IMPACT’s young members’ group will host an event focusing on the cost of living for young workers on Thursday 28th September. The event will take place from 1pm to 6pm, and is free of charge for IMPACT members.

The IMPACT young members’ group is open to all union members aged 35 or under, and seeks to highlight and promote issues of particular relevance to younger members of the union.

The spiralling costs of living in Ireland, including rents/mortgages, childcare, insurance costs and the cost of education, is a huge issue for young workers in Ireland today. This event hopes to highlight some of these issues, call for action, and develop an IMPACT young members’ campaign in this area.

A light lunch and full dinner will also be provided to all attendees. For more information or to register please contact IMPACT lead organiser Joe O’Connor.

IMPACT’s third level grant scheme for trade union representatives is now open for applications. The union will consider awarding grants for courses that will assist members in their roles within the union.

Grants are awarded for courses up to degree level.

Grants are based on the gross cost of course fees, and will have a maximum value of €3,000 per annum. There is €12,000 available for the scheme this year.

The deadline for applications is 5.30pm on Friday 27th October. The requirement that all applications must have a fully completed application form (including all required supporting documentation and branch recommendation) is absolute.

Documents for download:

• Scheme details
• Application form

Library members general meeting

IMPACT Library members in local authorities met on 11th September. National secretary Peter Nolan reported on three recent conciliation hearings held at the WRC in July August, covering the future of the local authority library service, adequate staffing and levels workforce planning, amalgamations, county librarian vacancies, library management systems, qualifications, staffless libraries, branch librarians and grade V (libraries).

Peter reported some progress on all of the issues but said that maintaining a promotional outlet for library assistants and senior library assistants had been opposed by the employers. This remains a priority for all library staff.

The Divisional Executive Committee (DEC) is to consider next steps at its meeting tomorrow (20th September). Peter warned the meeting that the DEC may have to consider initiating industrial action procedures if a solution to the impasse can’t be found. 

Irish Water Regional Capital Offices

IMPACT members in water services capital works met on 11th September at IMPACT’s head office. The meeting considered Irish Waters proposals in relation to the establishment of eleven regional capital offices. The proposals may affect IMPACT administrative and technical members.

IMPACT national secretary Peter Nolan said Irish Water intends to negotiate the matter and welcomed the commitment by the utility that no IMPACT member would be compulsorily moved from their existing local authority. The union had advised Irish Water that this would be a ‘redline’ issue for the union. He advised that the union believes all secondment arrangements would have to be on a voluntary basis. A series of negotiations will commence with Irish Water this week.

 

The Public Services Committee (PSC) of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has voted to approve the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA). The deal was approved by an aggregate ballot of the PSC at a meeting yesterday (Monday 18th September).

Individual unions balloted their members on the terms of the agreement, which was endorsed by members of Siptu, the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (INMO), TEEU, IMPACT and civil service unions the PSEU and CPSU.  The agreement was supported by a margin of over 80% when union votes are aggregated (see table here).

The agreement will mean that, by 2020, more than 90% of public servants will be out of ‘FEMPI’ pay provisions, and almost a quarter will have exited FEMPI pension levy payments.

All public servants would receive positive pay and pension levy adjustments, with 73% seeing gains of 7% or more over the lifetime of the agreement.

This is in line with the better union-negotiated pay rounds currently being agreed in the private sector. The agreement also preserves the value of public service pensions.

Speaking on behalf of the PSC, IMPACT communications officer Niall Shanahan said the preservation of protections against outsourcing, which unions had successfully invoked to prevent privatisation of local authority services in the past, was also a highly valuable feature of the proposed agreement.

“The agreement also provides an avenue to address outstanding issues like pay for new entrants employed since 2010. We will immediately seek to have discussions with the Government to activate these provisions,” he said.

Main provisions of the Public Sector Stability Agreement (PSSA): 

• 1st January 2018: 1% pay adjustment
• 1st October 2018: 1% pay adjustment
• 1st January 2019: Pension levy threshold up from €28,750 to €32,000 (worth €325pa)
• 1st January 2019: 1% pay adjustment for those earning less than €30,000
• 1st September 2019: 1.75% pay adjustment
• 1st January 2020: Pension levy threshold increased to €34,500 (worth €250pa)
• 1st January 2020: 0.5% pay increase for those earning less than €32,000
• 1st October 2020: 2% pay adjustment

The proposed agreement includes a range of non-pay measures including: 

• The retention of outsourcing protections
• A facility to revert to pre-Haddington Road working hours (with a commensurate pay adjustment)
• An end to pension levy payments on non-pensionable earnings, including overtime
• A process to address longer pay scales for new (post 2010) entrants
• A process to assess recruitment and retention problems in certain grades and professions
• Commitments on work-life balance arrangements, and
• A commitment not to increase CORU, or other professional registration fees, during the lifetime of the agreement.

 PSSA: Frequently asked questions

The Labour Court has recommended pay increases of 8.5% over 39 months (2017 to 2020) for 3,000 staff at Aer Lingus. The increases recommended by the Court - which are not conditional to any additional productivity - average just over 2.6% per annum, which is consistent with current average pay improvements in the private sector.

The deal expires on 30th June 2020, and the recommendation follows a pay claim made by the group of unions, IMPACT, Siptu, Unite and the TEEU.

The pay terms recommended by the Court provide for the following increases:

• 3% from 1st April 1 2017
• 2.75% from 1st May 2018
• 2.75% from 1st June 2019

The Court has also recommended that the parties engage to explore the potential for an agreement on an appropriate ‘profit share’ scheme.

IMPACT national secretary Angela Kirk said the pay improvements are welcome. “The Court took particular note of the fact that there have been no adjustments to basic pay since 2010, during which time the company has performed exceptionally well. There is no doubt in that the success of Aer Lingus during that time is down to the exceptional efforts and hard work of its employees.

“Pay improvements are already happening throughout the economy, in both the public and private sectors. Aer Lingus staff are now part of the pay movement that is crucial to Ireland’s continuing economic recovery,” she said.

Angela said a number of issues were identified by the group of unions at its meeting last week (11th September) that require clarification by Aer Lingus. The group is to meet the company tomorrow (20th September) to get these clarifications, after which the unions will agree a schedule for balloting on the recommendation.

Performance

In its submission to the Court, the group of unions argued that Aer Lingus’ strong financial performance was evident from the strong profit levels last year, in addition to its strong performance compared to other airlines in the IAG group, which took over the airline in 2015.

The company has made an operating profit in every year since 2010, enabling it to have €1 billion of free cash on its balance sheet, supporting the claim for an appropriate profit share scheme.

The unions also argued that the airline’s exceptional financial performance was down to the efforts of its employees, pointing to “dramatic” improvements in payroll. Measured as a percentage of cost revenue, this declined from 25.95% in 2009 to the current figure of 18.5%.

Angela explained that the Court had further recommended engagement by both parties to immediately engage for three months to agree on productivity matters. “The Court has recommended that savings achieved as a result of agreed implemented measures are to be shared between the parties on a ‘one for one’ basis,” she said.

Angela said if direct talks failed to reach agreement in three months, the Court recommends that the parties should use normal procedures, including a referral to the Court from the WRC.

Related: 

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has told the Government that a major initiative is needed in response to the current housing crisis, and has urged the Government to abolish the reduced VAT rate for the hospitality and tourism sectors, and to establish a €1 billion local authority house-building programme.

In its pre-budget submission the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) also called for greater investment in education, health and childcare services to lower living costs.
Congress general secretary Patricia King said the reduced rate of VAT enjoyed by the hospitality/tourism sector represented a “de facto subsidy that had already cost the State some €2.2 billion in taxes foregone”.

“In fact all the evidence suggests that the reduced rate operates as a subsidy to very profitable corporations which is a waste of valuable resources when set against areas of obvious need such as homelessness.”

Congress said that a failure to properly tackle the housing crisis in the forthcoming budget would see Ireland “pay a high price in terms of future social cohesion, damage to future growth prospects and increased living costs for working people”.

Social housing

It urged that local authorities should take the lead in a major house-building programme, with funding of at least €1 billion from Government, aimed at providing at least 10,000 social housing units a year by late 2018.

“We abandoned the housing market to private developers and let profit become the key driver of housing provision. But the market has failed, and Government must now step in and declare a national housing emergency and act accordingly.

“Given that this is an emergency, compulsory purchase orders must be utilised as a matter of urgency to ensure available serviced land is put to good use, while the introduction the vacant site levy should be brought forward from January 2019.

“We cannot afford a return to the developer-led and shaped policies of previous years despite recent attempts from that sector to extract more tax breaks and subsidies in order to build houses. That approach has led us directly into the crisis we see today.”

 

Game of Thrones star Liam Cunningham, who plays Ser Davos Seaworth in the hit TV show, will take part in a special event in IMPACT’s Nerney’s Court offices on Thursday, September 21st at 6pm.

Cunningham, who is an ambassador for World Vision Ireland, will be presented with a cheque for €8,000 raised by the IMPACT Young Members group for the charity at their ‘Great IMPACT Quiz’ which took place in May.

This will be followed by a screening, as part of the IMPACT Insights series, of the short version (45-minutes) of the Yann Arthus-Bertrand film, Human, followed by a discussion on the refugee crisis led by Cunningham.

Dinner will be provided for all attendees afterwards.

This opportunity to meet and hear from one of the top actors in world TV’s biggest show is exclusive to IMPACT members, and places are very limited, so please contact Joe O’Connor to register.