Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 214: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the situation which has arisen at a company (details supplied) in County Cork; if his attention has further been drawn to the fact that workers have not been paid in three weeks and that company management is behaving in a manner similar to Irish Ferries by attempting to change the employment conditions from full-time to seasonal without proper consultation with the workers; and the actions he intends to take to address the plight of the workers at this company. [39973/05]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I have no direct role in the resolution of this or other similar disputes. I understand that the Deputy's concerns are regarding the reorganisation proposals, where the company has announced that 35 full-time positions will be affected from January 2006. From then, work will be available on a seasonal basis for those staff. It has been reported that the company's proposals could result in a reduction in the number of working weeks per worker to between 26 and 30 weeks per year. The company is also seeking to introduce new shift arrangements.

The union claims that management tried to introduce the new shift arrangements in November, four weeks ahead of schedule. When workers continued to work the old shift pattern, they were issued with written warnings and several workers were suspended. The trade union balloted workers and served notice of industrial action on the company.

At meetings up to and including 6 December 2005 with the company and the trade union, the Labour Relations Commission succeeded in facilitating the resolution of some of the issues in dispute and others were referred to the Labour Court. On 6 December, the Labour Relations Commission made proposals for the resolution of some of the outstanding issues in dispute between the parties. I understand that both the company and the trade union representatives agreed to recommend the commission's proposals to senior management and their members, respectively. However, the trade union members rejected elements of the proposals and industrial action began on Thursday last, 8 December 2005.

The Labour Relations Commission has maintained contact with the parties and invited them to conciliation talks to explore ways of resolving the outstanding issues. The commission met the parties on 13 December but a resolution to the issues in dispute was not found. The Labour Relations Commission intends to keep in contact with the parties with a view to achieving a resolution, and I hope that both sides will engage constructively with the commission in an effort to find a resolution to the dispute.

The system of industrial relations in Ireland is essentially voluntary in nature. For cases, however, where the parties have failed to find a solution to the issues in dispute, the State provides the dispute-settling machinery of the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court. Ultimately, however, responsibility for the resolution of issues in dispute lies with the parties concerned.