Union Post October 2010

NEWS YOU CAN USENION POST

OCTOBER 2010

PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE IRISH CONGRESS OF TRADE UNIONSTHE

U►NORTH SHOCK CUTS IN SPENDING REVIEW►SOUTH FOURTH ‘HAIR SHIRT’ BUDGET LOOMS

UNDERATTACKBUT WE’RE FIGHTING BACK ...

SEPT 29 DAY OF ACTION PICTURES & REPORTS PAGES 14-17

More cuts: Lenihan

Axe man: Osborne

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REPORT & PICTURES: P2/3

RISE LIKE LIONS! Eamonn McCann concludes October 23 rally against the cuts in Belfast with a rousing quote from radical poet Shelley

2 THE UNION POST � October 2010

THE UNION POST is produced by Brazier Mediafor the Irish Congress of Trade Unions

Irish nursing graduatesforced to work abroad

Getting our messageto Stormont MLAs

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Sept 29 protests:pictures & reports

UK public sector ‘teedup for privatisation’

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Rights struggle fordomestic workers23

Northern Ireland CommitteeIrish Congress of Trades Unions4-6 Donegall Street PlaceBelfast BT1 2FNNorthern IrelandTel: 02890 247940Fax: 02890 246898Email: [email protected]: www.ictuni.org

Irish Congress ofTrade Unions31/32 Parnell SquareDublin 1IrelandTel: +353 1 8897777Fax: +353 1 8872012Email: [email protected]

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UNION POST

THOUSANDS of people braved heavy down-pours to show their opposition to the cuts at aCongress-organised protest in the centre ofBelfast on October 23.

Despite the wet weather, Congress stewardsestimated 15,000 took part in the march andrally to Belfast City Hall.

Similar demos voicing opposition to Chancel-lor George Osborne’s Comprehensive SpendingReview were staged in Scotland,Wales and theEnglish regions.

Congress assistant general secretary PeterBunting told the crowd Osborne had “the brassneck” to claim that “those with the broadestshoulders should bear the burden” before goingon to place that burden on “the poor, the ill,young people, women and ordinary workingfamilies”.

He asked was it fair for “a cabinet of million-aires” to cut £18bn from benefit claimants orfor the banks who caused the crisis to pay “ameasly two-and-a-half billion” while pocketing£7bn in bonuses.

Mr Bunting said:“The elite who created thiscrisis see workers, public services and the mostvulnerable as the bank of last resort when theyneed to be bailed out.

“They think that taxes are for the little peo-ple.” To applause from the crowd, he suggested

that half of them “should be in prison for wreck-ing the economy and the other half should be inprison for tax dodging”.

Pointing out that the UK was “most unequalcountry in Europe”, he claimed that imposing a2% wealth tax on the richest 10% would raise£78bn in a single year.

Mr Bunting added:“If those with the broadestshoulders really paid their share, we could wipeout this deficit in one year – not four.”

‘NOT MEDICINE... POISON’Turning to Stormont Finance Minister Sammy

Wilson, he claimed the DUP politician “wantedus to sit down, shut up and take our medicine”which he described as a “prescription of auster-ity and privatisation”.

But Mr Bunting added:“This is not medicine,but poison.”

He also reminded Mr Wilson that electionswere “coming soon”.

“It is time that Sammy and his ilk earned theirseats not by their tradition, or even their politi-cal parties, but by how they acted in this crisis.”

Congress vice chair Pamela Dooley describedthe cuts outlined in the Comprehensive Spend-ing Review as “an obscene attack on the poor...and on women and children in particular”.

The cuts would, she predicted, take Northern

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3October 2010 � THE UNION POST

Ireland “to the brink of social and economic dis-aster”. Ms Dooley said:“We are clearly experi-encing an onslaught on fundamental rights...without doubt we are experiencing wholesalestate discrimination against women.”

But she vowed that “no woman and no workerwill be allowed to face these challenges alone”,adding that the trade union message was clear –“there is a better, fairer way”.

Returning to a theme touched on by PeterBunting, Ms Dooley said:“The clock is ticking onStormont.

“They must decide whether or not to strike abudget. Negotiations with Westminster need tobe reopened – we want to hear no excuses, wewant to see action.”

Congress vice president Eugene McGlonetalked about Sammy Wilson “bleating on” about“living in the real world”.

He suggested instead that the Finance Ministershould try living on the minimum wage or onwelfare benefits “to get a flavour of what itmeans” before “telling us we live in cloud cuckooland”.

Mr McGlone added – to cries of “Out! Out!Out!” from the crowd – “Perhaps the electoratenext May will put manners on him”.

He told the crowd the public did not want

politicians’ “sympathetic looks or crocodiletears”, rather they wanted them to “at least standup for us, their constituents, and oppose the ob-scene visitation of this attack on the most vulner-able people”.

Mr McGlone reminded those gathered outsidethe City Hall that 30,000 jobs had already beenlost in the private sector in Northern Irelandover the last two years and that number wouldbe swelled if the cuts are implemented by at leastanother 20,000 public servants and a further16,000 private sector workers.

‘STILL IN BUSINESS’He said: “And let’s also remember that the

people who caused it are still in business.“The richest 1,000 people in the UK saw their

personal wealth grow by £77bn last year. Howmuch pain are they taking? Our public servicesand welfare benefits are being cannibalised to bailout the banks. It’s our livelihoods and with ourlivelihoods, our futures and our children’s futuresthat are being sacrificed.”

Mike Kirby of the Scottish TUC was next tospeak.He slammed the Tory Lib-Dem cuts agendaas an excuse to dismantle the Welfare Statewhich had taken “a social consensus of 50 yearsto build” and predicted that the Comprehensive

Spending Review was “a taste of things to come”.“They are only the bite-size nibbles before you

sit down for the main meal.”He warned that for every public sector job

that goes, another in the private sector would belost. Mr Kirby claimed most of these jobs wouldgo in Scotland, North East England and NorthernIreland because these regions were “Tory freezones”, adding,“They don’t care about us”.

“The Tories and their Lib-Dem stooges will cutand roll back the Welfare State and their strategyis to make these changes irreversible.”

Eamonn McCann, of Derry Trades Council, alsospoke at the rally.

He told the crowd that the rally “was not theend of something but the beginning of some-thing” and insisted that “together we can trans-form society”.

“We have to say that we will defend every joband fight every cut.” Describing the working classas the “great sleeping giant of Northern Irelandpolitics”, he added that he wanted to send a mes-sage to Stormont.

Quoting the poet Shelley he said:“Rise likelions after slumber/ In unvanquishable number/Shake to earth your chains like dew/ Which insleep had fallen on you/ We are mighty, they arefew!”

LIONS AGAINST CUTS

Mike Kirby: ‘Tory free zones’ hit

McGlone: ‘Put manners on Sammy’

Pamela Dooley Eamonn McCann

Bunting: ‘Brass neck Osborne’Allp

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TRADE UNION TV COVERAGE OF MARCH AND RALLY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cww8ksDVJNM

THE UNION POST � October 20104

CONGRESS economic advisorPaul Sweeney has flagged up thekey indicators that show the Irishgovernment’s deflationary eco-nomic policies are “patently fail-ing”.

He told delegates at aTASC/FEPS conference on Octo-ber 22 these were: rising unem-ployment, rising emigration, risingbond rates, falling participation,falling tax revenue, falling eco-nomic growth, plummeting con-sumer and business confidence,business closures and despair.

Mr Sweeney warned a boom inexports would not offset the ham-mering of domestic demand –which made up 70% of GDP.

He said:“The government blewthe Celtic Tiger boom with free-market fundamentalism of tax-cut-ting and de-regulation. It is again inthe grip of failed conservative eco-nomic policies.”

Mr Sweeney blasted the govern-ment for sidelining the jobs crisisand focusing only on fiscal andbanking considerations yet at thesame time managing to make amess out of both of these.

The same administration thatcaved in to domestic bankers withbail-outs and guarantees two yearsago was now bowing before inter-national bondholders.

COLLAPSEHe pointed out that the collapse

in Ireland ’s GNP was the worst inthe world, having fallen by one-fifth since it stood at €161bn in2007.

Mr Sweeney warned it wouldlikely be after 2020 before Irelandagain enjoyed 2007 levels of na-tional income.

In setting a course out of thecurrent economic morass, he sug-gested:

� Goverment admits currentfour-year plan of deficit reductionto 3% of GDP cannot be achieved,

� Instead make any adjustmentwith “judicious cuts” teamed with“focused tax rises” at “passive in-come, wealth and profits”,

� Not cutting investment butboosting and expanding it, and

� “Burn” Anglo and INBS bond-holders by 90%, saving €20bn to€24bn in the process.

This would share out the bur-den of the bank rescue on thesuper-rich, save billions in theprocess as well as “making Irelandmore attractive to lenders”.

ICTU: Irishgovernmentblew CelticTiger boom

Public launch of theCongress Pre-BudgetSubmission will takeplace on Wednesday,November 3 at 11amin the O'Casey Roomat the Gresham Hotel,Dublin.

Budget 2011

UNIONS at Belfast Metropoli-tan College have called manage-ment proposals to cut 100 staffposts “deliberately misleading”.

They claimed that after receiv-ing further information, the ac-tual number of jobs lost wouldbe closer to 200 posts – nearly20% of staff at the college.

Monica Goligher from UCUsaid:“The manner in which thesejob losses have been handledshows a clear contempt for staff.

“Unions intend to resist theseattempts to decimate jobs andeducational provision within theBelfast Metropolitan College ”

Larry Fitzsimons, from NA-SUWT, warned the proposalswould “negatively impact on stu-dents and will reduce servicesto the people of Belfast and be-yond”.

Unions hitout at BMCjob losses

Time ripefor changeIT’S time to turn despair andfrustration into positive and de-cisive action for real change.

This will be the message putforward by a range of unions,community groups and civil soci-ety organisations at “a uniqueand historic” gathering at theRDS in Dublin on October 30.

A source said:“The aim ofClaiming Our Future is to fostera unity across civil society and topower a progressive movementthat will reshape Ireland’s recov-ery and claim our social values.”

As The Union Post went topress, it was confirmed thatthe event is now totallybooked out but proceedingswill be streamed live atwww.claimingourfuture.ie

Doors open at the IndustriesHall at 9.30am.

Pictures: Paula Geraghty

MANDATE has called on manage-ment at Laura Ashley to reconsiderits refusal to avail of the services ofthe Labour Relations Commission.

Staff employed at its flag-ship store in Dublin are onstrike over the company’soffer of statutory redun-dancy only as it preparesto shut its Grafton Streetpremises.

Mandate’s industrial of-ficer Dave Moran saidthe 22 staff were only in-formed their jobs were at riskon September 24.

He added:“Clearly the staff wereshocked and surprised by the veryshort notice given to them in rela-tion to the closure of the store.

“In addition, they were very upsetto realise that the company wasonly willing to offer statutory re-dundancy payments and that all em-ployees who wish to remain in

employment at one ofLaura Ashley’s six re-maining retail unitswould be obliged toonce more undergo aninterview.”

Describing the actionas “unilateral and ungen-erous”, he noted that thedevelopment came on the

back of the firm’s bumper pre-taxprofits of £10.5n for the 26 weeksto end July with total turnovergrowing by 5.7% to £135.1m.

‘Engage LRC’ call onLaura Ashley bosses

MANDATE members in Bootshave voted overwhelmingly infavour of restructuring propos-als.

The October 11 result cameafter what one source called aseries of “tough but honest” ne-gotiations lasting nearly a yearbetween the union and manage-ment under the auspices of theLabour Relations Commission.

Under the deal, titled the NewNational Procedural Agreement,the firm recognises Mandate ashaving sole negotiating rights on

behalf of its 900 members (outof a total workforce of 1,700).

The agreement sets out an in-dustrial relations framework tomanage disputes with union rep-resentation guaranteed through-out any process.

It is augmented by a ‘Creatinga Work Life Balance’ initiativewhich – according to one unionsource – “aims to enable staff atBoots to make work fit aroundtheir lives as opposed to otherway around”.

The source continued:“The

initiatives – which will be imple-mented on a store by store basis– include a recognition of jobsharing and parental leave stan-dards but also more innovativeschemes like term-time workingand careers breaks.

“The company has also givenundertakings to consult withstaff on any changes and willhopefully set both sides on apath of mutual respect and suc-cess.”

Boots workers vote forrestructuring proposals

Mandate members protest outside store

October 2010 � THE UNION POST 5

CAMPAIGNINGFAIRER IRELANDFOR A

TTHHEERREE IISS AA BBEETTTTEERR FFAAIIRREERR WWAAYYMandate Head Office O’Lehane House, 9 Cavendish Row, Dublin 1Tel: 01 874 6321 Fax: 01 872 9581 Email: [email protected] www.mandate.ie


CONGRESS general secretary David Begg haswarned the Irish government’s current targetof achieving a budget deficit of 3% by 2014risks “doing permanent damage to our econ-omy and to the fabric of our society”.

In a speech to the Institute of Taxation on October 19, he pointed out that fiscal retrenchment could not be achieved “throughausterity alone” and instead insisted thatgrowth was “the key” to extricating the economy from its current difficulties.

He said: “The truth is that government isdelusional about the effects of the fiscal crisison growth. But markets can assess the reality.That is why after three brutal budgets thecost of borrowing has risen rather thanfallen.”

Mr Begg claimed the government was inthrall to “classical economics” based on“models and precepts which assume certainthings which do not occur in the real world”.

The current government was putting inplace an economic policy based on fiscal contraction followed in the late 1980s.

The problem, however, was that marketconditions now are wholly different fromthose that existed 25 years ago.

He said: “At that time Ireland had the benefit of two currency devaluations and the implementation in 1986 of the Single European Act which provided us with a mag-net for American foreign direct investment.

“Moreover, we were not then experiencinga synchronised global downturn. I do notthink we can again expect growth from fiscalcontraction.”

‘NEO-CLASSICAL GUFF’Mr Begg also described as “neo-classical

guff” the view that the “certainty generatedby austerity” would give people “the confi-dence to spend money and reduce savings”.

He added: “I certainly don’t know anybodywho thinks like this but I do know a lot ofpeople who are saving all they can in casethey lose their jobs in six months time.”

Mr Begg questioned the view that improvedexports could compensate for a deflationary

AUSTERITY DRIVE IS ROAD TO RUINBROWNE REVIEW

Workingpeople willbe frozenout of thethird levelUNITE has backed Northern Ireland’s hard-pressed students following the publication earlier this month of the inquiryinto university funding by former BP chiefLord Browne.

The main recommendation contained inthe review was the removal of the currentcap of £3,290 on tuition fees.

Unite claims this will freeze out of thirdlevel education many students from loweror middle income families.

Regional secretary Jimmy Kelly said:“Lord Browne’s report means that you canforget about higher education if you arefrom a family with only moderate means, if you are averse to walking away from university at the end of your course withan absolute mountain of debt or if your chosen vocation is not particularly wellpaid.”

He said it was now possible to figure out the coalition government’s approach toeducation and that ithad a “startling re-semblance” to thirdlevel provision in“the first half of the20th century”.

Mr Kelly added:“Elite universities charging the earth toeducate the cossetedyouth of the upperclasses, a middle rank of students strug-gling to keep theirheads above water in the company of the so-called elite and a lower rank of collegesdealing with more vocational courses forthe working classes.”

He also insisted that Con-Lib policywould “impoverish the poor and safeguardthe rich”.

“What it will do to students is clear enough. It will take any strain of meritocracy that might have worked itsway into the system over the last centuryand eliminate it. But what it will do to thecountry is, in many ways, even more dramatic.

“What price technological advance and research and development in the sciences if the pool of students is defined by theirparents' income or their recklessness intaking on huge debts in a field in which remuneration is wildly variable?

“What courses will universities provide ifthey are driven into a market environment?

“The answer is clear. It will be thosecourses that attract well-off families. It willresult in the working class being driven outof professions”

Mr Kelly added: “More and more, the Tories and their Lib-Dem partners are reconstructing a world which most hopedhad been relegated to history.”

Jimmy Kelly

READ CONGRESS GENERAL SECRETARY DAVID BEGG’S SPEECH IN FULL AT

CONGRESS has called on Northern IrelandSecretary of State Owen Paterson to comeclean on the cuts.

It follows a meeting on October 13 when Paterson is reported to have“confirmed” to a trade uniondelegation that the remaining£9.1bn of the £18bn in the capital investment programme – promised as part of the peace process – wouldbe honoured.

However, the leading Tory hasnow been blasted for peddling“the worst type of spin” afterchancellor George Osborne’sOctober 20 announcementthat capital spending will beslashed by 40%.

According to Congresssources, Mr Paterson’s re-sponse that “other sources ofcapital funding are available”was either code for selling offgovernment assets at bargain prices, or be-trayed an unjustifiable faith in the private sec-tor to provide the funding.

Congress assistant general secretary PeterBunting said: “I am not sure which planet OwenPaterson is living on.

“Last week, the Secretary of State looked usin the eyes and made a commitment on behalfof the coalition government that it would honour its obligations to the people of Northern Ireland.

“This week, he tells us that the cuts amountto less than two per cent. This is the worsttype of spin and treats us all like fools, or visitors from another planet.

“Let me assure Mr Patersonthat the people of Northern Ire-land know when someone is try-ing to sell them a pup.

“They promise those with the‘broadest backs will bear the burden’, and yet they are cuttingover £18 billion from benefitswhile meekly asking for £2.5 billion from their donors in thebanks and hedge funds.

“They heap praise on thearmed forces and slash theirbudgets.

“They promise ‘a bonfire of thequangos’ yet slash those whichregulate big business.

“They preach about the evils oftax cheating yet cut the person-

nel in HM Revenue & Customs.“They have wiped out what remains of the

construction industry in Northern Ireland andwill double unemployment here, and have im-poverished our disproportionate number of benefits claimants. This, according to theSecretary of State, ‘is a remarkable result’.

“The only thing which would be remarkableafter this farce, is if anyone from Northern Ireland can look Owen Paterson in the eye,and trust what he says.”

Just what planet isSoS Paterson on?

Owen Paterson

CSR REACTION


strategy on domestic demand.He said: “At a time when every country

is trying to pull itself out of recession by increasing exports it seems improbable thatwe can greatly increase our market share.”

Mr Begg also rubbished claims that “thebond vigilantes will get us” if Ireland does notget its borrowing below 3% by 2014, adding“we assume a disposition on the part of thebond markets that they have never stated”.

Admitting that Ireland could not continue“indefinitely” with such a large gap betweenincome and expenditure, he also pointed outthat it was “equally irresponsible” to call forsacrifices the population could not endure.

He added: “To my mind there is a better,fairer way of doing this and growth is the keyto it.

“Growth can both do the heavy lifting ofadjustment and diminish the scale of the problem by increasing the size of theeconomy.”

Because growth needed time and invest-ment “to get a foothold”, that was why the

adjustment could not be accomplished in fouryears and should instead be stretched toseven years.

Conjuring up images of a “lost decade” suchas that experienced by Japan in the 1990s, he described the government’s current policyas “not only economically dangerous” but “politically unwise”.

He warned: “The distributional unfairnessinherent in this policy may induce a societalreaction which could undermine our long-runstability and prosperity.”

Instead Mr Begg said the government inconsidering the next Budget should look at: � A more balanced approach between tax and expenditure cuts,� Taxing income from all sources in the same way,� Higher earners bearing the greatest burden of adjustment,� Widening the tax base so that those with wealth and assets make a fair contribution, and � Tackling tax avoidance.

AUSTERITY DRIVE IS ROAD TO RUIN

Simple as 1,2,3,4...

TAX REFORM

Picture: Derek Spe

irs

COMMUNITY Platform has launched a drive challeng-ing the Irish government’s cuts agenda and calling instead for progressive taxation as a way out of theeconomic crisis.

The group – a network of 29 national organisationsworking to address poverty and social exclusion – setout a four-step programme to recovery at a launch inDublin last month.

Proposals outlined in the strategy document ‘4 Steps2 Recovery’ are:1. Tax breaks - reduction in tax breaks to the EU

average over a three-year period, saving an estimated€1.5bn each year.2. Tax wealth - One third of the country's

financial and property assets are owned by the top 1%of households. Much of this wealth remains untaxed.The Community Platform proposed a wealth tax forhigh-earners with assets worth more than €1m.3. Tax levies - Income from capital, rents and

investments should be treated like PAYE income andbe subjected to PRSI and income levies. The incomelimit for PRSI payments should also be removed.4. Tax exiles - In 2007, it was estimated there

were 6,000 individuals claiming non-resident tax status

in Ireland. This list includes some of Ireland's wealthiestpeople. High-earning Irish citizens can limit their tax liabilities to just €200,000 a year through claiming non-residency status. This massive tax avoidance canbe removed by making citizenship rather than residence the basis for taxation and thus target highearners using tax havens.

Speaking at the September 13 launch, AnneCostello, of the Community Platform, said fresh think-ing was needed to get Ireland back on the road to recovery and claimed the group’s tax reform proposalswould raise about €3bn if implemented.

She added: "Our proposals will introduce a sustain-able and progressive tax system.

“For decades significant amounts of wealth in Irelandhave gone untaxed. The wealthiest in our society havebeen able to reduce their tax contribution significantly.

"The picture is clear – we have an inadequate, unjusttaxation system that must be fixed.

“A progressive tax system will protect spending onvital services, retain jobs and support consumer demand. It will avoid the potential disaster that draining another €3bn out of the economy will haveon businesses, communities and the self-employedthroughout the country.”

Are you listening ministers? Community Platform members bring their proposals to gates of the Dail

http://communityplatform.ie/4steps2recovery.html

www.ictu.ie/press/2010/10/19/government-must-extend-period-of-adjustment-to-2017/

IMPACT has claimed no consulta-tion took place before Educationand Skill Minister Mary Coughlanannounced the closure of 17 Vocational Education Committeesearlier this month.

The union, which represents justover 1,400 VEC staff, said it wouldbe now be seeking clarificationthat closures would be implemented in line with theCroke Park Agreement.

It is set out in the agreementthat as far as possible servicesshould be protected as budgets decline.

The deal also contains safe-guards over compulsory redundan-cies and staff redeployment.

IMPACT national secretary MattStaunton said: “The extent of the reduction is surprising, given thatthe McCarthy Report called for areduction in the number of VECsto 22.

“The reduction to 16 appearsexcessive in this context, and fliesin the face of expert opinion thatthere is a growing need to deliverfurther education and trainingservices in a time of burgeoningunemployment.”

The original target saving in theMcCarthy Report was €3 million,although the VEC branch of IMPACT now estimates that thescale of the cut now is closer to€4.5 million.

Mr Staunton added: “The collat-eral damage will be far in excess ofthat amount when you considerthe effect on communities, serviceusers and staff.”

IMPACT hitsout at VECclosures as‘excessive’


THE Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisationhas described as “a terrible indictment” newdata revealing that most of this year’s 1,600new nursing/midwifery graduates have alreadyleft the country or will leave in the next twomonths.

A majority of these are moving to Britain,having being recruited by the NHS, with manygetting their air fare, first month’s accommoda-tion and a post-grad course of their choice paidfor.

The INMO has warned that Ireland risks repeating the mistake of the 1990s when a previous generation of nurses were forced togo overseas to practise their profession.

This meant that beginning in 2001, Irelandhad to recruit – at great cost to the exchequer– 12,000 non-Irish trained nurses to replacethose Irish-trained nurses who had left.

INMO general secretary Liam Doran said:“The numbers of newly graduating nurses andmidwives leaving this country is a terrible indictment of our ability to plan for the future,learn from our mistakes of the past and to ensure that we have a supply of Irish nursesand midwives to staff our health services in theyears to come.

“The reality is that we have over 1,600nurses/midwives, graduating with an honoursdegree, this year, none of whom are being offered permanent full-time posts in our publichealth service.

“A small minority may be offered short-termtemporary posts across the country, but none of them will be in a position to securepermanent employment.

“Against this background, the UK’s NHS isrecruiting large numbers of our graduatingnurses and midwives across England, Scotlandand Wales.”

There is a current shortage of nurses world-

wide with the UK, the US, Canada and Australiaactively recruiting Irish nurses/midwives.

The INMO claims that Ireland must continueto educate and retain adequate numbers of nurses and midwives to meet healthcare requirements at home over the next 10 to 15years.

Union president Sheila Dickson said: “It isjust soul destroying to see such highly educatedyoung people not being given an opportunity towork in Ireland.

“There is now a worldwide shortage ofnurses and many of our emigrants will buildnew lives and settle abroad and will be lost tothe Irish health service forever.”

Mr Doran added: “We must, in these very dif-

ficult times, strike an equal balance between thelegitimate expectations of nurses and midwivesand their patients and the overall economic situation facing the health service.

“However, the current strategy is doomed tofailure as it neglects today’s patients, leaves ustotally exposed with regard to planning for future needs and ignores the fact that othercountries view our newly graduated nurses andmidwives as priceless assets rather than a drainon resources.”

There is little doubt the Irish health serviceis facing meltdown.

According to the union, despite repeated assurances from politicians and health servicemanagement, frontline posts have not beenprotected.

The union points to the following stark facts:� According to HSE figures,1,900

nursing/midwifery jobs have been lost in thelast two-and-a-half years;

� Up to 1,000 nurses/midwives are eligibleto retire in 2011 and will not be replacedunder current HR policies; and

� 20% of the current nursing/midwiferyworkforce is aged between 50 and 59 with theaverage retirement age at 57.9 years.

The INMO has slammed the health service’scurrent policy of cutting back on frontlineposts as “short-sighted” and has rubbishedclaims that Ireland has “too many nurses” compared to other OECD countries.

The union has already proposed a “cost neu-

tral” solution to the problem that would keepnew graduates in the country as well as fill thegaps left by retirees.

In 2007, the independently-chaired Commis-sion on Nursing Hours advocated the introduction of a two-year graduate nursingprogramme.

This would have seen all nurses working a35-hour week, retired nurses being replaced, aguarantee of two years' employment for gradu-ates and an opportunity for them to consoli-date their clinical skills.

The Commission also outlined a new, lowersalary for the two-year duration of this gradu-ate nursing programme (85% of the minimumof the current staff nurse scale).

Picture: INMO

It costs the Irish taxpayer €90,000 to train a nurse or midwife to degree level. Graduates who remain athome face either minimal locum work or dole queue

DID YOUKNOW?

NURSING

NATIONAL DISGRACE: Irishtrained nurses and midwivesforced overseas to find work

INMO’s Liam Doran and Sheila Dickson at press conference highlighting jobs crisis facing Ireland’s newly-graduated nurses & midwives

September 2010 � THE UNION POST 9

Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, The Whitworth Building, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7Tel: 01 664 0600 Fax: 01 661 0466 www.inmo.ie www.nurse2nurse.ie

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is the professional trade unionfor nurses and midwives with more than 43,000 members

– or 4 out of every 5 nurses and midwives.

Log on to www.stophealthcuts.ie to share your story


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CONGRESS has welcomed a BBC Spotlight survey that showed most people in Northern Ireland are unwilling to pay water charges.

John Corey, chairperson of the ICTU-organisedCoalition Against Water Charges, said: “This confirms the people of Northern Ireland will notbe bounced into paying separate water chargeswhen they are already paying for this public service through their regional rates bills.”

Last month, Department of Regional Develop-ment Minister Conor Murphy told the NorthernIreland Assembly that there would be no separatehousehold water charges and no privatisation ofNI Water.

Mr Corey also urged Assembly ministers to address the domestic rates cap which he claimedhad benefited the better-off.

UNIONS have slammed Irish Health MinisterMary Harney after she said the health servicefaced a further cut of between €600m and €1bnin its funding next year.

Mrs Harney admitted there was "no easy wayto take that kind of money out" of the healthbudget after revealing the scale of funding cuts inan address to an ESRI conference in Dublin onOctober 19.

The INMO warned patient care will be severely compromised and frontline services curtailed if the cuts go ahead.

Repeating a call made earlier this year for a crisis summit on health services to be convened,general secretary Liam Doran said: “Faced withthe current economic realities stark difficultchoices will have to be made but, in the contextof a public health service, all decisions must putthe patient first and ensure frontline staff provid-ing direct care are given the required resources.”

SIPTU’s acting national health organiser PaulBell also hit back at the comments.

He warned the scale of the cuts would hit vital services such as home helps, mental healthprovision and elective surgery of patients waitingon hip and knee replacements.

Mr Bell added: “Cuts on this scale will affect theviability of many hospitals and the situation wehave seen threatening to emerge in HSE Westcould be replicated across the state.”

Survey: NI publicagainst ‘tap tax’

Harney warned over€1bn health cuts

Pictures: Lar Boland

Migrant rights coalitionslams ‘deportation’ BillA COALITION of migrant rights groupsdemonstrated outside the Dail on October 6as TDs inside debated new leglislation thatwould allow for summary deportation of migrants without access to a fair hearing.

Currently, anyone facing deportation has 15days to make a case for remaining in the state.

The new Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2010 will remove this basicprovision.

The coalition is made up of Crosscare Mi-grant Project, Doras Luimní, Immigrant Coun-cil of Ireland, Irish Refugee Council, MigrantRights Centre Ireland, the Integration Centreand the Irish Immigrant Support Centre.

In a joint statement, the heads of the sevenorganisations said: “In Ireland we value fairness,transparency and due process. The Immigra-tion Bill in its current form goes against thesebasic principles.

“By allowing summary deportation, the Billdenies minimum safeguards and tramples on

an individual’s civil and fundamental rights.“We think the Irish public would be shocked

to learn the unchecked powers that the Billgives the minister and the Gardaí. We knowfrom our past the danger of giving too muchpower to any one group or person.

“Ireland’s historic practice of deporting people in times of crisis cannot be allowed to happen again. We will not stand idly by andwatch this draconian measure become law.”

Michael D Higgins addressed Dail protest


FoI lawshouldcoverNAMA

Pictures: Kevin Cooper, Photoline

NUJ Irish secretary Séamus Dooleyhas called for the National Asset Management Agency to be coveredby the Freedom of Information Act.

Making his comments at a semi-nar in Dublin on October 19, heslammed what he termed “the culture of secrecy” at the heart ofgovernment and claimed the FiannaFáil/PD coalition had “dismantledwith enthusiasm” the original Act.

He added: “The Green Party hassigned up to that culture with theexclusion from the remit of FoI legislation of NAMA.”

The legislation had made provision for withholding sensitive information but Mr Dooley insistedthere could be “no excuse” for“the blanket exclusion” of NAMA,which he described as a stateagency that impacted on the lives of every citizen “and will help shape the future of generations yetunborn”.

He added: “We in the NUJ mustrecommit ourselves to the restora-tion of the original Act and mustmake Freedom of Information – andthe enactment of legislation protecting whistleblowers – issuesin the next General Election, whenever it occurs.”

Mr Dooley also called on media organisations to direct more investment into in-service training.

He said: "In the field of businessjournalism there are few if any opportunities for up-skilling.

“How many trained accountantsare there among the ranks of business journalists in Ireland?

“How many editors have had theluxury of releasing staff to learn theexpensive skills of analysing the increasingly complicated accountsthat land on their desks?

“What opportunity has therebeen for the development of the forensic skills, which are so necessary if journalists are not to become dependent upon the wordof consultants well practiced in theart of spinning?”

Mr Dooley claimed that in the“good times” resources had beenchanneled by media organisationsto initiatives – such as propertysupplements – designed to increasead revenue and market share.

He added: “For the most partprofits were directed away from ed-itorial operations and the years ofplenty were squandered.

“Newspaper owners and com-mercial managers wished the prop-erty dream would go on forever. Inthat heady environment in whichproperty porn was king, there wasno place for informed analysis – andno place for a journalist or colum-nist who wished to challenge theprevailing consensus."

11

MLAs getmessage(we hope)

LOBBY ATSTORMONT

Trade unionists fromacross Northern Irelandtook part in a lobby ofStormont MLAs on September 28. Local politicians were left in no doubt about the depth of feeling against the UK coalition government’s cuts agenda.UNISON regional secretary Patricia

McKeown with SF’s Mitchel McLaughlin Alban Maginnis of the SDLP with NIPSA chief Brian Campfield

DUP’s Jim Wells speaks to Peter Bunting of Congress Congress VP Eugene McGlone & UUP’s Fred Cobain


Strength in numbers at mass DC demo

Pictures: CWA

TENS of thousands of union members joined a massive October 2 demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial in WashingtonDC. Rallying under the slogan ‘One Nation Working Together’, it was an impressive show of strength by US progressives inthe teeth of the widely reported right-wing resurgence in the States. Larry Cohen, chief of the communications union CWA,told the crowd: “Workers’ rights have been all but crushed since Dr Martin Luther King spoke here 47 years ago…Workersshould not need courage to have a union in America. It should not be a fight. It should be a right.”

THE Irish branch of the Clean Clothes Campaign was launched on October 7 – the international trade union movement’s WorldDay for Decent Work – in Dublin.

Dedicated to improving working conditionsand supporting workers in the garment andsportswear industry in the global south, the Irishbranch has five stakeholders – ethical fashiongroup Re-Dress, ICTU Global Solidarity, retailworkers’ union Mandate, and developmentNGOs Trocaire and Comhlamh.

About 30 people attended the inauguralmeeting at the Green House.

Marcella Kraay, of the Amsterdam-based International CCC, welcomed the Irish branchas the 15th national member organisation in Europe.

She told delegates of the four primary areas

the campaign focuses on:� Citizen awareness drives, � Workers’ solidarity,� Corporate responsibility, and� Governmental responsibility.She said: “When consumers demand that

their clothes and sportswear is produced underdecent work conditions, things can start tochange. The CCC is also putting pressure oncompanies to adopt ‘codes of conduct’.

“Firms have the responsibility and power toensure that garment workers throughout theirsupply chains are treated fairly.”

Ms Kraay added: “The CCC supports partnerorganisations in the global south as they lobbytheir governments for better laws and also callson the EU and governments to promote respectfor international labour standards.”

CCC Ireland launched

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CONGRESS general secretaryDavid Begg has insisted dealing withthe jobs crisis is the single best wayof turning around the Irish economy. Slamming the Irish Governmentfor dishing out massive amounts ofpublic money to bail out the banks,he claimed this was in stark con-trast to its paltry response to the450,000 people now on the dole inthe Republic.Mr Begg’s advice to ministers was:“Tackle the jobs crisis with the samelevel of energy and ingenuity thathas been devoted to the banks andall else will start to fall into place.”It comes as Congress prepares anunprecedented mobilisation of850,000 trade union members andtheir families in a series of ralliesacross Ireland North and South onNovember 6.

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ETUC DAY OF ACTION

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►PROTESTS NORTH, SOUTH AND ACROSS EUROPEDUBLIN

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Meet 12.30pm outside Anglo Irish Bank, Stephen’s Green.March to rally outside Dail @ 1pm

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PEOPLEPOWER

Picture: Congress

A COURT injunction preventing workers atOmagh Meats from taking strike action has beendescribed as “totally unacceptable” by Unite.

Parent company Foyle Meats was granted aHigh Court injunction after it lodged what theunion described as an “eleventh hour” objectionon October 20.

The stoppage by 150 workers at the Co Tyroneplant was due to begin on October 21.

Unite regional secretary Jimmy Kelly said: “It istotally unacceptable. Having gone through thecorrect legal procedures to call this action thento have the courts intervene to block it.”

The dispute centres on the workers rejecting a1.5% pay offer.

Mr Kelly added: “Unite asks why the companyshould wait until the eleventh hour to lodge anobjection – 8pm on the night before the action isdue to start – when it had 10 days to object?”

He claimed workers in the UK were burdenedby “unnecessarily tight and disproportionate obligations” if they wanted to take “legal and legitimate” strike action.

“The existing law is wholly indefensible and anysuggestion that it needs to be tightened is bothrisible and contemptuous. “

Unite hits outat ‘11th hour’court bid toprevent strike


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DAY OF ACTIONSEPTEMBER

29BELFAST, DUBLIN and L’DERRY

Protests North & South

ICTU assistant general secretary Peter Bunting addresses crowd near Belfast CityHall. Among those listening, right, was Stormont health minister Michael McGimpsey

Patricia McKeown ofUNISON was one of thespeakers at Sept 29 demo


THOUSANDS of trade unionists across Ireland took to thestreets in Dublin, Derry and Belfast as part of the September29 day of action called by the ETUC.

In Dublin, Congress president Jack O’Connor urged theIrish government to stop what he called its “doomsday cam-paign of terror” against the people.

Addressing a crowd of 1,500 gathered outside the Dail, hesaid ministers should instead roll out “a credible plan for re-covery” to offer “reassurance” to people worried about jobs,mortgages and pensions.

“Spending is critical to growth and people will not spendas long as they are terrified of what the future may hold.”

Mr O’Connor added: "It is not too late for our govern-ment to embrace the lessons of the wasted years – but ifthey do not do so immediately they should do the next de-cent thing by calling a General Election and respect our rightas a people to decide our own fate."

In Belfast, Congress assistant general secretary PeterBunting told a large crowd gathered outside City Hall thatmany of the reasons given for cuts were bogus.

He said: “It is a myth that government debt has neverbeen higher. It was more than three times higher after theSecond World War and that generation built the NHS andWelfare State.

“It is not true that the UK’s debtis one of the worst in the devel-oped world – it is far higher in theUSA, Canada, Japan and the major European economies.

“It is a cruel hoax that the deficitmust be reduced so dramatically insuch a short time.

“It is a massive distortion toclaim that public servants are farbetter paid than private sectorworkers. They are paid the rate forthe job.

“The fact is that private sectorworkers are underpaid and arepaid 20% less than English andScottish private sector workers.”

Mr Bunting insisted a low wageprivate sector economy could notdeliver “sustainable jobs” andwarned Northern Ireland and itscitizen “could not survive a race tothe bottom”.

He told the crowd: “It is a madfantasy that the private sector willgrow if cuts are forced upon thepublic sector. The truth is that theprecise opposite will happen.”

NIPSA general secretary BrianCampfield, who also spoke at theBelfast rally, slammed as “non-sense” the argument that publicsector workers should now be tar-geted because their private sectorequivalents have already “taken a

Pictures: Kevin Cooper, Photoline; Tommy Clancy

hit”. “The people who peddle thisline – our millionaire government,the CBI, the Institute of Directors,the tame pro-establishment econ-omists who serve the banking in-terests – talk as if the public sectorand the private sector inhabitedtwo different planets.

“But we know that thousands offamilies in Northern Ireland havemembers working in both the pri-vate and the public sector.

‘ENDS MEET’

“Many unemployed constructionand factory workers who havebeen hit hard by the recession de-pend on family members whowork in the public sector to makeends meet.”

UNISON regional secretary Patricia McKeown rubbished PMDavid Cameron’s view that “we’re

all in this together”.She told the crowd: “He tells us

we’re all in this together. Well,we’re not in it together – we’renot in any project that will cut anddestroy our public services and cutand destroy jobs.

“How dare any government tellus that it is our fault. We are notjust saying no to cuts, no to privati-sation, no to the end of the wel-fare state as we know and love it.

“We’re going further and sayingit doesn’t have to happen at all.”

Ms McKeown said it was timethe “truth was told” that Britainwas “not broke”, adding: “The UKis still the fifth most wealthiestcountry in the world.

“And if the government were totake some seriously real action onbehalf of the people, they wouldhave all the money they need to

fund our public services, to benefitour private sector and to boostour economy.”

Taryn Trainor, of Unite, told thecrowd that public sector cutswould not improve the economy.

She said: “Cuts will ruin it andtake the private sector with it.”

Ms Trainor added that becauseNorthern Ireland was a “post con-flict society”, investment wasneeded “not cuts and unemploy-ment”.

‘HANDS OFF’She warned: “Hands off our jobs

and hands off our pensions be-cause working people aren’t pre-pared to hand them over without afight.”

In Derry, hundreds packed into asunny Guildhall Square to hearspeakers from Derry Trades Coun-cil, a number of trade unions andcommunity groups as well aschurch leaders.

Addressing the rally, NIPSAdeputy general secretary AlisonMillar said: “This government in-tend to make the young, the oldand the middle aged, the wagedand unwaged suffer for the fault ofothers – we cannot allow this tohappen.”

ICTU president Jack O’Connor called on the Irish government to end its ‘doomsday campaign of terror’ against the people


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DAY OF ACTIONSEPTEMBER

29 100,000 on the marchBRUSSELS

TENS of thousands of workers took to thestreets on September 29 to protest againststringent austerity measures being imple-mented by governments across Europe.

Describing the massive day of action as “a resounding success for European workers”,ETUC general secretary John Monks warned itserved as “a clear signal” to the leaders of Europe.

Addressing them, he said: “You can no longermerely listen to the market, you can no longer

ignore the anger and concern of the workers.”More than 100,000 workers marched on EUheadquarters in Brussels where the EuropeanCommission is currently proposing punishingnew penalties on member states that have runup high deficits.

Unions argue this will prompt governmentsto make spending cuts so severe that nationaleconomies will once again be plunged back intorecession.

Pointing out that Europe already had 23 mil-

lion unemployed, Mr Monks dubbed it a“bizarre time… to be proposing a regime ofpunishment”.

He added: “How is that going to make thesituation better? It is going to make it worse."

Up to 10 million Spanish workers took partin a general strike – the first since 2002 – tocoincide with the ETUC day of action.

Elsewhere, there were protests across Ireland, in Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugaland Serbia.

ETUC chief John Monks addressing crowd. Left and below:many travelled from UK and Ireland to the Brussels demo

CWU chiefwarns of sell-offthreat toRoyal Mail CWU regional secretary Lawrence Hustonhas claimed proposals contained in thePostal Services Bill point to a spiralling pri-vatisation agenda to sell off the Royal Mail.

Describing proposals to give postal work-ers a 10% stake as “quite patronising” and “aside issue”, he pointed out: “People currentlyown 100% of the industry as members ofthe public”.

Mr Huston insisted the public did notwant the Royal Mail to be privatised.

“Not one poll conducted over the last 20years has came anywhere near saying yes toprivatisation.

“Every single poll has shown that peoplewant a reliable public service … and that’swhat our postal service is and should remain– a public utility.”

The CWU has consistently warned of thethreat of privatisation as well as the impor-tance of preserving the universal serviceprovision.

Mr Huston added: “These plans really haveconfirmed our worst fears – there is no limitto how much the Royal Mail can be sold out.

“Privatisation plans that Labour set in motion are now in danger of becoming a reality under the Conservatives and the Lib-Dems.

“Businesses in rural areas across NorthernIreland are especially reliant on the servicesof the Royal Mail and any reduction to theuniversal service provision will seriously impact on rural areas and the economy.

“Of most importance to Northern Irelandis the need to ensure the continuation of theuniversal service provision which means thatit costs the same to deliver a letter to anyaddress in the UK.

“If the company is sold off, we simply willnot have this, especially as Trade and Industry Secretary Vince Cable has alreadyindicated he is prepared to reduce the sixdays a week service.”

SHOPWORKERS union Usdaw has revealedthat more than a million retail employees inthe UK have been assaulted, threatened orabused in the last year.

According to a survey carried out by theunion, 6% of shopworkers were subjected toviolent attack, 37% were threatened withharm and 70% had suffered verbal abuse.

General secretary John Hannett describedthe figures as “shocking”.

He said: "We need to improve peoples' attitude toward shopworkers.

“Too many people still think working in re-tail is not a proper job and that this somehowgives them the right to abuse shopworkerswith impunity. “

Survey highlightsthreat to workers


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THE Phase I Report from the Public ServicePensions Independent Commission, led by ex-Labour Cabinet minister John Hutton, notonly paves the way for further attacks on public service pensions but also tees up publicservices for privatisation.

Chapter 6 of the Interim Report, publishedon October 7, is entitled ‘Supporting Produc-tivity’, it is however an attempt by Hutton tototally eradicate ‘Fair Deal’, the agreement ontransferring functions from the public sectorto the private sector.

Fair Deal ensured that the private sectortransferee employer had to have in place abroadly comparable pension scheme to thatof the public service scheme from which theemployee was being transferred out of.

Hutton states: “Fair Deal also acts as a barrier to free movement of employees fromthe public to private sector.”

The bulk of the report clearly signals theend to defined benefit final salary schemes forpublic servants.

Hutton complains that they are too costly,unfair to the taxpayer and private sector employee, inflexible and don’t represent a fairsharing of risk between the employer and theemployee.

He identifies a range of models from careeraverage, hybrid schemes combining an elementof defined benefit up to a certain salary leveland then above that a defined contributionarrangement or a collective defined contribu-tion scheme.

The case is also made by Hutton to increase the age at which the vast majority ofpublic servants could claim their occupationalpension.

It would seem that his Phase II Report, tobe produced to inform the 2011 Budget, willat best recommend a minimum age of 65 ifnot 66 to link in with the Con-Lib Govern-ment’s plans to increase to 66 the age at

which the State old age pension will be paid. This he sees as an initial step as he wishes

to explore further linking the minimum age ofretirement to any further improvements inlongevity.

While Hutton dismisses the myth of ‘gold-plated’ public service pensions and acknowl-edges at various points in the report that overthe past decade there has been very consider-able disimprovements in private sector pension provision, other than for those in theboardrooms and senior management, he seesthe answer in diluting the value of public service pensions.

BLATANT ATTACK

This is despite the fact that changes in re-cent years and the blatant attack on pensionsby the government in moving indexation; fromRPI to CPI has resulted in a 25% decrease inpublic service pension scheme liabilities.

In fact, public servants over the past four tofive years have seen real level increases intheir pension contributions of 56% comparedto a 33% increase in scheme costs.

This means that schemes such as the NHSSuperannuation scheme and the NorthernIreland Local Government Pension Schemeare currently returning a positive excess – ie:total contributions being in excess of the totalpension payouts year on year and will do sofor a number of years to come.

There is also the very real potential that thegovernment will increase employee contribu-tion levels in the immediate future as Hutton

states that this is the only way in which thegovernment can make short-term savings. The exception to this is that he makes a special case for the armed forces, who have awholly non-contributory scheme, not surpris-ing for a recent Secretary of State for Defence who supported the wars in Iraq andAfghanistan.

The Hutton report provides lot of detailand data and recognises that for the vast majority of public service pensioners that they receive a very small proportion of theirprevious pay levels and that the real value formost is less than £5,600 per annum.

In fact, the bulk of public service pensionersreceive well below the levels that the TurnerPension Commission stated was necessary inorder for pensioners to have an adequatelevel of income in retirement.

Every public servant has to be greatly concerned as to what Hutton will say in hisfinal report, he has clearly paved the way forserious attacks on public service pensions.

In considering the comments provided during the consultation process, he has ignored the voices of 12 million public servants who are either active members ordeferred members of public service schemesor public service pensioners.

Hutton prefers to do the dirty work of theTories and those who abhor public servicepensions such as the CBI and IOD.

On taking up his role for the new Con-Libgovernment to conduct a review of publicservice pensions, former-colleague JohnPrescott referred to Hutton (as well as FrankField for doing work on social security) as a“collaborator”.

Well, I believe there is clear justification forthat comment in view of what is in the Hutton Phase I Report.

NIPSA assistant generalsecretary Bumper Grahamassesses Lord Hutton’s interim report on publicservice pensions

VIEWPOINT

►A more detailed analysis is available onthe NIPSA website www.nipsa.org.uk

Report tees up our publicservices for privatisation

HUTTON PENSIONS REVIEW

Lord Hutton: An end to FairDeal agreement?

SPOTLIGHT


Pictures: Right To Work Campaign

‘No time to standon the sidelines’

MORE than 7,000 people marched onthe Tory party conference in Birmingham earlier this month in protest at the UKcoalition government’s cuts strategy.

The October 3 protest, organised bythe Right to Work Campaign, was backedby the PCS, CWU, UCU, Aslef, BECTU,EQUITY, the NUJ as well as the NationalUnion of Students.

Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn told thecrowd: “This is the time to mobilise, organise and defend the Welfare State –to stand for a society base on the needsof everyone not the needs of a few.”

Party colleague John McDonnell said hehad this warning for the Tories: “If youcome for us, we will come for you, with protests, strikes, occupations, civildisobedience and direct action. This is notime to stand on the sidelines.”

IBEC’s payfreeze callis ‘recipefor conflict’CONGRESS president Jack O’Connor has hitback at IBEC’s claim that a pay freeze to 2013would help protect jobs, calling it “both oppor-tunistic and irresponsible”.

The employers’ group described expectationsamong workers of pay rises before 2013 as “unrealistic” and insisted wage restraint wasneeded to restore competitiveness.

But Mr O’Connor identified jobs – and not ablanket pay freeze – as “the right way to go”.

He pointed out that though Irish exports werebooming, domestic consumption – accountingfor 60% of the economy – was still in decline.

A pay freeze, as advocated by IBEC, would onlyserve to further depress consumption.

Mr O’Connor said: “IBEC’s call for a pay freeze to 2013 is completely counterproductivebecause, apart from anything else, it fuels the fearand apprehension which is preventing peoplefrom spending.”

He added: “Unit labour costs in Ireland fell by 2.9% last year and are expected to fall by afurther 5.1% this year.

“We are among those at the top of the leaguein the EU on labour productivity.”

Eamon Devoy, secretary of the Congress’ Private Sector Committee, also lashed the IBECpay freeze, calling it “a recipe for conflict”.

The TEEU chief made his comments followinga meeting of the committee, which represents400,000 workers in manufacturing and services,on September 30.

He said: “It is widely expected that the Budgetwill make further inroads into the domesticeconomy and target workers yet again to pay forthe banks’ bail-out.

“We should be generating jobs and demand inthe economy not suppressing them further.

“Competitiveness has improved significantly inIrish manufacturing and services, as can be seenfrom CSO figures and the performance of ourexports.

“But higher exports and productivity cannotlift the economy on their own.”

Mr Devoy added that employers needed “towiden their focus beyond next week’s pay roll”.

“The last thing we need is for people to betold by IBEC or the government that furthercuts are on the way.

“The people who created the present crisishave already succeeded in deflating the economyto the point where the cure may succeed inkilling the patient. It is time we called a halt tothis self-destructive exercise.”

Jack O’Connor Eamon Devoy

Law changeproposalsstrike atbasic rightsTHE TUC has dubbed calls fortougher legal restrictions on theright to strike “a fundamental attack on basic rights at work”.

It follows the publication lastmonth of a CBI report into industrial relations laws.

The paper, ‘Keeping TheWheels Turning’, outlined a series of measures to “mod-ernise” current UK legislation.

One proposal was that firmsshould be allowed to recruitagency staff to cover for strikingworkers. At present, companiescan hire temporary staff but notgo through an agency to do this.

It also called for the notice period for industrial action to increase from seven to 14 daysfollowing a ballot.

CBI deputy director general John Cridland said:“While workers have the legalright to withdraw their labour,employers have a responsibilityto run their businesses.”

Hitting back, TUC general secretary Brendan Barberpointed out that the UK alreadyhad “some of the toughest restrictions on the right tostrike in the advanced world”.

He said: “Already the courtsregularly strike down demo-cratic ballots that clearly showmajority support for action.

“The CBI proposals are a fundamental attack on basicrights at work that are recog-nised in every human rightscharter, and will be dismissed by any government with a commitment to civil liberties.”

Mr Barber also lashed the employers’ group for taking a “one-dimensional” view of industrial relations in whichunions are always at fault.

He added: “Strikes are alwaysa last resort. While strikes caninconvenience the public, fundamentally shifting the balance of power at work evenfurther towards managers would be worse as it would encourage bad bosses and endup reducing standards acrossworkplaces.

“No one welcomes the oddday's disruption, but it is a priceworth paying for a fundamentalright that helps deliver decentstandards at work for millionseach and every day.”

John Cridland


Pictures: Working America/ AFL-CIO

NOT YOUR ATM

THE SHAMELESS fact thatUS bankers are still payingthemselves massive bonusesdespite being bailed out bypublic cash has touched araw nerve with the Americanpublic.

And Working America, acommunity affiliate of theAFL-CIO, has given ordinarypeople a means of expressingtheir fury simply by uploadinga picture with a message forgreedy Wall Street moguls onnotyouratm.com.

A spokesperson said: “WallStreet's biggest banks werehappy to take billions inbailout money.

“Then the CEOs took mil-lions in bonuses for them-selves.

“Wall Street bankers are alltoo happy to treat MainStreet as their ATM – theygambled with the Americaneconomy, cost Main Streetmillions of jobs and cameback with their hands out.”

THE Irish National Teachers’Organisation has urged schoolsto prioritise teachers withoutwork for substitution work.

According to the union, up toabout two years ago almost 100per cent of substitution was carried out by retired teachersas there was a shortage of qualified teachers.

But this year only eight percent of teacher sustitution was done by retired teachersreflecting the significant numberof qualified teachers who arenow out of work.

Last month, the union called on schools to prioritiseunwaged teachers and called onEducation Minister MaryCoughlan to set up panels ofsupply teachers on a regionalbasis so that available vacanciescould be matched with teachersseeking work.

Speaking in Sligo on October16, INTO president Jim Higginsslammed the Irish government’s“lack of thinking about employ-ment”.

He said: “Instead of bringing asmall bit of creative thinking tobear on how to increase theemployment of the hundreds ofunemployed teacher graduatesthis government disgracefullyproposes to legislate for theemployment of unqualified persons in place of teachers.

“This is an insult to teachers,to unemployed graduates, totheir families who financed theireducation and to the taxpayerwho also invested in theirteacher training.”

Schoolsmust givepriority tounwagedteachers

INTO general secretary SheilaNunan has lashed provisionscontained in the new EducationAmendment Bill that will allowthe employment of non-teachersas substitute teachers under certain circumstances.

Describing the move as a calculated insult, she claimedparents would be outraged thatEducation Minister Mary Cough-lan was proposing to legislatefor unqualified people takingclasses in place of teachers.

Ms Nunan said: “There arenow hundreds of unemployed,fully qualified teachers to be recruited for this work.”

‘Insult’ toteachers

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Future liesin globalscale tradeunionismAUSTRALIAN Workers Unionchief Paul Howes has claimedworkers had to find innovativeways of working together tomatch the increasing globalpower of multinationals.

Addressing an internationalconference of trade unionists inGermany last month, he said:“There is no doubt in my mindthe future is global unionism.Unions must respond to theglobal marketplace

“We live in a global market.Our employers last century mayhave been home-town bosses –then the more successful be-came state or national bosses.

“But now in the 21st centuryincreasingly across all employ-ment sectors we face global em-ployers, global bosses. Thereforeunions have to match this newreality with global unionism.

“When you consider the manyglobal companies that we have incommon with unions across theworld in an era of global labourmarkets, we must find ways of assisting each other, by workingtogether in campaigning or organising, bargaining and ex-changes, so that workers’ rightswill be strengthened.”

World view: Paul Howes

On November 7, Burma will go to the polls for the first time in 20years. The elections will be held against a backdrop of political repression. Fundamental rights of expression, association and assembly are severely curtailed and repressive laws and practicesare used by Burma’s government to criminalise peaceful politicaldissent.

Critics of the government face harassment, arbitrary arrest, torture, imprisonment and extrajudicial executions. There are currently more than 2,200 political prisoners being held in Burma.

Among them are two student union activists Myo Min Zaw and Ko Aye Aung, pictured above. Both were leading members of thebanned All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU).

On September 12, 1998, they were arrested for distributingleaflets and organising student demonstrations in Rangoon,Burma’s former capital and largest city.

They were sentenced to 52 years and 59 years respectively. Nowaged 33 and 34, they have spent nearly their adult lives behind bars.

According to a Democratic Voice of Burma report, on February 9,2010, Myo Min Zaw has been suffering from respiratory problemsleading to nose bleeds.

It is not clear if he has received treatment for these problems. Heis held in Putao prison in northern Burma, up to a week's travel awayfrom his family in Rangoon.

Ko Aye Aung is being held in Kale prison in Sagaing division, over 900 km away from his family in Rangoon. Kale Prison is in anarea where malaria and typhoid are common and prisoners are vulnerable to infection. In 2002, Ko Aye Aung took part in a hungerstrike to protest the lack of medical treatment in prison. There hasbeen no further information on Ko Aye Aung’s situation since.

Amnesty International believes both Ko Aye Aung and Myo Min Zaw are prisoners of consciences and should be released immediately.

Log on to take action at www.amnesty.org.uk

Ko Aye Aung & Myo Min Zaw

REPORT


UK govtcuts ‘toofast, toomuch’ ETUC chief John Monks hasslammed the UK coalition government for cutting “too fast,too much”.

Speaking at a Labour RelationsAgency conference earlier thismonth in Belfast, he claimed thatthe austerity plans would riskkilling off jobs and growth –especially in regions like North-ern Ireland.

He said: “The government’sausterity plans to repay debt aretoo harsh.

“They are paying back toomuch debt, too quickly.

“They risk killing off jobs andgrowth in regions of the UK likeNorthern Ireland which areheavily dependent on the publicsector.”

Mr Monks warned: “Other European governments share thesame fetish for austerity andthey are on course to plunge Europe back into recession.

“They should change theircourse, listen to the voice of theworkers and go for growth andjobs.

“They should be like PresidentRoosevelt and his New Deal, notPresident Hoover and the GreatDepression.”

Harsh cuts: John Monks


€3bn alternative budget launched

DOMESTIC worker organisations and tradeunions have been battling to get domesticwork onto the International Labour Organisation agenda for the last 50 years.

In 2008, the battle finally paid off and atpresent the negotiation process is well underway.

But many challenges lie ahead in the comingyear before domestic workers can claim victory and have their employment rightsrecognised and protected by legally-binding international standards.

Despite providing essential roles in societyby enabling others to work outside the family home, the valuable work of childmin-ders, cleaners and carers for the elderly is undervalued and under protected.

Getting domestic work recognised as workis one of the major struggles of domesticworkers’ movements globally.

In some countries, domestic work is completely excluded from the protection oflabour laws.

Millions of women and girls around theworld are domestic workers. They are

recognised as some of the most abused andexploited workers.

Isolated behind closed doors, these ‘invisibleworkers’ can suffer abuse at the hands of theiremployers.

Wage exploitation, long working hours,forced labour, sexual, physical and psychologicalabuse and harassment are all common.

The domestic work sector needs specificlegislation to protect this historically neglectedgroup.

The Domestic Workers Action Group(DWAG), supported by the Migrant RightsCentre Ireland, has been campaigning for therights and dignity of domestic workers in Ireland since 2004.

DWAG and ICTU are mobilising support fora strong ILO Convention.

DWAG is campaigning together with domes-tic worker organisations internationally to ensure that domestic workers’ voices arebeing fairly represented in the process to ensure the final instrument protects the rightsof all domestic workers, regardless of their

immigration status or whether they are employed by a diplomat – two contentious issues in current discussions.

The reality is migrant women make up a significant component of domestic workersglobally. Any discussions will have to considertheir situations.

DWAG believes that a person’s immigrationstatus should never be allowed to be used todeny a worker their rights – this is morally indefensible.

The campaigning will come to a head inGeneva in June 2011, when the standard willbe discussed and finalised, hopefully taking the form of an international convention supplemented by a set of recommendations.

Our task now is to negotiate and convincethe Irish government to commit to supportinga convention that is both effective and ratifi-able.

This campaign for the rights and recognitionof domestic workers needs to be made visible.

In the build-up to June we need tostrengthen alliances, as lobbying the govern-ment into responding positively is a priority.

ILO CONVENTION ON DOMESTIC WORKSPOTLIGHT

50 years struggle to securerights of domestic workers

For more info visit www.domesticworkerrights.org or www.mrci.ie/Domestic-Workers or email [email protected]

By AOIFE SMITH

Picture: MRC

I

ALMOST €3 billion could be raisedfor the public purse by a range ofmeasures, including overhauling pen-sion tax breaks and introducing asmall levy on company profits, SocialJustice Ireland has claimed.

Other ideas contained in the or-ganisation’s “alternative Budget” in-clude taxing text messages to create100,000 part-time jobs for the long-term unemployed and a tax hike ongambling that would go towards

higher social welfare payments.Director Fr Sean Healy said: “The

government has made a completemess of the banking crisis, to a pointwhere it will cost us billions foryears and years.

“It has over the last three budgetssavaged poor people so as to protect the richest.

“It has vandalised the economy –that’s some achievement over threebudgets and I don’t think it should

continue.” Fr Healy claimed pensiontax breaks – with a 20% rate onlower incomes and a 41% rate forhigher earners – unfairly hit the lesswell-off.

This means four-fifths of the bene-fit goes to the richest fifth.

Introducing a standard rate wouldmake a €1.4 billion saving for theState finances under the proposals.

A 2.5% levy on all corporate prof-its – over and above the existing

12.5% corporate tax rate – wouldraise another €632 million.

Social Justice Ireland proposed a0.33 cent tax on text messages toraise €25 million and an overhaul oftax breaks saving €552 million.

The campaign group also proposesan increase in social welfare pay-ments of €5 a week for single peo-ple, and €8.50 for couples, as well asstudent loans to cover third-levelfees and living costs.


Documents

Union Post October 2010