The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has issued a series of policy proposals to the newly formed minority Government. Policy Priorities for Workers calls on the new administration to address employment law shortcomings and issues in education, health, pensions, housing and homelessness, water, childcare, and the community sector.

ICTU is calling for regularised employment contracts and pay parity in education, along with an enhanced role for Education and Training Boards. It says annual education spending should be at least 7% of GDP, and health spending a minimum 10% of GDP.

Meanwhile, IMPACT’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) branch achieved a “very positive” outcome when the new Government committed an extra €500 million to education, including the recruitment of an extra 238 national educational psychologists – an increase of 25%.

The branch had pressed for an increase in staffing by circulating TDs involved in the formation of the new Government with its report The Way Forward. The union followed up with direct correspondence to the leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Congress calls on the new Government to re-establish an Employer Labour Conference, increase the national minimum wage, and implement the recommendations of the University of Limerick review on low-hour contracts. It also wants all forms of bogus self-employment outlawed.

It backs calls for a referendum to ensure water is kept “in the public realm,” and says the current system of domestic water charges should be replaced with an alternative model for funding the sector.

Read the policy document here.

Around 650 delegates, representing IMPACT members in workplaces across the country, will converge in Killarney, County Kerry next Wednesday for IMPACT’s 2016 delegate conference. The conference, which is the highest decision-making body in the union, will set the union’s policy and priorities for the next two years.

The conference will also elect a new union President and fill eight other officer positions on the IMPACT central executive.

IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody will update delegates on public service pay determination on Thursday morning before they debate 27 motions on pay. These include proposals from the union’s elected executive on pay restoration, future public service pay determination, and the extension of the ‘living wage.’

IMPACT has welcomed new Programme for Government’s commitment to honour the Lansdowne Road agreement and unwind the FEMPI legislation as the recovery strengthens over time. But the union has said it will want accelerated income recovery if better-than-expected growth and ‘fiscal space’ emerge in the coming months.

The conference will also decide whether to continue discussions on the creation of a new union involving IMPACT, the Civil Public and Service Union (CPSU) and the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU).

Delegates will also hear from ICTU general secretary Patricia King and SIPTU official Gerry McCormack, who will warn on the potential employment impact of a UK exit from the European Union.

Other issues down for debate include working hours, the regularisation of acting arrangements, childcare costs, housing and homelessness, the refugee crisis and Irish Water. And there will be calls for the union to support a repeal the eighth amendment to the constitution.

IMPACT’s submission to the An Garda Síochána Strategy Statement for 2016-2018 has recommended that over 1,500 fully trained and experienced Gardaí could be released to frontline duties if civilian Garda staff are assigned roles that don’t require the sworn powers of regular gardaí.

The recommendation follows an invitation, from Deputy Garda Commissioner Dónall Ó Cualáin, to submit issues of concern “specific to IMPACT and the future challenges for the Garda organisation and policing in Ireland.”

IMPACT official Shane Lambert, who made the submission, highlighted the recommendation in the Garda Inspectorate Report Changing Policing in Ireland, which said certain roles should be assigned to civilian gardaí.

Shane said implementing the recommendation would deliver tangible benefits to society. “It would not only enable greater presence of Gardaí on our street both operationally and visually but would allow the organisation the scope to expand and develop in different specialist areas such as the cyber-crime unit, increasing the probability of convictions, while also serving as a crime deterrent and promoting best policing practices,” he said.

IMPACT’s submission notes that Changing Policing in Ireland details an analysis of the roles undertaken by members of the force, which found a large percentage of all ranks not assigned to operational duties. This includes 12% of gardaí, 16% of sergeants, 24% of inspectors and 27% of superintendents.

The Inspectorate also found that the number of members in operational and specialist roles had reduced, while Garda Headquarters had seen an increase of 8.6% in members assigned to administrative roles.

Shane explained, “The review shows some non-operational units with very large numbers of sworn members, including the Information and Communication Technology branch, which has 104 sworn members.

“This means there are a good deal of fully trained gardaí carrying out duties that could be performed by civilian staff. If the recommendation is acted upon, it would have the immediate and welcome effect of releasing large numbers of gardaí into crime detection and prevention roles. The recruitment on moratorium has had an effect on the Garda Siochana’s capacity. Assigning non-operational roles to civilian Gardaí is a practical measure to improve capacity,” he said.

IMPACT’s full submission to the An Garda Síochána Strategy Statement for 2016-2018 is available here.

IBEC’s “misleading and irresponsible” claim that the law doesn’t need to be changed to prevent another Clerys debacle doesn’t stack up, according to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

Congress General Secretary Patricia King said the employer body’s assertion flew in the face of the evidence, and pointed to the recent Duffy-Cahill report, which identified serious deficiencies with existing legal protections for workers.

“We all saw what happened, and the appalling indifference shown to workers escorted off the premises by security guards with a few moments’ notice. Many had decades of service and were left with just the bare, basic redundancy package. To add insult to outrage, the new owners then sent the redundancy bill to the Irish taxpayer,” she said.

Congress has called for early legislation to implement the Duffy-Cahill recommendations, and has sought a meeting on the matter with Mary Mitchell O’Connor, the new Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

The individual was withdrawn from the sick pay scheme in February 2014, after the employer refused their request to be accompanied by an IMPACT representative to an attendance review meeting.

The Labour Court has recommended that the employer should now consider the individual to have been restored to the sick pay scheme from 18th May 2014, and to pay the sick pay due between that date and when they returned to work in August of the same year.

IMPACT assistant general secretary Shay Clinton said, “This member is now satisfied that the Labour Court upheld the fact that she should not have been removed from the sick pay scheme for such a lengthy period. The Labour Court obviously took into account that she was not allowed to be accompanied to a meeting she believed could have had long-term implications for her future in the workplace”

Shay added, “I’ve asked IMPACT’s Health and Welfare national secretary, Eamonn Donnelly, to raise the issue of attendance protocols at these type of meetings within the HSE in order to ensure an incident like this will not happen again.”

IMPACT is hosting a seminar about housing and homelessness as part of the union’s campaign for adequate housing provision, security of tenure, and an end to the homelessness crisis. The seminar takes place on Thursday 2^nd June at IMPACT’s Limerick offices (Roxborough Road) from 6 to 8.30pm.

The seminar will consist of three discussion panels, including expert speakers from Focus Ireland, the Simon Community, Limerick City and County Council and the University of Limerick students’ union.

The union has continued to highlight the ongoing crisis in housing and homelessness since hosting the Roof is a Right public meeting in September 2014. IMPACT’s motion to the ICTU conference in 2015 called for a co-ordinated plan to ensure housing provision ensuring a right to adequate housing provision, regulation of rents through an indexation system, and urgent assistance to homeless services.

Campaigner Erica Fleming will also address the seminar, sharing her personal experience of living long term in a hotel with her young daughter.

IMPACT organiser Joe O’Connor, who is coordinating the event, said urgent solutions were needed. “Citizens have a fundamental human right, not just to a roof or mere shelter, but to a home. We must act immediately to ensure this aspiration becomes a reality for current and future generations of working people, and IMPACT is working with our partners in the National Homeless and Housing Coalition to keep the issue on the national agenda and to promote solutions,” he said.