Shay was speaking after the finance minister announced economic growth of just over 3% this year. Minister Noonan said he expected something similar in 2015.

“This good news confirms that a modest recovery is really happening. But the next phase of growth is not going to happen at all, nor can current growth be sustained, unless we begin to see more widespread wage recovery. It’s the essential missing ingredient in Ireland’s fragile recovery. Continuing wage repression will stifle growth before it can take hold,” said Shay.

Shay said the role of wage growth in economic recovery was accepted in other EU states. The Bank of England expects real wage growth in the UK to resume next year before accelerating, while the European Central Bank has backed the Bundesbank’s encouragement of higher wage increases in Germany.

German trade unions have agreed above-average pay hikes in the past year after a decade of wage restraint. In April, 2.1 million German public servants agreed a 3% pay rise this year and a 2.4% increase in 2015.

Shay’s comments come as talk of improving incomes gathers momentum, with intense speculation about tax cuts in the budget and a growing debate about wage recovery. In a blog this week, Tom Healy of the trade union-backed Nevin Economic Research Unit revealed that the fall in Irish wages has continued into 2014 despite increasing employment and output.

Healy’s analysis of recent CSO figures, and OECD data published last week, also reveals low pay is still widespread and that average wages are falling in Ireland but rising elsewhere. These trends have gone largely unreported as media coverage focuses almost exclusively on the gap between average pay in the public and private sectors.

IMPACT has been in the national print and broadcast media responding to attacks on public service pay, most recently in the Sunday Business Post.

IMPACT has published a guide to the 2014 Protected Disclosures Act, which introduced strong new protections for workplace whistleblowers this summer. The ‘frequently-asked questions’ style document is on the union’s website.

The new legislation has been warmly welcomed by IMPACT and other unions as the successful culmination of a long trade union campaign. The Act provides a framework of protections for people who are victimised, or threatened with victimisation, for revealing wrongdoing in the workplace.

But workers have to meet the criteria set out in the Act to ensure they are protected. The new IMPACT FAQ, which was produced by the union’s Communications Unit, outlines what that means in layperson’s language. The guide covers the following aspects of the new law:

• Who’s covered by the protections
• What wrongdoings are covered by the law
• How to make a disclosure
• Criteria for making external disclosures
• How to get advice before making a disclosure
• The required burden of proof of wrongdoing
• Details of the protections in the Act
• Confidentiality
• The status of existing legal obligations to disclose wrongdoing.

IMPACT national secretary Louise O’Donnell, who presented the union case at a Labour Court hearing yesterday (Thursday) said management now accepted that ‘sleepover’ duties have to be counted as working time.

However, management continues to vigorously oppose IMPACT’s claim for an increase in the sleepover rate. Staff currently work eight-hour sleepover shifts for just €5.38 an hour – well below the statutory minimum wage of €8.65.

The case was referred to the Labour Court under the Industrial Relations Act. Pay rates for sleepovers could not have been considered by the Court if the union had referred the case under the Working Time Act, which doesn’t cover pay.

The Labour Court chairperson said he would only be considering the industrial relations aspects of the case and would not rule on retrospection or compensation.  The Court said it hopes to issue its recommendation within a fortnight.

The move came after IMPACT told the LRC that management planned to set up a new investigation division without technical staff after agricultural technicians had been temporarily transferred out of the area. The transfer – one of a number of examples of technical staff duties being undermined at potentially high cost to the exchequer – was under civil service mediation at the time.

This will not now be implemented unless industrial relations issues are agreed through proper processes.

IMPACT sees the establishment of the working group, whose findings will be binding on both sides, as a significant step in re-establishing and formalising agricultural technician roles. The union took industrial action on the matter earlier this year. This led to a lengthy LRC process, in which the union’s Agriculture No.1 branch has made detailed submissions on the role of technical agricultural officers.

The ongoing dispute between IMPACT and the department centres on staffing levels and the department’s failure to implement reports that would generate savings by optimising the skills and resources of agricultural officer grades. The LRC process is also addressing the grading structure, meaningful roles for agriculture officers, and a range of other industrial relations issues.

Former IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone has been nominated as a member of the working group by the union. Management has also made its nomination.

IMPACT went to the Court after the workers were made compulsorily redundant on statutory redundancy terms. Management refused to attend the hearing. “The Court recommended enhanced redundancy on the basis of the Croke Park agreement but the Alzheimer’s Society says its position remains unchanged,” said Ashley.

IMPACT has made contact with the HSE in a bid to resolve the deadlock. The Alzheimer Society is a non-profit organisation that receives approximately €11 million from the HSE each year.

Ashley said the society’s approach was unreasonable and unfair. “These workers have been let go after being forced to re-apply for positions within the organisation, despite being told that redeployment options would be made available. The terms recommended by the Court are not onerous and the society’s accounts show they are able to pay,” she said.

The number of absences for four or more days increased by a massive 60% in the same period, from under 17,000 to almost 27,500.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing is the most illness-prone sector with 47 in every 1,000 days lost due to occupational illness. Information and communications was next at 41, followed by education (73 days), construction (34 days) and healthcare and social work (31 days).

The HSA also reported 47 work-related fatalities and 6,598 accidents, both slightly below the rolling five-year average of 48 and 6,988 respectively. The most common causes of workplace accidents are manual handling and falls.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing is the most injury-prone industry, followed by healthcare and social work.

Read more HERE.

The Central Statistic Office reported that 15.4% of under 25s were currently on the Live Register. This compares to 16.5% in August 2013 and 17.6% in August 2012.

On Tuesday (9^th September) the OECD’s annual education survey said the number of 15 to 29 year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) in Ireland stood at 21% in 2012, compared to 15% across the entire OECD. However, the organisation, which is made up of 34 of the world’s strongest economies, lauded Ireland’s high level of graduates, which compares well with OECD averages.

Tom Healy, director of the trade union-sponsored Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI), said one-in-five people aged between 18 and 24 remained out of work, training or education. He warned that early school leavers were far more likely to be ‘NEETs.’

“Early school leavers not in employment, education or training are extremely vulnerable to poverty, homelessness, poor quality employment and exploitation. This is something no society should tolerate,” he said.

In a separate commentary, NERI’s Daragh McCarthy said there were 24 people for every job vacancy in Ireland – down from 28.5 in the second half of last year.

NERI researcher Micheál Collins said that, unlike the effects of direct taxes like income tax, very little consideration is given to the distributive impact of indirect taxes like VAT, fuel charges and levies.

The new study estimates the distributive impact of possible budget changes in five key areas: VAT, fuel excises, insurance levies, tobacco excises and alcohol excises. It examines how such changes would impact on households with different incomes, and assesses how much they could raise for the exchequer.

It finds that a 1% increase in the standard rate of VAT (currently 23%) would increase average household expenditure by over €113 a year, yielding almost €250 million. The effects of such an increase would have a far greater impact on lower income households.

The Department of Social Welfare, which runs jobbridge, has also confirmed that the scheme can’t be used to displace existing staff or to fill vacancies. The department told IMPACT that it has told the education department to comply and circulate the list of posts to all school management boards.

Social welfare says that, in rare cases where other job descriptions genuinely exist in schools, management will have to prove they are genuine before offering jobbridge work experience in the area.

The confirmed posts are:

Primary Schools: Teacher, SNA, secretary, caretaker, principal, librarian and cleaner.

Secondary schools: Teacher, SNA, secretary, caretaker, principal, librarian, cleaner, lab assistant and IT technician.

The organisers expect union activists to be joined by Polish community activists and representatives of other Polish organisations in Ireland.

Wsparcie is working to support Polish migrants by raising awareness of their employment and social rights, and increasing their participation in Irish trade unions.

The meeting takes place on Friday 26^th September at the Communications Workers’ Union conference centre, William Norton House, 575 North Circular Road, Dublin 1. If you want to go, you should confirm your attendance to Louisa Gavin (Louisa.gavin@ictu.ie) by Monday 22^nd September.

1. Increase housing and the right kinds of housing.
2. Provide adequate support services
3. Prevent homelessness before it happens.

Spokesperson Niamh Randall said increased housing was needed for the Government to fulfill its commitment to end long-term homelessness by 2016. She also said a proportion of social housing allocations must be ring-fenced for people moving out of homelessness and called for an increase in rent supplement levels to bring them in line with real market rents.

“People who are homeless have the most acute form of social housing need and must be prioritised. The Simon Community’s most recent annual report highlighted a 24% increase in demand for our services. The Department of Environment’s budget must be increased to cope. The departments of health and social protection must, at the very least, have their budgets restored to 2013 levels so people can get the supports they urgently need,” she said.

IMPACT’s public meeting on practical actions to tackle Dublin’s homelessness crisis, a roof is a right takes place at the Gresham Hotel on Saturday 20th September. Follow on Twitter at #RoofisaRight

The Norwegian human rights group they work for says it’s “deeply concerned that these employees may have been subjected to enforced disappearance and are currently at risk of torture.”

The ITUC, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have been pressing FIFA to relocate the finals amid fears that up to 4,000 migrant workers could die by the time a ball is kicked in 2022. Appalling working conditions – including working in excessive heat with no water have caused scores of deaths. Meanwhile, meagre wages go unpaid and employers have total control over tens of thousands of migrant workers whose passports are confiscated.

ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow said at least one worker a day is losing their life. “FIFA seems to have forgotten about the plight of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers building the world cup infrastructure. It should vote again on who should host in 2022 rather than dancing to the tune of corporate sponsors and multinational construction firms,” she said.

Read about ITUC’s ‘re-run the vote’ campaign here.