In this issue
Could a robot do your job?
Education’s ‘real scandal’ revealed
Pay talks to start this month
Parents lack childcare support
Libraries and promotions on agenda
Health service promotions details agreed
Low pay and pensions in spotlight
IMPACT in solidarity with homeless
 

Unions marked May Day by demanding increased investment in publicly-owned social housing and an end to homelessness. The picture shows staff and members of IMPACT trade union preparing for a march of solidarity with homeless families, which took place Dublin yesterday (Monday).

The event was organised by Dublin Council of Trade Unions (DCTU) and the National Homeless and Housing Coalition. DCTU president Pat Bolger, a former IMPACT activist and official, said the fight for decent housing was paramount. “Housing is a right not a privilege and public land should be used to build public housing and not for private profit,” he said.

IMPACT lead organiser Joe O’Connor said the union’s local authority members in homeless services were working with people in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

“It is a complex issue but radical solutions need to considered and implemented as a matter of urgency. This includes a cost rental public housing model as advocated by NESC and NERI, the immediate introduction of a robust and proportionate vacant land levy, and a permanent model of rent regulation linked to inflation. Continued reliance on a chaotic and turbulent private sector will continue to fall short in meeting the scale of the challenge we face,” he said.

May Day has been an internationally-recognised celebration of the advances won by organised labour since the late nineteenth century.

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