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.

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.

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.

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.”