Irish ferries – a great struggle but a terrible deal.

national | worker & community struggles and protests | opinion/analysis Wednesday January 11, 2006 11:56 by Alan MacSimoin - WSM wsm_ireland at yahoo dot com

On December 14th the three week dispute at Irish Ferries came to an end. SIPTU claimed that the deal protects a “threshold of decency”.

1st Dublin march

Irish Ferries had offered redundancy to 543 crew members, who were to be replaced with staff employed on wages of just €3.60 an hour - less than half the national minimum wage.

The deal, drawn up with the help of the state's Labour Relations Commission, means a two-tier workforce with those staff who reject redundancy keeping their old wages and conditions but all new staff being paid just €7.65 an hour and having longer working hours and fewer holidays. Irish Ferries can re-flag its ships; a three year no-strike agreement and all disputes to be settled by binding arbitration.

This deal was not a victory but it was not a total defeat either. The Latvian workers have seen their pay doubled; they also have gained a month's paid leave for every two months they work, originally the company wanted one months leave for every three months worked.

But this is still a crap deal. SIPTU marine branch official Paul Smyth announced that the deal was "something every SIPTU member should be proud of." Does this mean that the minimum wage is now a "decent" wage?

The role that was played by the Seamans Union of Ireland, a small union with a long history of undemocratic practices and not upsetting the bosses, in undermining the strike should not be forgotten. While SIPTU members were occupying, the SUI started a petition in support of the redundancy deal. They just wanted their money and didn't care about the workers who wanted to stay or the Latvian workers. Now that they have their cash, they are not interested in recruiting and helping the Latvian sailors to improve their lot. Instead they are talking of winding up their union.

It was the militant action of SIPTU members on the ships and in the ports, and the huge numbers who marched on December 9th, which slowed down the attack on workers' rights. But we only slowed it down, we have not made the bosses back off. Roches Stores and the Examiner newspaper group are just two of the latest to replace staff with lower paid workers.

Ships occupied

The dispute escalated on November 24th when goons from a private security firm brought Eastern European seafarers onto the ships. If the ferries resumed sailing the dispute would be effectively over, with Irish Ferries winning hands down.

Four ship's officers, John Curry, Brian Whitfield, Gary Jones and Vincent Hederington, barricaded themselves into the control room of the 'Isle of Inishmore' in Pembroke. The 'Ulysses' in Holyhead was similarly occupied. The third ship was tied up in Dublin, with harbour pilots and shore staff refusing to let it leave port.

This direct action, as opposed to passive appeals to Bertie Ahern or polite talks with management, is what turned public sympathy into solidarity. When the workers started to fight back the mood changed from one of feeling sorry for them to one of wanting to do something to help them beat the company.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, the ICTU leaders went no further than a half day of action. They used our presence on the streets to strengthen their position for the next round of partnership talks rather than to inflict a decisive defeat on one of the meanest and most ruthless firms in the country.

Magnificent show of solidarity

The old union motto "an injury to one is the concern of all" is taken more seriously by ordinary union members than by many of our "leaders".

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, sheltering behind the 1990 Industrial Relations Act which makes strikes in support of other workers unlawful, didn't call for a national walk-out. We knew they wanted us to strike and march but their over-cautious approach didn't exactly inspire workers with particularly aggressive employers.

Nevertheless 80,000 marched in Dublin, 15,000 in Waterford, 10-15,000 in Cork, 10,000 in Limerick, 3,000 in Tralee, 2,500 in Sligo, 2,000 in Athlone, 2,000 in Rosslare, and 1,000 in Galway. When we add in those who walked out of work but didn't get to their local march and those who attended smaller rallies like that organised at the last minute in Drogheda, we have about 150,000 workers taking part. This included many recently arrived workers from Eastern Europe, who are on the lowest wages.

Most of our unions are run by people who see their role as simply lobbying the government, providing services and dealing with individual members' problems rather than also fighting to improve pay and conditions. These people have no interest in conflict with employers or government, being the most enthusiastic supporters of 'social partnership'.

Our unions have fantastic potential. We have the numbers and we have the ability to close down the country. But as long as we place our trust in the likes of Begg and O’Connor that potential will remain untapped. They have us fighting like a drunk with one hand behind our back and the other in our pocket. The more weakness the bosses see, the harder they stick the boot in.

What is happening now is an attempt by the employers to boost profits by taking back hard fought for improvements we have won in previous years. Irish Ferries is just the most blatant example so far. If we place our trust in union leaders who prefer 'partnership' to combat, we will see a gradual erosion of most of the pay rates and working conditions we take for granted at present.

As more of these struggles break out, we will need to build a network of union activists to organise solidarity action in support of those prepared to fight back. And we need to show that this sort of attack on working people is part and parcel of capitalism. That’s why we want to get rid of this system and replace it with one where power lies in the hands of those affected by decisions and where the economy is organised to satisfy human needs and desires - not to line the pockets of a small class of rich parasites.