The latest edition of IMPACT’s Work & Life magazine, which focusses on members who provide services to children, is being dispatched to workplaces from this week. The magazine also pays tribute to the bravery and dedication of the crew of Irish Coastguard Rescue 116, who were all members of IMPACT.

Librarian Darina Molloy provides a detailed and colourful account of the range of services that libraries provide to children and schools, while Ciairín de Buis discusses the union’s EarlyImpact campaign for greater state investment and professionalisation of the country’s early education services. IMPACT launched its new Early Education branch last month.

Meanwhile, Martina O’Leary looks at the work of the Special Education Needs Organisers, while Lughan Deane digs out the history notes and provides a study guide for Leaving Cert history students who want to prepare themselves for questions about the 1913 Dublin Lockout.

Our movies and garden features are all about a child’s perspective too. And we have all the regular features on food, travel, career, music and competitions.

Download a copy of the magazine HERE

IMPACT and other civil service unions have lodged a claim for the return of allowances removed during the economic crisis. The claim highlights the injustice of staff hired since 2012 being paid less than colleagues who do the same work.

IMPACT national secretary Andy Pike said the loss of allowances for new entrants, in agriculture and elsewhere, was never justified.

“No employer should be allowed to exploit staff by denying them access to allowances that form part of core pay. In any case, the crisis is over and it’s high time those decisions were reviewed. If specific work continues to merit an allowance, it should be paid to all staff regardless of when they started in the job,” he said.

The claim was formally lodged at the Civil Service General Council last month. Management has two months to respond to the union claim.

The HSE has cited ‘recruitment difficulties’ as a reason for outsourcing a new 40-bed step-down unit in the same month that thousands applied for clerical posts in the health service. IMPACT has said it won’t co-operate with outsourcing at the new facility in south Tipperary, but says it will discuss directly-employed clerical and admin arrangements with management.

The new unit has been built at south Tipperary general hospital in Clonmel. But the HSE wants it run as a ‘managed service,’ which would see one directly-employed manager from the hospital overseeing a privatised service. Unions met management regarding the controversy last month.

IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly said the HSE’s insistence on outsourcing risked ruining a rare good news story in health.

“We all welcome the new facility as a highly positive development. But there’s no need to outsource and there was no prior discussion on what management knew would be a highly controversial privatisation proposal, which staff could not support. Management now needs to sit down with us to agree an in-house staffing structure so that the people of south Tipp can get access to a high-quality public health service,” he said.

The annual general meeting of IMPACT’s Municipal Employees’ branch takes place from 5pm this Thursday (6^th April) in the IMPACT office, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1. All members of the branch are entitled to attend the meeting, which will elect branch officers and hear reports on the union’s activities over the last year.

The Muno annual report will also be distributed. Published this week, it reports that recruitment has resumed in many sections of Dublin local authorities in recent months. It also outlines the union’s progress on pay restoration and the Muno branch’s efforts to prevent privatisation and boost direct labour in local service provision.

Union representatives also pay tribute to branch member Trevor O’Neill, who was killed in a gun attack last August.

Read the full report HERE.

Local authority management has agreed to adopt new travel and subsistence rates recently agreed for the civil service. At a meeting with unions at the end of March, the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) also agreed to introduce new arrangements, which will see bereavement leave increased from five to 20 days for staff whose spouses die. The bereavement leave changes were also first agreed in the civil service.

In a separate development, the LGMA has confirmed that it has no plans to change the existing practice of delivering motor tax services through local authorities.

Pay cuts introduced in Pobal in 2013 are to be reversed under an agreement accepted by an overwhelming majority of staff. The deal will see salaries below €65,000 a year increased by €1,000 a year from this week.

The organisation, which channels government and EU funds to community and voluntary projects, has also agreed to increase its employer pension contribution by 1%, and introduce an income protection scheme for cases of serious illness.

The deal, which was accepted by 99% of IMPACT members in a ballot, also introduces improvements in flexitime bands and access to 1.5 days flexi-leave per flexi time period. And reduced annual leave, introduced for new entrants in 2013, is to be brought in line with pre-2013 entitlements.

Management has also agreed to implement a shorter working year scheme under the agreement.

The Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) has called for the establishment of a new ‘housing company of Ireland’ to undertake the construction and acquisition of 70,000 new homes and resolve the housing crisis. The trade union-backed think tank said this new body should be a semi-state company, which could draw on relatively cheap long-term borrowing, as well as funds from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, to supplement the housing programmes of local authorities and voluntary housing associations.

In a recently-published report, NERI says the new housing company could crack a housing crisis in which fewer than 4,000 rental dwellings were available last month, compared to 23,000 in 2009. It said average rents increased at an annual rate of over 13% in 2016, and are now higher than in 2008.

The report, Ireland’s housing emergency: Time for a game changer, calls for a fundamental rethink of social housing models in Ireland, with the adoption of “European norms of mixed-income renting provided by public enterprises,” and funded and operated in ways that don’t add to public expenditure or debt.

Resolving the housing crisis will “require a high degree of societal and political consensus that the solution to this problem necessitates a 'whatever-it-takes’ approach. That there is a crisis of housing may very well signal a deeper crisis of public values and choice in so far as the balance between private and public interest has been too far weighted towards the private,” it says.

IMPACT hosted a special screening of The Jungle of Calais, a short documentary about the ICTU Global Solidarity Committee’s trip to the so-called ‘Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais last September.

In an article published in IMPACT’s Work & Life magazine, SIPTU’s Yvonne O’Callaghan, who led the ICTU delegation, explains that the committee encountered “stories of torture and brutalisation, illness and injury and determination and resilience,” while making the film. 

In his remarks after the screening, lawyer-activist Brian Condra said that in Calais he had “sat with people who had lost everything” and that they had “smiled at him” regardless. He said we should not “turn our backs on them.” Solicitor Gary Daly also referred to the strange simultaneous existence of hope and despair that he encountered in the camp.

The committee saw the very worst of life and death in the camp. They recalled the story of 14-year-old Rahim, who was killed in a hit and run incident not investigated by French police. They also saw the best. For example, a couple who had chosen to spend their honeymoon volunteering at the camp.

The film was made by Paddy Cole and Graham Seely. It was sponsored by IMPACT and SIPTU Health. IMPACT organiser Joan McCrohan, who is vice chair of ICTU’s Global Solidarity Committee, was instrumental in having the film produced.

Watch a short promo for the film here

As we mark the 60^th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, we should reflect on the significant gains that European Union membership has provided for workers in Ireland, as well as the volume of work that still needs to be done to ensure it continues to be of benefit to them.

This anniversary comes at a moment of real uncertainty regarding the future of Europe. Consequently, this is not a time for complacency. It is a time to look forward and to reflect back. It’s a time for workers and their unions to articulate an ambitious, courageous and clear vision of a European future that works for workers.

It is also a time to reflect back on the founding principles of the European Union: the principles that meant it would become the vehicle that allowed a continent to emerge from the ruins of World War II. The European Union and trade unionism share the same first principle: that of solidarity. In a time of growing inequality and insecurity it is important that that the EU reconnects with that core value.

The European Union is far from perfect. There are many challenges, some are critical. Though acutely aware of these challenges, IMPACT is fully committed to playing whatever role it can in making the European project work for workers.

Speaking on the 60^th anniversary, Luca Visentini, general secretary of the ETUC said that “the celebrations of the 60^th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome are an opportunity to reinforce and relaunch an EU based on peace, democracy, prosperity and social justice.”

IMPACT will begin immediately to formulate its vision of a Europe that works for workers. For example, later this month, the union will host a seminar entitled “Brexit: Jobs and Standards in the Food and Agricultural Sector” in order to interrogate what effects Brexit will have on workers in the food and agricultural industry.

IMPACT’s Carlow branch held a special event for members as part of Ireland's third National Workplace Wellbeing Day last Friday (31^st March). Workplaces across the country took part in the event, which aims to improve employee health through promoting better nutrition and physical activity.

The Carlow branch event included a healthy light lunch at the Seven Oaks hotel and a short walk by the River Barrow. Paramedics from Carlow fire and rescue service were on hand to provide blood pressure and blood sugar analysis, while staff from IMPACT membership support services provided information.

IMPACT organiser Deirdre O’Connell said the event was an opportunity to promote health and wellbeing at work. “As a trade union we’re committed to looking after each other in the workplace. This event was a great way to focus on the value of our health and wellbeing in the workplace, as well as being a fun, social event,” she said.

Revised public service pay scales, which take account of the €1,000 pay adjustment brought forward to 1st April, are now in place. The new rates, agreed on foot of union demands for accelerated pay restoration, were being posted on the IMPACT website as this bulletin went to press.

The €1,000 a year improvement, which is worth €38.33 a fortnight before tax, goes to all public servants who earn €65,000 a year or less. Those earning above €65,000 will also see the start of restoration of the Haddington Road pay reductions this month.

IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody said there was still a long way to go before crisis-era income cuts were reversed. “We began restoration with the 2015 Lansdowne Road deal. We accelerated it through negotiations last winter. Next, we will be in talks in the early summer with the objective of agreeing a definitive timescale to unwind the cuts introduced under emergency ‘FEMPI’ legislation,” he said.

The €1,000 increase, originally scheduled for September under the Lansdowne Road agreement, was brought forward by five months following negotiations on foot of two Garda pay settlements at the end of last year.

The forthcoming pay talks will be triggered after the Public Service Pay Commission issues its initial report, which is expected later this month.

Read Bernard Harbor’s analysis of the forthcoming pay talks.

The decision of a Joint Oireachtas Committee to recommend a constitutional referendum to underpin public ownership of Irish Water has encouraged campaigners across Europe, according to the leader of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU). In an IMPACT blog marking World Water Day last month, EPSU general secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan said it was “big news for the European water movement” and “a huge encouragement for the many local and national groups fighting the privatisation of water services across the continent.”

The blog, authored with IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan, notes that many local authorities in European countries like France and Portugal have brought water services back into public ownership after costly experiments in privatisation. The two leaders said World Water Day was an occasion to celebrate the huge contribution that decent water services make to public health and quality of life, and to highlight the opposition to privatisation that’s growing throughout Europe.

A trade union-led campaign for a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) on the right to water attracted nearly two million signatures from across the EU, and placed the issue on the EU’s legislative agenda at the behest of its citizens. The European Parliament has fully supported the ECI demands.

“Despite the clear message delivered directly by citizens through the ECI, and by their elected representatives in the Parliament, the European Commission fails to listen. In the case of Greece, where people rejected water privatisation, the Eurogroup has been forcing the government to sell shares in the Athens and Thessaloniki water companies,” according to the two union leaders.

“The Irish people have made crystal clear their desire to see water and waste water services remain in public ownership. Their instinct is supported by the overwhelming results of research that shows privatisation is a bad choice. Ireland has the support of Europe’s trade unions and the broader water movement, which is connecting the resistance to privatisation across European borders,” they wrote.

Read the full blog HERE.

IMPACT has said it believes health unions could support many of the proposals put forward by health minister Simon Harris at the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Health Care in late March. The union said it supported the view that the HSE could be significantly downsized, and that a small number of integrated regional health groups could better perform most of its functions while reporting directly to the Department of Health.

IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly said this vision was reflected in the evidence submitted to the Oireachtas Committee by ICTU health unions last November. Minister Harris outlined a vision for reforming health structures at the Oireachtas Committee.

Eamonn said he agreed that structural reforms, and the development of services, must be planned over a ten-year time frame. “In our submission to the Oireachtas Committee, IMPACT and other health unions proposed that the HSE be replaced with four well-resourced regional health authorities, which would have responsibility for all community and hospital services in their area. This is very close to what the Minister said at the Committee.

“The current structure of seven hospital groups and nine community health organisations is unlikely to work, and it is already struggling to achieve integrated hospitals, community services and health promotion. Such integration is a precondition of dealing with many of the problems in our health service, including the A&E crisis and unacceptable waiting lists,” he said.

Eamonn said it would be a mistake to make the health department directly responsible for service delivery, and said the regional health authority model would serve citizens best.

“I think we can find much common ground with Minister Harris so long as he also recognises the need for proper resourcing and staffing across the health service, and if he listens to the experience and concerns of his reform-fatigued staff, for whom this would be the third fundamental structural change in health service configuration in less than 15 years,” he said.

However, the union rejected any suggestion that the health service is overburdened with administrative staff. It said clerical, administrative and management staff together represent just 10.5% of total health service staffing – down from over 16% in 2007 – with the vast majority delivering services to patients or clients, or directly supporting doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

The few that aren’t on the so-called front line perform vital behind the scenes tasks in IT, human resource management, payroll, service management, legislative and information roles, and other support functions, IMPACT said.

IMPACT’s Early Education branch, launched at the end of last month, is to push for hugely increased state investment in the pre-school sector. The union says much more cash is needed to bring down costs to parents and improve services to children through the professionalisation of early education.

Investment is also essential to improve the pay and conditions of early education professionals who earn an average of €10.27 per hour. Speaking at the launch of IMPACT’s newest branch, Ciairín de Buis, interim director of IMPACT’s early education campaign, EarlyImpact, said the Government spent remarkably little on early education compared to other countries.

“Lack of investment means parents pay for some of the most expensive childcare in the world, with no guarantee of quality early education for their children. We need to be spending multiples of what we currently invest. The average expenditure on early childhood institutions in EU and OECD countries was 0.8% of GDP in 2013. In the same year Ireland spent just 0.1% of GDP,” she said.

This chronic lack of investment means parents in Ireland pay some of the highest childcare costs in the world, for services staffed by some of the lowest paid. “Children have no guarantee of quality and this needs to change. The current workforce is poorly qualified, poorly paid, with poor working conditions. Those caring for and teaching our youngest children do an incredibly important job, the Government needs to recognise that,” said Ciairín.

Average wages in the sector range between just over €9 an hour to around €20. Last year an Early Childhood Ireland survey showed an average wage of €10.27 an hour, with a €1 premium for graduates.

Professionalisation

The union’s EarlyImpact campaign is pushing for increased investment with a focus on professionalisation, higher qualifications, agreed salary scales and better working conditions. “The goal is to reach the OECD investment average of 0.8% of GDP within five years, and to meet the UNICEF quality benchmark of 1% of GDP in 10 years,” according to Ciairín.

The Programme for Government contains significant commitments including the promise of an independent review of the cost of providing quality childcare in private and community settings, which the programme says is consistent with professionalisation of the sector.

The Government had promised to monitor the implementation of new quality regulations and standards, to work towards further paediatric first aid training for staff, and to review and reform the inspection regime and withdraw funding from providers that fail to meet quality standards.

Ciairín said IMPACT’s campaign will hold the Government to these commitments. “If fully implemented, they could significantly advance the professionalisation that is crucial to the early education sector,” she said.

EarlyImpact on Facebook

@early_impact on Twitter

A settlement has been reached in the long-running Clerys dispute after members of the ‘Justice for the Clerys Workers’ group met with Natrium director Deirdre Foley. The resolution, the details of which have not been made public, follows an intervention by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Brendan Carr.

Gerry Markey, a ‘Justice for the Clerys Workers’ campaign spokesman, said that the settlement “will protect working conditions in the Clerys development into the future.” He also said that “the settlement provides for a goodwill payment for the former employees of OCS Operations Ltd in liquidation.”

At a press conference in the Mansion House following the finalization of the settlement, the Lord Mayor said “it will be the role of the office of Lord Mayor in coming years to ensure that a proper balance is maintained between the interests of business and workers in the Clerys development.”

IMPACT deputy general secretary and ICTU vice president Kevin Callinan said IMPACT was proud to have played a role in the successful campaign.  He also praised the “strength of character and spirit of solidarity” shown by the Clerys workers throughout their long ordeal.