IMPACT assistant general secretary Johnny Fox has written to staff employed at Irish Water urging them to join IMPACT. Johnny contacted staff last week as uncertainty, regarding the utility's future, continues to grow following the general election.
Johnny said that the result of the general election has been to encourage further speculation on the future of Irish Water, with political parties using the utility as a bargaining chip in negotiations on the formation of a new government.
“Irish Water and its creation has too often been used as a political football, exploited by a wide range of political interests, with the concerns of workers providing the service far too often ignored.
“None of the politicians, or parties, arguing about the future of Irish Water seems to have thought about how their posturing could affect the people working hard to make Irish Water a trusted and successful utility. They're too busy trying to make deals and, potentially, trying to bargain away these workers' future.
“The situation, right now, is uncertain and will remain uncertain as the various parties try to hammer out a deal for Government and on Irish Water’s future. It is vital that Irish Water workers can speak with one voice, to be organised and represented so that they are prepared for whatever comes next,” he said.
Johnny added that IMPACT has always been proud to challenge the range of interests who’ve attacked Irish Water for political advantage, and that the union wants to work with staff to build their collective strength “for whatever challenges lie ahead.”
Redundancy warning
The group of unions representing staff at the utility wrote to the leaders of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats, seeking a discussion with the parties about the concerns of Irish Water staff and the future of the utility, and outlining their opposition to potential redundancies at the utility.
The group of unions includes IMPACT, UNITE, the TEEU and SIPTU.
The letter warns that there is no prospect of abolishing Irish Water without widespread redundancies, because only a minority of staff, less than 30%, are seconded from local authorities or the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government.
The secretary of the group, Adrian Kane, said that staff had continued to pursue their duties in a diligent and efficient manner despite being subject to “negative comment, scrutiny and derision over the past two and a half years.”
He added, “The workers in Irish Water have also been subject to persistent misrepresentation of their work. The significant improvement in water services and infrastructure, delivered by our members to date, has been dismissed.
“Their conditions of employment, most notably a pay model that was introduced into Bord Gáis Eireann to deliver payroll savings of €34m, was cynically portrayed as a pay model designed to establish a ‘bonus culture’. In response to political pressure, the company resiled from this cost-saving pay model, a move which subsequently drew the criticism of the Labour Relations Commission.”
Mr Kane said that the water metering programme had been ‘completely misrepresented’, ignoring the value of metering in terms of leak detection, water conservation, replacement of expired infrastructure and significant employment.
