The innovative Dublin Tenement Experience: Living the Lockout is a performance and interpretation-based exhibition, which takes you back to the Lockout and the tenement conditions of 1913 Dublin. IMPACT, which is supporting the project, is urging members to book now as the event must close at the end of August.

The one-hour programme, which takes place in a former tenement at 14 Henrietta Street in Dublin’s north inner city, includes a 35-minute drama performed by award-winning ANU Productions. Tickets cost just €5.50, with discounts for group bookings.

The event is the first in a series of ICTU-backed activities to mark this year’s centenary of the 1913 Lockout. It is also supported by Dublin City Council and the Irish Heritage Trust.

For further information and ticket sales, visit the Dublin Tenement Experience website.

Originally designed for one family, the large early Georgian house had become a typical Dublin tenement – and home to more than 100 people – by the turn of the last century. Today, it’s like entering a time capsule which transports the 21st century visitor back to 1913.

The ANU production tells the story of the Lockout from the perspective of those who lived through it. Together with archival records, photographs, personal testimonies and the venue itself, the event really brings the history of the tenements to life.

ICTU's Sally Anne Kinahan said: “The marvelous performances capture the heady optimism of the strikers at the beginning of their struggle in August 1913, the desperation of the families as they faced ruin and possible starvation in the run-up to Christmas, and the hard choices that confronted the workers and their families as the Lockout neared its end in early 1914.”

One hundred years after the Lockout, workers in Ireland still have no legal right to negotiate their pay, terms and conditions of employment. Ireland is one of only five EU countries with no legal right to collective bargaining.

The Dublin Tenement Experience is posting regular stories from the archives and updates on Facebook and Twitter.

http://dublintenementexperience.com/

Thursday 11th July 2013

IMPACT members have backed a deal on a single set of terms and conditions for office-based staff in Limerick city and county councils by a margin of 85%. The two authorities are merging into a single local authority under Government reform plans.

Under the new agreement, existing office-based staff, up to and including SEE/AO cognate level, will work 35 hours and 15 minutes a week. The new roster takes effect in both councils from 15th July.

IMPACT official Andy Pike said the merger had presented several challenges. “Management has acknowledged the contribution of staff throughout a challenging merger process which, in a significant development in the history of the county, will see a single local authority for Limerick. A merger like this is bound to present challenges, which is why it was important to have proper engagement throughout the consultation process,” he said.

A redeployment protocol is already in place for office-based staff in Dooradoyle and the Limerick city centre office and further staff movement is now planned for the summer and autumn period. Staff in a number of departments have already moved to new single departments and all the redeployment has taken place without any disruption to the public.

Tuesday 16th July 2013

Organisations representing unions, employers, actuaries and pension funds have jointly called on the Government to reform pension regulations to protect workers whose defined benefit pension schemes are in crisis.

In an unprecedented step, ICTU, IBEC, the Irish Association of Pension Funds and the Society of Actuaries in Ireland last week issued a statement calling for changes to the rules that currently give retired members of pension schemes full protection, but leave current staff totally at risk if schemes collapse.

They said 200,000 ‘active’ (or non-retired) members of pension schemes, many with modest pension expectations, will pay a heavy price if the Government fails to act fast. “The simple truth is that, in the unfortunate event of a scheme winding up in deficit, people of working age continue to risk losing everything before pensioners can be asked to give up anything,” they said.

The four organisations say government inaction and “onerous new regulations” have exacerbated a pension crisis in which more than 400 defined benefit schemes, affecting nearly 65,000 workers, have closed since the end of 2008. While calling for practical government measures to slow the rate of scheme closures, they say wind-up rules should also be changed to give more protection to working members of pension schemes.

Under the current wind-up rules for failed schemes, a retired worker will have his or her full pension protected, while a worker months from retirement could be left with little or no pension rights at all. Retired members can only suffer a reduced pension when active members have lost everything.

“We hope that the seriousness of the situation is underlined by the unprecedented step of IBEC, ICTU, IAPF and the Society of Actuaries in Ireland for the first time collectively calling on the Minster for Social Protection and her Government colleagues to take immediate action,” the statement says.

Earlier this year, IMPACT’s Services and Enterprises conference called on the Minister to convene a commission on defined benefit pension schemes “with a view to establishing an appropriate regulation system that would remove unnecessary uncertainty.”

Tuesday 16th July 2013

Congratulations to the Tallaght hospital choir, who won the Workplace Choir of the Year 2013 competition last month. One of the winning songs performed by the choir can be viewed online (via Sean Mulvihill on YouTube). Tony Martin of IMPACT’s Dublin Hospitals branch, which has given some funding support to the choir, described the Tallaght performance at the competition as “brilliant.”

11th July 2013

IMPACT has said it will not cooperate with the implementation of new working time arrangements in situations where local or sectoral management refuses to allow staff to opt for reduced pay rather than increased hours. The union said withholding this option was a breach of the Haddington Road Agreement (HRA), which came into force this month.

The issue first emerged when the HSE issued a ‘frequently asked questions’ document, which changed the wording of the HRA. The agreement says: “management will allow persons to opt to remain on their current hours with appropriate pay adjustments for a period.” The HSE document substituted the word “will” with “may.”

In a letter to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DEPR), IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody said: “This is an unacceptable sleight of hand and will inevitably mislead both employers and staff. I would find an approach of this nature unacceptable whether it came from the union or management side, and I must insist on immediate steps to correct the misleading account of the HRA.” He said IMPACT would invoke the agreement’s arbitration clause if necessary.

The union has also questioned a June 2014 time-limit on such arrangements, which appeared in a DEPR circular last month. Mr Cody said IMPACT did not accept this time limit, which does not appear in the text of the HRA. The department responded by agreeing to a union proposal that both sides should meet to discuss the matter early next year.

16th July 2013

IMPACT and other unions are to campaign for the repeal of the Fiscal Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Act, which imposes pay cuts and other measures on members of public service unions that reject the Haddington Road agreement. This follows a unanimous decision taken at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ biennial delegate conference in Belfast earlier this month.

The conference heard that the legislation – and earlier threats that, in the absence of a deal, the Government would impose pay cuts and other changes to working conditions – had left public servants with no choice but to accept the Haddington Road agreement.

Unions also expressed concern that, if the legislation remains on the statute book, future governments could again be tempted to change public service pay and conditions without negotiation.

IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody said there was righteous indignation that successive governments had now imposed three pay cuts in the public service. The most recent of these, which comes into force this month, affects the highest-earning 13% of public servants. The others were imposed on all public servants across the board in 2009 and 2010.

Mr Cody said the FEMPI legislation must be repealed to stop future governments coming back for more. He also called on public service unions to show solidarity with private sector workers facing the threat of pay cuts following the recent Supreme Court decision that pay protections for workers in low-paid sectors of the economy were unconstitutional.

“While we have gone through terrible times in the public services, have we assimilated the absolute catastrophe that is falling on our colleagues because of the decisions in relation to the JLC and REA wage-setting mechanisms,” he asked delegates.

It now falls to the incoming ICTU executive to action the decision.

Tuesday 16th July 2013

IMPACT has accused the education department of being “fundamentally at odds” with the terms of the Haddington Road agreement (HRA) by implementing special needs allocations in ways that have significantly reduced incomes for many special needs assistants (SNAs).

The union has raised the issue with the HRA implementation body and is seeking an early hearing in the Labour Relations Commission under new HRA dispute resolution procedures.

IMPACT official Dessie Robinson said full-time posts were being fragmented. “While the same number of SNAs was allocated, in many cases their hours have been reduced significantly. This represents a loss of income and a reduction in service,” he said.

In a letter to the education department yesterday, Mr Robinson said there were cases where full-time SNAs had seen their working time reduced to eight hours. “Their financial difficulties will be compounded by the fact that they are expected to carry out their eight hours over five days, which leaves them ineligible to claim social welfare,” he said.

Mr Robinson also raised concerns that a supplementary assignment manager has not yet been appointed to oversee redeployment arrangements, and that no panel has been established to allow SNAs check where they are placed.

Earlier, and at IMPACT’s insistence, the education department agreed supplementary assignment arrangements for SNAs ahead of the new school term in September. The new arrangements will maximise alternative employment opportunities for SNAs whose positions were closed at the end of the last school term.

The union insisted on the move when it became clear that a comprehensive redeployment scheme, which the union won under the Haddington Road agreement, would not be in place on time.

The department has established a dedicated address for SNAs who have questions about the assignment arrangements. SNAs can also get local IMPACT contact details HERE.

Meanwhile, IMPACT supported a protest at Leinster House last month, when SNAs and parents of children with special education needs called on education minister Ruairi Quinn to address the growing need for classroom care.

Wednesday 17th July 2013

Applications to a local authority voluntary redundancy scheme, announced earlier this month, will be considered on a case by case basis. Successful applicants will receive the terms of the package negotiated by unions and public service management last year. The scheme is open for applications until the end of August, with exits expected to take effect by the end of the year. There is no specific target for the number of redundancies sought under the scheme, although reports suggest the number could be as high as 500. Members who want more information should contact their local HR department.

15th July 2013

The trade union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) has rejected calls for the Government to proceed with €3 billion of cuts and tax increases in the forthcoming budget.

Reacting to a report by the rival Economic and Social Research Institute, NERI said cuts on this scale would undermine jobs and growth, making it harder for Ireland to reach its target of a 3% government deficit by 2015.

NERI research shows that an alternative approach, which combines an investment stimulus with increased taxes on capital and the top earning 10% of households, could save 75,000 jobs over two years. This would also reduce the deficit by boosting tax revenues and reducing social welfare and related costs.

The think-tank says the Government’s current budgetary approach will inevitably cause further job losses. The findings are contained in NERI’s latest Quarterly Economic Observer, which proposes:

• Full use of the proceeds of the ‘promissory note’ deal to reduce the fiscal consolidation (cuts and tax increases) by €1 billion in the forthcoming budget
• An investment stimulus of €4.5 billion over the next 30 months and
• Increases in capital taxes and income taxes for the top 10% of households (by income).

NERI’s alternative approach would mean no further cuts in current public spending programmes. The Government has already pledged to stop cutting capital spending.

NERI director Dr Tom Healy said an alternative budgetary approach was entirely possible. “We can reach the target of a 3% government deficit in 2015, while directing most of the fiscal adjustment towards taxes for those who can afford it. It is vital that we retain key public services in education and health while safeguarding the incomes of those who are most vulnerable,” he said.

Unions call for €280 billion jobs investment

IMPACT has said it wants stronger protections for whistleblowers than the measures set out in the Protected Disclosures Bill, which was published in early July. The union will be part of an Irish Congress of Trade Unions delegation to meet departmental officials on the issue later this month.

The union has expressed disappointment that the proposed legislation fails to provide instant remedies for workers who suffer victimisation for revealing illegal or unethical practices in the workplace. This means sacking whistleblowers will remain a relatively risk-free option for bad employers.

The Bill increases the maximum compensation for unfair dismissal in whistleblowing cases from two to five years’ salary. But this would still leave staff seeking retrospective justice if they were sacked for whistleblowing, and IMPACT says the maximum compensation is still too low to properly protect staff.

Welcome

IMPACT national secretary Matt Staunton said the Bill was overdue but welcome. “Under these proposals you can still lose your job for reporting corporate wrongdoing. And, if you have ten or 15 years to go on your mortgage, you could end up losing your home too. Staff who blow the whistle in good faith should be able to go to work the next day and carry on with their lives," he said.

The union concedes that the new Bill is an improvement on existing legislation, set out in the 2011 Criminal Justice Act. Under this law, workers can be prosecuted, fined, and even jailed if they discover financial malpractice in their workplace and fail to report it. But they face prosecution themselves if they report in good faith and the information turns out to be wrong.

IMPACT says this places all the responsibility on the worker, while legal protections against victimisation of whistleblowers are too weak.

Fraud

One IMPACT member lost his job after blowing the whistle on €4 million worth of fraud in his workplace. “His reward was a four-year ordeal. It began with him being disciplined for not reporting earlier. Then he had his own honesty questioned. The company he had helped put him through years of harassment, disciplinaries and hearings. He won them all, but his ordeal still culminated in him being thrown out of work,” said Mr Staunton.

The union wants the new legislation to include a statutory code of practice, which sets out procedures for whistleblowing including a clear process to deal with disputes between whistleblowers and their employers. Mr Staunton said the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) should be asked to draw up the code of practice.

Unions also want whistleblowing protections to extend beyond financial wrongdoing so that staff are protected if they report corporate illegality on a range of issues including consumer protection, workers’ rights, environmental safeguards, and health and safety.

IMPACT has also called for legal protections against employers who victimise staff for being a member of a trade union or for seeking union representation to pursue their interests and entitlements under employment rights legislation

Tuesday 15th July 2013

Unions will not cooperate with plans to incorporate the work of local development and LEADER companies into local authorities unless there is early and thorough consultation over the impact on jobs and services. IMPACT official Geraldine O’Brien told The Bulletin that “without consultation there will be no alignment.”

Earlier this month Ms O’Brien said up to 1,900 jobs were at risk in a sector that had already endured three years of service cuts and redundancies.

IMPACT and SIPTU raised the issue with Joan Burton this week and the social protection minister pledged to talk to her colleagues in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, which is leading on the issue.

Meanwhile, IMPACT’s Local Enterprises branch is coordinating a lobbying campaign of local TDs and other elected representatives.

Earlier this month, delegates at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ biennial conference unanimously demanded that the jobs, pay and conditions of staff in local development and LEADER companies should be protected when their organisations were incorporated into local authorities. An emergency motion, proposed by IMPACT and SIPTU, called on the Government to consult with unions on the issue.

Geraldine O’Brien told the conference that up to 1,900 more jobs were at risk in a sector that had already endured three years of service cuts and redundancies. She said the staff were not covered by the Haddington Road agreement or the earlier Croke Park deal.

The local development and LEADER companies provide a range of services aimed at developing local economies including services and training for the unemployed, enterprise development, education projects for early school leavers, child care, community development, management of active labour market programmes, disability services and services for members of the migrant community.

“Here we have a dedicated cohort of people who have the expertise and commitment to deliver vital services to some of the most vulnerable in our society, and they are being denied the opportunity to have a say in their future,” said Ms O’Brien.