Feature Article
Bruton to address IMPACT education conference
by Bernard Harbor
 
Education minister Richard Bruton is to address IMPACT’s Education Division conference when it opens this Wednesday (19th April). This is the second consecutive conference to welcome an education minister, evidence that the union is succeeding in establishing the value of the contribution of non-teaching staff in the sector.

Education minister Richard Bruton is to address IMPACT’s Education Division conference when it opens this Wednesday (19th April). This is the second consecutive conference to welcome an education minister, evidence that the union is succeeding in establishing the value of the contribution of non-teaching staff in the sector.

IMPACT now represents almost 11,000 education staff including school secretaries, special needs assistants, school completion staff, early education professionals, special education needs organisers, and administrative workers in education and training boards and institutes of technology.

Delegates at conference will debate conference motions on pay, SNA professional development, the single affordable childcare scheme, higher education funding and recruitment, representation on school management boards, school completion programme funding, and early education.

Cork ETB chief Ted Owens will speak to the conference about the growing role of community national schools and Jessica Ní Mhaolin will speak about the value of SNAs.

Panel discussions are planned on equality in education and student resilience and coping skills. The conference will also hear updates on the union’s campaigns for professionalisation in early education and funding for higher education. Workers from the UK will talk to delegates about a recent strike by teaching assistants.

You can read the IMPACT Education Division biennial report here.

additional articles
St Patrick’s pension protest
by Niall Shanahan

Staff at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services in Dublin held a lunchtime protest last Wednesday (12th April) in response to a unilateral decision by senior management to cease employer contributions to the staff defined benefit pension scheme. 

IMPACT official Catherine Keogh said management and trustees of the scheme had made the decision made to cease their contributions without any consultation with the affected workers.

Catherine said further protests are planned and that staff, represented by IMPACT, SIPTU, the INMO and PNA are considering taking further action on the issue.

In this video clip from the protest IMPACT shop steward Marie Therese Mulholland explains why staff conducted the lunchtime protest.   

Homeless staff want overnight pay
by Niall Shanahan

Workers providing homeless services in Galway have unanimously backed a campaign to secure the Labour Court’s recommended hourly rate for overnight working. A Labour Court ruling in 2014 recommended that time spent on overnight (sleepover) duty should be acknowledged as constituting working time, and that workers should be paid the national minimum hourly rate (€9.25) for this duty.

IMPACT assistant general secretary Padraig Mulligan explained that when the union sought the payment for staff working in the Galway Simon Community, the employer said it was unable to pay as the HSE had not provided the funding to do so. “The employer accepts that staff have a legal entitlement to the payment, but the HSE is withholding the funding.

“This is not an acceptable position. The HSE pays its own staff the proper rate, and provides money to do so in other funded agencies. It makes no sense to exclude the Galway staff at Simon, who are effectively providing services through the night for €4.50 per hour. That’s less than half of the national minimum wage,” he said.

IMPACT members in the sector have unanimously backed the union’s campaign of action, up to including industrial action.  

The 50 staff at Galway Simon are housing support officers and housing support assistants. Mr Mulligan said the staff are highly experienced, and entered the workplace with recognised third level qualifications in social care. “The employer and the HSE accept they owe the money, but no one is prepared to release the funds.

“The HSE’s failure to provide funding, to pay the proper legal rate, is reserved for workers who they believe will never stand up for themselves. We call our campaign Invisible No More because these workers deserve to be recognised and to be treated fairly. That means paying them the proper rate, as recommended by the Labour Court and required by law.” he said.

Mr Mulligan said the union is currently campaigning to raise awareness of the underpayment of staff. “We’re talking to our TDs and to the wider community. Ultimately, we’re bringing this campaign to the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, as he carries the responsibility to release the necessary funds.

“We have a strong mandate for industrial action if it comes to that. I hope it won’t. These workers provide a vital and valuable service to the city’s homeless population. But they must be treated fairly, and that is what we’re fighting for,” he said.

The matter was raised last week in the Seanad by Senator Trevor O’Clochartaigh, who said that said the government must intervene to ensure the HSE provides Galway Simon with the necessary funds to pay its staff.

Junior Minister Marcella Corcoran Kennedy is reported to have responded that the HSE has no role in determining the salaries or other terms and conditions applying to these staff, including sleepover payments. The junior minister said the HSE has informed her that the relevant local Community Healthcare Organisation is examining the financial implications of the sleepover costs.

Related: Workers seek ‘proper pay’ – Galway Independent, Wednesday 12th April 2017

Volunteers sought for union focus group
by Niall Shanahan

IMPACT is looking for members willing to take part in focus group workshops as part of a programme of research relating to the New Union project. The project is seeking to win support for the establishment of a new union representing over 80,000 members in participating unions (CPSU, IMPACT and PSEU), across the public service and commercial and state agencies.

The workshops take place in Limerick on Tuesday 25th April (11am to 1pm) and in Dublin on Wednesday 3rd May (3pm to 5pm).

If you are interested in taking part please send an email (with “New Union Project workshops” in the subject heading) IMPACT communications officer Niall Shanahan.

May Day march for homes

The Dublin Council of Trade Unions and the National Homeless and Housing Coalition have organised a May Day march against homelessness. IMPACT members are being urged to join the protest, which will assemble at the garden of remembrance in Dublin’s Parnell Square at 2pm on Monday 1st May.

May Day has been an internationally-recognised celebration of the advances won by organised labour since the late nineteenth century. This year’s Dublin event will be used to press the campaign for a right to a home, increased investment in publicly-owned social housing, and an end to homelessness.

The IMPACT banner will be there and you can get more information from joconnor@impact.ie.

Join the Syria fundraiser

Members of IMPACT’s young members’ working group are holding a table quiz to raise funds for World Vision Ireland’s humanitarian work with refugee Syrian children. The event takes place at IMPACT’s Dublin office at 6.00pm on 4th May, and branches are being invited to participate.

The cost is €100 for a table of four, and donations are also being accepted from members and branches who are unable to attend. The money will support World Vision Ireland’s work with young Syrian refugees. The charity’s Ireland ambassador, Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham, recently visited Syrian children in Jordan.

The event will also feature a special screening of a short documentary film about ICTU’s visit to the Calais refugee camps, as well as a raffle. Food and drink will be available.

If you or your branch are interested in attending, you should contact lead organiser Joe O’Connor (joconnor@impact.ie). Or send donations to Joe at IMPACT Trade Union, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1.

Small grants fund launched
by Niall Shanahan

IMPACT’s 2017 small grants fund, which supports local initiatives in education and intercultural development in Dublin’s north east inner city, was launched earlier this month with representatives of community organisations from the area.

The fund is part of the union’s ongoing contribution to the inner-city community in which it’s based.

In 2017, the Dublin fund will have a budget of €50,000, which will be allocated to the two designated areas of education and inter cultural development, with a maximum grant of €1,000.

Local groups or organisations from the Dublin North East Inner City can apply to the fund.


Farewell Fidel

A night of song and film remembering the historic significance of Fidel Castro to international progressive politics will take place in Liberty Hall this evening (Tuesday 18th April). Participants at the free event include the Cuban Ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Dr. Hermes Herrera Hernández and SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor. Performers will include Tony Oscar and the Cuban All Stars and Leo Rickard, Paul Kelly and Eric Fleming.

The date of the event coincides with the 56th anniversary of the defeat by Cuban forces of an invasion by counter-revolutionaries, backed by the CIA, at Playa Girón in Cuba.

NEWS
Worker protections must stay post-Brexit
by Bernard Harbor
 

Ireland must stay in the European Union post-Brexit, and the Government must ensure that workers, consumers and communities continue to benefit from protections set down in European law, according to IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan.



Ireland must stay in the European Union post-Brexit, and the Government must ensure that workers, consumers and communities continue to benefit from protections set down in European law, according to IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan.

Speaking at a major union event on Brexit and the food and agriculture sector last week, Kevin rejected suggestions that Ireland should follow Britain out of the EU in order to remain competitive.

“To panic in this way would be a mistake, not least because of advantages that EU membership has bought to workers, consumers and communities in this country, in areas as diverse as food standards, equal opportunities, health and safety, and indeed financial investment.

“Neither do we want to follow Britain in a race to reduce the protections that improve our lives and our communities. We need to maintain these standards, as well as our access to the single market and to the other 57 markets it allows us to reach,” he said.

He said the Irish Government needed to up its game on investment to help agriculture and other sectors in the Brexit firing line.

“Over the last week, we have seen IBEC and the National Competitiveness Council come round strongly to the view, long articulated by IMPACT, that we need to up our game in terms of investment in housing, education, children, and infrastructure. This is welcome because the Brexit challenge underscores this imperative,” he said.

Kevin was speaking at an event called ‘Hard cheese: Brexit, jobs and standards in the food and agriculture sector,’ which was organised by IMPACT, Siptu and the trade union Charter Group.

More than any other sector, jobs and communities supported by the food and agriculture industry are at risk from the fall-out of Brexit. The sector employs over 167,000 people and accounts for almost 10% of employment in the Republic, where it sources almost three-quarters of its raw materials and services from local businesses. Over 40% of its exports are sold in Britain and Northern Ireland.

 

Tánaiste responds on pay gap
by Lughan Deane
 
Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald has agreed to talk to IMPACT about its call for gender pay gap reporting laws after the union sought a meeting. The union has also provoked a huge response to its social media campaign, which calls for legislation to make employers publish details of their gender pay gaps.

Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald has agreed to talk to IMPACT about its call for gender pay gap reporting laws after the union sought a meeting. The union has also provoked a huge response to its social media campaign, which calls for legislation to make employers publish details of their gender pay gaps.

Similar laws recently went live in the UK, prompting the Guardian’s Alexandra Topping to say the move “could do more to reduce the earnings gulf between men and women than four decades of equality legislation.” Ireland’s gender pay gap is stuck at around 14%.

The Programme for Government commits the Irish administration to “promote wage transparency by requiring companies with 50 or more employees to complete a wage survey.” But IMPACT says it must go further and require them to publish the data, rather than just collect it.

IMPACT’s #clockedout social media campaign, which has won huge support, has focussed on the idea that women effectively work 71 minutes for free each working day when compared to their male counterparts. In other words, they are ‘clocked out by the pay gap’ at 15:50 each day.

Last month, Labour leader Brendan Howlin asked Taoiseach Enda Kenny during leaders’ questions to support IMPACT’s call for new laws. IMPACT then welcomed the publication of a Labour Bill that aims to introduce gender pay gap reporting in Ireland. The union has called for cross-party support for the legislation.

IMPACT official Ger O’Brien said Ireland would benefit from similar transparency. “The disclosure of data like this is key to addressing the gender pay gap. What gets measured gets done, and publishing this kind of information would represent a real and concrete action on the part of employers, which would go a long way towards achieving the ultimate goal of equal pay for men and women,” she said.

Ag department ‘ill prepared’ for Brexit
by Bernard Harbor
 
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is ill-prepared to protect the food and agriculture sector from the effects of Brexit because its staffing was slashed by a third during the economic crisis, according to IMPACT.

Speaking at a trade union seminar on the impact of Brexit in the food industry, the union’s national secretary Andy Pike called for a significant boost in employment in the department to rebuild lost technical capacity and help farmers, food processors and exporters prepare for likely “double regulation” on Irish businesses that move food products across the border, or export into the UK and Northern Ireland.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is ill-prepared to protect the food and agriculture sector from the effects of Brexit because its staffing was slashed by a third during the economic crisis, according to IMPACT.

Speaking at a trade union seminar on the impact of Brexit in the food industry, the union’s national secretary Andy Pike called for a significant boost in employment in the department to rebuild lost technical capacity and help farmers, food processors and exporters prepare for likely “double regulation” on Irish businesses that move food products across the border, or export into the UK and Northern Ireland.

Mr Pike said agriculture department staff numbers had fallen from 4,500 to 3,000 in recent years. “As a result, the department is ill-prepared to provide the services that farmers and the food industry will need. There are simply not enough staff in the department to deal with the challenge of Brexit,” he said.

He said the Irish Government would have to invest to avoid a potentially catastrophic slowing down of the process of regulation.

“We will need to invest to spare Irish businesses and farmers from the regulatory double jeopardy – the duplication of red tape – that will almost certainly be visited upon them post-Brexit. And we need to plan for this now, with adequate provision beginning in the 2018 Budget, so that resources are in place in time to give farmers and food processors the support they need, and to minimise the additional costs and competitive disadvantage that will otherwise be placed on them,” he said.

Unions also called on the Government to push the EU to invoke state aid rules that allow grant aid to industries hit with “damage caused by exceptional circumstances.”

Speaking at the major event, called ‘Hard Cheese: Brexit, Jobs and Standards in the Food and Agriculture Sector,’ Blair Horan of the trade union ‘Charter Group’ said the Government should establish a special task force, with employer and worker representation, to take the message to Brussels. He said Ireland should seek:

  • An ‘enterprise stabilisation fund,’ along the lines of the 2009-2011 fund administered by Enterprise Ireland. This would include direct grants, repayable grants, or interest subsidies to assist manufacturing firms
  • An exchequer and EU-funded job and income protection scheme to maintain employment levels during a transition period
  • Marketing diversification and research aid to support firms seeking new markets and developing new products
  • Access to finance from the Strategic Investment Fund to support innovation, new technology and new plant and machinery
  • Temporary intervention measures under the CAP, in whatever form is necessary to protect farm incomes.

Mr Horan said food and agriculture directly sustains almost 10% of employment in the Republic of Ireland, and the sector sources almost three-quarters of its raw materials and services from domestic sources. Almost 40% of its exports go to Britain and Northern Ireland. “The Brexit threat to jobs and farm incomes is very real and will have a serious impact on the fabric of rural Ireland unless strong measures are put in place now. The social partners should aim to agree a joint approach on the measures necessary to meet the challenges,” he said.

Hard Cheese was hosted by IMPACT, SIPTU (Manufacturing Division) and the Charter Group. The event was opened by Minister for Food, Agriculture and the Marine, Michael Creed, and heard speakers from IBEC, Enterprise Ireland, the IFA, ESRI, Taoiseach’s Department, and ICTU.

Public rates civil service
by Bernard Harbor
 
Public satisfaction with civil servants is at its highest recorded level, according to an independent survey published earlier this month. The Ipsos/MRBI survey found that 83% of those who’d accessed services were satisfied, while 87% were happy with the outcome of their contact with a civil servant. Both figures are significantly up from the last survey, which took place in 2015.

Public satisfaction with civil servants is at its highest recorded level, according to an independent survey published earlier this month. The Ipsos/MRBI survey found that 83% of those who’d accessed services were satisfied, while 87% were happy with the outcome of their contact with a civil servant. Both figures are significantly up from the last survey, which took place in 2015.

Public perceptions of civil service efficiency, trust, independence and equality have all increased too. IMPACT said the results were proof of a strong service ethos among public servants. A union spokesperson said: “The number of public servants fell significantly during the economic crash, while demand for services soared. This new survey shows that public servants more than rose to that challenge, despite the frequent carping from some sections of the media commentariat.”

The field work was carried out in the first quarter of 2017 with over 2,000 face-to-face interviews conducted nationwide.

Read the report HERE.

Industrial action likely in councils
by Bernard Harbor
 
The prospect of industrial action in local authorities has increased after management proposed that half of future vacancies should be filled by external competitions. IMPACT members have already voted overwhelmingly for industrial action over the proposed abolition of the ‘common recruitment pool,’ and national secretary Peter Nolan says he expects the forthcoming Local Government Division conference to trigger that mandate.

The prospect of industrial action in local authorities has increased after management proposed that half of future vacancies should be filled by external competitions. IMPACT members have already voted overwhelmingly for industrial action over the proposed abolition of the ‘common recruitment pool,’ and national secretary Peter Nolan says he expects the forthcoming Local Government Division conference to trigger that mandate.

Management wrote to IMPACT last week with its proposal that one in two posts should, in future, be filled externally. This arrangement would see local authority promotions opened up to other parts of the public service, where council staff aren’t allowed to apply for posts.

Peter said local authorities already engaged in more external recruitment than the civil service and the health and education sectors. “Local authority staff, whose numbers have been cut by close to 30%, have remained responsive to the needs of their communities throughout the worst periods of the economic crisis,” he said.

The Local Government Division conference takes place in Letterkenny between 10th and 12 May.

Newsletter Marketing Powered by Newsweaver