Irish Ferries and Job Displacement
3 Nov 2005
Displacement of Jobs in the Irish Economy
Statement from Congress General Secretary David Begg, on Irish Ferries demonstration, Dublin 1.30pm, November 3
"It is important that we be very clear about the purpose of our presence here today. Starting from first principles we must condemn Irish Ferries on exploitation of vulnerable workers from other countries.
"Is their position justified by competitive pressures? The evidence that is not, is compelling. Last year the company made a profit of €20m. The Farrell Grant Sparks' Report - which the company agreed to commission and subsequently rejected - did not support their claim. Neither did an analysis by Davy Stockbrokers in September, which was very bullish about the company's potential to expand and engage in mergers and acquisitions activity from a financial platform which is very cash rich.
"But even if a case of genuine competitive pressure could be established it would still be morally wrong to address it by paying wages of €3.60/hr to its workforce. The obscenity of that is made ever more acute by the fact that its chief executive enjoyed a salary increase of €35,000 last year, bring his salary to 687,000 - or €350 per hour.
"It would take a crew member on €3.60/hr two and a half weeks to earn what Mr Rothwell earns every hour.
"But most baffling was the fact that the companies' senior management team also received generous performance pay!
"The mantra of Irish business today is 'competitiveness'. It is, we are told, the cornerstone of the market economy. Business demands total freedom to pursue the goal of competitiveness. But if freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework, which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality, then it has no ethical foundation. Otherwise we may ask if there is any limit - any threshold of decency - beyond which the pursuit of competitiveness will not bring us.
"For all its importance we must realise that this crisis in Irish Ferries is also a harbinger of a larger problem in the wider economy.
"If we analyse the evolution of the labour market over the past ten years we can see that it is constructed on two pillars, light touch regulation and minimal enforcement capacity. An example of the thinking informing this policy, which is relevant to Irish Ferries, is the refusal of the Irish government to support the draft EU Directive on Seafarers Rights in 1999. Had that Directive been passed we would not have the problem we are trying to deal with now. And, of course, when the GAMA debacle emerged the regulatory regime was not capable of dealing with it.
"This is the background against which the decision was taken to open our labour market to the ten new accession countries of the EU. Ireland, Sweden and the UK were the only countries not to avail of the seven year phasing in period for labour mobility. In effect this means that a labour market of 2m people is open to one of potentially 200m. I might mention in passing that Congress was not consulted about this decision. The government acted at the behest of business and the decision was predicated on everyone behaving themselves. But of course they didn't. Like the "Old sow that eats her farrow" the business community succumbed to greed. They exploited foreign workers and displaced Irish workers all in pursuit of greater profits. We now have a very difficult situation on our hands.
"The simple fact is that an open labour market and the model of regulation and non-enforcement we have are mutually exclusive options. The only way forward is through high standards and effective enforcement. This will require a 360 degree shift in public policy. We need to know whether that level of adjustment is possible before we can be confident that any formal discussion on a new agreement will bear fruit.
"The consequences of not getting our public policy on labour market reform right are potentially very serious. A race to the bottom in employment conditions will almost certainly create social tensions and a misjudged antipathy to foreign workers. Out of that can come space for malevolent political forces. This has been the experience of some very stable European countries. We would do well to learn from their experience and be sure not to emulate it.
"If the Irish people were of a reflective turn of mind they might conclude that it would be safer, more judicious and altogether more honourable to plan for a future where fairness, decency, equality and tolerance governed our workplaces and our society. Our purpose here today is to start that process of reflection and to influence our government and legislature in that direction.
"I am old enough to remember Enoch Powell's controversial speech on immigration in Britain in the 1960s. I remember too that the Dockers of London, solid trade unionists to a man, downed tools and marched to the House of Commons to support him. That is not a sight that I want to ever see here!
"The philosophy of trade unionism is that all people are born equal, are endowed with certain fundamental rights and their labour cannot be treated as a commodity in the market system. Our task now is to turn this philosophy into a practical reality."
ends