Limerick Community Employment supervisors take part in national strike

HUNDREDS of Community Employment (CE) Scheme supervisors and assistant supervisors from all over the country went on strike this Monday in a bid to force the government to set up a pension scheme for them.

And as part of their strike action, up to 20 CE supervisors from Limerick travelled to Cork to take part in one of five protests held around the country.

Among them was Liz McAuliffe from Ballingarry who worked as a supervisor in the Ballingarry Adare area for 20 years before retiring without a workplace pension over four years ago. “

“For 20 years I was doing government work,” she pointed out. “Yet I have nothing to show for it.”

Moreover, like a number of other female supervisors, Liz also discovered, on retirement, that rule changes meant she was only eligible for a reduced state pension.

“The government sets out all the rules and regulations and provides the money for the schemes. Yet the government is telling us it is the community schemes that are the employers, not the government,” she explained.  “But Community and voluntary groups don’t have money to pay pensions.”

The battle for a workplace pension plan, Ms McAuliffe explained, goes back to 2002 when supervisors and assistant supervisors first demanded a plan be put in place. But nothing happened until a Labour Court hearing in 2008, which recommended that a pension scheme be set up , to be funded by the funders, i.e. the government.

Since then, however,government after government has chosen to ignore the recommendation, even though it was represented at the hearing by FAS.

Last October, in a further bid to highlight their case, some 200 supervisors brought their grievance into the Dáil chamber where opposition TDs quizzed the government on its inaction and supported the supervisors’ demand.

Unfortunately, Ms McAuliffe explained, the government’s  lack of response has remained unchanged and she has accused the government of arrogance in ignoring their demand.

“We feel the issue is being ignored by government,” she told the Limerick Leader.

This week’s strike was intended to increase pressure on the government and make them acknowledge and implement the Labour Court recommendation, she said.  The strike was backed by the Irish Congress of Trades nions who said they were taking action “as a last resort”.

Essentially, the supervisors, members of SIPTU and of Fórsa, are seeking a gratuity payment instead of a pension for those who have retired since 2008. They are also demanding a retirement gratuity be paid to older supervisors who will be retiring shortly and who would not have any significant pension pot built up. They are also demanding a pension scheme be put in place now for all other supervisors and assistant supervisors.