The Simon Community is asking everyone to sign the Home for Good  petition to help prevent further cuts to the homeless budget this year. The campaign is part of Simon Week 2013 (30th September-6th October), now in its sixth year.

IMPACT organiser Siobhan Curran said increased homelessness and reduced budgets have pushed homeless services to breaking point. “IMPACT members in the Simon Community, Focus Ireland and right across the homeless services sector continue to make every effort to respond to the growing problem of homelessness and the increase in the numbers who are sleeping rough in Dublin city centre. The threat of more funding cuts for crucial services remains high, which is why I would urge IMPACT members from all sectors to support this campaign” she said.

Paul Magee, an IMPACT rep in Simon said: “Thousands of us are just one pay cheque, one social welfare payment, one family problem, one health diagnosis, one mortgage repayment away from becoming homeless. Cutting funding for homeless services hurts the most vulnerable in our society at a time when it’s needed more than ever.”

Keivan Jackson, an IMPACT rep in Focus Ireland, said union activists and homelessness staff were actively working to make homelessness a thing of the past. “As Ireland emerges from this recession, it is vital that we all work together to try to shape a more just and equal society for everyone,” he said.

You can sign the Home for Good petition HERE

Related:

Simon Community warns on rough sleeping increase – IMPACT website

The Simon Community says it recorded an 88% increase in the number of people sleeping rough in Dublin’s inner city. Simon Community workers are represented by IMPACT.

IMPACT member Ed Penrose saved fellow members in the health professions a few quid when he signed their applications for professional statutory registration. The forms have to be signed by a solicitor (who’ll charge you) or a peace commissioner like Ed (who won’t).

But the canny community service supervisor brought along a collection box when he agreed to help his colleagues out – and he’s raised over €500 for the Friends of Saint Luke’s cancer care and research charity.

Social workers and social care professionals are the first two groups to be required to register in order to continue practicing in the Republic of Ireland. The requirement is being rolled out to all other health and social care professions including clinical biochemists, chiropodists/podiatrists, clinical nutritionists/dietitians, occupational therapists, orthoptists, physiotherapists, psychologists and speech and language therapists.

Find out more about statutory registration for health and social care professionals.

Over 160 IMPACT members attended the Donegal Health and Welfare branch’s open day last month. The branch provided free health screening and over 60 members heard a talk by HSE superannuation staff.

IMPACT’s membership service officers hosted an information stand and union officials and representatives were on hand to deal with members’ queries. Representatives from companies offering approved services to IMPACT members were also there including Cornnmarket, JLT, travel insurance company KennCo, Hospital Saturday Fund, Eamon Stevenson Financial Services and Fair Hotels. These and local companies sponsored prizes for IMPACT members.

Branch treasurer and recruitment officer Dorothy Robinson said the free health screening was particularly popular. It involved two diabetic nurse specialists who checked blood sugars; a smoking cessation specialist; a cardiac rehab nurse who checked blood pressure, heart rate and carbon monoxide levels; and a senior dietician and trainee dietician who checked body mass indexes.
 

“We got very positive feedback from members who attended. The open day provided an opportunity for IMPACT members to meet informally and talk to their union representatives. Plus they got lots of information on the benefits of IMPACT membership,” said Dorothy.

Branch officers who want information about holding an IMPACT open day can contact membership service officers Julie Healy (jhealy@impact.ie) or Bernie Aston (baston@impact.ie).

The Right2Water campaign has claimed an “undeniable success” after gathering almost two million signatures across 28 EU member states on a petition demanding that water and sanitation be treated as human rights, and calling on the EU to introduce measures to prevent privatisation.

The campaign, which is supported by IMPACT, is now demanding that the European Commission implements legislation to make the right to water and sanitation a human right.

Finland, Lithuania, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain all exceeded the minimum number of signatures required under the European Citizens Initiative (ECI), which requires the Commission to consider issues that attract over a million signatures.

Right2Water said it now expects the European Commission to listen to the voice of Europe’s people and “make the human right to water and sanitation a reality for all.” The trade union-led campaign intends to submit its validated statement of support on 10^th December, which is world human rights day.

The ECI was introduced under the Nice Treaty. The Right2Water campaign was led by the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) with the support of trade unions and civil society groups like the European Anti Poverty Network and the European Environmental Bureau.

ICTU is again seeking nominations for its global solidarity champions training course, which starts in Dublin on Thursday 31^st October and finishes on the afternoon of Saturday 2^nd November. The aim of the programme is to equip participants to become global solidarity champions and help strengthen development education and international solidarity work within their union.

The programme will address issues facing workers around the world including trade union rights and the role of international trade union bodies and institutions like the International Labour Organisation.

If you want to attend the course you must book through IMPACT. Contact Roisin Nolan at rnolan@impact.ie. You can get more details on the course content from Louisa Gavin (louisa.gavin@ictu.ie).

IMPACT’s Retired Members’ Vocational Group is to host its second retired members’ seminar in Dublin’s Gresham Hotel on 6^th November. ‘Your Rights After Work’ will explore how IMPACT can work with other retired public servants’ groups. Top speakers will also outline retired members’ rights on pensions, the law, social welfare, health and other services.

Lunch will be provided by IMPACT and there will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions and make comments. The seminar, which is free, is open to all retired workers who were previously members of IMPACT.

Speakers will include Edwina Jones and Brian Burke of the IMPACT Retired Members’ Vocational Group, and IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody and deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan. Jill Farrelly from the Citizens Information Board will talk about navigating the benefits system and Patricia Rickard Clarke will speak on the new legal framework that’s replacing the wards of court system. Other speakers are being confirmed.

For more information or an application form contact Bernie Aston (baston@impact.ie) or Julie Healy (jhealy@impact.ie). Or phone 01-817-1500.

New legislation, which is expected to become law over the next couple of months, will remove legal barriers to redeployment between different parts of the civil and public service. The change will ease redeployments into the civil service under Croke Park-Haddington Road redeployment provisions.

The Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) (Amendment) Bill effectively redefines the public service, for redeployment purposes, to include virtually all civil and public service employers except commercial state bodies and their subsidiaries.

The proposed legislation reaffirms that any redeployment must be done within the terms of collective agreements – in this case, Haddington Road and the Croke Park agreement. The bill also explicitly protects the basic pay and pensions of redeployed staff, and will ensure that their length of service is unaffected by redeployment. Redeployed staff will have the same rights as existing staff in the organisations they move to.

The bill will also amend existing legislation to give statutory effect to the recent practice of opening senior civil service promotion competitions to outsiders.  IMPACT has long-campaigned for this change.

IMPACT’s central executive committee (CEC) is urging members to vote in the two referenda that take place this Friday (4^th October). The union has not taken a position on either referendum as they are not directly related to workplace issues or workers’ rights.

Following a discussion at a scheduled CEC meeting last week, the executive agreed to emphasise the importance of voting in the Court of Appeal referendum, which has attracted far less debate and media attention than the Seanad vote.

You can get Referendum Commission information on the Court of Appeal referendum HERE.

Voting takes place on Friday 4th of October, with polling stations open from 7am until 10pm. Every Irish citizen aged 18 or over, and on the electoral register, is entitled to vote. You should receive a polling card, but you don’t have to bring this with you. However, you should bring photo-ID, which you may be asked to produce.

Read the Referendum Commission leaflet on both votes HERE.

IMPACT is supporting an international campaign to stop the United Nations derecognising its trade unions. The union is asking its members to support a petition calling for a reversal of the policy.

The International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) has written to secretary general Ban Ki-Moon to oppose the plans, which would deny 65,000 employees the UN-endorsed human right to trade union membership and recognition.

ITUC general secretary Sharon Burrow expressed shock at the UN decision to deny its staff “the rights enshrined in the conventions of the UN’s own specialised agency, the International Labour Organisation (ILO).” She accused the UN of seeking to unilaterally replace existing negotiation rights with a much weaker system of consultation.

Ms Burrow said the move would marginalise staff representatives and their unions. She said it contradicted recent advice from the UN’s Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), which advocated the full and effective promotion of collective bargaining with UN staff.

“While this would be troubling behaviour by any employer, it is especially disconcerting given that the UN is meant to set a positive example for the world’s governments, based on respect for fundamental human rights. The UN system cannot treat its staff and their representatives in this way. We urge you to re-establish constructive labour management dialogue in line with international labour standards,” she wrote.

The online trade union news and campaign service LabourStart has launched a petition campaign opposing the UN’s anti-union measures.  LabourStart explained: “The people who work for the UN often risk their lives to do so.  In the last decade, 555 UN staff have been attacked and 200 killed. They often work in dangerous and hostile locations. Ban Ki-Moon will no longer negotiate with unions over issues like safety and security, welfare and conditions of service.”

UN staff unions are calling for support from trade unionists everywhere and IMPACT members are urged to support the campaign and spread the word. The full text of the ITUC letter is available HERE.

ICTU general secretary David Begg has said Ireland cannot properly honour the memory of the 1913 Lockout without giving today’s working people the right to be represented by the union of their choice.

Speaking at a Seanad Éireann hearing on the relevance of the Lockout to modern Ireland, Mr Begg said: “The central objective that the women and men of 1913 fought for – the right of workers to choose their representatives and have them bargain collectively with employers on their behalf – has never been secured.”

Ireland is one of only four EU countries where workers have no legal right to collective bargaining. The Programme for Government includes a commitment that would strengthen collective bargaining rights by bringing Ireland into line with recent European legal judgements. A consultation process is underway and proposals are expected to go to cabinet soon. But there is stiff resistance in business circles and among some politicians.

Mr Begg told senators that organisations like the IDA and the Supreme Court were actively opposed to union rights for Irish workers. “Why that should be when this right is the norm in virtually every European country is a mystery to me,” he said.

Related:

Unfinished business left over from the Lockout

Lockout commemoration events