IMPACT’s Education division launched its Head Space booklet on Wednesday (8^th October), a guide to mental health and services aimed at second level students.

Initially proposed by Mary Keating, a special needs assistant with the South Dublin/South Leinster SNA branch, and inspired by Kinsale Youth Services Head Space initiative, the booklet aims to provide essential information on a wide range of mental health issues with information on support services.

IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan said the aim was to relate to union members and students in a practical way. “We wanted to help increase awareness of mental health issues, and provide a guide on the help that’s available. The booklet also marks a very important collaboration of effort between IMPACT members, Kinsale Youth Services and Cabinteely Community School” he said.

The Irish Second Level Students Union (ISSU) was represented by union president Craig McHugh and education officer Joanna Siewierska. Both welcomed the publication and Joanna added that the booklet was a helpful addition to a growing awareness around mental health for younger people, “It’s vital that young people know that it’s okay not to feel okay, and this booklet is a great new resource covering a really wide variety of issues.”

The booklet will be distributed in second level schools through the Youth Connect initiative of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU). Assistant general secretary of ICTU, Sally Anne Kinahan, said she hoped that the booklet would continue to reduce any stigma around mental illness, “It’s a great opportunity to break through any stigma and make sure that the information is available to young people.”

Moira Leydon of the secondary school teachers union, ASTI, praised the publication and said it was vital to be able to put a name on some of the issues and challenges facing young people, “When you can put a name on something you’re feeling, that’s the start of addressing any problems, and that really is a strength of this publication.”

Mary Keating works as an SNA in Cabinteely Community School and brought the idea to IMPACT to publish the Head Space guide. She said “Young people need to know where the services are, and that’s what the booklet is all about.”

A short video about the launch is available to view HERE.

IMPACT has welcomed the launch of the HSE’s report on national community healthcare organisations. The report, published on Wednesday (8^th October) sets out the new structures under which non-hospital health services will be organised and managed. Community healthcare services will include primary care, social care (for older people and people living with disability), mental health and health & wellbeing.

IMPACT national secretary Louise O’Donnell welcomed the report and said that its publication would end the uncertainty around the future of the HSE’s non-hospital services. “We welcome the fact that management believe this structure will, over time, provide an integrated service for all users. We also welcome the HSE’s commitment to engage with unions in advance of the implementation of the new structures” she said.

Louise said that IMPACT members were concerned that a number of attempted new structures had previously been abandoned during their development. “We’ve seen the partial implementation and changing of new structures before, and that has increased the sense of uncertainty around how non-hospital health services can be delivered. We hope that we won’t see this structure being discarded after partial implementation a year or two down the line. It is vital that services are made to work and that service users can have confidence in how it’s delivered” she said.

The HSE report says that reforms include:

• Establishment of nine Community Healthcare Organisations (CHOs)
• Development of 90 Primary Care Networks, averaging 50,000 population (one network for every large town/district)
• Each CHO will have an average of 10 networks which will support groups of primary care teams, enable integration of all services for a local population and support prevention and management of chronic disease at community level.
• Reform of social care, mental health and health and wellbeing services to better serve local communities.

Louise also expressed concerns that the new model is to be delivered within existing budget and staffing resources, “This is a concern as significant gaps remain in service provision in different parts of the country, particularly in relation physiotherapy, social work, speech and language and dietician services.”

Staff at South Dublin County Council have voted in favour of a set of Labour Relations Commission (LRC) proposals, introduced in September, designed to resolve the dispute over acting up arrangements in the local authority.

The LRC proposals followed a review of workforce planning and acting up arrangements at the council, which included submissions by IMPACT and SDCC management. IMPACT official Angela Kirk explained “We thrashed out the issues with management at the LRC throughout the summer months, and the proposals were developed from that process.”

The final returns show just over 89% in favour of the proposals.

Members at the local authority took industrial action in June in a dispute over management’s unilateral withdrawal of acting payments. Shane Lambert, cathaoirleach of IMPACT’s Local Government division, welcomed the ballot result, and commended members for their solidarity and determination during what he described as a “very challenging period” for the staff.

Under the LRC’s proposals, a quarterly forum of unions and management will meet to discuss workforce planning, succession planning and “ongoing analysis of organisational and operational requirements.”

Staff who were in unique or project posts, where the post has ceased, will retain their allowance until 1^st September 2015. Staff previously in receipt of an acting up allowance, in excess of two years, and who are not successful in forthcoming confined competitions for posts, will retain their allowance for the same period.

A Budget for Jobs, Homes and Growth says new spending cuts are unnecessary to meet Ireland’s deficit reduction targets. Research by the union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute suggests a €800 million adjustment could be paid for through a new wealth tax, increased employers’ PRSI on incomes over €100,000, reform of capital acquisitions tax, and higher duties on tobacco, sugar, salt, saturated fat and online betting.

Launching the ICTU submission in the summer, ICTU general secretary David Begg warned that there was no room for cuts in headline tax rates. He said any tax cuts would have to be funded through reduced spending or increased taxes elsewhere.

“Tax reform in the shape of refundable tax credits would be beneficial on employment and equity grounds. On the other hand an increase in the standard rate tax band or a reduction in the marginal income tax rate would not benefit the majority of PAYE taxpayers,” he said.

ICTU says the current system of tax credits has a limited impact for many low-paid workers because they don’t earn enough to use their full tax credit. “The introduction of refundable tax credits would tackle this issue as the unused portion of their tax credits would be refunded to such workers. A study undertaken for Social Justice Ireland identified that 130,000 low-paid workers and their families would benefit from refundable tax credits,” said Begg.

The union submission also says household water charges should be limited to households with a combined income of over €80,000. “Access to water is a human right. Moving to a system of regressive user charges risks plunging vulnerable households into water poverty. The announced system of free allowances is insufficient to prevent households from falling into water poverty, as well as being an inefficient and expensive policy tool,” said Begg.

“There has been a private investment strike in Europe and the public sector has been unable to fill the gap because of debt. Public sector capital expenditure has all but disappeared in Ireland and we urgently need to reverse this trend,” he said.

The independent progressive think-tank, TASC, has focused its pre-budget analysis on sustainable tax revenue and has said that it’s possible to create a more equal society while managing the public finances prudently and promoting job creation. TASC has warned that inequitable tax cuts for high earners will undermine health, social housing and other vital public services.

TASC’s analysis shows that, contrary to what is widely reported, Ireland is a low-tax country, with only three-quarters of the European average tax take, making it harder for Ireland to provide quality health, education, housing and other services.

TASC research director, Dr Nat O'Connor said "Budget 2015 offers an opportunity for Ireland to move in the direction of the competitive, highly productive economies of North-West Europe, but to do so we need to maintain and build on quality public services and public investment.

"Ireland's tax and social charges are just three-quarters of the EU average level, and we have the highest level of pre-tax inequality among all OECD countries, so we need to maintain the integrity of our progressive income tax system to maintain social cohesion” he said.

TASC’s analysis shows that:

• Cuts to the higher income tax rate will only benefit the top one-in-six earners
• The highest anyone pays in income tax is 30%, nowhere near the 41% marginal rate
• Government should prioritise funding for necessities over tax cuts in Budget 2015

IBEC tax claims challenged

The employer’s body, IBEC, published a paper last month, ‘Debunking Irish income tax myths’, which has been challenged by TASC in a response paper. 

In the analysis TASC demonstrates:

• Ireland has the fifth lowest implicit tax on labour, which is Eurostat's standard measure of taxes on labour incomes. It is incorrect to claim that Ireland is a high tax country for labour incomes.
• Ireland has effectively the lowest level of social insurance in Europe, which reduces taxation on labour incomes. Social security contributions are 4.4% GDP in Ireland versus 11.1% on average across the EU.
• IBEC's claim that 'half' of income tax payers would benefit is false, and is based contorting the relevant data. At most 607,000 people might benefit, which is 32 per cent of the 1.9 million people at work.

"The weight of evidence suggests that cutting the 41% higher income tax rate will only benefit higher earners, without any boost to the economy or job creation as a result. On the contrary, IMF staff papers among other sources demonstrate that public investment has a greater impact on economic growth than cuts to income taxation." Dr O'Connor concluded.

IBEC’s paper has also been challenged by Unite research officer Michael Taft in his blog, and says that IBEC’s claims are misleading, selective and ultimately disingenuous arguments. “They don’t want any focus on the low levels of social contributions that employers make.  While workers are carrying their weight compared to workers in other countries, Irish employers contribute very little. That’s the real story behind a document that purports to debunk myths but actually perpetuates” he said.

TASC’s pre-budget analysis is available HERE. 

The Irish Times has focused on the issue of a Living Wage in a special series of articles published last month. The series includes a report that Tánaiste Joan Burton has encouraged public and private sector employers to sign up to paying a “living wage” for workers as the economy begins to grow.

The series comes at a time when more people are working and economic indicators are all set on positive for the first time in several years. Despite this changing trend, real income has been falling for five years, and one in five workers now earns less than the “living wage” of €11.45 an hour, the income below which it is impossible to make ends meet.

The Irish Times poses the question “As the budget looms, will the Government take the steps needed to make work pay?”

The full series of articles, interviews and helpful  infographics is available HERE.

An average salary increase this year of around 2% has emerged from the novel pay and reward model that Coillte and IMPACT agreed over two years ago. The pay increase was recently reported in the respected journal Industrial Relations News.

The agreement marked a departure from incremental pay awards, and IMPACT official Johnny Fox, representing Coillte staff, describes it as “a ground breaking deal” which ended pay relativity with the public service and aligned future pay increases to the market within a pay banding structure.

In 2013 Coillte members covered by the agreement received a market based pay increase of 0.55% and, added to performance pay, yielded average pay increases of just over 3%. In 2014 the market pay increase was 0.88% which yielded average pay increases of just over 3.5% (when added to performance related pay) for those members covered by the agreement.

Johnny explained, “Depending on the pay band, and the performance output, members covered by the agreement can achieve pay increases on top of the market pay increase of between 1.5% and 5%. This year also saw the first bonus payments which allow for annual payments of between 2.5% and 22% of basic salary for achieving 100% of set targets.”

The agreement also allows for a full review after two years and this is currently underway.

Johnny added, “The Coillte Branch has identified a number of areas of the agreement which they believe needs some adjustment, for example how performance targets and bonus targets are set and monitored. We expect that the review will conclude towards the end of the year, although a number of issues have arisen outside of the review and have been referred to the LRC for further discussion. These relate to some individual cases and, in particular, how the company sets salaries for the graduate development programme.”

Johnny says that, overall, the agreement has worked. “This year the expectation is that the market-based pay element should improve significantly as the economic outlook continues to improve. There is a continuing upward pay trend within the private sector, particularly among the agreed set of comparator companies. So we have very good reason to be optimistic” he said.

IMPACT’s Dublin Hospitals’ branch is hosting a free information event for its members on Tuesday 4^th November at the Education and Research Centre, Our Lady’s Hospice, Harold’s Cross. 

Information will be available on key developments in health services, pay and related matters, as well as personal finance and looking after your physical and mental health.  This free information event is also an opportunity to learn more about new ‘fitness to practice’ procedures and statutory registration, and what these will mean for health and social care professionals. 

Speakers include IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody and Louise O’Donnell, national secretary for IMPACT’s Health & Welfare division, as well as representatives from IMPACT’s Dublin Hospitals branch and social care membership.  Also speaking will be CORU communications manager John Conroy, Michael Culloty of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) and Caroline McGuigan of Suicide or Survive. 


If you wish to register please email Julie Healy or Bernie Aston

Lunch will be provided to those attending.

The Minister for Business and Employment, Gerald Nash TD, has reported progress on new legislation aimed at replacing the Registered Employment Agreement system (REAs).  

The Government recently approved the drafting of the legislation to provide for a revised legislative framework to replace REAs, following a judgement by the Supreme Court which effectively made such agreements invalid.

The legislation is particularly relevant to projects overseen by the Department of Education & Skills because of the five year programme of school building currently underway, which is valued at €2 billion.

Minister Nash said good progress has been made on the drafting of the legislation and that his top priority would be moving to the pre-legislative scrutiny stage next month. “We want to support a sustainable and competitive construction sector and I believe this legislation will assist in providing certainty for workers as well as businesses tendering for contracts.

“Skilled workers should be fairly remunerated for their work.  Employers should have certainty over labour costs.  We also want to ensure that Irish companies are not disadvantaged when tendering for contracts, including in the school building sector, because of an unlevel playing field or lack of clarity in the area” he said.

The new legislation will allow unions and employers to apply to the Labour Court to undertake a review of pay, pensions and sick pay for workers in a particular sector and make recommendations to the Minister for the making of an order in these areas.  It will also provide for flexibility in response to changing economic circumstances or changes in the make-up of a sector.  

The general secretary of the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) Sharan Burrow has urged the heads of the IMF and the World Bank to champion a coordinated strategy of wage and public investment-led recovery in order to address the combined problems of low consumer demand and rising inequality. Ms Burrow highlighted both problems as being at the root of global economic stagnation and persistently high unemployment.

The ITUC made the proposal in a statement to President Jim Yong Kim of the World Bank and Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF and to governments of the institutions’ member countries.

The ITUC’s general secretary also strongly encouraged President Kim to revise recently published draft labour standards. “Contrary to labour safeguards adopted by other multilateral development banks, the World Bank’s proposed labour safeguard would not require compliance with all of the ILO’s core labour standards; in fact it does not even mention them.

“The standard would not apply to contract workers despite the fact that they are usually the majority of workers in bank-financed infrastructure projects and are a category of employees that is particularly vulnerable to abuse, such as discrimination and unsafe working conditions.”

Ms Burrow concluded, “After a decade of progress at other development banks, the World Bank’s proposed labour safeguard would be a major step backward if adopted in its current form.”