IMPACT has described the Labour Court recommendation, dealing with sleepover duty for residential care staff, as a major breakthrough. The recommendation, issued last week, calls for the recognition of sleepover duty as working time, requires all employers in the sector to comply with the Working Time act and sets the rate of pay for sleepover duty as not less than the minimum wage of €8.65 per hour. This is an increase of €3.27 on the existing hourly rate.

The rate of pay for sleepover duty applies with immediate effect from the date of the recommendation (18th September 2014).

IMPACT national secretary for health, Louise O'Donnell, welcomed the recommendation and said that the Court had upheld what the unions had been arguing for some time in relation to sleepover duties.

Ms O'Donnell said, "The Court's recommendation gives full recognition to the fact that sleepover duty is working time. That recognition is a huge breakthrough for our members because it was very strongly resisted by employers. This recommendation means that, from today, nobody in the sectors covered by the recommendation can be paid less than the minimum wage for sleepover duty. This is recognition of the hard work and dedication of our members working in these services, and we will be actively engaging with employers in this sector in order to ensure its full implementation."

More resources sought

In a letter to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr James Reilly TD, Louise has called for the provision of adequate resources to ensure the recommendation can be fully implemented.

Louise has also written to the Minister of State for Primary and Social Care at the Department of Health, Kathleen Lynch TD. In her letter, Louise calls on the minister to ensure that services are adequately funded so as to ensure full implementation of the recommendation and an existing circular on enhanced payment for ‘twilight’ hours. She said that staff are falling foul of disputes between funders and service providers and, as a result, are being denied payments and work rosters to which they have a legal entitlement.

A document on frequently asked questions (FAQs) is available here. A short video, in which Louise addresses some immediate questions, is also available on the IMPACT homepage and on the IMPACT YouTube channel.

A copy of the Labour Court's recommendation is available here.

IMPACT has demanded urgent Government intervention to stem increases in private rents. Speaking at a public meeting in Dublin last Saturday (20th September), IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan said rapid and substantial rent increases were making housing unaffordable and, coupled with insecure private tenancy arrangements, were feeding a Dublin housing and homelessness crisis.

Kevin was speaking at a public meeting, organised by IMPACT, which brought together over 100 housing and homelessness practitioners, policy-makers and experts. “A Roof is a Right: Practical actions to tackle Dublin’s homelessness crisis” heard speakers from the Peter McVerry Trust, Threshold, Dublin Simon Community and Focus Ireland call for urgent government action to deal with the capital’s growing homelessness crisis. 

Father McVerry (pictured) warned that Dublin’s homelessness crisis was about to get “much, much worse” because of a ticking “mortgage arrears time bomb” especially in the buy-to-let sector. “Some 31,500 buy-to-let residential properties are in mortgage arrears of more than 90 days, and 35,000 principal home properties are in mortgage arrears of more than two years. As property values increase, the enthusiasm of the financial institutions to repossess residential properties and secure a greater proportion of their unmet loans will increase. Each house that is repossessed is a person or family potentially facing homelessness, usually for the first time,” he warned.

IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody said leaving rents to the market was driving people into homelessness. He said that the Government could control rents rather than leaving them to the markets, and while the economy may be finally beginning to recover, society is still extremely fragile and an unfettered market approach never worked. “A couple of years ago the Government decided to put a temporary restriction on the price of beer. It shouldn’t be beyond their wit to do the same with rent for a period” he said.

Shay also criticised “the rush by local authorities to cut the property tax on day one on year one without any regard to the services”. He said it was “frankly something that would be incredible to local authority councillors in Europe, and particularly if they are people of the centre or the left.”

Social housing

IMPACT organiser Joe O’Connor, in his blog for the IMPACT website, highlighted the failure to build and provide adequate social housing.

“Despite, or perhaps because of, the property boom that left a devastating legacy on Irish society, social housing supply is at an all time low, while demand is at an all time high.  No sustainable solution to this crisis can be achieved without substantial investment in social housing, and that must remain a priority in the longer term” he said.

He said that IMPACT members within the homeless services sector have experienced first-hand the massive increase in demand for their services. “They witness the personal trauma caused by homelessness every day.”

Speaking after the event, Joe said that the high level of engagement and the positive, solutions-based approach at the meeting was appropriate to the level of urgency the crisis demands.

“I hope it acts as the basis for collaboration across the sector to tackle this issue through a unified campaign, and an immediate policy response in the form of practical actions led by Government intervention. The introduction of rental certainty through emergency rent controls would curb the market excesses which have allowed this problem to exacerbate. We will shortly be making a submission to Government outlining the key solutions discussed at the meeting” he said.

Coordinated response

Tánaiste Joan Burton addressed the meeting, and said that the Government is seeking to ensure a coordinated response to the crisis of homelessness. She told the meeting that the aim is to move people from emergency shelter provision to sustainable homes, and that innovative funding and construction solutions are needed to realise that aim. She said that any interventions needed to guard against driving private rent increases. 

The Tánaiste said that the Government's housing strategy will be published in October at the same time as Budget 2015 and that the strategy would include a drive to add new social housing stock, reactivate old social housing stock and continue to build social housing capacity.

Related:

• IMPACT calls for emergency rent controls to help ease growing housing and homelessness crisis – IMPACT website
• #RoofisaRight on social media – see the discussion from last weeks meeting on Twitter

IMPACT’s Dublin City branch chair Paul O’Halloran warned councillors that homelessness and other services could be under threat as - in addition to reduced property tax incomes - rate income was likely to fall by between €20-€26 million in 2015 and a €5 million reserve used last year to support homelessness services was now gone.

“In summary, the city is facing a reduction in income coupled with increases in expenditure which, in IMPACT’s opinion, could have negative implications for the provision of services, for staff, and for Dublin City Council as a public body. Any variation in the local property tax should be phased so as to allow all the issues and implications to be known and managed,” he said.

This year, all councils were given the option of cutting the local property tax by up to 15%. Last weekend IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody warned against a rush by councillors to cut their authorities’ incomes which, he said, would not happen in other European countries.

A new report by global trade union federation Public Services International (PSI) has exposed highly secretive trade negotiations that could see further deregulation of international financial services and new threats to Irish public services.

PSI says the proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) being drawn up by 23 negotiating government bodies, including the EU, would promote privatisation of public services like health, water and transport, and make it illegal for governments to take services back into public control if private operators failed.

The proposed deal involves 50 countries, including Ireland, and almost 70% of the world’s trade in services.

The Really Good Friends of Transnational Corporations Agreement, written by Ellen Gould, looks at how TiSA could introduce sweeping and permanent restrictions on public service delivery. But it says the negotiation process remains shrouded in secrecy.

PSI has demanded transparency and accountability from the international powers involved.

See more here.

More than seven women a day are diagnosed with breast cancer.

The guide, which was launched by Tánaiste Joan Burton, aims to ensure that workers undergoing treatment or returning to work get the necessary help and support in terms of agreed time off and adapted work organisation.

ICTU general secretary David Begg said the publication illustrated the progress made in recent years. “Even a decade ago, we would not be having conversations about people returning to work after treatment, even less about how we could best adapt their working environment.  There’s still a long way to go, but this represents significant success for trade unions who have long campaigned for better treatment and screening,” he said.

Get more information about breast cancer here.

The Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI) has moved to make a fresh round of job cuts, further to the recent redundancies of four of the Society's regional managers. The ASI has refused to implement a Labour Court recommendation for an enhanced severance payout in respect of the regional managers. The union is concerned that further job cuts will again be implemented without consultation with worker representatives.

IMPACT has called on the ASI to implement the Labour Court's recommendation on the enhanced redundancy, but the Society has confirmed that its position remains unchanged. ASI continues to express “respect” for the Labour Court, while refusing to implement its recommendation. ASI has previously told IMPACT it does not engage on a “collective” basis, is not prepared to discuss issues like pay with the union, and that the organisation does not consider itself to be in a collective bargaining situation.

The latest move to cut more jobs at ASI was initiated by the CEO, Gerry Martin, who wrote to the Society's regional administration officers, informing them that after “analysis and review” there will be only four new administrative officer roles in the ASI’s ‘New Operations' structure. They have been invited to apply for the new posts.

IMPACT official Ashley Connolly has said that the approach of management is similar to the process that led to the regional manager redundancies. She explained “The workers had been let go after being forced to re-apply for positions within the organisation, despite being told that redeployment options would be made available.” The four managers concerned had between 11 and 16 years experience and were informed that they had been unsuccessful in applying for the new posts.

The approach of management has already alienated one of its high profile advocates, as broadcaster Pat Kenny has cut his ties with the Society as a result of the redundancies.

Ashley says the union is determined to hold the employer to account. “The Society cannot continue to take state funding while it wilfully ignores the industrial relations procedures observed by its main funding body. It has taken an aggressive adversarial approach which is already causing harm to the public profile of the organisation.

“To lose a high profile advocate in these circumstances indicates the kind of loss of goodwill which will hurt ASI in the longer run. All we want is a fair hearing for the workers in ASI. If the Society continues down this path, treating loyal and hardworking staff with open contempt, it will inflict considerable damage on itself. We are in a position to prevent that from happening, but they need to engage with us" she said.

IMPACT is seeking to have a requirement, to utilise the state's industrial relations mechanisms, included in all service level agreements.

IMPACT has made a call for more effective monitoring of the JobBridge internship scheme in schools, as more evidence emerges that the scheme is being used to make up shortfalls in staffing. The union has said that, on the strength of the available evidence, it’s probable that the scheme is being abused.

In a letter sent today (Friday) to members of IMPACT’s Special Needs Assistants branches, assistant general secretary Dessie Robinson explains “The reason the union has called for more effective monitoring is because IMPACT has had to make interventions about the advertising of classroom assistant, school cleaner and caretaker posts in recent months.

“Following those interventions, the Department has removed such posts from the scheme. However, it remains a matter of very serious concern that schools are advertising a very significant number of SNA and school secretary positions” he said.

Dessie said that it’s probable that SNAs on the redeployment panel are being displaced as schools look to make up a shortfall in their SNA allocation this year by using JobBridge. “This was never the intended use of the scheme and it is unacceptable that it could be used to facilitate a situation where SNAs on the panel remain unemployed. This constitutes job displacement and cannot be tolerated.

“IMPACT fought hard to establish the redeployment panel, and it constitutes the first real move toward improved job security for SNAs. We cannot tolerate any set of circumstances which cause that improved job security to be undermined” he said.

Last week, deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan appeared on RTE news bulletins making the call for effective monitoring of the scheme, which he said should include trade union input. He was also interviewed on RTE News at One and Today FM's The Last Word (from 21:04).

Kevin said that all measures to get people back into work are important. “IMPACT’s policy in relation to JobBridge is that the scheme has value as a work experience opportunity for people who are out of work. However, it must be properly supervised and mentored, it must provide adequate supports and training and it must not be used to displace existing jobs.

“In light of what has emerged about how schools are using the JobBridge scheme, we need to carefully consider the union's current position. We have pressed home the importance of effective monitoring to the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Education and Skills. We have outlined the need for monitoring to include trade union input. If these departments are unwilling to accommodate this approach, it will become necessary for the union to reconsider its position in relation to JobBridge” he said.

IMPACT will continue to engage with both the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Social Protection to ensure that the scheme is not being abused. Dessie Robinson has asked SNA members to remain vigilant and to report any suspected abuse of the scheme to their local IMPACT representative.

A dispute involving Dublin City parks staff in Cabra has been resolved following a Labour Court recommendation that an eating on site allowance be paid to them. The six workers were among a minority of leisure centre staff who were not in receipt of the allowance.

IMPACT official Phil McFadden took the case on behalf of the workers in Cabra. “We sought the payment in relation to this group of staff, and it subsequently emerged the allowance is paid to only 154 of a total of 185 leisure centre staff. A total of 29 staff (including the original six) were not receiving the allowance which is set at €9.52 per week” he said.

There are approximately 1500 general operatives in Dublin City Council who are in receipt of the allowance. Phil added “Some local authorities (though not all) pay the allowance, as each authority would have arrived at different arrangements over the years depending on the level of outdoor site work each was dealing with.

“The period over which the allowance was not paid to those staff is approximately 10 years. However, the recommendation only backdated this to the conciliation date of 29th November 2013, based on a payment of €9.52 per week. The retrospection is worth somewhere between € 400 and €450 to each of the six individuals, before tax, depending on when DCC will implement the recommendation” he said.

Phil said that this may set a precedent under which the remaining 23 staff can be compensated but this remains unresolved at the moment.

Introduced in 1979, the allowance was brought about on foot of a similar allowance being paid to workers in the construction industry in the early seventies. It was originally made in respect of waterworks personnel. These were workers who, because of the nature and location of their work, were unable to go to an indoor lunch facility, or make a purchase of food near their site location. Their break time was limited to 30 minutes, so their only option was to eat on site.

The allowance was then extended to other outdoor personnel (for example, parks personnel and general operatives in similar circumstances), and also included general operative staff working in local authority leisure centres. Staff in those leisure centres were still restricted to a 30 minute break, so the allowance in this context became the standard for the grade.

IMPACT national secretary Matt Staunton has begun circulating regular updates to members of IMPACT who are in the Irish Aviation Superannuation Scheme (IASS). Matt has arranged for the updates as members begin to receive a substantial amount of information about how the deficit in the IASS is to be addressed.

Unions in both the main companies affected (Aer Lingus and the Dublin and Shannon Airport Authorities) will be arranging ballots shortly on a number of key decisions that will be required.

You can read Matt’s updates via these links for Wednesday 17^th September and Thursday 25^th September. We have also set up a dedicated page for this information on the IMPACT website.

A course of introductory lectures on the Irish economy kicks off next month. Aimed at a general audience, including union members, and delivered by experts from the union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute, the programme of weekly lectures starts on 9^th October. The ten-week course costs €60.

Part of the People’s College 2014-2015 programme, the course has been tailored to people who want a basic understanding of how the Irish economy works, and the key decisions that have shaped our economy.

The course will cover a range of topics including the development of the Irish economy in the 20^th century, supply and demand, the labour market, an overview of the Northern Ireland economy, fiscal policy, wealth and income inequality, theories on political economy and the role of the state and public policy options.

It will also discuss a number of case studies including:

• The budget and the role of special interests
• The causes and consequences of the economic crash
• The post 2008 response to the economic crash and depression economics.