Libertad para los secuestradores del ferry
A Marseilles court on September 30 released the four Corsican SNCM employees who were responsible for hijacking the ro-pax vessel Pascal Paoli, the Fairplay Daily News reported.About 3,000 people on October 1 demonstrated peacefully in celebration of the release of the seafarers.
It is unclear whether the procedure launched against the four seafarers will be pursued, given the tremendous pressure put on the French government by the SNCM unions.
Problemas en Irish Ferries
The Irish Labor Court is now handling the Irish Ferries dispute over the replacement of existing crew by agency seafarers.The court on October 2 held discussions between the company’s management and the unions – SIPTU for the officers and the Seamen’s Union of Ireland.
On September 30, SIPTU gained an injunction that stopped Irish Ferries going ahead with its planned redundancy scheme for 543 sea-going staff.
The injunction lasts until today, October 5, and prevents the operator from awarding redundancy packages to those who have not yet signed up to the scheme. SIPTU, which represents the 100-plus officers in the dispute, had called a strike from October 3 in response to the action.