Strike action to coincide with protest rally at Department of Finance offices in Dublin
Photo: Fórsa assistant general secretary Brendan O’Hanlon (pictured centre) addresses members at the conclusion of today’s rally at the Department of Finance offices on Merrion Street, Dublin (provided by @kallinan50)
We’re taking action because it is literally our last resort. We will withdraw our labour with some reluctance, but we really have been left with no choice. Our appeals to the successive administrations have fallen on deaf ears. This is the only option we have left.
A one day strike by community employment (CE) supervisors and assistant supervisors is taking place today (Monday 18th February).
The workers involved are represented by Fórsa and Siptu trade unions.
In addition, the unions will stage a protest rally protest rally at the Department of Finance in Dublin and at INTREO offices in Letterkenny, Galway, Athlone, Cork and Waterford between 12 noon and 2pm.
Fórsa official Brendan O’Hanlon explained: “The industrial action follows a 10-year dispute over pensions. The 1,250 staff concerned have no access to any occupational pension scheme, despite a 2008 Labour Court recommendation.”
We are approaching the 11th anniversary of that Labour Court recommendation, and the current government is the third administration since the recommendation was made. Nobody has lifted a finger to implement the Labour Court recommendation, and as a group of workers we are frustrated and angry that this has been allowed to idle for so long.
Siptu official Eddie Mullins added:”More than 250 supervisors have retired with no occupational pension since the 2008 Labour Court recommendation was published. Between 30 and 40 are currently retiring each year.
Ian Thomas, supervisor of the Carrigaline Community Employment scheme in Cork is chair of Fórsa’s CE Supervisors branch. He said: “I’ve been working as a CE supervisor for 24 years and the pension issue has been an objective for us throughout that time. I was in the Labour Court in 2008 when our case was heard, and the recommendation made then was a really positive result.
“We are approaching the 11th anniversary of that Labour Court recommendation, and the current government is the third administration since the recommendation was made. Nobody has lifted a finger to implement the Labour Court recommendation, and as a group of workers we are frustrated and angry that this has been allowed to idle for so long.
“We’re taking action today because it is literally our last resort. We will withdraw our labour with some reluctance, but we really have been left with no choice. Our appeals to the successive administrations have fallen on deaf ears. This is the only option we have left.”
In a recent letter to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, Fórsa official Angela Kirk explained that both unions had worked tirelessly with the minister’s department and had campaigned to secure the implementation of a 2008 Labour Court recommendation.
Frustration
Ms Kirk said frustration with the process prompted the decision to take industrial action. “The decision to take industrial action has not been an easy one. However, 1,250 CE supervisors and assistant supervisors who manage local projects on a day-to-day basis, and lead the delivery of services by participants, believe it is the only course of action left to them to achieve justice for workers who have waited patiently for over 10 years to have the terms of their Labour Court recommendation implemented,” he said.
In a statement issued last Friday (15th February) Congress general secretary Patricia King said: “It is an outrage that these workers do not have access to an employer sponsored occupational pension scheme. The existence of such a scheme is one of the things that marks out decent employers from those who wish to exploit ordinary working people.
“The fact that workers in these state sponsored schemes are denied this basic entitlement is not acceptable. In many cases these workers are involved in the provisions of essential services that are relied upon by some of the most vulnerable communities in our society,” she said.