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) – drew up proposals for an agreement acceptable to the company’s management and to the two trade unions involved, the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) and the Seamen’s Union of Ireland (SUI) (IE0512203F).

At one stage, the dispute posed a threat to talks on a national social partnership agreement; it also highlighted a number of critical issues for the future of industrial relations in Ireland.

The dispute began after management unilaterally issued proposals to replace 543 directly employed seafarers with predominantly eastern European agency workers and to reflag its vessels to Cyprus in the process. Management introduced agency crew workers aboard Irish Ferries’ vessels, backed by a security presence. This prompted SIPTU to engage in industrial action, although SIPTU ship officers only represented a minority of the workforce. As a result, Irish Ferries’ ships were delayed in Welsh and Irish ports for almost three weeks.

Agreement parameters

The settlement resulted in Irish Ferries receiving the ‘green light’ to outsource crews and to reflag its vessels to Cyprus. This enabled the company to secure cost savings amounting to €11.5 million.

The unions secured Irish minimum wage standards for the new, predominantly Latvian (LV0512104F) contract personnel and an agreement that pay and conditions will be maintained for the existing seafarers, who choose to remain with the company.

Employees who left were to receive a severance offer of up to eight weeks’ pay per year of service, which compared favourably with ‘top-end’ severance packages in Ireland.

The main outstanding issue to be resolved was the legal agreement on future employment protection issues. This was finalised on 14 March 2006 and gives legal effect to the December settlement. It ties the parties involved to its terms for a three-year period, commencing on 14 December 2005 and running until 14 December 2008.

According to the Irish weekly independent publication, Industrial Relations News (IRN), which carried details of the agreement in a recent edition, the legal aspects of this company-level agreement are new in an Irish industrial relations context. The provisions of the legal agreement will take precedence over existing collective bargaining agreements.

The five groups that are party to the legal agreement are listed as Irish Ferries, SIPTU, SUI, Dobson Fleet Management (a shipping agency based in Cyprus) and ‘non-accepting employees’ (the 48 ‘existing’ unionised workers). The almost 500 new agency staff, referred to in the legal document as ‘other employees’, will not be party to the legal agreement directly. This, however, is not intended to obstruct any of the parties from enforcing its terms on behalf of ‘other employees’.

Agency staff

According to IRN, agency staff (i.e. ‘other employees’) can, if necessary, avail of union representation to enforce their entitlements. Irish Ferries will facilitate an introductory meeting between SIPTU/SUI and Dobson in order to clarify that the company has no objection to the conclusion of collective bargaining agreements between Dobson and SIPTU/SUI.

It is believed that Dobson will ensure that agency staff receive a written employment contract which incorporates a clause outlining the aspects of the legal agreement applying to them, named as ‘other employees’ in the agreement. Any party can seek to enforce the rights of agency staff, provided that the written consent of the worker or workers is obtained.

Significantly, no other provisions of Irish law or statute – apart from the national minimum wage provisions and any future national wage arrangements – will be incorporated by the legal agreement into the terms and conditions of employment of agency staff. This effectively means, in practice, that agency staff, defined as ‘other employees’, will require formal representation to exercise Irish employment protection rights.

Nonetheless, as a legally binding contractual right, the 48 ‘non-accepting employees’ will be entitled to the full benefits of an employee under Irish law (including statute law). Indeed, this will guarantee that these workers are entitled to the same rights as would apply if they were still employed on an Irish-registered ship. This obviously provides them with greater employment protection than those agency staff members who are not afforded Irish-registered ship status.

Moreover, employment disputes are to be dealt with through a grievance and disputes procedure. It has been agreed that SIPTU can only submit grievances lodged by SIPTU members and that, likewise, the SUI can only deal with the grievances of SUI members.

Practical issues

In practical terms, it is not clear how non-unionised agency staff will be able to process disputes. If disputes cannot be resolved within the company, then they will be referred to the LRC and Labour Court. If a dispute cannot be resolved at the Labour Court stage, then a legally binding arbitration procedure will apply.

Any party involved in a dispute can refer disputed issues to an arbitrator, who is to be mutually agreed between the parties involved. The arbitrator has the power to make final legally binding and enforceable decisions on a dispute. In certain circumstances, appeals can be made to the higher law courts, including to Ireland’s High Court.

Brian Sheehan, IRN Publishing