IMPACT assistant general secretary Andy Pike said the action would highlight staff opposition to the “excessive and unwarranted” salary paid to a senior manager through a management consultancy. “It is not envisaged that the action will affect the delivery of services in any way,” he said.

“The HSE director general has said the mid-west hospital group needs additional administration staff to provide vital services to patients. The money spent employing just one management consultant would cover the costs of at least five clerical staff to help the hospitals cope with increasing demands. In these circumstances, staff very much resent reporting to a senior manager who is being paid at least twice the correct rate for the job,” he said.

IMPACT welcomed a decision earlier this month by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to ask the chiefs of the HSE and Department of Health to investigate the sanction of a €250,000 salary for one senior manager in the Limerick hospitals group.

The union had written to PAC chairman John McGuinness in May to set out its concerns on corporate governance and senior staff salaries in the hospital group. Mr Pike said any proper investigation would show the expenditure – which is being channelled through a management consultancy – was unjustified.

The need for pay restoration for Irish workers has been highlighted again as new figures revealed consumer prices in Ireland were the fifth highest in the EU last year, at 118% of the EU average. The latest research from EU statistics body Eurostat, published this week, also showed that Ireland has the highest prices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco in the EU at 178% of the average.

The cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages is also above average here, at 117% of the EU average – but well below Denmark in top place at 140% of the average.

The cost of restaurants and hotels in Ireland was also well above the EU average at 128%. We also pay far more for consumer electronic and personal transport equipment at 105% and 111% of the EU average respectively.

Clothing was the sole area where Irish prices were below average.

Prices were highest in Denmark (140% of the EU28 average) followed by Sweden (130%), Luxembourg and Finland (both 123%) and lowest in Hungary (60%), Poland and Romania (both 57%) and Bulgaria (48%).

The figures demonstrate the continuing challenge to economic growth as domestic demand struggles to recover from the years of economic crisis. A recent paper launched by IMPACT, Living on Less: Changes in earnings, incomes and employment during the recession, found that average public sector weekly earnings decreased by 5.1%, while average public sector hourly earnings fell by 5.4% between 2008 and 2013 (these figures do not include the effect of the ‘pension levy’ on earnings). During the same period, average weekly private sector earnings fell by 3.4%, while average private sector hourly earnings were stagnant.

The combined effect of higher prices and static wages means that domestic demand, and the economic growth that depends upon it, will continue to struggle as the Irish economy struggles to recover from the economic crisis.

Agriculture minister Simon Coveney announced this week that Coillte would remain an independent agency, while a new 50-50 joint venture would be established to cover four areas where the two organisations overlap – wind energy, biomass supply, green tourism and shared services.

IMPACT’s Coillte branch executive is to consider the development at its meeting next week. The union is likely to seek meetings with management to discuss the detail of this week’s announcement and any potential implications for staff.

Meanwhile the company has announced that it made a profit of €28.5 million after tax last year – a 69% increase over 2012. Turnover was €275 million, up from €262 million in 2012.

The union also agreed to defer a second one-day strike, set for yesterday (Thursday), but said there would be another stoppage on 10th July if sufficient progress failed to emerge from the talks. IMPACT national secretary Peter Nolan said limited industrial action, which has been underway for the past four weeks, would continue.

A meeting has been scheduled at the LRC next Monday (30th June).

This week’s strike resulted in the closure of civic offices in Tallaght and Clondalkin, along with seven libraries in the council area. The public was unable to make payments or raise problems or queries over water services, housing, roads, economic development, traffic and other local authority services. IMPACT members in depots providing water, drainage and other services only responded to emergency call-outs.

The strike, and other industrial action, was provoked when council management cut the pay of 13 of its staff and revealed plans to do the same to another 150 workers. The staff concerned have been carrying out extra work with additional responsibilities – some of them for as long as 12 years. Now the council says they must continue to do this work, but it is taking away the extra payment – called an ‘acting payment’ – that goes with it.

IMPACT official Peter Nolan said the unilateral pay cuts were a breach of the Haddington Road agreement and said industrial action had been escalated because of management’s continued refusal to deal with the situation through proper procedures. He said staff had received huge support from councillors at the first meeting of the new council.

Video: The view from the picket line on Tuesday 24th June as 600 IMPACT members engage in strike action at South Dublin County Council

The NETB branch of IMPACT has withdrawn the industrial action that commenced on 16^th June, following a conciliation process at the Labour Relations Commission chaired by Michael Keegan.

The action arose in a dispute over management’s failure to reach agreement on issues arising from the establishment of the new bodies, and the transfer of services previously delivered by FÁS and currently managed by SOLAS, and to agree a framework to deal comprehensively with workloads, the filling of vacancies, the consolidation of long-term acting positions, and the intense effort required to absorb SOLAS staff and structures.

In a letter sent to members today (Friday), branch chair Gerard Lyons said “In the view of the NETB Branch committee, acceptance of this document begins a controlled and ongoing process on future staffing issues. We note that up to 40, and probably some more, posts will be upgraded in the immediate future.“

He added “Should management not implement the agreement, or should local meetings with CEOs not take place, we have recourse to LRC under the last paragraph of Mr. Keegan’s document. The Education Division of IMPACT has made clear its strong support for future industrial action should it be required.”

He said that the branch committee expected that “a great deal of vital work will have been done to give life to this agreement” before mid-Autumn.

A copy of the LRC’s report is available here.

The union, which represents over 6,000 SNAs nationwide, said that the additional 195 (or 3%) primary SNA posts, and the additional 68.5 (3.2%) post-primary posts, were welcome. However, assistant general secretary Dessie Robinson said a detailed look at the figures revealed a further fragmentation of the posts allocated to many schools. 

“Despite a slight aggregate increase in the number of SNA posts, many schools will find that their allocation is down. This may well result in a reduction of service to children with special needs and it will certainly mean a reduction in paid working hours for many low-paid special needs assistants. We are seeking a concrete commitment from the education department that it will protect whole-time positions,” he said.

IMPACT also criticised the late publication of the allocation figures. “The department has issued the figures after the end of the post-primary school year and just two days before the end of the primary school year. This will inevitably mean some SNAs – and the children they support – will go into the summer uncertain about where they stand next September. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as last year, but it’s still not good enough,” said Mr Robinson.

Since last year, IMPACT has negotiated strengthened arrangements for the redeployment of redundant special needs assistants (SNAs) with the education department. SNAs who are made redundant are now placed on a redeployment panel and schools are obliged to interview SNAs from the panel – and to verify that they have followed the correct procedures within six weeks of making an appointment. The panel is also open to SNAs who lost their posts at the end of the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years.

IMPACT has told the Department of Education that it will be closely monitoring the full effects of the allocations on children and on jobs.

The union said that, despite the overall increase in posts, a number of counties had been given a reduced SNA allocation. They are: Clare, Kilkenny, Laois (post-primary), Longford (primary), Monaghan (post-primary), Sligo (post-primary), Waterford (primary) and Westmeath (primary). 

County by county allocation information is available HERE.

The vast majority of people would see no benefit from a cut to the 41% higher income tax rate, according to a new policy briefing from TASC. The progressive think-tank says just one-third of income tax payers pay any tax at that rate, and that the effective rate of income tax – the percentage of income actually paid in tax – is well below the 'marginal' rate of 52%. 

Responding to a demand from employers’ body IBEC, TASC director Nat O'Connor blogged that “if the tax-cut lobbyists are successful, there will be cuts aimed at the 41% rate, which will only benefit the better-off in society. Public services and social transfers will be cut again to fund those tax cuts."

The OECD recently demonstrated that taxes on average workers in Ireland are the lowest of all 21 EU members who are also in the OECD. O’Connor said this refuted claims that Ireland needs lower tax. "Moreover, over one million adults of working age cannot work due to disability, care duties, full-time education or the lack of job opportunities. None of them would benefit from any kind of income tax cut," he said.

TASC says more progressive options, like cutting the high level of VAT, would be preferable to cuts in the 41%, which would only help a small proportion of high earners.

The report echoed calls by IMPACT’s outgoing president at the union’s conference last month. Kevin O’Malley said focussing solely on tax cuts would leave taxpayers subsidising low-paying but profitable employers, and would mean more cuts in public services.

“Employers’ organisations are telling us that pay must stay static while taxes fall. I’ll translate that argument for you. It means working people must trade any sort of income recovery for worse public services, while profitable businesses and their shareholders make no contribution at all. It means profitable companies can continue to have their low-pay business model subsidised by taxpayers through the benefits system, which is fast becoming a safety net not for citizens who are down on their luck, but for profitable corporations exploiting the minimum wage and zero-hours contracts. That is not acceptable to us and it should not be acceptable to the politicians who run the country,” he said.

The TASC briefing document is available HERE.

Talks continue between the IMPACT cabin crew branch and Aer Lingus management,  arising from the recent Labour Court recommendation on rosters, collective agreements and an outstanding Labour Court recommendation on supervisors.

In a briefing note to cabin crew members this week, assistant general secretary Michael Landers gave an update on developments, including the implementation of a third rest day following duties to San Francisco. He added "Some discussion has taken place on collective agreements in order to identify the areas on which both sides disagree. We are awaiting a further session on this with the company.

"A smaller group of committee members, along with former IALPA executive member Alan Brereton, has been set up as a technical working group to look at constructing a 5:3 roster and to examine the implications of same. A deeper analysis is required to see what exactly that will look like."

Michael concluded by saying that talks were ongoing, and that progress will be reported to cabin crew as it developed.

The new protocol says unions and management must reach agreement on non-pay  terms and conditions that would receive statutory protection on transfer and “must “identify and agree any non-pay related terms and conditions that will terminate or be red circled on transfer.” It also confirms that transferred staff are governed by the disciplinary and grievance procedures of the organisation they move to.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has condemned the jailing of three journalists in Egypt this week. The Al-Jazeera reporters, including former BBC correspondent Peter Greste, were sentenced to between seven and ten years on charges of “aiding terrorists and endangering national security.”

ICTU general secretary David Begg said the move was a clear attack on freedom of expression. “The ICTU executive council has unanimously backed calls for the release of the journalists and for the verdicts to be overturned,” he said. The National Union of Journalists held a protest at the Egyptian embassy in Dublin this week.

Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders has reported that five journalists have been killed and at least 125 jailed by Egypt’s military regime since last July. Many more face harassment.

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The University of Limerick’s department of personnel and employment relations, together with an IMPACT member working in the health services, are carrying out a survey exploring the issue of bullying in detail. IMPACT members are invited to complete the survey HERE. It takes about ten minutes to complete. Participation is voluntary and the survey remains open until 31^st July 2014. Bullying affects the wellbeing and work effectiveness of victims, as well as observers and the organisations they work in. The direct impact of bullying on individual wellbeing – reduced job satisfaction, stress, anxiety, and so on – have been extensively reported.