A new special edition of IMPACT’s quarterly magazine Work & Life puts the spotlight on pay in 2017. In a feature on the next public service pay round, Bernard Harbor observes that “for all its passion and volume, the November row between unions and Government was essentially about whether and when talks should take place.” Bernard provides the background to this year’s pay talks and warns that delivering a fair deal won’t be easy.

Tom Healy, director of the union-backed Nevin research institute, makes a welcome return and concludes that “it’s time to talk about pay” because Irish real average weekly earnings haven’t increased since 2008. Meanwhile, Lughan Deane outlines research findings about innovative pay policy ideas like a maximum wage or universal basic income.

Guest contributor Shane Faherty writes a compelling account of his experiences trying to navigate the world of call centre work - and the imminent arrival of an addition to the family - while struggling to cope with soaring rent and an uncertain future. And Trish O’Mahony finds inspiration in the work of Dress for Success Dublin, which promotes the economic independence of women by providing affordable professional attire and brushed-up interview skills.

Andy Pike looks as the gender pay gap and we report from IMPACT’s first training programme specifically designed to promote women activists in the union, while Martina O’Leary’s interview with Health and Welfare divisional chair Maura Cahalan is not to be missed.

All that plus the usual mix of news, the IMPACT photo album, member profiles and stories of activism, along with movies, music, food, gardens and competitions.

You can read online get a copy from your workplace or contact your IMPACT rep. We hope you enjoy it.

IMPACT members in the state forestry company, Coillte, are currently balloting on a series of restructuring and pay proposals following talks with the company toward the end of 2016.

The meetings, which took place in November and December last year, were independently mediated by former rights commissioner Janet Hughes, when earlier meetings with the company were inconclusive.

The latest proposals include pay increases of 1.5%, and 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 collective bargaining in June to negotiate pay increases each year up to 2020.

“These proposals include a commitment to current salary scales being subject to upward-only movement, benchmarked against market rates for similar roles. The return to collective bargaining this year is a crucial feature, as this will allow us to prepare the ground for pay increases each year up to 2020, and give us time to prepare for independently facilitated discussions on measures to secure the pension scheme,” he said.

The ballot concludes this Thursday, 26^th January.

IMPACT is seeking the views of social care workers on a draft code of professional conduct and ethics drawn up by CORU, the regulator for health and social care professionals. The union is preparing a submission to CORU on behalf of its national social care workers vocational group ahead of a 27^th February deadline.

The union is inviting members to submit their observations on the document by 5pm on Friday 17^th February.

The draft code was drawn up by CORU’s Social Care Workers Registration Board, and the final version will be the basis of professional regulation in the sector once the legal requirement for social care workers to register with CORU comes into effect.

Find out more and read the draft code HERE before sending your comments to: Carol Nevin at cnevin@impact.ie.

IMPACT and other unions representing civilian staff in An Garda Síochána met with the Garda Commissioner and senior Garda management in early January. The meeting followed concerns about the lack of civilian recruitment, which had been raised by unions at a civilian council meeting last December. 

The commissioner reaffirmed the commitment of An Garda Síochána to increased civilian recruitment and to growing the role of civilian staff within the force. Plans are in place to recruit 800 Gardaí this year along with 300 reserves and 500 civilians.

The Commissioner also recognised the “sterling” commitment of civilian staff and said An Garda Síochána had no desire to keep Gardaí in roles that could be carried out by a civilian.

IMPACT industrial relations officer Shane Lambert said: “Current recruitment plans include an increase the number of civilians from 2,000 to 4,000 over the coming five years.  The Commissioner outlined the recruitment process under the Civilian First programme. This requires that each post that becomes vacant now will be assessed to see if it may be filled by a civilian in the first instance.

“Management recently received sanction from the Policing Authority to fill 91 civilian posts, with a particular focus on IT and human resources. The commissioner said she didn’t see the process as automatically replacing Gardaí with civilians, but rather a process to professionalise the force through civilianisation,” he said.

The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) has sought discussions with IMPACT after library staff and other local authority employees backed industrial action in ballots.

More than a thousand IMPACT members working in library services have overwhelmingly backed industrial action in response to a unilateral decision by management to alter the educational requirements for library posts. IMPACT members in local authorities have also backed action, by a margin of 87%, in response to a decision by management to abandon an existing agreement on the common recruitment pool.

IMPACT national secretary Peter Nolan said the union’s Local Government and Local Services Divisional Executive Committee (DEC) was unanimous that the employers’ unilateral actions required an immediate, swift and direct response, prompting the decision to ballot.

In a letter to members Peter said: “Common to both issues is the decision taken by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) to impose revised conditions on employees without agreement.  These decisions severely restrict the opportunities for promotion for IMPACT members.   These are the same people who have helped local authorities to weather probably the most difficult decade in their history.”

Staffless libraries

Separately, library staff are continuing to observe IMPACT’s campaign of non-cooperation with staffless library services, with a growing number of local authorities refusing to implement arrangements until they’ve held discussions with staff representatives.

The issue featured on RTÉ radio programme The Business last Saturday (21^st January) as part of a report on jobs at risk as a result of automation. IMPACT communications officer Niall Shanahan spoke to reporter Evelyn O’Rourke for the programme. You can listen back here.

Senior Fire Officers ballot

IMPACT’s senior fire officers are also moving to ballot in a dispute about unfilled fire service vacancies. IMPACT says there are over 70 vacancies, a number disputed by management. Talks at the Workplace Relations Commission led to a commitment by management to fill nine posts. IMPACT’s Local Government and Local Services executive has sanctioned a ballot and a meeting of IMPACT’s senior fire officers will take place in Tullamore on Tuesday 7^th February.

IMPACT is holding a roundtable forum for health and social care professionals between 10am and 2pm next Saturday (28^th January). The event, which is open to all IMPACT members in health and social care professional grades, will discuss statutory regulation under CORU, the future of health service provision, and effective representation of members in the professions.

The professions scheduled for CORU regulation are clinical biochemists, dietitians, occupational therapists, orthoptists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, social care workers, social workers, and speech and language therapists.

Guest speakers will provide a strategic input at the beginning of each roundtable session. As places are limited, members are requested to register for the event, by emailing Linda Kelly at lkelly@impact.ie by Wednesday 25^th January 2017. Please give Linda your name, grade and workplace setting.

The meeting takes place at IMPACT’s Dublin office, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1, D01R2C5.

Download the full programme HERE.

The ONE Cork group – a collaboration of 20 trade unions operating in the southern capital – has called for a new social housing model to be put in place. At the heart of a new set of policy proposals, the coalition says local authorities should play a leading role in the delivery of social housing.

ONE Cork expressed grave concern over the failure of successive governments to implement effective social housing policy, and said union members and their families were feeling the impact of this failure.

The group called for the creation of a municipal housing agency, which would allow for the pooling of construction, architecture and engineering expertise across a number of local authorities.

The Cork trade unions insist that now is the right time for action and vision on this scale. This belief is held both because we find ourselves in the middle of a deep and serious housing crisis, and because EIB and other finance from the Housing Finance Agency has never been cheaper.

Moreover, the group notes that action of this sort would create local employment, boost local business and enable workers and their families to access decent and affordable housing.

For more click here.

Campaigners thank IMPACT for “tireless support”

Colombian trade union leader Huber Ballesteros has been freed, following pressure from unions and other activists, after having been held on trumped-up charges for 40 months. His release comes in the wake of a historic peace deal between the Colombian government and the FARC rebel group.

Late last November IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan was part of an ICTU delegation in Colombia – the most dangerous place in the world for trade unionists – to meet human rights campaigners. While there, Kevin met with Ballesteros.

The famous opposition figure was languishing in a jail cell despite not having been convicted of any crime. Ballesteros was denied access to the basic medical equipment he needs to manage his diabetes. Despite these horrendous conditions, Kevin observed at the time that his spirit remained undimmed.

On his return Kevin and ICTU president Brian Campfield wrote to the Belfast Telegraph reflecting on the trip to Colombia and on the emergence of a fragile peace there. In the letter, they called on the Colombian government to “release political prisoners” as a demonstration of its faith in the peace process.

Read their letter here. 

This month, Ballesteros was freed in accordance with the amnesty laws that form part of the peace deal. Following the release, the campaign group Justice for Colombia sent a personal letter of thanks to Kevin Callinan for his solidarity with Huber and his “tireless support” for the campaign to have Ballesteros released.

Read the full letter here.

Justice for Colombia says the peace process continues to face many threats, and that five activists have been killed so far this year.

Discussions between the union and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs led to an agreement to appoint an independent health and safety expert to review “the potential requirements and protocol for PPE usage or other arrangements which equally reduce the risk of staff injury.”

IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly said the agreed review will be carried out as a stand alone process “and as a matter of absolute priority”, to be concluded this month. Eamonn said IMPACT has deferred scheduled strike action, due to take place from 3rd January, in order to allow the review to take place, and be completed within the agreed timeframe.

He added, “The agreement represented a significant breakthrough, which 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.

“The review process will incorporate the views of stakeholders, which includes our members working at Oberstown. IMPACT has fought on this issue in order 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.

A forum for IMPACT members aged 35 and under takes place in the union’s Dublin office on Monday 6^th February. The forum will discuss the issues that younger members want the union to take up, as well as the structures, events and campaigns needed to make IMPACT more relevant to younger workers. The union intends to establish a young members’ network on foot of the meeting, which takes place between 2pm and 4pm.

Get more information HERE.

Here’s a quick look back at some of the most notable IMPACT news that has appeared in the IMPACT News Digest over the past fortnight:

Monday 9^th January

IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly got up bright and early to speak to RTE's Morning Ireland about the health minister's comments over the weekend about sanctioning hospital managers and bringing in "outside experts." Eamonn described the minister's comments as "political deflection" and highlighted that the issue of capacity is central to the trolley crisis. He was also on RTE's TV News at One.


A day earlier, the Sunday Business Post had carried news that IMPACT's cabin crew branch was readying a ballot for industrial action. Elsewhere, the Herald reported that the publication of an independent operational review of the Oberstown campus, commissioned by Minister Katherine Zappone, had been delayed. The report has been completed but missed its December publication deadline. The report is now expected to be published in February.

Tuesday 10^th January

In the Times, in an open letter to local government minister Simon Coveney, Mary O’Rourke asks on staffless libraries: ‘Whose daft idea was this?’

Wednesday 11^th January

On Wednesday, The Indo reported that 1,000 cabin crew  in Aer Lingus, IMPACT members, were to be balloted over selling sandwiches.

Friday 13^th January

As the HSE wrote up proposals to avert industrial action by nurses, the Examiner interviewed ICTU's Patricia King, who said that staffing issues must be discussed in forthcoming pay talks.

Tuesday 17^th January

Last Tuesday, the ICTU Public Services Committee met in Nerney's Court amid reports that the Cabinet would discuss bringing forward the LRA €1,000 payment due in September. Many media outlets  including the Times, asked how the Government would fund the deal, while the Independent bizarrely focussed on those earning over €110,000 (who aren't covered by the package at all). We got a look in on the TV3 News and RTE's 6.01 (you have to scroll down a bit) and there was more union reaction in the Examiner.

Friday 20^th January

IMPACT marked Friday's inauguration with a new blog post; Trump’s election was propelled by the rise of precarious work. IMPACT’s 2016 lobbying returns were also published on Friday, ahead of the deadline on Saturday night. IMPACT made a total of 57 submissions about the union's lobbying activity in 2016, the first full year since the online register went live.

The Trump-related zen is also worth revisiting: an open letter that the Washington press corps (the group of journalists that covers the White House beat) sent to the (then) President Elect.

Monday 23^rd January

There was little coverage on the weekend papers of last week's public service pay announcement, although the Sunday Business Post carried news that the Government wants to have a successor to the Lansdowne Road Agreement before October's budget, and that a new deal would cover the period up to the end of Brexit negotiations in 2019.

With growing concerns about the automation of work, and the possibility that we'll be competing with robots for work in the not-too-distant future, RTE's The Business on Saturday looked at the issue. The report includes IMPACT's response to proposals for staffless libraries. Niall Shanahan (IMPACT Communications Officer) spoke to Evelyn O'Rourke for the programme, you can listen back here.

Most public servants will see a €1,000 upward pay adjustment from 1^st April 2017. Originally due on 1^st September 2017 under the Lansdowne Road agreement (LRA), the increase has been brought forward by five months following two Garda pay settlements at the end of last year.

The €1,000 a year improvement, which is worth €38.33 a fortnight before tax, is due to all public servants who earn €65,000 a year or less.

The improved arrangement, which was endorsed by Cabinet last week, is the result of negotiations between public service unions and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The union negotiators were led by IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody, who chairs the ICTU Public Services Committee.

IMPACT and other unions insisted on early negotiations to accelerate public service pay restoration last November, after the Government accepted Labour Court recommendations that gave Gardai better terms than those set out in the LRA.

The agreement finalised last week doesn’t fully deal with this anomaly, but it allows for talks on a successor to the LRA – likely to take place in the late spring or early summer – to continue to address the issue.

The April payment will go to public servants on annualised salaries up to €65,000 who are in unions signed up to the LRA. It will not go to members of the two Garda associations, who benefited from last November’s Labour Court recommendations.

Public servants who earn more than €65,000 a year won’t benefit either, as the Garda settlement didn’t apply to guards with salaries of over €65,000. However, most public servants who earn above €65,000 will see the beginning of restoration of the ‘third’ pay reduction – which applied exclusively to those earning over €65,000 under the 2013 Haddington Road agreement – from April.

IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody said attention would now turn to talks on a successor to the LRA. These negotiations, also brought forward on the insistence of IMPACT and other unions, will begin immediately after the Public Service Pay Commission (PSPC) makes its initial report in April.

Read the statement on the settlement HERE.

Your questions answered HERE.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has advised private sector unions to seek basic pay increases of 4% or €1,000 this year, whichever is higher. The recommendation, by ICTU’s private sector committee, is based on its assessment of 2016 pay bargaining and key measures that affect the living standards of workers.

In early 2016, the Committee said pay increases in the range of 2.5%-5% should be sought, taking account of the circumstances in individual employments. The committee now says private sector pay settlements fell largely within this range last year. Settlements in the commercial semi-state sector were also broadly in line with this trend.

In its Private Sector Bulletin, published at the end of 2016, ICTU said it had taken account of developments in private sector companies and the wider economy before recommending the 4% target. These included earnings in the economy, projected increases in inflation, expected productivity improvements, and company profitability.

The committee’s report said: “Based on the available evidence the Congress private sector committee believes that there is considerable scope for increasing pay in the private sector. Achieving the rate of increase suggested will protect the living standards of workers, increase their spending power and give them a fairer return for increased productivity.”

Attention will now shift to talks on a successor to the Lansdowne Road agreement (LRA) after IMPACT’s success in bringing forward a €1,000 increase by five months. The payment, due under the LRA, will now be paid in April 2017, rather than September.

The negotiations on a successor to the LRA were also brought forward on the insistence of IMPACT and other unions. They are now set to begin immediately after the Public Service Pay Commission (PSPC) makes its initial report in the late spring or early summer.

Up until last December, ministers had insisted that the LRA would run its course to September 2018, and that talks on a successor would take place next year. The main significance of earlier negotiations is that they can conclude and go to ballot ahead of the Government’s considerations on Budget 2018, which will be announced in October 2017.

In other words, the Government will be able to make provision for further increases in 2018 if the talks are successful.

IMPACT and other unions have argued that pay recovery should be accelerated because the economy and public finances have improved faster than envisaged when the Lansdowne Road agreement was signed in mid-2015.

Speaking after last week’s announcement of the April pay improvement, IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody said the union had made a successful start to addressing the issues arising from the Garda pay settlements of last November:

“We will continue to pursue this in the next set of negotiations, on a successor to the LRA, which is expected to begin in the spring or early summer. The main business of these talks will be to establish a pay round and address the timetable for unwinding the ‘FEMPI’ legislation, which introduced the 2009-2010 pay cuts and pension levy.

“IMPACT will push for the fastest possible pay recovery in the context of public finances and other calls on the public purse, like investment in infrastructure and public services,” he said.

The ICTU Public Services Committee (PSC), which represents the vast majority of the country’s public service unions, has already made a submission to the Public Service Pay Commission. The PSC officers have also met with the Commission. Further submissions are in preparation and it is expected that further meetings will be scheduled.

Former IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone is a member of the Commission.

The ICTU Public Services Committee (PSC), which represents virtually all public service unions, has written to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) to establish the implications for public service pensioners of last week’s pay agreement.

DPER’s response was that the terms of the Garda settlements, which prompted talks that led to last week’s deal, had no impact on pensions currently in payment and, therefore, there would be no benefit to pensioners once the €1,000 LRA payment for serving staff is brought forward from September 2017 to 1^st April.

The PSC says it will pursue this in the negotiations on a successor to the LRA, which are expected to begin in the first half of this year. In the meantime, the PSC intends to liaise with representatives of the Alliance of Retired Public Servants.

IMPACT lobbied politicians and public officials on behalf of its members on 14 occasions in the last quarter of 2016, bringing the annual total to 56. The figures, revealed in the union’s returns to the Lobbying Register, do not include industrial relations meetings as they are not subject to laws on reporting lobbying activity.

The Regulation of Lobbying Act, which became law in 2015, makes information on lobbying publically available. IMPACT’s latest lobbying returns cover the following issues:

• Composition of the Public Service Pay Commission 
• Restoration of funding to Foróige, and other organisations in the community and voluntary sector
• Request for parliamentary question (PQ) re Tusla state agency
• Discussion on Government's Action Plan on Jobs 
• Briefing on public service pay policy
• Access to State industrial relations services for people working in the civil service
• Recruitment issues affecting IMPACT members working as special education needs organisers (SENOs) 
• Opposition to temporary closure of Sligo County library and to potential permanent closure of one or more libraries in the county
• Opposition to staffless library proposals
• Pay restoration in the community and voluntary sector
• The Cassells report on higher education funding
• Community sector forum agreed under the terms of the Lansdowne Road agreement
• Secure rents campaign for the regulation of increases for private residential tenancies/improved security of tenure. 

New enforcement provisions under the Regulation of Lobbying Act came into effect on 1^st January this year. These provisions give the Standards in Public Office Commission the authority to investigate and prosecute contraventions of the Act and to levy fixed payment notices for late filing of lobbying returns.

IMPACT members who undertake lobbying activity are not required to make a return unless they are lobbying under instruction from the union, such as in the event of a ‘grassroots’ campaign. All lobbying activity undertaken by IMPACT staff is reportable, apart from activity classified as ‘excepted communications’.

For more details about the legislation and the register, visit lobbying.ie.

See also IMPACT trade union profile on Lobbying.ie.