Trade unions in Ireland and across the globe have paid tribute to the late, great Nelson Mandela following his death on 6^th December. ICTU general secretary David Begg expressed 'deep sadness' at his passing and extended condolences to his family and friends and to the South African trade union movement.

Mr Begg said Mandela was an icon for all who battle injustice. “I extend our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to  the Congress of South African Trade Unions, who played a pivotal role in the long fight to end Apartheid. That long struggle highlighted the importance of solidarity, as exemplified by the Dunnes workers. Their brave actions gave practical expression to the belief that an injury to one is the concern of all – even if the injured are thousands of miles away on a different continent,” he said.

IMPACT was among the unions that contributed to travelling costs to enable former Dunnes Stores workers to attend Mandela’s funeral. They were on strike for almost three years in the 1980s after being victimised for refusing to handle goods produced in the apartheid state.

John Douglas, general secretary of their union Mandate, said it was fitting that they were able to attend Mandela’s funeral. “Mr Mandela is an enormous loss to South Africa and the rest of the world. His knowledge and leadership will leave an enormous vacuum, which will be extraordinarily difficult to fill. His legacy of justice, equality and solidarity will continue, without borders, forever,” he said.

Rosa Pavanelli, general secretary of the international union federation Public Services International, said: “We are grateful to Madiba for the extraordinary lessons he taught the world. He suffered and fought to end apartheid. He struggled to establish democracy through dialogue. He succeeded in being a great president for South Africa; a respected and inspirational political leader for the whole world and a champion of anti-discrimination, social justice and solidarity.”

HSE management’s failure to deal with excessive sleepover demands on staff in residential child care and disability facilities has been referred to the Labour Court.  IMPACT and Siptu say the HSE and various employers are in breach of Irish and EU working time legislation, and that many staff are expected to work 55-70 hours a week.

The unions raised the issue in the media last month after the latest round of Labour Relations Commission talks failed to reach agreement.

HSE management has admitted that residential child care and disability agencies are routinely breaching working time legislation by requiring staff to work an excessive number of sleepovers on top of their standard 39-hour working week.  Staff are systematically required to work seven-hour sleepover shifts for just €6.40 an hour, well below the statutory minimum wage of €8.65.

The HSE and management in the agencies have failed to reach a resolution on the issue during six months of talks, despite being required to do so under the Haddington Road agreement.

IMPACT national secretary Louise O’Donnell said the HSE and its agencies were claiming that the sleepover issue could not be resolved because of cost and resource constraints. “There appears to be no effective limit on pay costs for chief executives. Meanwhile managers order staff to work as many as seven sleepovers a fortnight, in flagrant breach of Irish and EU working time laws, for the princely sum of €3 an hour after tax,” she said.

The Labour Court will convene on Monday (16th December) for a hearing on various issues related to new public service certified sick leave arrangements, which are due to come into force next year. Meanwhile, legislation to establish the new scheme is currently before the Oireachtas and the speed of its progress will determine whether or not the Government meets the implementation target of 1^st January for most public servants.

IMPACT and other unions are trying to ensure that criteria for determining whether an illness is deemed ‘critical’ take account of the particular circumstances of disability, pregnancy-related illness and mental health. The Court will make a binding determination on these issues because no agreement has been reached between management and unions.

The distinction between critical and non-critical conditions is important because, in future, paid leave for non-critical illnesses will be halved to three months on full pay, followed by three months on half pay in any four-year period. IMPACT and other unions ensured that current arrangements – six months on full pay, followed by six months on half pay – will remain in cases of critical illness.

Negotiations about how this will be applied have been underway for some weeks, and have been reported in previous bulletins.

Unions have already ensured that existing schemes for occupational illnesses or injuries will remain unchanged.

The new arrangements are now expected to apply from 1st March 2014 across most of the public service, including the gardai. The only exception will be the education sector, where the new arrangements will come into force at the start of the next school year.

Technical staff in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action, which is set to commence in the new year. The dispute follows the Department’s decision to refuse IMPACT members the chance to compete for assistant principal posts, in defiance of a new policy that says all staff can apply for civil service vacancies.

Members of IMPACT’s Agriculture No.1 branch backed industrial action by a margin of 85%. Following massive reform and rationalisation of the State’s agricultural inspection practices over the last 18 months, they fear that their exclusion from competitions for other civil service posts could put their job security at risk, despite commitments in the Haddington Road agreement.

IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly said the department’s decision to flaunt government policy on cross-stream promotion was the latest in a long line of actions aimed at eroding agricultural officers’ terms and conditions beyond measures already conceded under Haddington Road.

“The exclusion of our members was the latest in a long line of problems, which are ultimately putting jobs at risk. The branch has tabled a lengthy list of issues with management, but it’s quite clear that the department is not willing to make any attempt to discuss, let alone deal with, them. Management has effectively collapsed the industrial relations process, which has forced our members into industrial action as they have no other means of getting their issues addressed,” he said.

Last July civil service management confirmed its policy that technical staff were eligible to compete for assistant principal posts – a policy change that IMPACT had fought hard to achieve. Yet agriculture department management blatantly ignored this official clarification when it excluded agriculture officers from the recent competition.

The ballot followed a series of information meetings across the country. A branch disputes committee is to meet next week to decide the precise form and timetable for action. “The industrial action is necessary to allow us to reclaim an industrial relations environment where we can progress issues and reduce the threat to jobs, terms and conditions,” said Donnelly.

IMPACT MEMBER Des Mullally is entering the final leg of his campaign to be elected as a worker-director on the Dublin airport authority board. The poll takes place next Tuesday (17^th December).

Des, who works in retail at Dublin airport, has campaigned as an experienced, hard-working employee who knows the company well and understands staff issues. His campaign has majored on job security, pensions and effective worker representation on the board.

“I know the issues that concern daa employees, whether it be the future and cost of our pensions or the future and safety of our jobs, whatever location or section we work in,” he says.

His father was the first worker-director elected to the former Aer Rianta board.

The European Commission has produced guidelines aimed at ensuring that trainees get high-quality work experience under safe and fair conditions. The proposals also seek to ensure that work experience programmes enhance participants’ chances of finding a good quality job.

The Commission guidelines, published amidst growing trade union concern about the exploitation of interns and other trainees, call for written traineeship agreements that outline working conditions and the learning content of each trainee programme. It says these should include details of working time and give a clear indication of whether the trainee will be paid.

The Commission also says trainee programmes should be limited to six months and comply with EU rules on working time and holiday entitlements. The proposal specifically calls on member states to adapt their national laws and practices to meet the standards set out in the guidelines.

A recent survey of young Europeans revealed that, while almost half had done a traineeship,  a third of the programmes were not up to scratch. Criticisms included lack of payment and poor opportunities to gain skills.

IMPACT staff met with a number of senior officials from the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) last month to discuss co-operation and opportunities for future collaboration.

IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan said the unions had outlined their internal structures and explored some challenges currently facing members in education. “We looked at a range of issues including possible joint initiatives on recruitment and the potential for developing training courses with inputs from both unions,” he said.

Kevin said the initiative would help build a better understanding and working relationship between the two unions. “It should make us better able to organise and represent members in schools. Both unions fully support the objective that all workers in the school system should be in a union, regardless of the role they perform,” he said.

The unions will meet again early next year.

IMPACT’s Dublin office will be closed from Wednesday 25th to Friday 27th December inclusive, and on Wednesday 1st January.

The union’s Galway office will be closed on 24th December until 2nd January, although emergency cover is being provided. The Cork and Sligo office closes on the evening of 24th December and reopen on 2nd January 2014.

The next IMPACT members’ ebulletin will appear on Friday 10th January 2014. The next edition of the union’s Work & Life magazine will appear in the first week of January.

We wish all IMPACT members and their loved ones a happy, safe and peaceful holiday. See you in the new year.

The trade union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) is predicting slower employment growth over the next two years. Its latest Quarterly Economic Observer  predicts employment will increase by 1.1% in 2014 and 1.2% in 2015, compared to 2.3% this year.

It says unemployment will fall to 10.4% – more than double the pre-crisis level – by 2016, while long term unemployment will remain a “core problem” for the economy.

The report also foresees slow economic growth next year, followed by higher rates in 2015 and 2016. It predicts 1.1% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) next year, after even lower growth of 0.5% in 2013.

Its 2014 growth forecast is lower than those of the Department of Finance (2%) and the Economic and Social Research Institute (2.6%). But it foresees a return to higher growth levels in 2015 (1.8%) and 2016 (3%).

NERI says trends in employment indicate a permanent reshaping of the labour market. It says employment growth is most likely in higher-paid sectors, while the number of middle-paying occupations is likely to decline or stagnate.

It says over a fifth of Irish jobs are low-paid according to the EU definition. The number of jobs in this sector will “be dependent upon the trickle down from higher paid employment,” it says.

Improvements in the labour market will have a positive impact on exchequer finances. NERI forecasts that the current account deficit will fall from 6.8% to 4.8% of GDP in 2014. However, it anticipates that the Government will overshoot its 3% troika deficit target by 0.1% in 2015.

NERI describes its predictions as “positive but cautious.” It says potential threats to economic recovery include a weakening export outlook, high long-term unemployment, and overhang of personal debt.

IMPACT has demanded that management produce stronger service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure that water services are maintained and improved when they transfer from local authorities to Irish Water next month. In a meeting this week, the union told management that the SLAs tabled so far were too weak because they don’t properly define the staffing and other resources that will be committed to future water provision.

The SLAs are needed to define how local authorities will provide services on behalf of Irish Water between 2014 and 2026. IMPACT says they must be sufficiently durable to ensure successful service delivery over this 12-year period.

At a meeting of the Irish Water Consultative Group (IWCG) last October, employers restated an earlier commitment that SLAs would be “sufficiently durable” to cover the period to 2026. The agreements, which are being negotiated in all local authorities, are meant to establish robust service levels and nail down agreed staff protections.

But this week IMPACT criticised management for suggesting that precise details of staffing and other resources may not emerge until the spring. Management agreed to come back with clearer proposals after the union said its approach could put staff and services at risk.

Meanwhile, the union continues to press for an absolute assurance that its members will not be ‘conscripted’ into the new water company against their will. IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly has told management that the union’s continued cooperation is founded on the commitment that staff will not be moved compulsorily.

Eamonn Donnelly wrote to branches to reiterate this position after the Water services No.2 Bill was published earlier this month. The bill provides for the transfer of services to Irish Water and sets out details on metering, charging and penalties for non-payment.

IMPACT is among the sponsors of a new schools’ pack that explains the significance of the 1913-1914 Dublin Lockout to our lives today. The pack, launched yesterday (12^th December), will supplement the existing ICTU Youth Connect programme, which has delivered lessons about working life, trade unions and international solidarity to thousands of school children over the past three years. The programme was initially established with a substantial grant from IMPACT’s former Tax Officials’ branch.

Young actors in period costume sold special Lockout centenary newspapers, as guests queued for a bowl of soup and a bread roll at the launch – to mark how thousands of Dubliners were fed at union food kitchens during the Lockout. Pupils from schools in Mayo, Cork and Dublin’s inner city, who had participated in a pilot of the new module, explained how it had helped them make sense of the dispute and its lessons for modern Ireland.

The pack includes lesson plans and materials for teachers, case studies and handouts, photos and video. ICTU deputy general secretary Sally Ann Kinahan said the module emphasised group work and classroom discussion. “It brings the history of the struggle for decent work to life and explains the reasons behind the 1913 Lockout and the impact of those events on our lives today,” she said.

Get more information about Youth Connect from Fiona Dunne at fiona.dunne@ictu.ie

IMPACT’s central executive committee has approved a €150,000 donation to an international trade union appeal for assistance in the Philippines, which is still reeling from the impact of typhoon Haiyan. The November typhoon, which was the worst ever to hit the country, killed over 6,000 people and left thousands homeless and destitute.

The IMPACT donation, which comes from the union’s developing world fund – made up of 3% of each member’s union subs – went to an emergency appeal established by international trade union federation Public Services International (PSI).

The initiative will contribute to immediate humanitarian aid efforts and will also help establish purpose-built permanent community solidarity centres. Among other things, the centres will enable relief workers to be trained and will store tools and equipment for future emergencies. They will also be used as a medical clinics in a country with relatively poor public services, and be used by local trade unions to help fight for workers’ rights and community development.

PSI general secretary Rosa Pavanelli called IMPACT’s donation an “extraordinary” contribution to the solidarity fund. “IMPACT’s support is truly amazing. We are well aware that the circumstances for your members in Ireland are not easy and that you have struggled for a number of years under difficult conditions. So this contribution is doubly generous,” she said.

IMPACT’s developing world fund was established when the union was formed in the early 1990s and has since contributed over €7 million to trade union and community development projects in countries around the world.

Read about the PSI Philippines appeal HERE.

IMPACT members can get half-price tickets for the Abbey theatre’s production of James Plunkett’s The Risen People. Premium tickets for the play, which inspired Plunkett’s best-selling novel Strumpet City, retail for €40. In a unique offer, IMPACT members can buy them for €20.

The Abbey’s new version of the famous play marks the centenary of the 1913 Dublin Lockout. Set in the shadow of the Lockout, its epic story of struggle and solidarity is told through the familiar characters of Annie, Fitz, Rashers and Hennessy.

A defining moment in Irish history is brought vividly to life through music, movement and song in this new adaptation by director Jimmy Fay, in collaboration with movement director Colin Dunne and composer and musical director Conor Linehan.

To avail of our unique discount offer, book in person, online or over the phone using the promotional code "IMPACT." Book HERE.