NIPSA News

NIPSANEWSJANUARY 2014 Tel: 028 90661831 www.nipsa.org.ukTHE NEWSPAPER OF THE LEADING PUBLIC SERVICE TRADE UNION

A&E IN CRISIS

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NIPSA has continually warnedof the drastic impact Transform-ing Your Care is having on pro-grammes of care within theHealth Service.

The recent crisis over A&E provi-sion is a measure of how muchNHS services are being compro-mised by the TYC project.

A ‘major incident’ was declaredat the A&E department at theRoyal Victoria Hospital in Belfaston January 8.

On what should have been anormal Wednesday night, doctorsand nurses had to deal with amassive backlog of patients withmore than 40 left waiting on trol-

leys. The unit was stretched to thelimit and staff were called at homeand drafted in to cope with a totallychaotic situation.

A potentially tragic incident alsooccurred recently during the firstweekend closure of Downe andLagan Valley’s A&E units, whichsaw paramedics rushing an ill child30 miles to the nearest A&E atDaisy Hill, Newry.

The irony was that the child livesonly a few miles from the DowneHospital.

These stories as well as similarcoverage in the media highlightsthe desperate situation in localA&E units.

But, just as important, these inci-dents also represent the widerproblem developing across theHealth Service in Northern Ireland.

And some NIPSA Branches haveexpressed the view that the As-sembly Executive’s health cutscould potentially lead to deathswhich otherwise would have beenavoidable.

What has been the Health Minis-ter Edwin Poots’ response to thecrisis at the Royal Victoria Hospi-tal?

Incredibly and disgracefully theMinister described the life-threat-ening situation as a “one-off inci-dent”.

He then unbelievably went so faras to effectively blame patients at-tending the A&E department onJanuary 8 by calling on the publicto “be careful as to how they useemergency services”.

And Mr Poots said this while re-fusing to accept any responsibilityfor policies he implemented as aMinister.

On the back of these develop-ments NIPSA called on the North-ern Ireland Assembly and MrPoots to review the provision ofA&E services across Northern Ire-land as a matter of urgency.

Story continues on page 4

Pension contractsshredded by Assembly – See page 3

Smear testwarningfor over50s – Seepage 5

Asbestos warning forstudents andstaff –See page 6

Union leadingfight againstausterity measures – See pages 8/9

Battle to saveConsumer Councilgathers pace - See pages 10/11

Union campaign tosave 300 DVA jobs

See story on page 2

Pictured (fourth from left) is NIPSA’s Ryan McKinney,with NI MPs and councillors outside Downing Street, be-fore they handed in a petition calling for the jobs to stay.

Pay protests plannedNIPSA members are to join other pub-lic service workers in calling for a de-cent pay increase at a series ofUK-wide lunchtime protests on Febru-ary 4.

Members will stand shoulder to shoul-der with colleagues from UNISON, UNITEand GMB at the demos which will be heldoutside City Hall in Belfast and the Guild-hall in Derry/Londonderry at 12.30pm.

They are being staged to show a unitedopposition to the unfair treatment of NJCworkers.

NJC Trade Union Side lodged a claimin late October last year for a £1 per hourrise for workers in schools, housing, li-braries, further education colleges as wellas education and library board and localgovernment.

To date no response has been receivedfrom NJC employers. However, a re-sponse is expected shortly.

Deputy General Secretary Alison Millartold NIPSA News: “This claim for £1 perhour for all NJC workers comes after athree-year pay freeze followed by a mea-

gre 1% increase in 2013 – which thou-sands of workers in education have yet tohave paid.

“Staff working in local government,housing, education, libraries and furthereducation have seen their pay decreaseby more than 16% in real terms.

“Thousands of workers in these sectorsare low-paid workers and struggle tomeet the ever-increasing costs of day today living.

“Many are in receipt of tax credits andhousing benefit to top up their income.This cannot be right – NIPSA demand adecent increase for all public sector work-ers so that they do not have to rely ontop-up benefits to make ends meet.”

She added: “It is important that NJCEmployers Side ensure that they reversethe trend of the last four years and awarda decent increase – the NJC Trade Unionclaim for £1 per hour is reasonableagainst the backdrop of the past fouryears of 1% effectively over the last fouryears. Our members demand a decentpay increase.”

NIPSA NEWS January 2014_Layout 1 30/01/2014 08:40 Page 1

IN A LAST-ditch attempt to force the UKGovernment to reverse plans to close allvehicle licensing offices in Northern Ire-land, NIPSA representatives along withsenior politicians and business leadersdelivered a petition containing more than40,000 signatures to No.10 DowningStreet before Christmas.

NIPSA had co-ordinated the delegation ensur-ing there was significant cross-party support.

Mayoral representatives from Coleraine, Moyle,Ballymoney and Limavady teamed up with MPsand peers from across the political spectrum in abid to force the issue to the very top of the politi-cal agenda.

HQ Official Ryan McKinney told NIPSA Re-ports: “We were delighted at the success of theactivity. At around noon on Wednesday, Decem-ber 11, the campaign was referred to in PrimeMinister’s Questions and 30 minutes later arounda dozen MPs, plus members of the House ofLords, joined us in what was quite a unique spec-tacle and was testament to the support we havebuilt for retaining both the services and the jobshere.

“Members of the Shadow Cabinet also showedup after we had lobbied them over the previousweeks. NIPSA members who work for the DVAgave virtually continuous media interviews fromwe left the airport at 6am and there was coverageright though until the last news bulletins thatevening.”

He added: “There is no doubt that the cam-paign has made itself heard – we just hope thatenough has been done to ensure that the govern-ment actually listen.”

Another encouraging development was thepublic backing given by Ivan Lewis MP who fol-lowed on from his visit to County Hall earlier inDecember by joining those at Downing Street aswell as issuing a press release.

It stated: “Ivan Lewis MP, Shadow Secretary of

State for Northern Ireland, had a telephone con-ference call this morning with Transport MinisterRobert Goodwill. Lewis urged the Minister tothink again and shelve the proposed job losses.He highlighted the devastating impact this deci-sion would have on the local economy and theanxiety this was causing the workforce in the runup to Christmas.”

Once the petition was delivered to No. 10, thedelegation moved to the House of Commonswhere campaigners briefed politicians and Com-mons researchers.

Again great use was made of the short cam-paign film produced by NIPSA in October lastyear.

MPs were asked to continue lobbying the Gov-ernment and to use whatever influence they hadto ensure that the Northern Ireland Executive,and in particular the First and Deputy First Minis-ters, continued to argue the case.

More than 300 workers are affected by the pro-posal to close vehicle licensing offices in Down-patrick, Armagh, Enniskillen, Belfast, Coleraine,Derry, Omagh and Ballymena.

It is understood an announcement on the futureof local offices in Northern Ireland is expected inJanuary.

NIPSA NEWSNIPSA Harkin House, 54 Wellington Park,

Belfast BT9 6DP, Tel: 028 90661831 Fax 028 90665847or email: [email protected] Editorial contact details: Bob Milleremail: [email protected]

Correspondence should be sent to the above address.

Unless otherwise stated, the views contained inNIPSA NEWS do not necessarily reflect the

policy of trade union NIPSA.

Page 2 NIPSA NEWS News www.nipsa.org.uk Page 3 NIPSA NEWSNewswww.nipsa.org.uk

We ARE a campaigning union. Here’s why…ON January 10, around 200 NIPSA representa-tives attended a briefing in Belfast on the cur-rent public expenditure situation in NorthernIreland. They heard about the progress of anumber of campaigns involving the union indefence of members’ interests and public serv-ices. The turnout, remarkable coming so soon

after the Christmas and New Year break, wasan indication of the resolve and determinationof NIPSA representatives to resist the Govern-ment’s austerity programme as well as theircommitment to protect public services andhard-won social security provisions in our so-ciety.An examination of the campaigns high-

lighted the ways in which we can organise toachieve our objectives. The event instilled in-creased confidence that we can in fact suc-cessfully challenge the threats posed bydecisions taken by both the UK Governmentand the Northern Ireland Assembly. The range of campaigns being spearheaded

by the union is impressive. The campaign to protect more than 300 jobs

in the Driver Vehicle Agency, mainly in andaround Coleraine, has the support of all North-ern Ireland Westminster MPs as well as theNorthern Ireland Assembly. This campaign, launched two years ago,

took on a new life when NIPSA convened apublic meeting in Coleraine, enlisting the sup-port of not only politicians but also ColeraineBorough Council, the local Chamber of Com-merce and many of the local business commu-nity, especially in the motor trade, who wouldstand to lose substantial business if the jobsare relocated to Swansea in Wales. NIPSA commissioned a purpose-made video

as part of the campaign and this has beenused with great effect to persuade the UKTransport Minister to keep the jobs in Col-eraine and other areas of Northern Ireland. Adecision on these jobs was expected in Janu-ary.It was somewhat more difficult to enlist the

wholehearted support of our local politiciansagainst the proposed closure of the ExplorisAquarium and Seal Sanctuary in Portaferry. This was because the initial decision to

close Exploris was taken by the representa-tives of our local political parties on Ards Bor-

ough Council.Nonetheless the campaign to save Exploris

was advanced by NIPSA in a way that enlistedthe support right across the local community,which in turn generated important pressure onour local politicians. We won a stay of execution on two occa-

sions and created some time and space for acampaign for regional funding of Exploris tobe developed. Time will tell how successful this campaign

has been. If Exploris is saved, it will have beendue to the vigorous campaign led by NIPSA.How many people outside of the Derry area

will know that NIPSA intervened at an earlystage to prevent the privatisation of Civil Serv-ice Pensions Administration?The local NIPSA branch launched its initia-

tive to prevent the privatisation of this func-tion. Its campaign included a positive vote insupport of strike action and after securing thebacking of local political parties a decisionwas taken by the Finance Minister SimonHamilton to rule out the privatisation option. In our view this decision was heavily influ-

enced by the determined activity of NIPSAmembers working in this function. Had this campaign not been triggered, we

can be certain that this service could havebeen lost to the public sector with dire conse-quences for jobs and the local economy.And there are a number of other campaigns

involving this union…We are leading a major campaign to stop the

abolition of the Northern Ireland Housing Ex-ecutive. Opposition to the privatisation of soft serv-

ices in the Department of Social Developmentcontinues to be a priority for NIPSA. We are campaigning to prevent the winding

up of the Consumer Council for Northern Ire-land. Also on Tuesday, January 21, we protested

against the privatisation of our Health Serv-ices, demonstrating outside the Lisburn Roadoffices of the private company 3fivetwoHealthcare, which is playing an increasing rolein our health service delivery. Our representatives and members in Belfast

City Council are leading the way in trying tokeep leisure services in the public sector. Tothis end, the union has commissioned a report

from the Association of Public Service Excel-lence (to which we are affiliated). We plan touse this report to thwart the Council transfer-ring its leisure services to a “leisure trust”type organisation. NIPSA is determined to keep leisure services

in Belfast within the public sector and we willfight tooth and nail to achieve this objective.Our members in both the Legal Services

Commission and PSNI Scenes of Crime havetaken industrial action over pay and terms andconditions of service. We should know shortlyhow these campaigns have worked out. We continue to work, through protest action

and lobbying, for a fair and just resolution formembers in the PSNI and Department of Jus-tice to the denial of their moral entitlement. The outcome of the Judicial Review against

the outsourcing and privatisation of work inthe PSNI is awaited and we have just startedan extended industrial tribunal case on behalfof members in the Health and Social Care sec-tor over their entitlement to back pay from2006.All this activity, all these interventions on be-

half of members and in defence of public serv-ices demonstrate beyond doubt that NIPSA iscommitted to promoting the interests of mem-bers. That is our raison d’etre. The message is clear. We can make a differ-

ence if we take a stand. We can successfullydefend our members’ interests if we refuse toaccept that austerity cannot be challenged. The evidence is there in many of our cam-

paigns. We might not be successful in them allbut we can win important battles if membersare mobilised and our campaigns are wellthought out and executed with intelligence anddetermination.And we can be even more effective if we

build our membership base, if we recruit em-ployees who are not trade union members intoNIPSA and if we enlist more of our membersinto playing an active role as local representa-tives.I look forward to working with all our mem-

bers and representatives in 2014 in our cam-paigns to defend public services and publicservants and for the creation of a fairer andmore equal society.

Brian Campfield,General Secretary

Editorial

Assembly shredsrights on pensionsNIPSA has warned that the NI As-sembly has “effectively shredded”the contracts of 200,000 publicservice workers in Northern Ire-land and further claimed he did it“without a second thought”.

It came as the Assembly consid-ered the Public Service Pensions Billon January 14.

According to the union, the Assem-bly refused to accept amendments tothe Bill which would have:n provided retention of existingrights in respect of your pension age;n provided for full trade union repre-sentation over the governance ofpublic sector pension schemes;n ruled out further changes includingexcluding any move away from de-fined benefit schemes to definedcontribution; andn provided for greater Assemblyconsideration of any further plannedchanges to public service pensions.

NIPSA Assistant General Secre-tary Bumper Graham, who leads forNIC-ICTU on pension reform, said:“The NI Assembly has effectivelyshredded the contracts of over200,000 public service workers with-out a second thought.

“This is an unacceptable slavishpursuit of parity with Great Britain.

“The NI Assembly, particularlythose political parties which votedthrough the Bill, has let down tens ofthousands of public service workerswho had expected under their con-tracts to retire at 60 or 65 and whowill now have to work until 68 oreven longer.

“The Finance Minister regularlyemphasises the need for economicappraisals, yet seems to have beencontent that there has been no as-sessment of the impact of this on

Northern Ireland despite the tradeunions repeatedly asking for a fullmacro economic assessment of theproposals. It will probably end upcosting more than they think it willsave. For one thing, if you keepsomeone in a job until they are 68 orolder, you are blocking that job for ayounger person or graduate.

“Studies have shown that peopleforced to work longer are more likelyto suffer from ill health, so it is likelyto cost the health service more andthe most expensive aspect of pen-sions are those paid out to peoplewith ill health.”

Referring to the Assembly debateon January 14, he told NIPSA News:“The Assembly is always quick tocriticise public service absenteeismand yet for most of what I saw of thedebate, a quarter of our MLAs weremissing, without any explanation.Certainly more than 20 MLAs werenot there.”

Whilst the debate was more thandisappointing in respect of the over-all outcome, some positive changesto the Bill were made which providedfor an improvement over the West-minster legislation that Sammy Wil-son, the previous Finance Minister,wanted to introduce via legislative

content – i.e. without separate North-ern Ireland legislation.

The Bill is next due back in the As-sembly in late January.

Mr Graham added: “We are still indiscussions with MLAs and parties tosee what amendments can bebrought forward for the next stage.

“Should the Bill remain unchanged,we are asking MLAs to vote it downat final reading stage.

“Should it pass the fight will go onas each scheme will have to producenew regulations and scheme rulesand we will make sure that Sponsor-ing Departments face a battle to tryand progress any adverse changes.”

People’s Assembly meeting ‘important first step’WHAT people in NorthernIreland can learn from thesetting up of ‘People’s As-sembies’ in England andWales was the subject of aspecial meeting in Decem-ber.

The meeting – held in theUNITE offices in Belfast –was a joint initiative byNIPSA and UNITE and waschaired by Paddy Mackel,President of Belfast and Dis-trict Trades Union Council.

UNITE’s Steve Turnergave an informative and en-couraging presentation onthe developments in Britain,in particular highlighting thediversity of the groups in-

volved as well as the rangeof activities that had beentaken to date.

He made a number of im-portant points that will needto be fully addressed in de-veloping a similar approachlocally.

These included the needto have a single clear focuson rejecting and defeatingthe cuts agenda, an accept-ance that the battle will notbe won industrially on itsown and – crucially – thatthe process has to be opento all groups who committhemselves to an agreed“statement of intent”.

Given the different opin-

ions held by the groups on anumber of fronts, both politi-cally and tactically, SteveTurner emphasised how im-portant it was that these dif-ferences were left outsidethe door to concentratesolely on what united the As-sembly.

He also stressed the im-portance of the Assemblybeing “action-based” andcited a number of examples:a “Bonfire to Austerity” onNovember 5 where peopleburned their energy bills as aprotest; the turning of localStarbucks cafes intocrèches; and the staging ofanti-zero hours protests out-

side Boots due to tax avoid-ance.

The meeting was well at-tended with around 70 peo-ple present representing anumber of unions andgroups.

Contributions from thefloor welcomed the decisionto organise the meeting andoffered a range of views onthe way forward.

While it was an extremelyencouraging initial meeting,it was clear that work is stillneeded to broaden the reachout into the wider communityto attract others, such aswomen’s groups, young peo-ple, the marginalised, dis-

ability groups and wider civicsociety.

However, this was an im-portant first step in develop-ing an alternative voice tothe political decisions takenboth at Westminster and inthe Assembly that continueto impact significantly on or-dinary workers and workingclass people.

It was agreed to give fur-ther thought to the way for-ward, reconvene a furthermeeting in the New Year andconsider an event or initialaction shortly after that, in-cluding developing a “state-ment of intent” to providegreater focus.

DVA campaign knocks on PM’s front door…


IN A LAST-ditch attempt to force the UKGovernment to reverse plans to close allvehicle licensing offices in Northern Ire-land, NIPSA representatives along withsenior politicians and business leadersdelivered a petition containing more than40,000 signatures to No.10 DowningStreet before Christmas.

NIPSA had co-ordinated the delegation ensur-ing there was significant cross-party support.

Mayoral representatives from Coleraine, Moyle,Ballymoney and Limavady teamed up with MPsand peers from across the political spectrum in abid to force the issue to the very top of the politi-cal agenda.

HQ Official Ryan McKinney told NIPSA Re-ports: “We were delighted at the success of theactivity. At around noon on Wednesday, Decem-ber 11, the campaign was referred to in PrimeMinister’s Questions and 30 minutes later arounda dozen MPs, plus members of the House ofLords, joined us in what was quite a unique spec-tacle and was testament to the support we havebuilt for retaining both the services and the jobshere.

“Members of the Shadow Cabinet also showedup after we had lobbied them over the previousweeks. NIPSA members who work for the DVAgave virtually continuous media interviews fromwe left the airport at 6am and there was coverageright though until the last news bulletins thatevening.”

He added: “There is no doubt that the cam-paign has made itself heard – we just hope thatenough has been done to ensure that the govern-ment actually listen.”

Another encouraging development was thepublic backing given by Ivan Lewis MP who fol-lowed on from his visit to County Hall earlier inDecember by joining those at Downing Street aswell as issuing a press release.

It stated: “Ivan Lewis MP, Shadow Secretary of

State for Northern Ireland, had a telephone con-ference call this morning with Transport MinisterRobert Goodwill. Lewis urged the Minister tothink again and shelve the proposed job losses.He highlighted the devastating impact this deci-sion would have on the local economy and theanxiety this was causing the workforce in the runup to Christmas.”

Once the petition was delivered to No. 10, thedelegation moved to the House of Commonswhere campaigners briefed politicians and Com-mons researchers.

Again great use was made of the short cam-paign film produced by NIPSA in October lastyear.

MPs were asked to continue lobbying the Gov-ernment and to use whatever influence they hadto ensure that the Northern Ireland Executive,and in particular the First and Deputy First Minis-ters, continued to argue the case.

More than 300 workers are affected by the pro-posal to close vehicle licensing offices in Down-patrick, Armagh, Enniskillen, Belfast, Coleraine,Derry, Omagh and Ballymena.

It is understood an announcement on the futureof local offices in Northern Ireland is expected inJanuary.

News www.nipsa.org.uk Page 3 NIPSA NEWSNewswww.nipsa.org.uk

ON January 10, around 200 NIPSA representa-tives attended a briefing in Belfast on the cur-rent public expenditure situation in NorthernIreland. They heard about the progress of anumber of campaigns involving the union indefence of members’ interests and public serv-ices. The turnout, remarkable coming so soon

after the Christmas and New Year break, wasan indication of the resolve and determinationof NIPSA representatives to resist the Govern-ment’s austerity programme as well as theircommitment to protect public services andhard-won social security provisions in our so-ciety.An examination of the campaigns high-

lighted the ways in which we can organise toachieve our objectives. The event instilled in-creased confidence that we can in fact suc-cessfully challenge the threats posed bydecisions taken by both the UK Governmentand the Northern Ireland Assembly. The range of campaigns being spearheaded

by the union is impressive. The campaign to protect more than 300 jobs

in the Driver Vehicle Agency, mainly in andaround Coleraine, has the support of all North-ern Ireland Westminster MPs as well as theNorthern Ireland Assembly. This campaign, launched two years ago,

took on a new life when NIPSA convened apublic meeting in Coleraine, enlisting the sup-port of not only politicians but also ColeraineBorough Council, the local Chamber of Com-merce and many of the local business commu-nity, especially in the motor trade, who wouldstand to lose substantial business if the jobsare relocated to Swansea in Wales. NIPSA commissioned a purpose-made video

as part of the campaign and this has beenused with great effect to persuade the UKTransport Minister to keep the jobs in Col-eraine and other areas of Northern Ireland. Adecision on these jobs was expected in Janu-ary.It was somewhat more difficult to enlist the

wholehearted support of our local politiciansagainst the proposed closure of the ExplorisAquarium and Seal Sanctuary in Portaferry. This was because the initial decision to

close Exploris was taken by the representa-tives of our local political parties on Ards Bor-

ough Council.Nonetheless the campaign to save Exploris

was advanced by NIPSA in a way that enlistedthe support right across the local community,which in turn generated important pressure onour local politicians. We won a stay of execution on two occa-

sions and created some time and space for acampaign for regional funding of Exploris tobe developed. Time will tell how successful this campaign

has been. If Exploris is saved, it will have beendue to the vigorous campaign led by NIPSA.How many people outside of the Derry area

will know that NIPSA intervened at an earlystage to prevent the privatisation of Civil Serv-ice Pensions Administration?The local NIPSA branch launched its initia-

tive to prevent the privatisation of this func-tion. Its campaign included a positive vote insupport of strike action and after securing thebacking of local political parties a decisionwas taken by the Finance Minister SimonHamilton to rule out the privatisation option. In our view this decision was heavily influ-

enced by the determined activity of NIPSAmembers working in this function. Had this campaign not been triggered, we

can be certain that this service could havebeen lost to the public sector with dire conse-quences for jobs and the local economy.And there are a number of other campaigns

involving this union…We are leading a major campaign to stop the

abolition of the Northern Ireland Housing Ex-ecutive. Opposition to the privatisation of soft serv-

ices in the Department of Social Developmentcontinues to be a priority for NIPSA. We are campaigning to prevent the winding

up of the Consumer Council for Northern Ire-land. Also on Tuesday, January 21, we protested

against the privatisation of our Health Serv-ices, demonstrating outside the Lisburn Roadoffices of the private company 3fivetwoHealthcare, which is playing an increasing rolein our health service delivery. Our representatives and members in Belfast

City Council are leading the way in trying tokeep leisure services in the public sector. Tothis end, the union has commissioned a report

from the Association of Public Service Excel-lence (to which we are affiliated). We plan touse this report to thwart the Council transfer-ring its leisure services to a “leisure trust”type organisation. NIPSA is determined to keep leisure services

in Belfast within the public sector and we willfight tooth and nail to achieve this objective.Our members in both the Legal Services

Commission and PSNI Scenes of Crime havetaken industrial action over pay and terms andconditions of service. We should know shortlyhow these campaigns have worked out. We continue to work, through protest action

and lobbying, for a fair and just resolution formembers in the PSNI and Department of Jus-tice to the denial of their moral entitlement. The outcome of the Judicial Review against

the outsourcing and privatisation of work inthe PSNI is awaited and we have just startedan extended industrial tribunal case on behalfof members in the Health and Social Care sec-tor over their entitlement to back pay from2006.All this activity, all these interventions on be-

half of members and in defence of public serv-ices demonstrate beyond doubt that NIPSA iscommitted to promoting the interests of mem-bers. That is our raison d’etre. The message is clear. We can make a differ-

ence if we take a stand. We can successfullydefend our members’ interests if we refuse toaccept that austerity cannot be challenged. The evidence is there in many of our cam-

paigns. We might not be successful in them allbut we can win important battles if membersare mobilised and our campaigns are wellthought out and executed with intelligence anddetermination.And we can be even more effective if we

build our membership base, if we recruit em-ployees who are not trade union members intoNIPSA and if we enlist more of our membersinto playing an active role as local representa-tives.I look forward to working with all our mem-

bers and representatives in 2014 in our cam-paigns to defend public services and publicservants and for the creation of a fairer andmore equal society.

Brian Campfield,General Secretary

Assembly shredsrights on pensionsNIPSA has warned that the NI As-sembly has “effectively shredded”the contracts of 200,000 publicservice workers in Northern Ire-land and further claimed he did it“without a second thought”.

It came as the Assembly consid-ered the Public Service Pensions Billon January 14.

According to the union, the Assem-bly refused to accept amendments tothe Bill which would have:n provided retention of existingrights in respect of your pension age;n provided for full trade union repre-sentation over the governance ofpublic sector pension schemes;n ruled out further changes includingexcluding any move away from de-fined benefit schemes to definedcontribution; andn provided for greater Assemblyconsideration of any further plannedchanges to public service pensions.

NIPSA Assistant General Secre-tary Bumper Graham, who leads forNIC-ICTU on pension reform, said:“The NI Assembly has effectivelyshredded the contracts of over200,000 public service workers with-out a second thought.

“This is an unacceptable slavishpursuit of parity with Great Britain.

“The NI Assembly, particularlythose political parties which votedthrough the Bill, has let down tens ofthousands of public service workerswho had expected under their con-tracts to retire at 60 or 65 and whowill now have to work until 68 oreven longer.

“The Finance Minister regularlyemphasises the need for economicappraisals, yet seems to have beencontent that there has been no as-sessment of the impact of this on

Northern Ireland despite the tradeunions repeatedly asking for a fullmacro economic assessment of theproposals. It will probably end upcosting more than they think it willsave. For one thing, if you keepsomeone in a job until they are 68 orolder, you are blocking that job for ayounger person or graduate.

“Studies have shown that peopleforced to work longer are more likelyto suffer from ill health, so it is likelyto cost the health service more andthe most expensive aspect of pen-sions are those paid out to peoplewith ill health.”

Referring to the Assembly debateon January 14, he told NIPSA News:“The Assembly is always quick tocriticise public service absenteeismand yet for most of what I saw of thedebate, a quarter of our MLAs weremissing, without any explanation.Certainly more than 20 MLAs werenot there.”

Whilst the debate was more thandisappointing in respect of the over-all outcome, some positive changesto the Bill were made which providedfor an improvement over the West-minster legislation that Sammy Wil-son, the previous Finance Minister,wanted to introduce via legislative

content – i.e. without separate North-ern Ireland legislation.

The Bill is next due back in the As-sembly in late January.

Mr Graham added: “We are still indiscussions with MLAs and parties tosee what amendments can bebrought forward for the next stage.

“Should the Bill remain unchanged,we are asking MLAs to vote it downat final reading stage.

“Should it pass the fight will go onas each scheme will have to producenew regulations and scheme rulesand we will make sure that Sponsor-ing Departments face a battle to tryand progress any adverse changes.”

People’s Assembly meeting ‘important first step’WHAT people in NorthernIreland can learn from thesetting up of ‘People’s As-sembies’ in England andWales was the subject of aspecial meeting in Decem-ber.

The meeting – held in theUNITE offices in Belfast –was a joint initiative byNIPSA and UNITE and waschaired by Paddy Mackel,President of Belfast and Dis-trict Trades Union Council.

UNITE’s Steve Turnergave an informative and en-couraging presentation onthe developments in Britain,in particular highlighting thediversity of the groups in-

volved as well as the rangeof activities that had beentaken to date.

He made a number of im-portant points that will needto be fully addressed in de-veloping a similar approachlocally.

These included the needto have a single clear focuson rejecting and defeatingthe cuts agenda, an accept-ance that the battle will notbe won industrially on itsown and – crucially – thatthe process has to be opento all groups who committhemselves to an agreed“statement of intent”.

Given the different opin-

ions held by the groups on anumber of fronts, both politi-cally and tactically, SteveTurner emphasised how im-portant it was that these dif-ferences were left outsidethe door to concentratesolely on what united the As-sembly.

He also stressed the im-portance of the Assemblybeing “action-based” andcited a number of examples:a “Bonfire to Austerity” onNovember 5 where peopleburned their energy bills as aprotest; the turning of localStarbucks cafes intocrèches; and the staging ofanti-zero hours protests out-

side Boots due to tax avoid-ance.

The meeting was well at-tended with around 70 peo-ple present representing anumber of unions andgroups.

Contributions from thefloor welcomed the decisionto organise the meeting andoffered a range of views onthe way forward.

While it was an extremelyencouraging initial meeting,it was clear that work is stillneeded to broaden the reachout into the wider communityto attract others, such aswomen’s groups, young peo-ple, the marginalised, dis-

ability groups and wider civicsociety.

However, this was an im-portant first step in develop-ing an alternative voice tothe political decisions takenboth at Westminster and inthe Assembly that continueto impact significantly on or-dinary workers and workingclass people.

It was agreed to give fur-ther thought to the way for-ward, reconvene a furthermeeting in the New Year andconsider an event or initialaction shortly after that, in-cluding developing a “state-ment of intent” to providegreater focus.

DVA campaign knocks on PM’s front door…

NIPSAmembersat pensionprotest atStormont

NIPSA and the other tradeunions in Belfast City Councilhave embarked on a series ofmeetings with the political par-ties on the council to persuadethem to opt for an in-house solu-tion to the future of leisure serv-ices in the city.

Senior council officers favour thetransfer of leisure services to aTrust-type organisation that wouldremove the services from Councilcontrol and raise serious issues ofaccountability as well as majorconcerns about the future of staffpensions and other importantterms and conditions of employ-ment.

While the Council appears tohave ruled out straight privatisationof the delivery of leisure services,the effect of adopting the Trustmodel would be tantamount to thesame thing for both staff and thepublic.

Indications are that the Councilintends to press ahead with a deci-sion in January. As a result, NIPSAhas joined with other unions on theCouncil in engaging the Associa-tion of Public Sector Excellence toproduce a critique of the Deloittereport that recommended the Trustmodel as a way forward.

The unions will provide a copy ofthis critique to councillors andargue that it should be used as thebasis for developing an in-house“bid”.

NIPSA has major concerns thatsenior council officials are pres-surising the Council to choose theTrust model and bypass the needto enter into adequate consultationand negotiation with unions on thefuture of leisure services in the city.

The unions are unanimous andunited in their commitment to keepBelfast leisure services public andso prevent the Council from dump-ing its responsibilities for leisureservices on to an unaccountableorganisation such as a leisuretrust.

Fight to keepBelfast leisureservices public continues


WOMEN over 50 are beingurged to have regularsmear tests after researchshowed that those who donot attend screenings aresix times more likely to de-velop cervical cancer thanthose whose tests havebeen normal.

A study from Cancer Re-search UK scientists foundwomen who fail to havesmear tests over 50 have amuch higher chance of de-veloping the disease com-pared with other women thesame age who have a his-tory of normal screening re-sults.

Researchers also foundthat women with a screeninghistory and normal screeningresults between the ages of50 and 64 have a lower riskof cervical cancer at leastinto their 80s. Researchersexamined data taken from1,341 women aged 65 to 83who were diagnosed withcervical cancer between2007 and 2012, and com-pared them to 2,646 womenwithout the disease.

Among those women whoskipped smear tests be-tween the ages of 50 and64, 49 cases of cervical can-cer were diagnosed per10,000 women at the agesof 65 to 83.

This compared with justeight cases per 10,000women among those with anadequate screening historyand normal results. Womenwho had been screened reg-ularly but had an abnormalresult between the ages of50 and 64 had the highestrisk of all – 86 cervical can-cer cases per 10,000 womenat age 65 to 83.

In England and NorthernIreland women aged 25 to49 are offered screening

every three years, and everyfive years between 50 and64.

Professor Julietta Patnick,director of the NHS CancerScreening Programmes,said women could controltheir risk of cervical cancerthrough regular screening.

"Any abnormalities thatmight be found can then betreated in order that they donot go on to develop intocancer. Where a cervicalcancer is found throughscreening, it is usually at avery early stage where treat-ment has a greater chanceof success," Patnick said. "Itis essential that women areaware of this when decidingwhether or not to bescreened."

Meanwhile, women whohave been found to carry ab-normal cells in their cervixare at much greater risk oflater developing and dyingfrom cervical or vaginal can-cer, a Swedish study shows.The study of 150,883women who had beentreated for CIN3, cells thatcan be a precursor to can-cer, found that they were themost at risk from cancerwhen their reached their 60sor 70s.

A paper on the BritishMedical Journal's website re-ports: "Women previouslytreated for CIN3 are at in-creased risk of developingand dying from cervical orvaginal cancer, comparedwith the general female pop-ulation.

"Women previously diag-nosed with, and treated for,CIN3 were at substantiallyincreased risk of developingcervical or vaginal cancerwhen they reached 60. Therisk accelerated with furtherageing."Among Swedish

women the lifetime or back-ground risk of developing ei-ther cancer is 8.9 cases per100,000 women, and 10.2cases per 100,000 in womenwho are aged at least 70.But among the women in thestudy who had CIN3 the ratewas more than 70 per100,000 women aged 70 –seven times that of the gen-eral population of that age.

The authors stress thatwhile cervical cancer screen-ing helps prevent manycases of, and deaths from,the disease, those treatedfor CIN3 nonetheless face "asteep increase in risk ofdeath with increased ageafter previous diagnosis ofCIN3". The risk more thandoubled 30 years after thetreatment, they said.

In the UK about 2,851women were diagnosed withcervical cancer in 2010,

making it the 12th most com-mon female cancer, while972 women died from it dur-ing 2011. Although allwomen aged 25 to 64 are of-fered screening, just underfour in five take up the offer,and attendances have beenfalling since 2003, accordingto Public Health England.While 4.24 million were in-vited to screening in 2012-13, just 3.32 million (78.3%)made the appointment. Thebiggest fall in attendancehas been with women aged25 to 49.

In those 3.32m tests 6.5%gave abnormal results and0.6% of the women hadCIN3. The NHS cancerscreening programme couldnot say how many women ayear are treated for CIN3.Women treated for CIN3have a colonoscopy plusone of five procedures, suchas a cone biopsy, cryother-apy or laser treatment.Sarah Williams, Cancer Re-search UK's health informa-tion officer, said cervicalscreening saved thousandsof lives. "This study high-lights how important it is tokeep an eye on womenwho've had abnormal cells intheir cervix. In the UK, thesewomen have follow-upscreening tests and tests forthe HPV infections thatcause cervical cancer, to re-duce the risk of the abnor-

mal cells coming back."Robert Music, chief execu-

tive of Jo's Cervical CancerTrust, said the study high-lighted a need to look at thefollow-up treatment ofwomen with CIN3. omenover 50 are being urged tohave regular smear testsafter separate new researchstudies by Cancer ResearchUK showedindicated thatthose who do did not attendare were six times morelikely to develop cervicalcancer than those whosetest results were normal.

In England and NorthernIreland women aged 25 to49 are offered screeningevery three years, and everyfive years between 50 and64.


"Any abnormalities thatmight be found can then betreated in order that they donot go on to develop intocancer. Where a cervicalcancer is found throughscreening it is usually at avery early stage where treat-ment has a greater chanceof success. It is essentialthat women are aware of thiswhen deciding whether ornot to be screened."

Source: The Guardian

NEW drugs will only be made available on the NHS ifthey help people deemed to be a benefit to societyunder proposals that prompted fears elderly peoplecould be denied treatment.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

(Nice) is due to change how it decides which drugscan be provided by the health service.The proposals would mean Nice would have to con-

sider “wider societal benefits” of the treatments aswell as the cost and benefits to patients.Dr Paul Catchpole, of the Association of the British

Pharmaceutical Industry, told The Daily Telegraph: “Itis concerning because, under the new appraisal sys-tem, cancer medicine might do less well becauseolder people aren't as beneficial to society."You might have a cancer treatment for a severe dis-

ease but because the majority of the cancer patients

are elderly they aren't generating wider societal bene-fits, they are more likely to be generating costs.“But if you have got a medicine that gets someone

back to work then you could argue, under this system,that that's better for society.”David Taylor, professor of pharmaceutical and public

health policy at University College London, said theplan was “a real threat to the public well-being and areal threat to the well-being of older people”.“To me the whole methodology seems deeply sus-

pect,” he said.Sources close to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told

The Telegraph that plan was at an early stage andwould not result in discrimination against elderly peo-ple.The draft policy is due to be put out for public con-

sultation in the next few weeks.

New NHS drugs policy couldsee elderly denied treatment


Continued from page 1In a subsequent statement, NIPSA

described as “totally unacceptable”that A&E services had again hit theheadlines because of “unacceptabletrolley waits”.

It continued: “A major incident wasdeclared by the Belfast Trust due tothe large backlog of patients await-ing treatment.

“While the staff responded andwere congratulated by the Trust, theTrust and the Minister need to recog-nise that the resources available donot meet the need.

“The Trust is relying on the good-will of staff who are stressed, over-worked and are working underextreme pressure.

“The goodwill of staff is being

taken for granted. The Trust and theMinister need to take responsibilityfor the provision of A&E servicesboth in the Belfast Trust and acrossall other Trusts in Northern Ireland.

“This comes at a time when theDowne and Lagan Valley A&E de-partments are closed at weekends.The Minister must ensure that thereis adequate provision of A&E serv-ices across Northern Ireland.”

NIPSA is to challenge the Ministerand the HSBC to respond to the situ-ation and ensure that sufficient A&Eprovision is provided across North-ern Ireland. The union is also callingon the Health Committee to meet ur-gently to address what it has dubbedan “unacceptable situation”.

See Around The Branches - Page 10

THE Health and Social Care Infor-mation Centre is set to go live laterthis year allowing health or bigpharma companies to buy patients’medical records for the first time.

The HSCIC claims to have been setup to make research easier and tohelp drug insurance and health com-panies understand side-effects andtrends on a national scale.

But companies like Bupa or Virginthat already hold data on UK patientsmay be able to use the new anony-mous data available from the centre to

precisely identify where it has comefrom, according to campaigners.

Phil Booth, co-ordinator at patientpressure group medConfidential, toldthe Guardian: "One of people's com-monest concerns about their medicalrecords is that they'll be used for com-mercial purposes, or mean they arediscriminated against by insurers or inthe workplace.

"Rather than prevent this, thescheme is deliberately designed sothat 'pseudonymised' data – informa-tion that can be re-identified by any-

one who already holds informationabout you – can be passed on to 'cus-tomers' of the information centre, withno independent scrutiny and withouteven notifying patients. It's a disasterjust waiting to happen."

The information for sale to profit-making firms will contain NHS num-bers, date of birth, postcode, ethnicityand gender.Patients can choose to opt out of

the system by contacting their fam-ily doctor.

Cancer Research study finds women whofail to have smear tests over 50 havehigher chance of developing the disease

HEALTH

THE Government has beenaccused of allowing the pri-vate sector to “cherry-pick”successful NHS servicesafter a survey revealed NHScontracts worth hundredsof millions of pounds hadgone to private companiessince the Coalition's healthreforms.

The NHS Support Federa-tion, which campaignsagainst the marketisation ofhealthcare in the UK, claimedthat, from a sample of 57NHS contracts awarded be-tween April and December2013, more than two thirdshad gone to the private sector– at a total value of £450m.

However, the Governmentsaid that the figures were “se-lective and misleading” andNHS leaders said that the in-dependent sector providedonly six per cent of NHS clini-cal care – a figure that had in-creased by one per centsince 2010.

The figures were based oncontract award notices ap-pearing on a European Unionprocurement database. Serv-ices which passed into pri-vate hands includedpharmacy services, mentalhealth care, ambulance serv-ices and paediatrics.

Andy Burnham, Labour’sshadow health secretary, saidthat the figures proved thatthe privatisation of the NHSwas “proceeding at an alarm-ing pace and scale”.

“While the future demandsgreater integration of care,David Cameron has set theNHS on the opposite path – afast-track to fragmentationand privatisation,” he said.

Under the Government’shealth reforms, any qualifiedprovider can bid for NHSservices that are put out totender by commissioners. Bylaw, commissioners can avoidthe tendering process buthave to meet strict guidelinesto prove that alternativeshave been considered andthat existing NHS servicesare best for patients.

However, the Conserva-tives said that Labour wereguilty of “hypocrisy” over pri-vate sector involvement in thehealth service.

“The reality is that whenthey left office in 2010, privatesector providers carried outfive per cent of NHS work, afigure that has only increasedby one per cent since then,” aspokesperson said.

NHS beingcarved up byprivate firms

Opt out available as privacy fears ragesover NHS patients medical records

A&E CRISIS IS HIGHLIGHTED


WOMEN over 50 are beingurged to have regularsmear tests after researchshowed that those who donot attend screenings aresix times more likely to de-velop cervical cancer thanthose whose tests havebeen normal.

A study from Cancer Re-search UK scientists foundwomen who fail to havesmear tests over 50 have amuch higher chance of de-veloping the disease com-pared with other women thesame age who have a his-tory of normal screening re-sults.

Researchers also foundthat women with a screeninghistory and normal screeningresults between the ages of50 and 64 have a lower riskof cervical cancer at leastinto their 80s. Researchersexamined data taken from1,341 women aged 65 to 83who were diagnosed withcervical cancer between2007 and 2012, and com-pared them to 2,646 womenwithout the disease.

Among those women whoskipped smear tests be-tween the ages of 50 and64, 49 cases of cervical can-cer were diagnosed per10,000 women at the agesof 65 to 83.

This compared with justeight cases per 10,000women among those with anadequate screening historyand normal results. Womenwho had been screened reg-ularly but had an abnormalresult between the ages of50 and 64 had the highestrisk of all – 86 cervical can-cer cases per 10,000 womenat age 65 to 83.

In England and NorthernIreland women aged 25 to49 are offered screening

every three years, and everyfive years between 50 and64.


"Any abnormalities thatmight be found can then betreated in order that they donot go on to develop intocancer. Where a cervicalcancer is found throughscreening, it is usually at avery early stage where treat-ment has a greater chanceof success," Patnick said. "Itis essential that women areaware of this when decidingwhether or not to bescreened."

Meanwhile, women whohave been found to carry ab-normal cells in their cervixare at much greater risk oflater developing and dyingfrom cervical or vaginal can-cer, a Swedish study shows.The study of 150,883women who had beentreated for CIN3, cells thatcan be a precursor to can-cer, found that they were themost at risk from cancerwhen their reached their 60sor 70s.

A paper on the BritishMedical Journal's website re-ports: "Women previouslytreated for CIN3 are at in-creased risk of developingand dying from cervical orvaginal cancer, comparedwith the general female pop-ulation.

"Women previously diag-nosed with, and treated for,CIN3 were at substantiallyincreased risk of developingcervical or vaginal cancerwhen they reached 60. Therisk accelerated with furtherageing."Among Swedish

women the lifetime or back-ground risk of developing ei-ther cancer is 8.9 cases per100,000 women, and 10.2cases per 100,000 in womenwho are aged at least 70.But among the women in thestudy who had CIN3 the ratewas more than 70 per100,000 women aged 70 –seven times that of the gen-eral population of that age.

The authors stress thatwhile cervical cancer screen-ing helps prevent manycases of, and deaths from,the disease, those treatedfor CIN3 nonetheless face "asteep increase in risk ofdeath with increased ageafter previous diagnosis ofCIN3". The risk more thandoubled 30 years after thetreatment, they said.

In the UK about 2,851women were diagnosed withcervical cancer in 2010,

making it the 12th most com-mon female cancer, while972 women died from it dur-ing 2011. Although allwomen aged 25 to 64 are of-fered screening, just underfour in five take up the offer,and attendances have beenfalling since 2003, accordingto Public Health England.While 4.24 million were in-vited to screening in 2012-13, just 3.32 million (78.3%)made the appointment. Thebiggest fall in attendancehas been with women aged25 to 49.

In those 3.32m tests 6.5%gave abnormal results and0.6% of the women hadCIN3. The NHS cancerscreening programme couldnot say how many women ayear are treated for CIN3.Women treated for CIN3have a colonoscopy plusone of five procedures, suchas a cone biopsy, cryother-apy or laser treatment.Sarah Williams, Cancer Re-search UK's health informa-tion officer, said cervicalscreening saved thousandsof lives. "This study high-lights how important it is tokeep an eye on womenwho've had abnormal cells intheir cervix. In the UK, thesewomen have follow-upscreening tests and tests forthe HPV infections thatcause cervical cancer, to re-duce the risk of the abnor-

mal cells coming back."Robert Music, chief execu-

tive of Jo's Cervical CancerTrust, said the study high-lighted a need to look at thefollow-up treatment ofwomen with CIN3. omenover 50 are being urged tohave regular smear testsafter separate new researchstudies by Cancer ResearchUK showedindicated thatthose who do did not attendare were six times morelikely to develop cervicalcancer than those whosetest results were normal.

In England and NorthernIreland women aged 25 to49 are offered screeningevery three years, and everyfive years between 50 and64.


"Any abnormalities thatmight be found can then betreated in order that they donot go on to develop intocancer. Where a cervicalcancer is found throughscreening it is usually at avery early stage where treat-ment has a greater chanceof success. It is essentialthat women are aware of thiswhen deciding whether ornot to be screened."

Source: The Guardian

NEW drugs will only be made available on the NHS ifthey help people deemed to be a benefit to societyunder proposals that prompted fears elderly peoplecould be denied treatment.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

(Nice) is due to change how it decides which drugscan be provided by the health service.The proposals would mean Nice would have to con-

sider “wider societal benefits” of the treatments aswell as the cost and benefits to patients.Dr Paul Catchpole, of the Association of the British

Pharmaceutical Industry, told The Daily Telegraph: “Itis concerning because, under the new appraisal sys-tem, cancer medicine might do less well becauseolder people aren't as beneficial to society."You might have a cancer treatment for a severe dis-

ease but because the majority of the cancer patients

are elderly they aren't generating wider societal bene-fits, they are more likely to be generating costs.“But if you have got a medicine that gets someone

back to work then you could argue, under this system,that that's better for society.”David Taylor, professor of pharmaceutical and public

health policy at University College London, said theplan was “a real threat to the public well-being and areal threat to the well-being of older people”.“To me the whole methodology seems deeply sus-

pect,” he said.Sources close to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told

The Telegraph that plan was at an early stage andwould not result in discrimination against elderly peo-ple.The draft policy is due to be put out for public con-

sultation in the next few weeks.

WOMEN OVER 50 WHOSKIP SMEAR TESTS MORELIKELY TO GET CANCER

New NHS drugs policy couldsee elderly denied treatment


THE Health and Social Care Infor-mation Centre is set to go live laterthis year allowing health or bigpharma companies to buy patients’medical records for the first time.

The HSCIC claims to have been setup to make research easier and tohelp drug insurance and health com-panies understand side-effects andtrends on a national scale.

But companies like Bupa or Virginthat already hold data on UK patientsmay be able to use the new anony-mous data available from the centre to

precisely identify where it has comefrom, according to campaigners.

Phil Booth, co-ordinator at patientpressure group medConfidential, toldthe Guardian: "One of people's com-monest concerns about their medicalrecords is that they'll be used for com-mercial purposes, or mean they arediscriminated against by insurers or inthe workplace.

"Rather than prevent this, thescheme is deliberately designed sothat 'pseudonymised' data – informa-tion that can be re-identified by any-

one who already holds informationabout you – can be passed on to 'cus-tomers' of the information centre, withno independent scrutiny and withouteven notifying patients. It's a disasterjust waiting to happen."

The information for sale to profit-making firms will contain NHS num-bers, date of birth, postcode, ethnicityand gender.Patients can choose to opt out of

the system by contacting their fam-ily doctor.

Cancer Research study finds women whofail to have smear tests over 50 havehigher chance of developing the disease

Where acervical can-

cer is foundthrough screen-ing it is usuallyat a very earlystage wheretreatment has agreater chanceof success. It isessential thatwomen areaware of thiswhen decidingwhether ornot to bescreened

‘

‘

Regular cancer screen testing saves livesOpt out available as privacy fears ragesover NHS patients medical records

A&E CRISIS IS HIGHLIGHTED



NIPSA has welcomed news as “light on the horizon”that the Finance Minister has finally approved a busi-ness case over a long-standing issue about rates ofpay at the Legal Services Commission.Assistant General Secretary Kieran Bannon told

NIPSA News: “It has been a long and hard strugglefor our members in the Legal Services Commission.Poverty has been a stark reality for these membersand now perhaps they will see some relief.” The plight of low paid workers at the LSC was high-

lighted in the last edition of NIPSA Reports whichoutlined how attempts were being made, followinglengthy talks, to secure approval of a pay strategybusiness case seeking the applying of NICS rates ofpay dating back to 2010. NIPSA had argued that this was necessary as LSC

management had failed to maintain NICS pay scaleswithin the organisation. (Aligning LSC staff to NICSrates of pay had been negotiated by the union in2008.) As a result, LSC workers had no increase in pay

since the imposed 2009 rise that failed to honour theagreement secured in the previous year.Just before Christmas, the pay strategy business

case – submitted by LSC management to its sponsor-ing body, the Department of Justice (DoJ) – was thesubject of discussions with the Department of Fi-nance and Personnel (DFP). A number of issues were raised and DFP were not

prepared to sanction the business case at that stage. In light of that development, General Secretary

Brian Campfield and Assistant General SecretaryKieran Bannon met with the Officers and Committeeof Branch 105 to discuss what further action could betaken to put pressure on the respective manage-

ments looking at the business case. A decision was taken that should no progress be

made by the New Year, a ballot on action short ofstrike action would be taken and consideration givento a series of selective strikes pulling key workers outat business critical dates.However, before arrangements on such action were

put into place, NIPSA was advised that DFP hadagreed to the business case being submitted to theFinance Minister for consideration. And by mid-January confirmation was received

from DFP that the Minister had approved the paystrategy business case.According to NIPSA, this is great news for mem-

bers in the LSC and gives some light on the horizon.Officials have pointed out that there is still work to bedone “as the next stage in the process involves thesubmission of a pay remit for DFP and Ministerial ap-proval”. When approved, this will facilitate members getting

money in their pockets. LSC management has indicated that they would

want the pay arrears and new salaries implementedby the end of the financial year (March). However,NIPSA is pressing for this to be facilitated in salariesin February. Mr Bannon added: “Achieving this has only been

possible by the determination of the negotiatingteam, the strong resolve of Branch 105 representa-tives and – most importantly – members. “It is down to a strong, organised branch and mem-

bers being prepared to fight, including through indus-trial action, to secure this fair and just outcome.”

ASBESTOS DANGER TOSTUDENTS AND STAFF

Judicial Review outcome on PSNI outsourcing expected shortly

THE danger posed byasbestos in schoolswas highlighted at anICTU-organised Healthand Safety seminar inDecember.

In her presentation,Denise Bertuchi, of theJoint Union AsbestosCommittee in Englandand Wales, spoke abouta range of activities andengagements involvingthe JUAC.

These ranged fromproviding advice on theuse of warm air heatingsystems in schools togetting politicians to dealseriously with asbestos-related diseases such asmesothelioma.

Paddy Mackel, whochairs the ICTU Educa-

tion Trade Union Group,also gave a presentationon the ETUG’s initial en-gagement with the De-partment of Educationover safety arrange-ments linked to as-bestos, following the firein Arvalee SpecialSchool, Omagh, in 2012.

He underlined the lackof clarity from the De-partment in response toa number of the ques-tions raised by theETUG.

Paddy Mackel alsoemphasised that unionsneeded to develop a co-herent and agreed ap-proach to tackle theissue.

And he pointed outthat 75% of all schools

contained asbestos, with21 containing crocidolite,the most dangerous formof asbestos.

There was generalagreement at the semi-nar that closer linksshould be forged withunion colleagues in theschools sector in the Re-public on the issue.

In addition a jointmeeting between ICTUand the officers of theICTU Health Group andEducation Group wasarranged for the end ofJanuary to discuss com-mon issues of concernand forging of a possiblejoint approach.

Separately the ICTUEducation Trade Uniongroup will also discuss

this agenda item at theirnext meeting to developa focused approach withthe Department of Edu-cation in a bid to reachagreement on how totackle continuing con-cerns about asbestos inschools.

The event looked at anumber of other Healthand Safety develop-ments and included auseful contribution andQ&A session from theHealth and Safety Exec-utive.

Carmen Biagioni alsoreceived a presentationas Safety Rep of theYear at the meeting.

The privacy of seven million tradeunion members remains underthreat as key amendments to theLobbying Bill were rejected in theHouse of Lords.Part 3 of the Transparency of Lobby-ing, Non-party Campaigning andTrade Union Administration Bill (TUAdmin Bill) gives far-reaching newpowers to the government. It willcreate a new role of ‘assurer’ whowill be armed with the power to ac-cess union membership records atall ‘reasonable’ times, and it will en-able the government’s CertificationOfficer to require unions to producedocuments, including membership

records and private correspondence.The amendments put forward byLabour peer Lord Monks sought toplace a duty of confidentiality totrade unions on the assurer and forthem to commit to working within theData Protection Act 1998 to protectthe sensitive personal data of unionmembers.The proposed safeguards to privacywere rejected by Conservatives andLiberal Democrats in what Thomp-sons Solicitors is calling a masterclass in hypocrisy.National Coordinator for TradeUnion Law Richard Arthur said:“These were sensible and reasoned

amendments seeking only compli-ance with the law. Whilst the govern-ment rushed to rely on DataProtection rules to shield theirfriends in the banking industry fromhaving to share details of their heftybonuses, they have refused to en-sure the assurer complies when itcomes to millions of union members.What hypocrisy!“A simple clause would have re-spected the law. Without it, the TUAdmin Bill will, if passed into law, bein clear breach of the Data Protec-tion Directive around the processingof sensitive data. It is an obviousand unwarranted attack on the pri-

vacy of union members, a group al-ready vulnerable – as we’ve seenrecently in the construction industry– to blacklisting and victimisation.”Further amendments to the Bill werediscussed in the House of Lords onWednesday, January 15. The fullThompsons Solicitors response tothe Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade UnionAdministration Bill can be foundhere:http://www.thompsonstradeunion-law.co.uk/information-and-re-sources/transparency-lobbying-non-party-campaigning-union-administra-tion-bill.htm

THE long-awaited decision overNIPSA’s legal challenge to the out-sourcing of 1,000 policing posts bythe Chief Constable is expected onFebruary 3.

NIPSA sought a judicial review when itemerged that the Chief Constable ap-peared to have acted outside the scopeof his authority in the awarding of a £180million contract to Resource NI Ltd inJuly 2012.

The union has argued that such a con-tract needed to be approved by theNorthern Ireland Policing Board and thatthis approval had neither been soughtnor granted.

NIPSA also pointed out that the out-sourcing of police roles was governed bythe Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2003and that this legislation limited the scopeof any outsourcing to four specific roles.

As the Resource contract extends farbeyond these four roles, NIPSA’s legalteam have argued that the contract istherefore illegal.

A hearing at Belfast High Court in frontof Mr Justice Treacy took place over fivedays in June last year. Mr Justice Treacyhas indicated that he will be in a positionto make his decision public on February3.

Commenting on the development, As-sistant Secretary Ryan McKinney toldNIPSA NEWS: “It has been a frustratingwait for NIPSA members in the PSNI andthey will be relieved that some clarity willbe brought to the issue.

“Trade Union Side are very keen tohave an outcome particularly as thedelay has led to the awarding of furthertemporary ‘direct award’ contracts whichfinancially benefit private sector compa-nies and do not guarantee best value formoney.”

He added: “We are cautiously opti-mistic about our chances of success butone thing is clear regardless of the out-come that is NIPSA’s determination to re-sist the creeping privatisation of policing.

“Everyone working within the police de-serves decent rates of pay and termsand conditions which are negotiated withtheir trade union. Ultimately there shouldbe no room for profit in the delivery of es-sential public services such as this one.”

Privacy of 7m trade unionists under threat after Lord’s “masterclass of hypocrisy”

Specialist asbestosspraying on a roof



NIPSA has welcomed news as “light on the horizon”that the Finance Minister has finally approved a busi-ness case over a long-standing issue about rates ofpay at the Legal Services Commission.Assistant General Secretary Kieran Bannon told

NIPSA News: “It has been a long and hard strugglefor our members in the Legal Services Commission.Poverty has been a stark reality for these membersand now perhaps they will see some relief.” The plight of low paid workers at the LSC was high-

lighted in the last edition of NIPSA Reports whichoutlined how attempts were being made, followinglengthy talks, to secure approval of a pay strategybusiness case seeking the applying of NICS rates ofpay dating back to 2010. NIPSA had argued that this was necessary as LSC

management had failed to maintain NICS pay scaleswithin the organisation. (Aligning LSC staff to NICSrates of pay had been negotiated by the union in2008.) As a result, LSC workers had no increase in pay

since the imposed 2009 rise that failed to honour theagreement secured in the previous year.Just before Christmas, the pay strategy business

case – submitted by LSC management to its sponsor-ing body, the Department of Justice (DoJ) – was thesubject of discussions with the Department of Fi-nance and Personnel (DFP). A number of issues were raised and DFP were not

prepared to sanction the business case at that stage. In light of that development, General Secretary

Brian Campfield and Assistant General SecretaryKieran Bannon met with the Officers and Committeeof Branch 105 to discuss what further action could betaken to put pressure on the respective manage-

ments looking at the business case. A decision was taken that should no progress be

made by the New Year, a ballot on action short ofstrike action would be taken and consideration givento a series of selective strikes pulling key workers outat business critical dates.However, before arrangements on such action were

put into place, NIPSA was advised that DFP hadagreed to the business case being submitted to theFinance Minister for consideration. And by mid-January confirmation was received

from DFP that the Minister had approved the paystrategy business case.According to NIPSA, this is great news for mem-

bers in the LSC and gives some light on the horizon.Officials have pointed out that there is still work to bedone “as the next stage in the process involves thesubmission of a pay remit for DFP and Ministerial ap-proval”. When approved, this will facilitate members getting

money in their pockets. LSC management has indicated that they would

want the pay arrears and new salaries implementedby the end of the financial year (March). However,NIPSA is pressing for this to be facilitated in salariesin February. Mr Bannon added: “Achieving this has only been

possible by the determination of the negotiatingteam, the strong resolve of Branch 105 representa-tives and – most importantly – members. “It is down to a strong, organised branch and mem-

bers being prepared to fight, including through indus-trial action, to secure this fair and just outcome.”

ASBESTOS DANGER TOSTUDENTS AND STAFF

LIGHT ON HORIZONAT LSC OVER PAY

The privacy of seven million tradeunion members remains underthreat as key amendments to theLobbying Bill were rejected in theHouse of Lords.Part 3 of the Transparency of Lobby-ing, Non-party Campaigning andTrade Union Administration Bill (TUAdmin Bill) gives far-reaching newpowers to the government. It willcreate a new role of ‘assurer’ whowill be armed with the power to ac-cess union membership records atall ‘reasonable’ times, and it will en-able the government’s CertificationOfficer to require unions to producedocuments, including membership

records and private correspondence.The amendments put forward byLabour peer Lord Monks sought toplace a duty of confidentiality totrade unions on the assurer and forthem to commit to working within theData Protection Act 1998 to protectthe sensitive personal data of unionmembers.The proposed safeguards to privacywere rejected by Conservatives andLiberal Democrats in what Thomp-sons Solicitors is calling a masterclass in hypocrisy.National Coordinator for TradeUnion Law Richard Arthur said:“These were sensible and reasoned

amendments seeking only compli-ance with the law. Whilst the govern-ment rushed to rely on DataProtection rules to shield theirfriends in the banking industry fromhaving to share details of their heftybonuses, they have refused to en-sure the assurer complies when itcomes to millions of union members.What hypocrisy!“A simple clause would have re-spected the law. Without it, the TUAdmin Bill will, if passed into law, bein clear breach of the Data Protec-tion Directive around the processingof sensitive data. It is an obviousand unwarranted attack on the pri-

vacy of union members, a group al-ready vulnerable – as we’ve seenrecently in the construction industry– to blacklisting and victimisation.”Further amendments to the Bill werediscussed in the House of Lords onWednesday, January 15. The fullThompsons Solicitors response tothe Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade UnionAdministration Bill can be foundhere:http://www.thompsonstradeunion-law.co.uk/information-and-re-sources/transparency-lobbying-non-party-campaigning-union-administra-tion-bill.htm

Privacy of 7m trade unionists under threat after Lord’s “masterclass of hypocrisy”

Fantastic turnoutfor reps meeting

BIG-HEARTED trade unionreps stepped in to helpmore than 30 young Newrypeople left stranded withoutwages after Christmas.

They had been employed astemporary workers with theNewry On Ice Winter Wonder-land seasonal event, but wereleft ‘frozen out’ when it was re-ported that owners of the ven-ture, Ice Skate City Ltd, failedto pay them.

The privately-funded eventwas supported by the localcouncil which provided a siteat the Albert Basin.

Helena McSherry, fromNewry Trades Council, toldNIPSA News: "Newry andMourne Council granted thesepeople permission to haveNewry On Ice on their land.We want to ensure theseyoung people get paid.

"For many of the young peo-ple it was their first job. It's nota nice way to start workinglife."

The NIPSA rep added thatNewry Trades Council repsstepped in to advise the youngpeople on where best to turnin order to fight for theirwages.

A spokesperson for thegroup explained: “We wouldlike to take this opportunity tothank a few organisations forthe overwhelming support theyhave given to us since the re-alisation that we were notgoing to get paid for the longhours in the cold and rain weendured over Christmas afterbeing employed by the NewryOn Ice owners.

“This has been a cruel blowfor all of us – especially thestudents who were really de-pending on this money forgoing back to college.

“We would like to thankNewry Trades Union for theirquick interception when thenews broke that we were notgoing to get paid. We alsowould like to thank Newry andMourne District Council in sup-porting us in finding a way for-ward to get what we are owed.

“And car dealership JCCampbell of Rostrevor havealso shown great generosityby offering to put £100 fromevery car sold in January to-wards the Newry ice workers’unpaid wages.”

The workers’ spokespersonadded: “It is very comforting toknow that there are peopleand organisations out therethat are willing to help andguide us through trying toachieve what is rightfully ours.For this we are forever in-debted. We will keep fightinguntil we get what we areowed.”

OVER 150 branch reps attended a meeting inJanuary where they heard of the union’s contin-uing campaigns to battle against the austeritymeasures being imposed by the Con-Dem gov-ernment.

They were brought up to speed on how the gov-ernment had imposed cuts, frozen pay, underminedpensions and introduced job losses.

The Government is clearly attempting to solve a fi-nancial crisis, triggered by the unacceptable prac-tices in the financial and banking sectors, by placingthe burden, not on those interests which caused thecrisis, but on the shoulders of ordinary working peo-ple, the reps were told.

Trade unionreps step into help ice temps



DESPITE speculation, the Northern Ireland Welfare ReformBill did not return to the Northern Ireland Assembly for theconsideration stage before the Christmas recess. While this was welcomed by NIPSA, it does not mean thelegislation has been defeated. In fact as NIPSA News was going to press, the union wasadvised that the Executive Sub Group is meeting again –and this could signal movementor agreement between the par-ties on the issue.In a letter sent before Christ-mas, the Chief Secretary to theTreasury informed the StormontFinance Minister that any delaybeyond January 2014 wouldlead to a monthly cost of £5m tothe Northern Ireland BlockGrant. Many NIPSA members will alsobe aware of DWP Minister MikePenning’s bullish statement thatthis financial penalty will com-mence unless the Bill is passedin January 2014.NIPSA are continuing to workwith NIC-ICTU and a number ofwomen’s groups on the cam-paign to oppose the Bill.Alison Millar told NIPSA News:“NIPSA is strongly lobbyingagainst the Welfare Reform Billwhich, if implemented, will be a disaster for the many hardworking families, the sick and disabled. “There are a number of myths around Welfare/Social Secu-rity that need to be dispelled. These are set out above…”Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) revealed in a recentarticle that just over half of the 13 million people living inpoverty – defined as surviving on less than 60% of the na-tional median (middle) income – were from working fami-lies.Alison Millar stated: “It is therefore clear that if the NorthernIreland Assembly introduce the Welfare Reform Bill then

our elected representatives will punish those hard workingfamilies who rely on other ‘top-up’ benefits such as taxcredits and housing benefit. “NIPSA has made it clear and make no apology for continu-ing our campaign of opposition to this most draconianpiece of legislation. “NIPSA, ICTU and the wider community call on elected

representatives to ‘Kill the Bill’by putting in a petition of con-cern.” She added: “The facts are if 30MLAs sign a petition of con-cern the Bill will fall.”Recent media coverage fromacross the water has high-lighted how Welfare Reformand in particular the much-her-alded Universal Credit is in cri-sis. The IT system doesn’t workand £140m has already beenwritten-off. Universal Credit is only beingintroduced for straightforwardclaims from single claimantsrather than as originally in-tended – comprehensivelyacross the Pathfinder areas.It is understood there is nowopen friction between IainDuncan Smith’s Department of

Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Cabinet Office over-seen by Francis Maude which is reported to be causing“high-level” risks to the delivery of the project.A NIPSA spokesperson said: “It is clear the system in GreatBritain is broken – why therefore would our elected repre-sentatives want to bring this disaster to bear on their con-stituents? It should be scrapped as it is clearly not workingand is on life-support.”NIPSA is asking all members to write to their MLAs askingthem to oppose the introduction of the NI Welfare ReformBill.

Genera

l Council

Electio

n

VOTE20

14-1

5

Use Yo

ur Vote

Ballot papers must be completed and returned

in the pre paid envelope to

Electoral Reform Services London

N81 1ERClosing date for receipt of Ballot is

2:00pm on Tuesday 18th

February 2014If you have not received a

ballot paper please contact Membership Services

at NIPSA Headquarters Any other queries on

this election should be raised with

Electoral Reform Services 33 Clarendon Road

London. N8 0NWTel: 020 8365 8909

What people think The reality

Proportion of the entire Welfare Budgetthat goes on benefit to unemployed people

41% 3%


Proportion of Welfare Budget that isclaimed fraudulently

27% 0.7%


Proportion of those claiming Job SeekersAllowance who go on to claim it for morethan a year

48% 27.8%Source: The TUC

NIPSA LEADSTHE FIGHTAGAINST WELFARE REFORM BILL



Morepeople

are turningto Food Banks

in the UK

OVER the past three-and-a-half years Northern Ire-land has experienced theeconomic impacts of austerity as part of theUK government’s overall plan to reconcilethe public finances following the Great Re-cession.

While the Northern Ireland Executive is em-powered to make some spending decisions andhas limited revenue raising powers, it is some-what relegated to the task of implementing aus-

terity policies already agreed at Westminster. At this stage in the life of the current govern-

ment, it is worth examining the performance ofthese policies and to see what the future might look

like for Northern Ireland.To put this situation in context, the UK government set

out two objectives when they came to power in 2010. Thefirst was to eliminate the structural deficit within five years.

The second was to begin reducing national debt by the end ofthe current parliament.

Simply put, the deficit is the gap between what the govern-ment spends on public services and what it receives in tax rev-enue.

The National Debt is made up of the deficits that have accu-mulated over the years and additionalcosts such as the financial supportgiven to the banking sector in the cri-sis.

The government rejected the ideathat growth in the economy wouldclose the gap between tax and spend-ing in its entirety. They claimed thatmost of the deficit was structural, andthat this could only be closed by in-creasing taxes or cutting spending.The chose the latter and it was achoice.

In Northern Ireland the 2011 compre-hensive spending review gave us anindication of the way in which austeritywould begin to affect our economy.

From 2011 to 2015 we would see an8% real terms cut in current spendingon public services and 40% real termscut in capital spending on projects likeschools and hospitals.

This funding is known as the blockgrant and following the 2013 compre-hensive spending review we now knowthat it will have reduced in real termsby 13.2% (2010-2016). This is beforewe even look welfare spending.

The government believed that by re-ducing public spending, activity in theprivate sector would be stimulated andlead the way to sustained growth. Thisdid not happen.

The economy experienced pro-longed stagnation with UK GDP nowstill 2% below where it was before thecrash in 2007, despite all other west-ern economies having regained thisground long ago.

Consequently the government havenow amended their fiscal targets. Theysay they will eliminate the structuraldeficit over five years, they just won’t

say which five. They have aban-

doned completely their plan for reducingNational Debt; the target date is now in2018.

In fact this government has racked up more in National Debtover the last three years than the previous government did in13.

What all of this means is that nearly four years later, we aremarginally closer to closing the budget deficit but the impact ofausterity cuts have done lasting damage to the UK economy.Owing to this economic slump we are now told that austeritypolicies will have to continue well into the next parliament andbeyond.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne an-nounced recently that he will require a further £25bn cuts inpublic expenditure in the next parliament. Moreover, he hasstated that he wants to see half of these cuts come from thewelfare budget.

The government have said that no pensioner related bene-fits will be cut, leaving the axe to fall on working age benefits.

Working age benefits account for less than half of the totalwelfare budget and of that, the biggest chunk is housing bene-fit.

George Osborne listed housing benefits for the under-25 ashis prime target for cuts in the next parliament. This group,however, forms a tiny part of the overall spend, and any sav-ings would be minuscule.

Housing benefit has increased in expenditure in recentyears, but its biggest increase was in the mid-1980s. This wasnot because more people became dependent on this benefit, itis because the government sold off social housing and has be-come dependent on private landlords and fallen victim to risingproperty prices and rents.

The obvious solution to reducing this bill would be to buildmore social housing.

This constitutes just one of the many myths surroundingpublic expenditure and welfare in particular.

Expenditure on Incapacity Benefit and its successor Employ-ment Support Allowance have actually been falling in realterms since the mid-1990s.

Disability Living Allowance has been increasing at the samerate in real terms since 1992, even though this is regularlycited as one of the main out-of- control welfare benefits.

One of the biggest drains on government finances has beentax credits. Tax credits have for years disguised the extent oflow pay across the UK.

However, we could drastically reduce this expenditure by in-troducing a living wage and using collective bargaining to en-sure that wages keep pace with inflation and productivity.

The real story of austerity so far is that the government hasdrastically cut funding in essential public services leading to aneconomic slowdown and prolonged stagnation.

Consequently we are now told that austerity policies mustcontinue.

As departmental expenditure has been pushed to its limits,the target has now been moved to welfare.

The government has accompanied this policy shift with anarrative that casts welfare spending as uncontainable profli-gacy. This is intentionally misleading.

Despite an apparent “recovery”, which is being fuelled byhousehold debt, we still have consistently high unemploymentand growth and economic output well below potential.

Austerity policies have failed to consolidate the public fi-nances; they have also failed in their more preposterous aimto stimulate the economy.

What we need is real economic stimulus in the form of in-vestment in state infrastructure and housing. We need realwage increases and investments in human capital.

These are the polices that will bring real growth, and healthypublic finances follow with it.

Genera

l Council

Electio

n

VOTE20

14-1

5

Use Yo

ur Vote

Ballot papers must be completed and returned

in the pre paid envelope to

Electoral Reform Services London

N81 1ERClosing date for receipt of Ballot is

2:00pm on Tuesday 18th

February 2014If you have not received a

ballot paper please contact Membership Services

at NIPSA Headquarters Any other queries on

this election should be raised with

Electoral Reform Services 33 Clarendon Road

London. N8 0NWTel: 020 8365 8909

By Paul MacFlynn, NERI

WHY THE AUSTERITYAGENDA HAS FAILED

US SO MISERABLY



A&E meltdown will have serious consequencesTHE consequence of the As-sembly Executive's healthcuts will be avoidable deaths.

This may seem a sensationalistclaim and in the present climateeven opportunistic, but in Branch730 we believe that is the realityfacing the people of Northern Ire-land today.

When a major incident is de-clared at the Royal Victoria Hospi-tal in Belfast on what should havebeen a normal Wednesday, a crisisinstigated by a major backlog ofpatients with more than 40 peopleleft waiting on trolleys, somethingis wrong.

On top of this we saw a poten-tially tragic incident occur duringthe first weekend closure of Downeand Lagan Valley A&E units, whichsaw paramedics rush a sick child30 miles to the nearest A&E atDaisy Hill, Newry – the irony is thechild only lives just a few milesfrom the Downe Hospital.

Both of these incidents, and thesubsequent press coverage, high-light the desperate situation inNorthern Ireland’s A&E units.

But just as important, these inci-dents also represent a wider prob-lem across the Health Service inNorthern Ireland.

The truth that the Assembly Ex-ecutive’s health cuts will cost livesis, in Branch 730’s view, self-evi-dent.

But what has been Health Minis-ter Edwin Poots’ response to thecrisis at the Royal Hospital?

Incredibly – and disgracefully –the Minister dismissed the life-threatening situation as a "one-off"incident.

He then unbelievably went so faras to effectively blame patients at-tending the A&E department onWednesday by calling on "the pub-lic to be careful as to how they useemergency services”, while refus-ing to accept any responsibility forpolicies he implemented on a serv-ice he has Ministerial responsibilityfor.

The crisis within our emergencyservices in Belfast and the reduc-tion of A&E services at Lagan Val-ley and Downe hospitals is part ofa long list of Assembly health cuts.

Over the last few years the

Belfast Health Trust alone hassaved more than £100 million. It isBranch 730’s view that you cannotsave that amount of money withoutit having a direct impact on thosemaking use of the services acrossthe Trust.

However, importantly these cutsare not the responsibility of oneMinister or one political party.

The cuts to our health servicehave the collective support of allpolitical parties – no matter whatthey may say otherwise for the tel-evision cameras or on radio.

And the reality is any politicalparty could easily stop these cutsin their tracks by putting forward apetition of concern.

The fact that they don’t showsthat the health of ordinary peopleis not a priority of parties in the As-sembly Executive.

From 2010, we have seen A&Eunits closed in Mid-Ulster, White-abbey and the Belfast City Hospi-tals with the on-going threat toclose the Mater in Belfast.

It must also be remembered thatin 2011 the A&E services at LaganValley Hospital and the DowneHospital were cut from 24 hours to11 hours.

Our view is that it is the intentionof the Minister, the Department ofHealth, the Assembly Executiveand the Health Board to run downthese services to the point thatthese units can be closed down

entirely or services handed over toprivate profiteers.

Remember how the A&E at theCity Hospital was meant to be a“temporary closure”?

The latest figures from the North-ern Ireland Assembly have re-vealed that, on average, almosthalf of emergency ambulancesacross Mid-Ulster failed to meettheir target response times, whileambulance waiting times to unloadpatients have soared. This is notcoincidental.

These increased response andwaiting times directly follow the clo-sure of A&E units, as pressure onwaiting times, beds and staff at theremaining acute hospitals reachesboiling point.

The Assembly parties have at-tempted to shirk their responsibilityby blaming doctors for refusing towork within emergency services.

This completely dishonest analy-sis of the crisis in A&E has beenblown out of the water by a reportfrom the College of EmergencyMedicine.

It illustrates that the responsibilityfor the A&E crisis lies with the As-sembly Executive. It states: "Un-derstaffing is due to underfundingfor many years."

The report’s details are trulyshocking and reveal that environ-mental and workload pressures –particularly at the Regional TraumaCentre at the Royal Victoria Hospi-

tal in Belfast – are the worst in theUK.

It adds: "A&E staff are now work-ing under unsustainable pressuressince the closure of the Belfast CityHospital A&E in 2011."

Unsurprisingly, this high-pres-sured, stressful work environment,limited resources and punishingworkloads with no chance of ca-reer progression, has resulted indoctors choosing better opportuni-ties elsewhere.

Also unsurprisingly, Health BoardChief Executive John Comptonand Minister Poots both refuse toaccept the findings from the Col-lege of Emergency Medicine.

When challenged about theDowne and Lagan Valley closures,Compton claimed "the changes didnot have any significant impact onpressures at other hospital sites."With his Transforming Your Carehat firmly in place, Mr Compton istrying to convince us that GP andcommunity services will step in tofill the gap in service provision.This flies in the face of what is hap-pening on the ground. Since 2011,GP services have been slashed bymore than £5 million with commu-nity services cut by over £2 million.This has seen critical GP and com-munity services currently not beingable to meet demand.

By running down our publicly-owned services, the Assembly Ex-ecutive seem to be covertly moving

Around the branches

Viewpoint: Branch 730

AROUND THE BRANCHES isa new feature in NIPSA NEWSwhere we take contributionsfrom branches on the workthey are doing to promote is-sues of concern to their mem-bers. Send copy or picturesto: [email protected]

Transgender eventNIPSA LGB&T Group, in con-junction with the Equality Com-mission, hosted an event onTransgender issues in theworkplace. This event was opento all NIPSA members.

The group was delighted tohave NIPSA Deputy General Sec-retary Alison Millar and MichaelWardlow, Chief Commissioner ofthe Equality Commission (TBC),giving the opening address.

The group was also pleased tohaving a number of individualsfrom Transgender NI, SAIL, NIFire & Rescue Service and theEquality Commission who gavepresentations on Transgender is-sues.

NIPSA LGB&T ChairpersonDáire Toner chaired the event andit finalised the proceedings withan outline presentation on devel-oping a NIPSA LGB&T Toolkit forBranch reps and Committees.

Adoption bans liftedTHE ban on gay or unmarriedcouples applying to adopt chil-dren in Northern Ireland hasbeen removed. NIPSA LGB&T Group wel-

comed the move, describing itas another inequality/discrimi-nation barrier brought down. The lifting of this ban now

provides a greater opportunityfor children to become part of astable loving family and not re-main in foster care to be contin-ually moved from place toplace. Throughout this process, Min-

ister Poots has wasted publicmoney time and time againthrough the challenges he in-structed his department tomake against court rulings. Minister Poots and his party

colleagues should reflect onthe court rulings given through-out this process with the aim ofbringing down other barrierssuch as blood donation andsame-sex marriage while recog-nising that it is not in the publicinterest to throw public moneydefending their bad decisions.

LGB&T carol serviceNIPSA members attended theLGB&T Community Carol Serv-ice which was be held on (Tues-day, December 17) in All SoulsChurch, Elmwood Avenue,Belfast.



THE past year has been the mostdemanding members of Branch730 had ever faced, it has beenclaimed.Outgoing Branch Secretary

Damien Maguire made the com-ments while giving members anoverview of the previous 12months at the Branch AGM heldat the Royal Victoria Hospital inNovember. He claimed this was due in part

to austerity measures enforcedby the Con-Dem government andbeing implemented by the Stor-mont Executive. The Belfast Health Trust had as

a result made savings amountingto tens of millions of pounds. MrMaguire pointed out that forNIPSA it was difficult to reconcilehow such savings could be madewithout having a direct impact onservices and the terms and con-ditions of members. He said that NIPSA members

had reported that many postswere simply not being filled andthat they were being expected toprovide cover for the shortfall. Mr Maguire told the AGM that

the Branch’s position was thatthis was “simply not sustain-able”He said: “Against a more ag-

gressive approach [by manage-ment] to sickness, membershave to ensure they are not un-dermining their own position bycovering posts unnecessarily.” However, he pointed out that

detailed advice had been givento members and “on a number ofoccasions the Branch was suc-cessful in tackling this issue”.Mr Maguire told those present

at the AGM that the Branch hadalso been involved on a numberof working groups particularly inrelation to Transforming YourCare (TYC). He warned that TYC repre-

sented “the biggest challenge to

NIPSA and its members” ”It will have a direct impact in

hospitals and community set-tings especially the former ashuge savings had been identifiedwith the ‘shift left’ of monies tothe community sector.”Mr Maguire described TYC as

“nothing more than a vehicle forprivatisation and the wateringdown of a range of services tothe people of Northern Ireland”. He told members that the

Branch had been made awarethat more money than ever wasbeing diverted to the private sec-tor “with the 352 Group being aprime beneficiary”. Mr Maguire said NIPSA was to-

tally opposed to the introductionof the private sector into theHealth Service and vowed thatBranch 730 “would continue tooppose this in the Trust whereand when they could”.Mr Maguire also spoke about

the introduction of Shared Serv-ices across the Belfast Trust andin particular difficulties with newsystems including Finance Pro-curement and Logistics (FPL)and more recently HRPTS. He paid tribute to former and

remaining Branch Officers fortheir contributions and for theirwork in representing members indisciplinary cases and griev-ances. Work, he added, that oftenwent unnoticed. The AGM then voted for the fol-

lowing people:Chairperson: Ricki ReidVice Chair: Gerry LargeyBranch Secretaries & EqualityOfficers: Damien Maguire, TanyaKillen and Pat LawlorBranch Organiser: Kevin Lawren-sonHealth & Safety Officer: JonathonGilesTreasurer: Kevin LawrensonUnion Learning Representative:Charlotte Pollock

A&E meltdown will have serious consequencesTHE consequence of the As-sembly Executive's healthcuts will be avoidable deaths.

This may seem a sensationalistclaim and in the present climateeven opportunistic, but in Branch730 we believe that is the realityfacing the people of Northern Ire-land today.

When a major incident is de-clared at the Royal Victoria Hospi-tal in Belfast on what should havebeen a normal Wednesday, a crisisinstigated by a major backlog ofpatients with more than 40 peopleleft waiting on trolleys, somethingis wrong.

On top of this we saw a poten-tially tragic incident occur duringthe first weekend closure of Downeand Lagan Valley A&E units, whichsaw paramedics rush a sick child30 miles to the nearest A&E atDaisy Hill, Newry – the irony is thechild only lives just a few milesfrom the Downe Hospital.

Both of these incidents, and thesubsequent press coverage, high-light the desperate situation inNorthern Ireland’s A&E units.

But just as important, these inci-dents also represent a wider prob-lem across the Health Service inNorthern Ireland.

The truth that the Assembly Ex-ecutive’s health cuts will cost livesis, in Branch 730’s view, self-evi-dent.

But what has been Health Minis-ter Edwin Poots’ response to thecrisis at the Royal Hospital?

Incredibly – and disgracefully –the Minister dismissed the life-threatening situation as a "one-off"incident.

He then unbelievably went so faras to effectively blame patients at-tending the A&E department onWednesday by calling on "the pub-lic to be careful as to how they useemergency services”, while refus-ing to accept any responsibility forpolicies he implemented on a serv-ice he has Ministerial responsibilityfor.

The crisis within our emergencyservices in Belfast and the reduc-tion of A&E services at Lagan Val-ley and Downe hospitals is part ofa long list of Assembly health cuts.

Over the last few years the

Belfast Health Trust alone hassaved more than £100 million. It isBranch 730’s view that you cannotsave that amount of money withoutit having a direct impact on thosemaking use of the services acrossthe Trust.

However, importantly these cutsare not the responsibility of oneMinister or one political party.

The cuts to our health servicehave the collective support of allpolitical parties – no matter whatthey may say otherwise for the tel-evision cameras or on radio.

And the reality is any politicalparty could easily stop these cutsin their tracks by putting forward apetition of concern.

The fact that they don’t showsthat the health of ordinary peopleis not a priority of parties in the As-sembly Executive.

From 2010, we have seen A&Eunits closed in Mid-Ulster, White-abbey and the Belfast City Hospi-tals with the on-going threat toclose the Mater in Belfast.

It must also be remembered thatin 2011 the A&E services at LaganValley Hospital and the DowneHospital were cut from 24 hours to11 hours.

Our view is that it is the intentionof the Minister, the Department ofHealth, the Assembly Executiveand the Health Board to run downthese services to the point thatthese units can be closed down

entirely or services handed over toprivate profiteers.

Remember how the A&E at theCity Hospital was meant to be a“temporary closure”?

The latest figures from the North-ern Ireland Assembly have re-vealed that, on average, almosthalf of emergency ambulancesacross Mid-Ulster failed to meettheir target response times, whileambulance waiting times to unloadpatients have soared. This is notcoincidental.

These increased response andwaiting times directly follow the clo-sure of A&E units, as pressure onwaiting times, beds and staff at theremaining acute hospitals reachesboiling point.

The Assembly parties have at-tempted to shirk their responsibilityby blaming doctors for refusing towork within emergency services.

This completely dishonest analy-sis of the crisis in A&E has beenblown out of the water by a reportfrom the College of EmergencyMedicine.

It illustrates that the responsibilityfor the A&E crisis lies with the As-sembly Executive. It states: "Un-derstaffing is due to underfundingfor many years."

The report’s details are trulyshocking and reveal that environ-mental and workload pressures –particularly at the Regional TraumaCentre at the Royal Victoria Hospi-

tal in Belfast – are the worst in theUK.

It adds: "A&E staff are now work-ing under unsustainable pressuressince the closure of the Belfast CityHospital A&E in 2011."

Unsurprisingly, this high-pres-sured, stressful work environment,limited resources and punishingworkloads with no chance of ca-reer progression, has resulted indoctors choosing better opportuni-ties elsewhere.

Also unsurprisingly, Health BoardChief Executive John Comptonand Minister Poots both refuse toaccept the findings from the Col-lege of Emergency Medicine.

When challenged about theDowne and Lagan Valley closures,Compton claimed "the changes didnot have any significant impact onpressures at other hospital sites."With his Transforming Your Carehat firmly in place, Mr Compton istrying to convince us that GP andcommunity services will step in tofill the gap in service provision.This flies in the face of what is hap-pening on the ground. Since 2011,GP services have been slashed bymore than £5 million with commu-nity services cut by over £2 million.This has seen critical GP and com-munity services currently not beingable to meet demand.

By running down our publicly-owned services, the Assembly Ex-ecutive seem to be covertly moving

Challenges posed byTYC heard by branch

healthcare to the private sector. In the last 12 months private

healthcare parasites have cost thepeople of Northern Ireland more than£45 million. During the closure of theBelfast City Hospital A&E in 2011;some A&E services were being of-fered – at a price – at Kingsbridge, aprivate hospital located on the sameroad as the City Hospital.

All Assembly parties opportunisti-cally criticise the closure of A&E unitsand the crisis within our emergencyservices and this will become morevirulent as election day looms. But,in our view, this is usually nothingmore than a dishonest showboatingfor votes.

Local MLAs and councillors haveshown time and again that when itcomes to real action, they do nothingto oppose health cuts.

We cannot depend on them andBranch 730’s position remains thatwe must continue to build a cam-paign to defend our health service.

A strategy within this campaignmust include trade union co-ordi-nated industrial action backed by aunited mass public campaign.

We believe that for a campaign tosucceed, it must discuss how it canwield political pressure on the As-sembly Executive.

We would urge all NIPSA membersto quiz their local MLA and politicalparties about their views on healthcuts when candidates come knock-ing on their doors chasing votes.

NIPSA Branch 113 held itsAGM at the Knockbreda JBOin November.The following people were

elected to positions within thebranch: Secretary - Tiarnán Mil-lar; Chair - Brendan Meighan;Vice-Chair - Mark Drysdale;Deputy Secretary - Eithné Cos-grove; Organiser - Paul Turner;Equality - Rosaleen McAtam-ney; Women's - Mary Russell;ULRs - Tony Rice; Andrew Con-roy.

Health & Safety Reps EithnéCosgrove and Alex Parke re-main in place for the secondyear of their three-year terms.New H&S Reps will be ap-

pointed by the Branch Organ-iser in due course.Thanks to Maria Morgan for

giving an excellent presenta-tion on the latest NIPSA re-search document and thanks toall outgoing officers for theirwork over the year.

BRANCH 113 HOLDS AGM


Page 13 NIPSA NEWSNewswww.nipsa.org.ukPage 12 NIPSA NEWS News www.nipsa.org.uk

NIPSA’s campaign to save the Con-sumer Council NI (CCNI) from abolitionhas continued to gather pace as theclosing date for responses to the publicconsultation to the sponsoring Depart-ment (DETI) passed on January 17.

The campaign has involved a multi-stranded strategy including the lobbying ofeach council, MLAs and political represen-tatives as well as the Northern IrelandLocal Government Association.

Councils were asked by NIPSA to adoptthe following resolution in support of theCCNI.

It read: “The Council recognises the vitalrole that the Consumer Council for NI un-dertakes to protect consumer interests andbelieves that its current structure and roleshould be maintained and strengthened.”

Banbridge, Derry, Down, Fermanagh, Li-mavady, Moyle as well as Newry andMourne Councils confirmed they hadadopted the NIPSA resolution.

And to date, a significant number ofcouncils have also submitted responses tothe DETI public consultation backing theretention of the CCNI.

TUS engagement with MLAs have con-firmed party support from the UUP, SDLP,Sinn Fein, Alliance and Green parties, withpertinent questions and concerns overprocess failures raised with the DUP DETIMinister at the NI Assembly.

Meanwhile, there has been increasingmedia coverage of the abolition threat tothe CCNI and the general issue of con-sumer representation in Northern Ireland.

The BBC and UTV have carried reportson the issue and a number of newspapers– including the Belfast Telegraph, IrishNews, Strabane Weekly News, LimavadyNorthern Constitution and Daily Mirror –have carried articles of support for the con-tinuation and strengthening of the CCNI in

its current form. The union has welcomed this construc-

tive media interest in helping to stimulate agrowing understanding of the role playedby NIPSA members working in CCNI inhelping to protect the interests of thosemost vulnerable to rising food and fuelprices.

In December, CCNI was awarded “supercomplainant” status for financial servicesby the UK Government.

This means that the body, which can al-ready bring super-complaints relating toother services to the Office of Fair Trading,will now have additional powers to bring is-sues which harm consumers’ interestscaused by financial services such asbanks, mortgages lenders, building soci-eties, insurance companies, etc to the Fi-nancial Conduct Authority.

The CCNI already plays a vital role in en-suring our voices are heard loud and clearin regulating price controls – these addi-tional powers will strengthen the challengesthe CCNI supports individuals to takeagainst unfair treatment by financial serv-ices.

Congratulating the CCNI on the achieve-ment, NIPSA HQ Official Kim Graham toldNIPSA News: “This well-deserved en-hancement of powers for this NDPB, to-gether with the transfer of responsibility forpostal services to CCNI schedule from April2014 recognises the excellent services pro-vided to and on behalf of consumers by theNI Consumer Council.

“The extension of its powers was grantedon the basis of the CCNI demonstrating itsindependence, impartiality, integrity, expert-ise and vast experience resulting in astrong track record in representing con-sumers in Northern Ireland.

“The CCNI is one of only four organisa-tions across the UK to have received this

designation and the only one with a specificfocus on Northern Ireland consumers,which should send a very clear message tothe DETI Minister to retain and strengthenthis public body rather than abolish or dis-mantle it.”

After examining the public consultationdocuments launched by the DETI MinisterArlene Foster in October 2013, NIPSA con-sulted with members of Branch 147 em-ployed by the CCNI.

This resulted in a 10-page submission toDETI by NIPSA in mid-January.

The issues covered in the submission in-clude:n Criticism of and questions over howDETI conducted the review of the CCNIwhich recommended its abolition and leadto the public consultation exercise. NIPSAalso lodged a separate formal Freedom ofInformation request to DETI in mid-Novem-ber seeking specific details on how the re-viewer was appointed. The FOI Act 2000,which was implemented to make publicsector bodies more open and accountable,stipulates that a response should be pro-vided with 20 days. To date, only a holdingresponse has been provided to NIPSA.n NIPSA’s belief that the manner in whichthe public consultation exercise was con-ducted showed bias and was based uponfactually inaccurate, misrepresentative andincomplete information.n Lack of credibility of the outcomes of thepreceding review of the CCNI.n Lack of consultation with NIPSA repre-sentatives and CCNI staff throughout theprocess to date.n Support for DETI Option 1 – the retentionof the CCNI as a public body at armslength from Government (NDPB).n Why CCNI should not only be retainedbut also strengthened – its increasing pow-ers and proven track record speak for

themselves. The NIPSA submission high-lights actual savings to the Northern Irelandconsumer in the past year, achieved byCCNI’s contribution to price controls includ-ing £20 per year saving to each NI Electric-ity customer totalling £15.63 million foreach year of price control; more than£444,000 saving to local consumers as adirect result of complaint handling; and ex-cerpting downward pressure to haveboosted Northern Ireland’s GDP by £18million each year from 2010-15. Whenmeasured against the CCNI’s total annualbudget of £2.6 million, these statistics ex-emplify great value of public money.n More than 97% of 3,716 consumershelped by the CCNI are happy with howtheir complaints were handled.n CCNI’s fundamental focus is to protect,research, advance, challenge and educateat all levels on behalf of the public. NIPSAstrongly argues that this function is entirelynecessary and that it is appropriate theCCNI continues to serve the public as anaccountable yet independent NDPB.n Options 2 and 3 as presented by DETIwould undermine perceived and actual in-dependence and credibility. Option 2poses the risk of creating the conflict be-tween profit motives and delivery of publicvalue already seen in the NICS and acrossother parts of the public sector. Option 3would dismantle the CCNI’s hugely suc-cessful integrated model of issue handling,where each of the functions support and in-forms the others in terms of education, pol-icy development, outreach and complainthandling, to the distinct advantage of localconsumers.n NIPSA also poses eight specific ques-tions to DETI. The full submission can befound on the NIPSA website athttp://www.nipsa.org.uk/Where-I-Work/Civil-Service/Departments/Others.

WE SAY YES TO SAVING CONSUMER COUNCIL

DETI’s unacceptable failure to consult with NIPSA washighlighted to the department’s Permanent Secretaryand members of the ETI Committee at the Northern Ire-land Assembly.CCNI’s future is likely to be a subject of debate at the

Assembly in the coming months after the Minister hasreached a decision. It is understood the union plans to address the ETI

Committee “at the appropriate time to protect the inter-ests of members and wider society”.Meanwhile, ICTU has backed NIPSA’s written submis-

sion to the DETI on the “future arrangements for con-sumer representation in Northern Ireland”.In a letter to the department’s Consumer Affairs

Branch, ICTU Assistant General Secretary PeterBunting said: “On behalf of the ICTU, our 33 affiliatedtrade unions and 220,000 members, I would like to en-dorse the response made by the public service unionNIPSA. “Congress also has grave concerns over the process

followed to date by DETI. We feel strongly that theseconcerns stem from failures of the preceding review ofCCNI process which has led to this public consultationexercise.” NIPSA HQ Official Kim Graham added: “NIPSA mem-

bers in the CCNI warmly welcome all the support fellowmembers have demonstrated at a very difficult time.This is merely the start of what could be a lengthy cam-paign to save up to 50 jobs and protect all of our inter-ests as consumers in Northern Ireland. “The coming months will be tense as we await the

Minister’s views on the outcome of the public consulta-tion on the future of the CCNI.”She vowed: “NIPSA stands resolute in its support for

this public body and is prepared for a sustained andworthy campaign to secure its continuity and strength-ening.”

Eamon Rafferty, NIPSA Repre-sentative in Armagh Planetar-ium, says: “I have had somedealings with the NI ConsumerCouncil in the past and recentlyused the information on theirwebsite to change and obtain areduction in my energy costs bychanging my electricity supplier.

“The information supplied wasextremely easy and handy to usewith all the relevant details andcontacts contained in the article.

“Also last year I was able to di-rect a family member to theCCNI to obtain advice on claim-ing through a travel insurancepolicy.

“The CCNI offered advice onthe claim and they were able toobtain a payment after months ofbeing fobbed off by the insur-ance company. The staff wereextremely helpful with profes-sional advice.”

DETI failure toconsult blasted

‘Extremely helpful staff’


Page 13 NIPSA NEWSNewswww.nipsa.org.ukNews www.nipsa.org.uk

NIPSA’s campaign to save the Con-sumer Council NI (CCNI) from abolitionhas continued to gather pace as theclosing date for responses to the publicconsultation to the sponsoring Depart-ment (DETI) passed on January 17.

The campaign has involved a multi-stranded strategy including the lobbying ofeach council, MLAs and political represen-tatives as well as the Northern IrelandLocal Government Association.

Councils were asked by NIPSA to adoptthe following resolution in support of theCCNI.

It read: “The Council recognises the vitalrole that the Consumer Council for NI un-dertakes to protect consumer interests andbelieves that its current structure and roleshould be maintained and strengthened.”

Banbridge, Derry, Down, Fermanagh, Li-mavady, Moyle as well as Newry andMourne Councils confirmed they hadadopted the NIPSA resolution.

And to date, a significant number ofcouncils have also submitted responses tothe DETI public consultation backing theretention of the CCNI.

TUS engagement with MLAs have con-firmed party support from the UUP, SDLP,Sinn Fein, Alliance and Green parties, withpertinent questions and concerns overprocess failures raised with the DUP DETIMinister at the NI Assembly.

Meanwhile, there has been increasingmedia coverage of the abolition threat tothe CCNI and the general issue of con-sumer representation in Northern Ireland.

The BBC and UTV have carried reportson the issue and a number of newspapers– including the Belfast Telegraph, IrishNews, Strabane Weekly News, LimavadyNorthern Constitution and Daily Mirror –have carried articles of support for the con-tinuation and strengthening of the CCNI in

its current form. The union has welcomed this construc-

tive media interest in helping to stimulate agrowing understanding of the role playedby NIPSA members working in CCNI inhelping to protect the interests of thosemost vulnerable to rising food and fuelprices.

In December, CCNI was awarded “supercomplainant” status for financial servicesby the UK Government.

This means that the body, which can al-ready bring super-complaints relating toother services to the Office of Fair Trading,will now have additional powers to bring is-sues which harm consumers’ interestscaused by financial services such asbanks, mortgages lenders, building soci-eties, insurance companies, etc to the Fi-nancial Conduct Authority.

The CCNI already plays a vital role in en-suring our voices are heard loud and clearin regulating price controls – these addi-tional powers will strengthen the challengesthe CCNI supports individuals to takeagainst unfair treatment by financial serv-ices.

Congratulating the CCNI on the achieve-ment, NIPSA HQ Official Kim Graham toldNIPSA News: “This well-deserved en-hancement of powers for this NDPB, to-gether with the transfer of responsibility forpostal services to CCNI schedule from April2014 recognises the excellent services pro-vided to and on behalf of consumers by theNI Consumer Council.

“The extension of its powers was grantedon the basis of the CCNI demonstrating itsindependence, impartiality, integrity, expert-ise and vast experience resulting in astrong track record in representing con-sumers in Northern Ireland.

“The CCNI is one of only four organisa-tions across the UK to have received this

designation and the only one with a specificfocus on Northern Ireland consumers,which should send a very clear message tothe DETI Minister to retain and strengthenthis public body rather than abolish or dis-mantle it.”

After examining the public consultationdocuments launched by the DETI MinisterArlene Foster in October 2013, NIPSA con-sulted with members of Branch 147 em-ployed by the CCNI.

This resulted in a 10-page submission toDETI by NIPSA in mid-January.

The issues covered in the submission in-clude:n Criticism of and questions over howDETI conducted the review of the CCNIwhich recommended its abolition and leadto the public consultation exercise. NIPSAalso lodged a separate formal Freedom ofInformation request to DETI in mid-Novem-ber seeking specific details on how the re-viewer was appointed. The FOI Act 2000,which was implemented to make publicsector bodies more open and accountable,stipulates that a response should be pro-vided with 20 days. To date, only a holdingresponse has been provided to NIPSA.n NIPSA’s belief that the manner in whichthe public consultation exercise was con-ducted showed bias and was based uponfactually inaccurate, misrepresentative andincomplete information.n Lack of credibility of the outcomes of thepreceding review of the CCNI.n Lack of consultation with NIPSA repre-sentatives and CCNI staff throughout theprocess to date.n Support for DETI Option 1 – the retentionof the CCNI as a public body at armslength from Government (NDPB).n Why CCNI should not only be retainedbut also strengthened – its increasing pow-ers and proven track record speak for

themselves. The NIPSA submission high-lights actual savings to the Northern Irelandconsumer in the past year, achieved byCCNI’s contribution to price controls includ-ing £20 per year saving to each NI Electric-ity customer totalling £15.63 million foreach year of price control; more than£444,000 saving to local consumers as adirect result of complaint handling; and ex-cerpting downward pressure to haveboosted Northern Ireland’s GDP by £18million each year from 2010-15. Whenmeasured against the CCNI’s total annualbudget of £2.6 million, these statistics ex-emplify great value of public money.n More than 97% of 3,716 consumershelped by the CCNI are happy with howtheir complaints were handled.n CCNI’s fundamental focus is to protect,research, advance, challenge and educateat all levels on behalf of the public. NIPSAstrongly argues that this function is entirelynecessary and that it is appropriate theCCNI continues to serve the public as anaccountable yet independent NDPB.n Options 2 and 3 as presented by DETIwould undermine perceived and actual in-dependence and credibility. Option 2poses the risk of creating the conflict be-tween profit motives and delivery of publicvalue already seen in the NICS and acrossother parts of the public sector. Option 3would dismantle the CCNI’s hugely suc-cessful integrated model of issue handling,where each of the functions support and in-forms the others in terms of education, pol-icy development, outreach and complainthandling, to the distinct advantage of localconsumers.n NIPSA also poses eight specific ques-tions to DETI. The full submission can befound on the NIPSA website athttp://www.nipsa.org.uk/Where-I-Work/Civil-Service/Departments/Others.

WE SAY YES TO SAVING CONSUMER COUNCIL

NIPSA member Ed says: “Iwould like to share the followingexperience. I received invalu-able assistance from a thor-oughly adept member of CCNIstaff after an issue arose be-tween myself and two energyproviders approx May – October2012.

“The work performed on mybehalf by CCNI was a longdrawn out procedure as a resultof various issues by both energyproviders including transitionalperiods. The CCNI kept me in-formed throughout and resolvedthe issue that benefited me andmy family.

“The CCNI has, I believe anextra ‘clout’ that the everydayconsumer may not have, alongwith a wealth of experience to li-

aise with private businesses etc. “Without their help I would not

have had the time, knowledge orexperience to deal with mypredicament and I am trulygrateful for their considerate atti-tude, professionalism and will-ingness to seek resolution.

“I ended up with unjustifiedcharges being cleared and evenattained a good will gesture forthe inconvenience. I can recallfew other instances where I re-ceived a similar level of qualityservice from anywhere else.

“I know the staff membername and incident referencenumber but I am unsure if it isappropriate to name either.However, it is service that iswarranted and should remain.”

Satisfied NIPSA member from HSCNI says: “The CCNIhas very recently assisted me in claiming compensation fora flight delay. The help and co-operation I got from themwas excellent and I would very strongly object to the aboli-tion of the CCNI.

“I had originally written to the Civil Aviation Authority inLondon requesting them to process my complaint witheasyJet. CAA replied to say that Northern Ireland issuesare dealt with by the CCNI.

“I contacted the CCNI and they immediately took over theprocessing of my complaint, involving a 19-hour easyJetdelay returning home from a holiday in Spain.

“This had been on-going since June 2013. There havebeen many emails and telephone calls and eventually Ihave just found out this week from CCNI that easyJet haveagreed to pay compensation of €800.

“Naturally I’m delighted and I must say I wouldn’t havebeen able to process this without the CCNI.”

Better informed consumer from HSCNI says: “TheCCNI published the very useful ‘Plane Facts – Your Es-sential Guide to Air Travel’ this year and it helped a lotof people. “I got it for my father who used it to find out his rights

when his flight was cancelled. It is very difficult for thepublic to decipher the rules and regulations of the dif-ferent airlines and this is a very concise, easily readdocument that gives guidance on your rights as a con-sumer. “I have shared it with several people who didn’t know

what they were entitled if, for example, luggage goesmissing etc. The airlines don’t make information clearor easily accessible.” The guide is available at:

www.consumercouncil.org.uk/publications/?id=1055�

Grateful for their considerate attitude’

‘Excellent co-operation and help’

‘CCNI’s Plane Factsguide was very useful’

Pictured (above): NIPSA rep Graham Smith with membersEimear Duffy and Marion Cree. Pictured (bottom left): Consumer Council staff who are being supported by theirunion in trying to save the service.


AFTER more than five years of a twin eco-nomic and social crisis, austerity policieshave failed in Europe. In the EU, economiescontinue to stagnate, while current levels ofunemployment remain at 12%.

Often those with a job find themselves in a situ-ation of precarious work with no social protection.Educational opportunities are denied to millionsof young people, who, in many cases are forcedinto emigration.

In addition, we have seen divisions open up inEurope; inequalities between people, certainly,but also clear divisions between member states.Social cohesion has been eroded.

There are some who claim that the worst of thecrisis is over. It is hard to agree with this assess-ment, given the current rates of joblessness andexamples of inequality we still witness in the EUtoday. Economic recovery is welcome, of course,but it is not acceptable if this is achieved at theexpense of citizens. The crisis cannot be solved ifit does not contain a sound basis in social policy.

This represents a threat to the economic, socialand political development of Europe. The Euro-pean Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is con-vinced that the EU has the potential to combatthe crisis. That potential already exists here inEurope, but risks being neglected by leaders andgovernments who seem determined to pushahead with their current route, instead of lookingfor a new path.

The trade union movement is striving to unlockthis potential; which, sadly, continues to be un-derused, or undervalued, by many of today’sleaders. It is a potential borne out of a strong in-dustrial base, good public and private sectorservices, a well-educated population with accessto innovative research and educational institu-tions, and a fair and inclusive society. The EUmust mobilise its strengths for a better, moreequal, prosperous, democratic and peaceful fu-ture.

The European Trade Union Confederation wasfounded in 1973, and over these past fourdecades we have made many significant gains inadvancing an equitable society in Europe. But

now, as the crisis continues, many Europeanpoliticians seem determined to roll-back on theseadvances. This must not be allowed to happen.We in the trade union movement will continue toresist any moves that seek to destroy the socialdimension of the European project.

There have been many social advances madesince European integration began, but since thestart of the crisis in 2008, the social dimension ofthe EU has been non-existent. If European lead-ers continue to ignore the real needs of people,not only will the EU continue to stagnate, but itwill also lose the trust and support of its citizens.

There has been much speculation about therise of far-right and populist parties in Europe,and how that will affect the working of the Euro-pean Parliament, should voters chose to expresstheir dissatisfaction that way when they vote forMEPs in May 2014. But we trust in the Europeancitizens: re-installing borders, is not a solution tounemployment; in a globalised world isolation hasnothing to offer to future generations. Our coun-tries are too small to fight global competition.They must find a positive way to economic andsocial integration.Why A New Path For Europe Is Needed

To this end, the ETUC has launched its mani-festo for the European Parliament elections. Thisdocument calls on candidates to endorse policiesthat uphold and foster the social dimension of theEuropean Union; a Europe that provides its citi-zens with quality jobs and a sound future thatseeks an end to austerity, uncertainty and divi-sion. Effectively, we are calling on European citi-zens to vote for candidates that will change theway the EU is being run.

Regretfully, those same citizens have an in-creased sense that Europe is not been run ontheir behalf; and this feeling of loss will continueas long as there is a sense that its political lead-ers are not prepared to change course. This iswhy we in the trade union movement are fighting

for a new path for Europe.It is in response to failed policies, both eco-

nomic and social, that ETUC is calling for thisnew direction, this new path for Europe. Insteadof further cutbacks and austerity, we are propos-ing an alternative; an investment plan with a long-term perspective that seeks to avoid a lostdecade of mass unemployment, precarious workand tax injustice.

In an era when €1,000 billion has been spentto save the financial sector, and the same amountis lost each year in tax evasion and fraud, it isnow time to spend money on a sustainable futurefor European citizens, who have endured muchhardship these past years.

Our plan envisages an investment of 2% of Eu-ropean Union GDP over a ten-year period. Suchan investment would help in building up a strongindustrial base, good public and private services,properly functioning state systems and innovativeresearch and educational institutions.

It is this level of investment that is needed atthis time to give our ailing economies a boost, toreverse stagnation and give people hope andconfidence for the future.

This is the task facing all of us who care aboutthe European project today; trade unions, citi-zens, the EU institutions and political leaders. It isa sad fact that many feel let down by the policiesof the EU at present. But this does not mean ithas to be that way. European trade unions areproposing an alternative, a new path that allowsits citizens to share in a different direction. Euro-pean recovery is not just about keeping marketsopen, it is also about social protection and cohe-sion amongst its people. That is what we will con-tinue to fight for.Bernadette Ségol is the Secretary General ofthe European Trade Union Confederation. Pre-viously she was the head of UNI Europa, theEuropean trade union federation for servicesand communication which represents 7 mil-lion workers and 330 affiliated trade unions.One of her main focuses is wage equality inEurope.This column was first published by New Europe

‘EUR ON THE WRONG ROAD’WARNS TOP UNION LEADER

European and world affairsPage 14 NIPSA NEWS News www.nipsa.org.uk Page 15 NIPSA NEWSNewswww.nipsa.org.uk

ARE the disputes between thecoalition government and the Eu-ropean Commission part of aphoney war or a slide to separa-tion? Time will tell, but there is areal fear that current policies willpropel the UK out of the EU.

The Observer’s headline on Janu-ary 12 (‘Defiant Brussels slapsdown British threats to rewrite im-migration rules’) highlights thegrowing rift between the current gov-ernment and the European Commis-sion. Many, even in theConservative Party, are worried thatthis rift with the Commission – whichextends over free movement oflabour to the governments of Bul-garia and Poland – will render inef-fective the government’s diplomaticefforts to secure support for repatria-tion of powers or widespread dereg-ulation.

Pragmatists and europhiles in theCoalition worry that relationships arenow so bad that the government’savowed strategy of negotiating re-forms to the EU so that they couldbe endorsed by an in-out referen-dum in 2017 will founder becausethe rift will make it impossible to se-cure concessions.

They fear that the government’sbull in a china shop approach, andthe hostile reaction it is generatingfrom European politicians, will propelBritain out of the EU. And whilstthose arguing for an amicable di-vorce maintain we will easily be ableto survive outside the EU, if it resultsfrom an acrimonious slangingmatch, the only people to suffer willbe the British people.

In part, these rows are the in-evitable consequence, as British In-fluence’s Peter Wilding puts it, ofDavid Cameron trying to ride twohorses at once. On the one hand, hewants support from European gov-ernments for his plans to repatriatedecisions over workers’ rights, andto restrict the free movement oflabour – one of the founding princi-ples of the European Union – as wellas endorse widespread deregula-tion.

On the other, he wants to shootUkip’s fox (obviously he’d prefer tohunt it with hounds, but knows theBritish people would draw a line onthat one) by getting tough with Eu-rope.

Shouting at ‘Brussels bureaucrats’and slandering the Poles, Romani-ans and Bulgarians in public whileBritish diplomats dish out bucketloads of Ferrero Rocher in privateisn’t a recipe for winning friends inthe Council of Ministers, althoughCameron has managed to get theEU signed up to the deregulatoryREFIT strategy (although the Com-mission claims it won’t deregulateanything that actually matters.)

Cynics will suggest that provokingangry reactions from European so-cialists like Social Affairs Commis-sioner Laszlo Andor and EuropeanParliament President Martin Schulz– and even fellow right-wing politi-cians like Commission Vice-Presi-

dent Viviane Reding (like Schultz apossible future Commission Presi-dent) – actually helps Camerondemonstrate to Conservative votersflirting with Ukip that he is ‘battlingBrussels for Britain’ (George Os-borne’s attempts to do the samewhen he is only ‘batting for bankers’in the City have been less popular).

But when even the euroscepti-cally-inclined William Hague says‘we have to be realistic‘ over his ownbackbench MPs’ demands for aWestminster veto over all EU legis-lation, the strains in the policy areclearly showing.

One lesson of all this is that Euro-pean political leaders shouldn’tmake the mistake that they can sati-ate the eurosceptic beast in Britain.The appetite of Ukip and Cameron’sbackbench europhobes won’t besatisfied with any concessions Ger-man or Italian politicians are mindedto offer, so they might as well giveup.

We’re probably still not quite at thestage we were in when Labour wonthe 1997 election and Tony Blair wasmet with undisguised relief by therest of an EU tired of being hectoredby Mrs Thatcher and then the sub-ject of continued eurosceptic snipingunder John Major.

Labour’s adoption of the SocialChapter, and avowed commitment toEurope, allowed Labour to movestraight into a leadership position innegotiating the Lisbon Agenda, butgradually the default euroscepticismof trumpeting ‘British national inter-ests’ and the reluctance to embracethe European social model (eg over

the adoption of the information andconsultation directive and the tem-porary agency workers directive,and the maintenance of the workingtime directive opt out) turned the re-lationship sour.

But Labour ought to be thinkingnow of what a similar European hon-eymoon might allow it to do if it winsthe next election. Not in terms of fur-ther concessions to narrow national-ism, but in terms of how Europecould be persuaded to changecourse in ways that would benefitBritish people and the British econ-omy.

One example would be pushingfor the New Path for Europe invest-ment strategy that the EuropeanTrade Union Confederation is pro-posing which could mobilise idle cor-porate cash reserves to create 11million decent jobs across the EU,especially for young people. An earlydecision to join in with the RobinHood Tax that will by then be inplace across most of continental Eu-rope’s money markets would helpcement a new EU-UK relationship(as well as yielding up to £20bn ayear in tax revenues for the Excheq-uer, some of that reclaimed from therest of the EU.)

That would be worth the tears cur-rently being shed over the rows be-tween government ministers andEuropean politicians and commis-sioners.Owen Tudor is head of the TUC’sEuropean Union and InternationalRelations Department. This postfirst appeared on the TUC’sTouchstone Blog

Austerity policies creating huge divisions in society, says ETUC chief BATTLE IN BRUSSELSBy Bernadette Ségol

Tories sour European relations in bitter fight with Ukip over free movementof labour and their demands to weaken UK workers’ rights even further

Colombia: Endviolence andpersecution of trade unionists

2014 has started with fear and sadness in Colombia as attacks and criminalisationof social protests continue. With yet another trade union leader viciously attacked,IndustriALL Global Union joins Colombian unions in denouncing the violence. TRADE unionists in Colombia are consistentlysubjected to violence and persecution. The latestvictim at a peaceful demonstration is the presi-dent of CUT and SINTRAELECOL-Caldas, ArturoOscar Orozco, who was brutally attacked by theanti-riot police and remains in hospital in a veryserious condition. Four leaders of another IndustriALL Global

Union affiliate, the Union Sindical Obrera de laIndustría del Petroleo, unfairly detained sinceDecember 4, 2013 are subject to threats by para-military and mafia gangs in the prison yards. Theattacks, displacements, threats, assassinations

as well as the criminalization of all social protest,continues, corroborating the Government’s lackof political will to guarantee the exercise of free-dom of association, collective bargaining and theright to strike in Colombia. With again reports of other trade union leaders

viciously attacked and murdered since the begin-ning of 2014, IndustriALL Global Union joinsColombian unions in denouncing the institu-tional violence and impunity.Send a protest letter to President Santos at: http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_cam-paign.cgi?c=2141


AFTER more than five years of a twin eco-nomic and social crisis, austerity policieshave failed in Europe. In the EU, economiescontinue to stagnate, while current levels ofunemployment remain at 12%.

Often those with a job find themselves in a situ-ation of precarious work with no social protection.Educational opportunities are denied to millionsof young people, who, in many cases are forcedinto emigration.

In addition, we have seen divisions open up inEurope; inequalities between people, certainly,but also clear divisions between member states.Social cohesion has been eroded.

There are some who claim that the worst of thecrisis is over. It is hard to agree with this assess-ment, given the current rates of joblessness andexamples of inequality we still witness in the EUtoday. Economic recovery is welcome, of course,but it is not acceptable if this is achieved at theexpense of citizens. The crisis cannot be solved ifit does not contain a sound basis in social policy.

This represents a threat to the economic, socialand political development of Europe. The Euro-pean Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is con-vinced that the EU has the potential to combatthe crisis. That potential already exists here inEurope, but risks being neglected by leaders andgovernments who seem determined to pushahead with their current route, instead of lookingfor a new path.

The trade union movement is striving to unlockthis potential; which, sadly, continues to be un-derused, or undervalued, by many of today’sleaders. It is a potential borne out of a strong in-dustrial base, good public and private sectorservices, a well-educated population with accessto innovative research and educational institu-tions, and a fair and inclusive society. The EUmust mobilise its strengths for a better, moreequal, prosperous, democratic and peaceful fu-ture.

The European Trade Union Confederation wasfounded in 1973, and over these past fourdecades we have made many significant gains inadvancing an equitable society in Europe. But

now, as the crisis continues, many Europeanpoliticians seem determined to roll-back on theseadvances. This must not be allowed to happen.We in the trade union movement will continue toresist any moves that seek to destroy the socialdimension of the European project.

There have been many social advances madesince European integration began, but since thestart of the crisis in 2008, the social dimension ofthe EU has been non-existent. If European lead-ers continue to ignore the real needs of people,not only will the EU continue to stagnate, but itwill also lose the trust and support of its citizens.

There has been much speculation about therise of far-right and populist parties in Europe,and how that will affect the working of the Euro-pean Parliament, should voters chose to expresstheir dissatisfaction that way when they vote forMEPs in May 2014. But we trust in the Europeancitizens: re-installing borders, is not a solution tounemployment; in a globalised world isolation hasnothing to offer to future generations. Our coun-tries are too small to fight global competition.They must find a positive way to economic andsocial integration.Why A New Path For Europe Is Needed

To this end, the ETUC has launched its mani-festo for the European Parliament elections. Thisdocument calls on candidates to endorse policiesthat uphold and foster the social dimension of theEuropean Union; a Europe that provides its citi-zens with quality jobs and a sound future thatseeks an end to austerity, uncertainty and divi-sion. Effectively, we are calling on European citi-zens to vote for candidates that will change theway the EU is being run.

Regretfully, those same citizens have an in-creased sense that Europe is not been run ontheir behalf; and this feeling of loss will continueas long as there is a sense that its political lead-ers are not prepared to change course. This iswhy we in the trade union movement are fighting

for a new path for Europe.It is in response to failed policies, both eco-

nomic and social, that ETUC is calling for thisnew direction, this new path for Europe. Insteadof further cutbacks and austerity, we are propos-ing an alternative; an investment plan with a long-term perspective that seeks to avoid a lostdecade of mass unemployment, precarious workand tax injustice.

In an era when €1,000 billion has been spentto save the financial sector, and the same amountis lost each year in tax evasion and fraud, it isnow time to spend money on a sustainable futurefor European citizens, who have endured muchhardship these past years.

Our plan envisages an investment of 2% of Eu-ropean Union GDP over a ten-year period. Suchan investment would help in building up a strongindustrial base, good public and private services,properly functioning state systems and innovativeresearch and educational institutions.

It is this level of investment that is needed atthis time to give our ailing economies a boost, toreverse stagnation and give people hope andconfidence for the future.

This is the task facing all of us who care aboutthe European project today; trade unions, citi-zens, the EU institutions and political leaders. It isa sad fact that many feel let down by the policiesof the EU at present. But this does not mean ithas to be that way. European trade unions areproposing an alternative, a new path that allowsits citizens to share in a different direction. Euro-pean recovery is not just about keeping marketsopen, it is also about social protection and cohe-sion amongst its people. That is what we will con-tinue to fight for.Bernadette Ségol is the Secretary General ofthe European Trade Union Confederation. Pre-viously she was the head of UNI Europa, theEuropean trade union federation for servicesand communication which represents 7 mil-lion workers and 330 affiliated trade unions.One of her main focuses is wage equality inEurope.This column was first published by New Europe

‘EUR ON THE WRONG ROAD’WARNS TOP UNION LEADER

European and world affairsNews www.nipsa.org.uk Page 15 NIPSA NEWSNewswww.nipsa.org.uk

ARE the disputes between thecoalition government and the Eu-ropean Commission part of aphoney war or a slide to separa-tion? Time will tell, but there is areal fear that current policies willpropel the UK out of the EU.

The Observer’s headline on Janu-ary 12 (‘Defiant Brussels slapsdown British threats to rewrite im-migration rules’) highlights thegrowing rift between the current gov-ernment and the European Commis-sion. Many, even in theConservative Party, are worried thatthis rift with the Commission – whichextends over free movement oflabour to the governments of Bul-garia and Poland – will render inef-fective the government’s diplomaticefforts to secure support for repatria-tion of powers or widespread dereg-ulation.

Pragmatists and europhiles in theCoalition worry that relationships arenow so bad that the government’savowed strategy of negotiating re-forms to the EU so that they couldbe endorsed by an in-out referen-dum in 2017 will founder becausethe rift will make it impossible to se-cure concessions.

They fear that the government’sbull in a china shop approach, andthe hostile reaction it is generatingfrom European politicians, will propelBritain out of the EU. And whilstthose arguing for an amicable di-vorce maintain we will easily be ableto survive outside the EU, if it resultsfrom an acrimonious slangingmatch, the only people to suffer willbe the British people.

In part, these rows are the in-evitable consequence, as British In-fluence’s Peter Wilding puts it, ofDavid Cameron trying to ride twohorses at once. On the one hand, hewants support from European gov-ernments for his plans to repatriatedecisions over workers’ rights, andto restrict the free movement oflabour – one of the founding princi-ples of the European Union – as wellas endorse widespread deregula-tion.

On the other, he wants to shootUkip’s fox (obviously he’d prefer tohunt it with hounds, but knows theBritish people would draw a line onthat one) by getting tough with Eu-rope.

Shouting at ‘Brussels bureaucrats’and slandering the Poles, Romani-ans and Bulgarians in public whileBritish diplomats dish out bucketloads of Ferrero Rocher in privateisn’t a recipe for winning friends inthe Council of Ministers, althoughCameron has managed to get theEU signed up to the deregulatoryREFIT strategy (although the Com-mission claims it won’t deregulateanything that actually matters.)

Cynics will suggest that provokingangry reactions from European so-cialists like Social Affairs Commis-sioner Laszlo Andor and EuropeanParliament President Martin Schulz– and even fellow right-wing politi-cians like Commission Vice-Presi-

dent Viviane Reding (like Schultz apossible future Commission Presi-dent) – actually helps Camerondemonstrate to Conservative votersflirting with Ukip that he is ‘battlingBrussels for Britain’ (George Os-borne’s attempts to do the samewhen he is only ‘batting for bankers’in the City have been less popular).

But when even the euroscepti-cally-inclined William Hague says‘we have to be realistic‘ over his ownbackbench MPs’ demands for aWestminster veto over all EU legis-lation, the strains in the policy areclearly showing.

One lesson of all this is that Euro-pean political leaders shouldn’tmake the mistake that they can sati-ate the eurosceptic beast in Britain.The appetite of Ukip and Cameron’sbackbench europhobes won’t besatisfied with any concessions Ger-man or Italian politicians are mindedto offer, so they might as well giveup.

We’re probably still not quite at thestage we were in when Labour wonthe 1997 election and Tony Blair wasmet with undisguised relief by therest of an EU tired of being hectoredby Mrs Thatcher and then the sub-ject of continued eurosceptic snipingunder John Major.

Labour’s adoption of the SocialChapter, and avowed commitment toEurope, allowed Labour to movestraight into a leadership position innegotiating the Lisbon Agenda, butgradually the default euroscepticismof trumpeting ‘British national inter-ests’ and the reluctance to embracethe European social model (eg over

the adoption of the information andconsultation directive and the tem-porary agency workers directive,and the maintenance of the workingtime directive opt out) turned the re-lationship sour.

But Labour ought to be thinkingnow of what a similar European hon-eymoon might allow it to do if it winsthe next election. Not in terms of fur-ther concessions to narrow national-ism, but in terms of how Europecould be persuaded to changecourse in ways that would benefitBritish people and the British econ-omy.

One example would be pushingfor the New Path for Europe invest-ment strategy that the EuropeanTrade Union Confederation is pro-posing which could mobilise idle cor-porate cash reserves to create 11million decent jobs across the EU,especially for young people. An earlydecision to join in with the RobinHood Tax that will by then be inplace across most of continental Eu-rope’s money markets would helpcement a new EU-UK relationship(as well as yielding up to £20bn ayear in tax revenues for the Excheq-uer, some of that reclaimed from therest of the EU.)

That would be worth the tears cur-rently being shed over the rows be-tween government ministers andEuropean politicians and commis-sioners.Owen Tudor is head of the TUC’sEuropean Union and InternationalRelations Department. This postfirst appeared on the TUC’sTouchstone Blog

Austerity policies creating huge divisions in society, says ETUC chief BATTLE IN BRUSSELSBy Owen Tudor

Tories sour European relations in bitter fight with Ukip over free movementof labour and their demands to weaken UK workers’ rights even further

2014 has started with fear and sadness in Colombia as attacks and criminalisationof social protests continue. With yet another trade union leader viciously attacked,IndustriALL Global Union joins Colombian unions in denouncing the violence.

UK construction firms working inIndia are to be targeted in an effort toimprove the conditions of brick work-ers in the country.

Campaigners claim that terrible andoften illegal working conditions arefound at Indian brick kilns including 12-18 hour days and use of child labourwith the bricks produced used to con-struct offices and factories as well ashomes in the country’s booming econ-omy.

Now, an international alliance of tradeunions, Union Solidarity International(USI), is launching a campaign - BloodBricks - with the aim of forcing compa-nies to carry out checks.

Andrew Brady, director of global tradeunion alliance Union Solidarity Interna-tional, said the campaign, to be

launched next week, would target multi-national construction firms, including UKfirms, working in the Indian constructionmarket.

Brady said that the 2006 CompaniesAct as well as international law gavecompanies including architects, engi-neers and other consultants, a responsi-bility to check on the human rightsimplications of their work.

He said: “We want to challenge thecompanies involved in India to ensurethey are vigorously checking whethertheir supply chains are free of whatwe’re calling ‘blood bricks’.”

“They should be taking steps to en-sure there are no human rights abusesand we want to ensure they’re comply-ing with UK law as well as Indian law,”he added.

TRADE unionists in Colombia are consistentlysubjected to violence and persecution. The latestvictim at a peaceful demonstration is the presi-dent of CUT and SINTRAELECOL-Caldas, ArturoOscar Orozco, who was brutally attacked by theanti-riot police and remains in hospital in a veryserious condition. Four leaders of another IndustriALL Global

Union affiliate, the Union Sindical Obrera de laIndustría del Petroleo, unfairly detained sinceDecember 4, 2013 are subject to threats by para-military and mafia gangs in the prison yards. Theattacks, displacements, threats, assassinations

as well as the criminalization of all social protest,continues, corroborating the Government’s lackof political will to guarantee the exercise of free-dom of association, collective bargaining and theright to strike in Colombia. With again reports of other trade union leaders

viciously attacked and murdered since the begin-ning of 2014, IndustriALL Global Union joinsColombian unions in denouncing the institu-tional violence and impunity.Send a protest letter to President Santos at: http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_cam-paign.cgi?c=2141

‘Blood bricks’ abuse


www.nipsa.org.ukPage 16 NIPSA NEWS News

Organise to protect services, jobs, pay and pensionsYOU HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY...SUPPORT YOUR UNION AND YOUR COLLEAGUES

A CHALLENGE TO BUILDAN ALTERNATE VISIONACROSS the globe neo-liberal economicscontinues to see increases in inequality,poverty, social instability, new imperialist ad-ventures and environmental degradation.

In Northern Ireland the welcome transition fromviolence to a functioning assembly is accompa-nied by a second transition from an economicframework formulated upon the post-war socialcontract, to one that is dominated by marketagendas and neo-liberal principles.

In the south we are witnessing a fast-track tran-sition to the same neo-liberalised economy usingthe financial crisis as cover.

An insidious media, business, political and thirdsector consensus has emerged which seeks to‘re-balance’ the economy by selling off state serv-ices making the country more ‘favourable’ to for-eign direct investment through increasedcorporate welfare and a concerted ideological at-tack on workers, the unemployed and the vulner-able.

Such political and institutional addiction to afailed neo-liberal orthodoxy only guarantees fu-ture economic and social insecurity.

If we want a balanced, stable and sustainableisland economy, it is time to start building cooper-ative and socialised alternatives, and that is whatTrademark, the anti-sectarian unit of the IrishCongress of Trade Unions is attempting, in ourway, to do.

In parallel with our traditional role, we recognisethe importance of forging links with other progres-sive social movements that seek to create a moreequal and democratic world.

This of course must include the cooperativemovement.

In Ireland, north and south the co-operativemovement comprises credit unions, agriculturalco-operatives, housing associations and the co-operative retail movement with billions in assets,tens of thousands of employees and with the con-tribution of the credit union movement, millions ofmembers.

Worker owned co-operatives, however, are al-most entirely absent.

It is clear that worker-owned and worker-man-aged co-operatives must be part of a new alter-native economiclandscape.

They can offer analternative means atcreating dignifiedand socially-usefulemployment that isdemocratically con-trolled by thosewhose labour cre-

ates the wealth. In order to create more sustainable, independ-

ent and democratic work practices, the model ofcooperative development needs to expand be-yond retail, social finance and farming, just as thefocus on social enterprises generallyneeds to seriously look at workermanagement and ownership.

Co-operative forms of eco-nomic activity deserve to bepart of the creation of asustainable economy,that minimises the ‘leak-age’ of revenue streams(profits, wages, assetsand credit creation) fromthe economy.

In 2009, we undertookresearch into worker co-operatives and the contri-bution they might make intackling inequality and pro-moting democracy.

The research showed thatworker co-operatives can distinguishthemselves as democratic and community fo-cused and can contribute to a co-operative ‘com-monwealth’ in partnership with other socialmovements that can act as an alternative to neo-liberalism.

Trademark took a strategic decision to begin aWorker Co-operative Development Programmewith the initial focus on interfaces in Belfast. Theorganisation felt that the development of Interfaceco-operative structures held potential to resistand challenge sectarianism by bringing workerstogether daily to work democratically for joint ben-efit in which values of solidarity and democracycan replace the dynamics of suspicion and mis-trust

Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber made the head-lines at the much-vaunted MTV Europe show-case held in Belfast in 2011, but a perhaps moresignificant event was taking place backstage.

A group of worker-owners from the Falls andShankill Roads, set about setting up Belfast’s firstinterface workers’ co-operative, the BelfastCleaning Society(www.belfastcleaningsociety.com).

Alice McLarnon, a trade unionist, communityactivist and co-worker, was one of its foundingmembers.

Describing the group as “unionised,worker-controlled and democratic”,

she said workers pay themselvesabove the industry average

“while re-investing THEIRprofits in THEIR future”.

Following the successfulestablishment of the firstco-operative, Trademarkbecame involved in assist-ing the setting up and de-velopment of a number ofco-operative start-ups.This led to the establish-

ment of the all-island Work-ers’ Co-operative Network

(www.workerscooperativenet-work.org) who along with the de-

velopment of inter-cooperation arelobbying to secure progressive changes

to Irish and British law on co-operatives.Worker co-operatives can make a difference

because of the presence of political conscious-ness expressed through core values – valuessuch as the sovereignty of labour, the subordi-nate nature of capital, democracy, inter coopera-tion and sustainability.

Co-operatives offer opportunities for politicalengagement and expose workers to tangibledemocratic experience. In distinguishing them-selves as democratic, and as community-fo-cused, worker co-operatives offer newexperiences and can act as spaces of collec-tivism and social solidarity.

The system that is in crisis is not absolute. It isalways resisted, challenged and transformed.

Whether in the struggles of labour against capi-tal or in those co-operative spaces where themarkets grip is loosened, we are challenged to

look beyond the sys-tem for answers.

We can perhaps lookto alternative struc-tures where participa-tive democracy ispractised and wherecollective forms ofownership still exist.

SPECIAL FOCUS ON WORKER CO-OPERATIVES

‘Capitalism is not a success. It is not intelligent, it is notbeautiful, it is not just, it is not virtuous – and it doesn't de-liver the goods. In short, we dislike it, and we are beginningto despise it. But when we wonder what to put in its place,we are extremely perplexed’ - John Maynard Keynes

‘ ‘By Stephen Nolan, Trademark


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