Support For Striking Dublin Port Workers Grows

The strike at Marine Terminals Ltd in Dublin Port is now in its 9th week.
The support for the striking workers has been tremendous, both locally and internationally.
The numbers on the protest marches continue to increase.The entire Trade Union movement in Ireland now backs the official strike action.
Messages of support have come from all over the world and European Docker's are soon to strike in solidarity.
MTL freight traffic has dropped by over 30%, having relocated to other companies within Dublin Port.
MTL are feeling the pressure and have finally agreed to engage with the Labour Relations Commission.
Time will tell if this is a sincere attempt at real negotiation or another PR stunt.
The Dublin Port Company have consistently refused to intervene in this dispute with a view to taking MTL & Peel Ports to task and answer for their deplorable behaviour in its treatment of its employees.
However, Dublin Port Company were quick to act when they applied for and were granted a High Court Injunction against 2 respected local pensioners who took part in a "floating picket" on the river Liffey.
Meanwhile, Marine Terminals have been granted another High Court Injunction, this more bizarre as it is designed to prevent strikers from referring to scabs as scabs. It seems you can ask the courts for anything when you are a billionaire.

http://www.mtldockers.com/index.html

Injunction granted against union's 'scabs' posters

AN injunction has been issued by the High Court against senior members of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and SIPTU after posters were plastered all over Athy on Thursday alleging that local man Brian Dooley was attempting to break a strike in Dublin Port.
Mr. Dooley, a candidate for Fianna Fail in the recent local elections, works as an Operations Manager for a company in the port called Marine Terminals.
Last Thursday, August 27, a group of people put up a significant number of posters in Athy featuring a picture of Mr. Dooley, and a headline that read "WANTED For Crimes Against Irish Workers".
There has been ongoing industrial strife at the company since the early summer.
The poster went on to claim: "Your "failed" elected representative is actively involved in strike-breaking at marine terminals in Dublin port."
Brian Dooley replaces Dublin Dock workers with scabs from Kildare, Belfast, the UK and Clydeport in Scotland.
"Brian's brothers Cathal Dooley and John Dooley and James O'Connor, Chris Hutchinson and Simon Doody, make up the Kildare strike-breaking team at Marine Terminals."
Employed on lower wages and weaker terms and conditions these scabs contribute nothing to our country while Dublin Dock workers face being sacked by Brian Dooley," the poster's text concluded.
The vast majority of posters came down as quickly as they went up.
"Business people in the town came out and removed them," Mr. Dooley told the Leinster Leader.
"They rang me about it at the time," he said, adding that the news came as a shock to him.
"And for that I have to say thank you to the people of the town."
He said he couldn't comment any further while the matter was before the courts.
On Monday, August 31, the High Court granted an interim injunction to Mr. Dooley's employers Marine Terminal against SIPTU, ICTU and a number of officials and workers from seeking to harass staff who are continuing to work.
Marcus Dowling, counsel for Marine Terminals, told the court that the flier was a clear attempt to intimidate those named in it to stop working during the strike.Noting that the injunction was granted an ex-parte (one side only) basis, a spokesperson for SIPTU told the Leinster Leader that the union would be legally represented when the case returned to the High Court tomorrow, Thursday, September 3.
"The matter is with our legal team," the spokesperson Frank Connolly explained, saying that this prevented him from commenting further or confirming or denying whether SIPTU or any of its members were involved in the posters in Athy.

http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/Injunction-granted-against-union39s-39scabs39.5607537.jp

Progress in talks to end Dublin port strikes

Striking workers at Ireland’s busiest container terminal have agreed to a second round of talks with their employers.
The Marine Terminals workers held talks with their employers on Monday and agreed to further talks today (3 September) at the earliest, and by Monday (7 September) at the latest.
Christy McQuillan, a representative from the Irish union SIPTU, said: “A very small amount of progress was made on Monday (31 August) in talks at the Labour Relations Commission with Marine Terminals.
“The progress was limited, but sufficient to warrant resumption of talks, possibly as early as Thursday and no later than Monday.
“Meanwhile, both parties need to reflect on the discussions at the LRC and respond in detail to the particular issues that emerged.”
MTL’s workers have been on strike since 3 July because of disagreements over redundancies and new pay and working conditions.
Previous talks were held with the Labour Relations Commission on 4 August, but failed to yield any results.

http://www.ifw-net.com/freightpubs/ifw/indexarticle.htm?artid=20017694285

TUC warns employers to give best pay deals they can or economy will suffer

Commenting on an IDS survey released today (Thursday) which reveals that median pay settlements dropped to one per cent during May to July 2009, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
'The main period for pay negotiations is now past and this analysis is based on a relatively small sample of pay deals settled relatively late in the year - during the year to date the median pay settlement is 2.3 per cent and earnings are continuing to grow.
'While unions have negotiated pay freezes and short-time working in companies badly hit by the recession, many employers can afford settlements that provide real growth in wages.
'If the trend in this survey continues, it will have serious knock-on effects for the economy if consumers have less money in their pockets.'

http://www.tuc.org.uk/newsroom/tuc-16891-f0.cfm

Ports group profits down

PD Ports’ profits fell by more than 45% in the year to the end of June, as both containerised and bulk volumes were hit by the recession.
Container volumes dropped year-on-year by almost a third, from 770,000teu to 520,000teu, while lo-lo volumes declined 26% and ro-ro traffic 14%.
Non-containerised traffic dropped 11% because of the “uncertainty” surrounding Corus’ steel production site at its Teesport facility, which is facing closure.
PD Ports said the recession-related volume decreases caused its ebitda to drop from £59.5m (US$96.6m) to £32.6m while revenues fell to £121.6m from £133.6m.
Looking to the next 12 months, PD Ports was confident its volumes would increase, as retailer Tesco had opened an import facility at the port.
PD Ports’ owner, Babcock and Brown Infrastructure, confirmed it was pushing ahead with the sale of PD Ports, as previously reported in IFW.

http://www.ifw-net.com/freightpubs/ifw/newsarticle.htm?artid=20017693284

SIPTU welcomes small measure of progress in talks on Marine Terminals dispute at LRC

“A very small amount of progress was made today in talks at the Labour Relations Commission with Marine Terminals”, SIPTU Regional Secretary Christy McQuillan said today after over seven hours of talks. The LRC invited both sides to talks in an effort to end the nine week long strike, sparked by the company’s attempt to implement mass redundancies and drastic cuts in pay and conditions unilaterally.
“The progress was limited but sufficient to warrant resumption of talks, possibly as early as Thursday and no later than Monday”, Mr McQuillan said. “Meanwhile both parties need to reflect on the discussions at the LRC and respond in detail to the particular issues that emerged.”
Responding the Marine Terminals statement about alleged intimidation, Mr. McQuillan said, “SIPTU does not condone intimidation by anyone. I understand from the media that the company has initiated legal proceedings against a number of trade unionists, including members of SIPTU and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. As we have not yet received any particulars we are not in a position to respond, but we will certainly do so in due course.”

http://www.siptu.ie/PressRoom/NewsReleases/2009/Name,11042,en.html

Strike Breakers

Marine Terminals has been granted an interim injunction against Siptu, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and a number of officials and workers from referring to the Strike Breakers as scabs.On Monday 31st the High Court was told that last week a group of protesters had travelled to Athy in Co Kildare, where they put up posters identifying a Strike-Breaker who lives in the town.Yesterday, the company sought the orders over actions by the union and the strikers who are allegedly intimidating the Strike-Breakers by calling them scabs.Mr Justice Kevin Feeney granted Marine Terminals an interim injunction against Siptu, Ictu and 10 named individuals.Those individuals include Ictu assistant general secretary Peter Bunting, Siptu officials Oliver McDonagh and Christy McQuillan, and the union’s general secretary Joe O’Flynn.Ken Fleming, an agent of the International Transport Workers Federation, and five current and former employees of the company are also named.Under the terms of the order, the defendants and their agents cannot intimidate any persons employed by the company who have continued to work during the strike.The judge, who granted the injunction on an ex parte (one side only) basis, made the matter returnable to Thursday next.He also gave the company permission to bring proceedings aimed at restraining the defendants from referring to any person at the firm who continued to work as being a “scab”, or from interfering with their right to work.The company is also seeking orders prohibiting the defendants from distributing fliers or publishing personal details of, and from continuing a campaign of naming and shaming, those employees who continue to work.The flyer distributed in Athy contained the words “Wanted for Crimes Against Irish Workers”, and the name of the Strike-Breaker.In an affidavit to the court, Marine Terminals general manager John Rafferty said the defendants had engaged in a campaign of “naming and shaming”.Should the courts protect the identity of these people by restraining the striking men & women’s freedom of speech? Please feel free to have your say by leaving a comment.

http://www.mtldockers.com/index.html