IMPACT and other unions in Irish Water have voted in favour of a Labour Court recommendation that includes a 2.2% basic pay increase. The group of unions backed the Court’s recommendation, which was published in December, by 73% in a ballot of 463 workers.

IMPACT official Johnny Fox said the deal ends a pay freeze imposed in Irish Water’s parent company Ervia, formerly Bord Gáis, in 2013. He said the base pay increase was within the average for private sector pay increases in 2016.

“The Court has recommended that the current pay agreement be reviewed before the end of 2017. This was crucial in achieving a new agreement that is more focussed on collective bargaining, as well as benchmarking against pay in the energy and natural resources sector of the economy,” he said.

The recommendation also provides for a minimum increase of 10% upon promotion. Johnny said this aspect of the recommendation made it more attractive for members to seek career progression.

Management and unions are to undertake a review of the company’s performance-related pay model, which was suspended after attracting intense media criticism despite delivering payroll savings.

A subsequent independent review of Ervia’s pay model found there was “no evidence that a so-called richly rewarded ‘bonus culture’ is in operation.” It also found that the pay model does not encourage or enable excessively high levels of pay and that, in most cases, actual individual pay levels at Ervia are lower than typical market rates.

Coillte deal rejected

Meanwhile, IMPACT members in the state forestry company Coillte have rejected a series of restructuring and pay proposals. The ballot concluded in January.

The proposals included pay increases of 1.5%, once-off lump sum payments ranging between €2,250 and €4,500, and the introduction of an internal dispute resolution process.

IMPACT official Johnny Fox said a crucial feature of the proposals was the return to talks in June to negotiate pay increases each year up to 2020. However, there has been no contact between the unions and management since the ballot result. Johnny said the Coillte branch executive is currently considering options to achieve pay movement this year.

An independent report has recommended the limited use of personal protective equipment (PPE), along with other measures to improve health and safety, at the Oberstown youth detention centre in Dublin. The study, commissioned from Tom Beegan and Associates in response to union concerns, calls for the full implementation of a safety, health and welfare management system on the campus.

IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly said the union was now pressing management to implement the report’s recommendations, which include the use of limited PPE by named individuals in circumstances where a critical incident has developed that involves a young person and/or staff.

“Our main question for the employer now is what arrangements they will make for the introduction of the recommended use of PPE - under certain protocols - pending the full implementation of the safety, health and welfare recommendations contained in this report,” he said.

The report, which was delivered to unions and management last week, shows there were a total of 137 assault- or restraint-related injuries to staff in 2016, resulting in a total of 1,826 days lost up to November. The total number of days lost to injury-related absences between 2014 and 2016 was 5,285.

It notes that most 2016 injuries were sustained either during a restraint or while exiting a room in which a restraint had occurred, and recommends a review of procedures used to avoid injury during or following restraining incidents. It also found little evidence that management accepted or implemented health and safety recommendations made following the investigation of staff injuries.

The report highlights the fact that a health and safety management system is not yet fully operational on the campus. However, it acknowledges that “significant efforts” have been made by staff to commence the implementation of a health and safety management system. The report also acknowledges the commitment and efforts of everyone working at the campus “to provide a safe and caring environment for young people and staff.”

The study says the full implementation of a health and safety management system is necessary to “reduce the reliance on lower level controls” and, when fully implemented at Oberstown, the need to use any additional PPE “will be an extremely rare event.” It also outlines the need for induction, training, rosters and levels of supervision to be immediately examined to determine their adequacy to create and maintain a safe workspace.

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 requires employers to provide and maintain protective clothing and equipment suitable to ensure staff safety.

Industrial action

IMPACT secured an agreement to commission the independent review just before last Christmas. The union deferred scheduled strike action to allow the review to take place and be completed by the end of January 2017.

Eamonn said the December agreement represented a significant breakthrough. “It only became possible when we made it clear our members were prepared to take strike action on the issue. The employer had previously been totally opposed to any consideration of PPE. IMPACT has to secure the safety of the men and women who work at Oberstown, and to secure a safer environment for those in their care,” he said.

Some 100,000 people are working part-time because they cannot find full-time work, according to the latest Employment Monitor bulletin from Social Justice Ireland (SJI). It says Ireland’s underemployment rate is stubbornly high and currently stands at 15.3%.

The report, which was published last week, says job quality is just as important as the number of jobs available. The prevalence of precarious and low-paid work is a major blight on our society, though it’s hidden by the generally positive headlines on the falling unemployment rate.

“A change of narrative is required. Improving headline employment figures are important, but the drive for stronger job creation should not come at the cost of diminishing job quality. As employment numbers continue to improve, issues relating to the quality of employment and adequacy of income must figure more prominently in the policy discussion,” it says.

It notes that Ireland’s unemployment rate has fallen to 7.2%.

IMPACT members at Saint Patrick’s centre for children and adults with intellectual disabilities are to ballot for industrial action. The union says management is foisting significant changes to rosters, grading structures and contracts of employment without consultation. SIPTU and the INMO are also balloting their members at the Kilkenny centre.

IMPACT assistant general secretary Shay Clinton said management at the centre was ignoring agreed protocols governing engagement with staff and unions prior to introducing significant change in the workplace. “Management has foisted changes on staff – including changes to rosters, the introduction of new grades, new contracts of employment, and changes to agreed procedures – and all without the required consultation,” he said.

“Staff are completly frustrated with management’s approach and this was reflected in the decision to proceed with a ballot for industrial action. Many are nursing and care staff working in a challenging environment where trust with service users and colleagues is paramount. Management’s approach has certainly undermined this trust and staff have had enough,” he said.

The IMPACT ballot closes on Friday 17^th February.

A significant IMPACT contingent joined last Thursday’s large emergency rally in solidarity with those targeted by the US government’s controversial new travel ban. The rally took place outside the US embassy in Dublin. 

The discriminatory travel ban, introduced by President Trump, has provoked condemnation from trade unions and human rights groups – and many others – across the globe, including in the USA itself. The measure aims to prevent people from seven predominantly Muslim nations travelling to the United States, and block refugees from war-torn Syria entering that country.

IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan said: “Along with all decent people, IMPACT members are disgusted at Donald Trump’s racist, mean-spirited and probably illegal act, which represents a fundamental breach of human rights. The union rejects this unacceptable and inhumane policy.”

Speaking at the rally, IMPACT lead organiser Joe O’Connor said: “IMPACT is utterly disgusted by this policy. The union completely rejects attempts to govern by whipping up fear and hatred.” He also spoke to IMPACT’s history of advocating on behalf of refugees: both in terms of opposing direct provision and of encouraging government to accept greater numbers of refugees given the current crisis.

“IMPACT believes refugees should be welcomed both here at home and abroad,” he said.

IMPACT’s 2016 delegate conference, made up of representatives of all the union’s branches across the country, called on the Irish government to increase the number of refugees accepted under our resettlement and relocation programmes.

Notices of IMPACT divisional conferences, which take place in April and May, have been sent to the union’s branches as preparations for the biennial events intensify. The dates and venues for the conferences are:

The conferences will elect divisional executive members and decide policies that specifically concern members in each division.

IMPACT has produced a model answer to help students prepare for a higher level leaving certificate question on the 1913 Lockout. The paper also contains all the information needed to answer an ordinary level question on the same topic.

Although there is no guarantee that the subject will come up in any given year, it has appeared on the higher leaving cert exam paper four times since 2011, almost always in the ‘Movements for political and social reform’ section of the exam (topic 2 in section 2 IRELAND).

The question is worth 25% of the written exam.

You can access the model answer HERE.

On the face of it, you might think trade unions have something in common with Donald Trump. After all, we’ve campaigned strongly against the proposed ‘TTIP’ trade deal, which the new US president looks set to ditch after pulling out of a similar project, the Transpacific Partnership (TPP).

But a new IMPACT blog says Trump is tearing it up trade deals for all the wrong reasons. And he probably plans to replace them with something worse.

IMPACT has published a guide to help union reps and members navigate the new health service job evaluation scheme. The booklet gives guidance on the application and assessment process, including the factors that are scored when job evaluations are carried out.

The job evaluation scheme, which is open to clerical and administrative staff, was reinstated last October after a successful IMPACT campaign. It had been unilaterally abandoned by management in 2008.

The new guide has been produced to help IMPACT representatives assist members who are making applications under the scheme, and inform members who are deciding whether to apply.

IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly said the booklet was the latest development in a campaign to ensure that health jobs are properly evaluated and rewarded. “Last summer the union balloted for industrial action, which led to the HSE agreeing to reopen the scheme. Since then we have trained union evaluators and held information meetings around the country. Now this guide will help members and union reps submit the best possible applications to the process.”

Job evaluations assess whether a specific post is correctly graded by measuring the skills and responsibilities required of the job. It’s a points-based system which measures the ‘size’ of a job using five specific ‘factors’ (competence, problem solving, decision making, communications, and responsibility and accountability). It weights the factors, which means more points are awarded to the more important factors.

The evaluations will be carried out by trained IMPACT and management representatives from outside the employment where the post is based.

The scheme is currently open to staff at grades III to VI – and analogous grades – but the union is campaigning to extend it to more senior admin and management posts and to health professional grades.

Read the IMPACT guide to job evaluation HERE.

Civil servants whose spouse or partner has passed away are to see their bereavement leave increased from five to 20 days following agreement between IMPACT and civil service management. Bereavement leave on the loss of other close family members – such as parents or siblings – has also been increased from three to five days.

A formal circular setting out the full details of the agreement is due to be circulated soon. Meanwhile, IMPACT intends to seek the same arrangements in public service employments in health, education and local authorities.

The full details of the changes agreed between unions and management in the civil service general council, are:

1. The maximum level of leave available on the death of a close family member (spouse, common law partner, civil partner, child or adopted child) will be 20 days.
2. The maximum level of leave available on the death of a close family member (father, mother, brother, brother-in-law, sister, sister-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandfather, grandmother or grandchild of an officer) will be 5 days.
3. The maximum level of leave available on the death of an uncle, aunt, niece or nephew will be one day. 
4. In exceptional circumstances, where the civil servant lived with the deceased at the time of their death, or has to take charge of funeral arrangements, this limit may be extended to five working days.
5. The maximum level of leave available in the event of a stillbirth or prenatal death of a child after twenty four weeks pregnancy will be ten days and may be granted to (i) the father of the child, (ii) the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant, as the case may be, of the mother of the child, or (iii) a parent of the child under Section 5 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 where the child is a donor-conceived child within the meaning of Part 2 of that Act.
6. In a case where a civil servant has to travel abroad to make funeral arrangements in respect of an immediate relative, special leave with pay in excess of the limits for bereavement leave may be granted at the discretion of the Local HR Unit, having consulted with the relevant manager.

IMPACT wants the Irish Government to introduce regulations requiring employers to disclose information on the gender pay gap in their organisations. The call came after similar regulations were drafted in the UK, where they are set to come into effect in April.

When implemented, the UK regulations will require employers with 250 or more staff to publish details of the average hourly pay of women and men in their employment, and to calculate the gap between the two.

With Ireland’s national gender pay gap stubbornly stuck at 14%, 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.

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.

Read the UK regulations here.

The outcomes of a recent IMPACT roundtable forum for health and social care professionals are to be compiled into a report to inform union strategy in the sector. The event attracted over 50 professionals from a range of disciplines, and the union is inviting others to submit their views on the subjects covered at the forum.

The roundtable heard CORU chief executive Ginny Hanrahan outline the work of the regulator in the areas of registration, continuous professional development and fitness to practise. Then participants heard IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly give a frank account of how changing health services structures could impact on staff, before deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan outlined IMPACT’s past campaigns for on pay, professionalisation and career structures for health and social care professionals.

Meanwhile, the HSE has established a new health and social care professions office in its national HR division. It says the new office will lead on matters relating to the education and development of health professionals, including in the development of integrated services. The office will also have a policy advice function and will input into the development of relevant national strategies and plans.

IMPACT is now inviting feedback on the questions raised at its roundtable forum from those who were unable to attend. You should send your thoughts on any or all of the questions below to lead organiser Linda Kelly (lkelly@impact.ie) by 10^th February.

1. What does CORU registration mean for you as a profession? Identify what you see as the challenges and the positives.
2. A condition of your registration is to engage in CPD. Does your employer currently provide any supports for CPD?  What supports do you believe your employer should provide?
3. What observations do you have about restructuring in the health services from a profession viewpoint?
4. Should cross-profession reporting be feature of any new structure and, if so, why?
5. How can IMPACT improve engagement with HSCP members?
6. What barriers do members face when getting involved with IMPACT campaigns and negotiations?

Union leaders believe the creation of a new 80,000-strong organisation – involving IMPACT, the CPSU and the PSEU – could significantly enhance workers’ strength in negotiations, while improving services available to union members.

The proposed merger is to be put to members of each of the three unions in separate ballots later this year.

Senior representatives of the three organisations are currently finalising the text of a rule book and associated documentation, which will set out the objectives, structure and procedures of a new union. The proposed structure would ensure that a new union would be democratically accountable and better able to defend and advance members’ interests.

In a document drawn up to outline the benefits of a new and stronger organisation – along with its proposed structure and rules – union leaders say it would deliver:

• The creation of a single, strong negotiating force representing more than 80,000 members
• A single articulate voice speaking, in the media and elsewhere, on behalf of public services and the people that provide them
• Substantially enhanced services to members and future members and activists – delivered by economies of scale and enhanced bargaining power
• A foundation for enhancing trade union membership and organisation in the public service and beyond
• Strong safeguards to ensure an effective voice for every grade, and preserve the best traditions of each constituent union.

Delegates at last year’s IMPACT biennial conference voted overwhelmingly to continue talks on a possible merger with the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU) and Public Service Executive Union (PSEU). Identical conference motions were passed by large majorities at the conferences of the PSEU and CPSU.

A document called New Union Project which sets out the broad structure of a new union, was circulated at each of the conferences, which authorised the executives of the three unions to continue and conclude negotiations on the shape of a new union before putting final proposals to separate ballots of members of the three unions in 2017.