Thomas Cook and workers’ representatives are appearing before the Labour Relations Commission in Dublin today in a bid to resolve their bitter dispute over redundancy payments.
The dispute broke out after Thomas Cook announced in May that it was pulling out of Ireland with the loss of 70 jobs.
The workers responded with a series of high-profile protests including a demonstration outside a local Catholic church with a camel and by parading a pig along the street.
The action culminated in a five-day lock-in at Thomas Cook’s Grafton Street branch, which ended when the occupants were arrested.
The protestors eventually agreed to comply with any future High Court orders and negotiations resumed.
Talks broke down again last week with Thomas Cook sticking to its original offer of five weeks’ redundancy pay for every year of service and the TSSA demanding eight weeks’ pay for every year.
Statutory minimum redundancy in the Republic of Ireland is two weeks’ pay for every year.
A spokesman for the TSSA said: “The additional three weeks’ money would put 465,000 euros on the cost of the deal. That would be peanuts for Thomas Cook.”