A leading health and safety expert has expressed “grave concerns” over reduced Health and Safety Authority (HSA) funding and ongoing curbs on the number of safety inspections. In an interview with the respected journal Health & Safety Review, Pauric Corrigan, president of the National Irish Safety Organisation (NISO), questioned whether the Government was planning adequately for an expected upturn in the construction sector, where there are plans to create 60,000 new jobs this year.

The HSA plans to carry out 11,520 inspections in 2014, compared to over 16,000 five years ago. The reduction reflects a 27% cut in the HSA’s budget over the same period.

Health and Safety Review editor Herbert Mulligan says the cut in the HSA’s budget and inspection programme is double the reduction in the number of employees during the recession. “It is not that the authority is not performing its functions. Rather it is being limited in its ability to do so,” he wrote.

There are commercial considerations too. Last year, HSA chairman Michael Horgan told an Oireachtas committee that his agency was struggling to maintain its support to high tech industries that earn more than €50 billion in exports. He said production could be moved to other countries as a direct result.

IMPACT’s HSA branch reports that its members see health and safety compliance slipping, with reductions in inspections exacerbating the trend.

Collectively agreed pay acted as a “kind of insurance,” for workers during the economic crisis according to the Dublin-based European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). Its new report Pay in Europe in the 21^st century says this insurance effect mattered more than actual compensation.

Comparing wage bargaining outcomes across the EU and Norway before and after the economic crisis, Eurofound concluded that the influence of collective pay agreements has been neglected in discussions on pay developments.

Importantly, in the context of emerging Irish debates about pay increases, it found that Ireland and Lithuania experienced the smallest increase in unit labour costs between 1998 and 2012. Since 2008 the countries hit hardest by the economic crisis saw a decline in labour costs. The biggest fall was in Latvia (-3.7%) followed by Ireland (-3.2%).

The Eurofound report discusses pay developments against the background of different wage-bargaining regimes and analyses links between pay and productivity. It also investigates minimum wage systems and levels across Europe.

Eurofound is a tripartite European Union agency whose role is to provide knowledge in the area of social and work-related policies.

Noreen Moloney

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is hosting a major conference on ‘a new course for better times’ in Dublin next month. The event, which takes place in the Mansion House on the morning of 11^th April , features an impressive list of speakers including social protection minister Joan Burton, Reiner Hoffmann, president of the German union federation DGB, Danish ambassador Niels Pultz, Catelene Passchier of the Dutch union confederation FNV, and Dublin MEP Emer Costello.

The conference will explore whether lasting recovery is a realistic prospect for Ireland following the bailout exit and early signs of recovery.

Get full details, including a full list of speakers, HERE.

THE EUROPEAN Commission has said it will seek information from Irish health authorities as the first step in assessing IMPACT’s claim that excessive ‘sleepover’ duties in residential care facilities breach EU and Irish working time legislation.

The union says staff who work with children, homeless people and people with disabilities are routinely expected to work 63-hour weeks when the legal maximum is 48 hours. It also says employers are breaching EU laws by paying a ‘sleepover’ allowance worth less than the statutory minimum wage.

IMPACT says management is flouting the EU working time directive and various European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings.

Union organiser Una Faulkner, who has helped organise regional meetings for the staff concerned, says the issue centres on the substantial hours that workers spend on-call while they are in-situ at residential facilities over night.

“So-called sleepovers are part of the working week for residential care staff but employers don’t treat them as working time for pay purposes, or when they’re calculating the time that can be legally worked. This means that staff are expected to work excessive hours while being paid well below the statutory minimum wage,” she said.

The union wants staff to work a maximum of one ‘sleepover’ a week on average. “This should be worked as part of the 39 hours set out in their contracts. Any work beyond 39 hours, including so-called ‘sleepovers,’ should be paid as overtime,” said Una.

She said this would improve the management of time and resources because staff would not find themselves pushed beyond the legal limits. “Ultimately, these measures would also improve the quality and level of care.”

IMPACT’s VEC (vocational education committees) branch has changed its name to the NETB branch. The rebranding reflects the fact that VECs have been merged into new Education and Training Boards since last July. Branch chair Ger Lyons said the name change was backed unanimously at the branch’s most recent annual general meeting.

A celebration of the centenary of the formal establishment of the Irish Citizen’s Army takes place at 3pm in Liberty Hall, Dublin, tomorrow, Saturday 22^nd March. This was the date in 1914 when members met to adopt a constitution and elect leaders for the army, which was initially founded by James Connolly during the Dublin Lockout. The constitution was written by Sean O'Casey. 

The event will feature a performance from award-winning theatre company ANU Productions, as well as readings from Sean O’Casey’s story of the Irish Citizen Army by Sabina Higgins. Music will be provided by Des Geraghty and friends.

Historian and playwright Ann Matthews will give a talk about the early years of the army, which will be based on new research that challenges many of our basic assumptions. Her play Lockout, which was performed to packed houses at the New Theatre in Dublin last year, is set to feature in the Hollywood fringe festival in June.

Admission is free

IMPACT members will again be gathering for this year’s Dublin Pride event on 28^th June. It’s expected that even more IMPACT members will take part this year after the union’s Dublin City branch put out the call to members who want to take part.

Dublin City branch equal opportunities officer Eva Ndaba said that this year’s event is expected to be one of the biggest ever. “In the last few months we’ve seen the public debate on equality and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights move centre stage, with an increasing amount of solidarity for LGBT people in Irish society. I think it’s a very interesting time and it’s clear that this year’s Pride event will be of enormous interest to people,” she said.

Eva said that IMPACT’s strong track record on advocating for LGBT rights was something to be proud of. “It’s a legacy to be proud of for the trade union movement generally and IMPACT in particular,” she said.

Participating groups have been asked to submit details of their numbers to assist with the organisation of stewards. So please contact Eva at eva.ndaba@dublincity.ie if you intend to gather under the IMPACT banner.

A union report has branded Qatar “a country without a conscience,” provoking anger from the local World Cup organising committee just ahead of a significant FIFA executive meeting in Zurich yesterday. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Case Against Qatar provides new evidence of abuses of international law and inhuman conditions for workers building stadiums and other infrastructure for the 2022 tournament.

Yesterday’s FIFA executive committee was called to receive the football governing body’s own investigation into labour rights in Qatar. The study was triggered after the ITUC estimated that as many as 4,000 workers could die before a ball is kicked.

During a recent visit to the Al Wakrah stadium, ITUC general secretary Sharon Burrows found 38 workers from India, Nepal and Thailand living in squalor with mattresses on the floor in makeshift rooms. Employees were being provided with salty water for cooking and washing, while employers demanded huge cash deposits before workers were allowed on holidays. ITUC said over 2,500 Indonesian maids flee from abusive sponsors each year.

Yet local authorities won't take responsibility, saying the workers are not covered by welfare standards established to combat international criticism of labour abuses in the country. FIFA’s local organising committee has also denied responsibility for the workers.

Ms Burrows said Qatar would respect international standards and abolish ‘kafala,’ the legal right for employers to withhold exit visas from migrant workers, if FIFA demanded it. The ITUC has written to FIFA and the Qatar authorities calling for freedom of association, the use of ethical recruitment companies, an end to the kafala system, a non-discriminatory minimum wage and robust compliance systems.

European trade unions last week issued a call for a “peaceful, efficient and socially acceptable way out of the crisis in Ukraine.” The statement was issued from a Brussels meeting of the Pan-European Trade Union Council, which brings together unions - including Ukrainian unions - from across Europe. The five-point plan calls for: 

1. De-escalation of tensions, respect for the Ukrainian constitution, territorial integrity and withdrawal of all armed forces
2. Free and fair elections to shift to a genuine democratic political system, respect for the rights of all, and investigation of all acts of violence, illegal appropriation of public money and abuse of public office
3. Economic assistance packages from the EU and international financial institutions, without the discredited austerity approach pushed on EU member states by the troika
4. Social dialogue with respect for workers rights'
5. Support for efficient and affordable public services, including priority for stability measures.

Speaking after the meeting, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) general secretary Sharan Burrow said the plan identified a clear pathway out of the crisis and towards the kind of economy and society the people of Ukraine want and deserve. “Political leaders and the European and global institutions need to start work urgently to fulfill their responsibilities, avoid further turmoil and help Ukraine to get on the right track,” she said. 

Read the full statement HERE.

Nurture Africa still have places for IMPACT volunteers interested in taking part in a two-week placement in Uganda next month. Since 2012, IMPACT's developing world fund has been supporting the Irish charity, which provides health care and education for orphans and children affected by HIV-AIDS.

The organisation also provides employment and health education programmes in the communities where these children live. As part of its support, IMPACT has part-funded a limited number of members who take part in Nurture Africa volunteer programmes.

Nurture Africa took four volunteers to Uganda in November 2013. In this short film they tell the story of their visit and what it meant to them. Brian Furey, Ed Walsh, Mary Capliss and John Cloughley talk about their experience of Nurture Africa's work and their contact with communities in Uganda.

If you are interested in taking part in April, visit the Nurture Africa website or send an email to project coordinator Kevin Murphy.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has reacted coolly to Government plans to let new mums allocate two weeks of their maternity leave to dads. The union federation says there should be an additional two weeks leave for fathers instead, with no change to mothers’ existing 26-week entitlement.

The Government has said it will consult on the proposals, which are also opposed by employers’ body IBEC for very different reasons. IBEC simply says it will cost employers too much to let dads spend a couple of weeks with their new-born children.

ICTU also says the proposals would inevitably force mums and dads to take parental leave at different times, which takes away much of the value of spending time together with a new family member.

Limited as it now is, most paternity leave is taken along with the mother around the time of a baby’s birth. Unions are also concerned that the proposal could lead to employers putting pressure on new mums to take less maternity leave, regardless of whether or not they wanted to.

The Labour Court has ruled that HSE West should continue to abide by a local collective agreement on compassionate leave while national negotiations continue on a HSE circular, which has not been agreed with unions. The HSE circular was issued in 2012 to take account of new civil partnership rights, but it also had the effect of supplanting an otherwise superior local agreement in the west.

In a case taken by IMPACT official Padraig Mulligan, the Court said that, in the circumstances, the circular could not offset the collective agreement. “As a matter of good industrial relations practice, parties are obliged to honour the terms of collective agreements unless and until they are voluntarily renegotiated or terminated,” it said.

Local HSE management had refused to consult with IMPACT on the proposed changes, saying that the national circular superseded all previous circulars and local arrangements.

Read the full recommendation HERE.

HSE plans to remove the Dublin ambulance service from Dublin fire brigade, which were reported in the Irish Times week, are unnecessary and wasteful, according to IMPACT. The union says the current service couldn’t be matched by the health authority for excellence or efficiency.

The Dublin fire brigade service responds to 40% of national ambulance calls for less than 10% of the national ambulance budget. “That’s outstanding efficiency for a service delivered by dedicated men and women,” according to IMPACT national secretary Peter Nolan.

The Dublin fire brigade operates the capital’s service on behalf of Dublin City Council, while the rest of the country is served by the HSE’s national ambulance service. The HSE pays Dublin City Council around €9 million a year for the service from a national budget of €134 million.

Meanwhile, Dublin city manager Owen Keegan has rejected a city council motion calling on him to suspend a planned review into the capital’s ambulance service. The motion, which was put forward by the Labour group of councillors in March, sought to suspend the study until a national capacity review, currently being done by the HSE, was completed.

Mr Nolan said the extra review meant additional and unnecessary costs and said the city manager’s decision raised questions about his real objectives. “Undermining the existing service might be the real agenda for this review. Reports that the HSE are planning to take the service away from Dublin fire brigade only serve to undermine it further, and raise suspicions that the outcome of the review is a foregone conclusion,” he said.

Representatives of library staff are to consider their response to environment department plans to pilot ‘staffless’ libraries at a meeting in Dublin on Monday (24^th March). The department is also considering piloting Sunday opening for libraries.

Invitations to attend the meeting have been sent to IMPACT groups representing professional librarians, city and county librarians, branch librarians, and non-professional library staff.

The union has instructed members not to cooperate with the pilots as there has been no proper consultation, and certainly no agreement, with staff representatives. IMPACT national secretary Peter Nolan said the developments came as “countless” library posts remain unfilled.

IMPACT also flagged its opposition to the proposal at a January meeting of the Local Authority National Council, where staffing matters are discussed by unions and employers. Employers’ representatives said the proposals had no implications for staff employment conditions.

Ireland needs to change its approach to vocational education and training, including apprenticeships, to establish “parity of esteem” with degree courses, according to Dublin MEP Emer Costello. “Apprenticeships should be made more widely available – including in growth sectors like health care, communications and green technology – and made more attractive, including to girls,” she said.

Speaking at an event on the EU ‘youth guarantee’ programme in Liberty Hall last week, she said the findings of a recent review of apprenticeships, which recommended expanding them to new sectors, should be implemented “in the middle of the year.” Consultation on the recommendations of the review, carried out by Labour Court chairman Kevin Duffy, is currently underway.

With Irish youth unemployment currently at almost 30%, Ms Costello said employment initiatives were badly needed to get young people into work. She said Ireland had pushed hard to get the youth guarantee programme finalised during its EU presidency last year. As a result, €6 billion had been earmarked for 2014 -2015, with €130 million allocated to Ireland. Costello said this was “not enough, but it’s a good start.”

Guarantee

Youth guarantee aims to ensure that out-of-work under-25s are offered a good quality job offer, apprenticeship, traineeship or education place within four months of becoming unemployed. It is currently being rolled out in a pilot project in Ballymun.

Speakers from National Youth Council of Ireland, SIPTU, business and the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) welcomed the programme. But Brid O’Brien of the INOU called for the youth guarantee to place more emphasis on accessing jobs and said the state should “revisit its policy of pulling back from employing people.”

She also called for more emphasis on inequality, especially to address the fact that “a lot of employers simply won’t employ people from disadvantaged areas.” Ms O’Brien called the sanction of reduced benefits for young people who refused places on programmes “a big stick approach” which was “a major fault in the design” of labour activation measures.

A recent study of Finland, where a comprehensive youth guarantee scheme is already in place, found that over 83% of young job seekers received a successful offer within three months of registering as unemployed. The Finnish scheme has led to personalised plans for young people being drawn up more quickly, ultimately lowering unemployment.