Connect june 2016 by Communications Workers' Union

SUMMER 2016 VOL: 18

NO. 2

Members listening to the debate at 8th Biennial Conference, Clayton Hotel, Galway 11th to 13th May 2016

Editorial

Dear Colleague, Contents Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2-3

CWU Family Personal Accident Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Organising Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FM Downes Health Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Suas Educational Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Youth Committee Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8-9

The Rowland Hill Memorial Fund of Ireland . . . . . . . . . .

Women and the 1916 Rising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-13 Education Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-15 UNI Global Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-17 ESCCU Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Telecoms Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An Post Employees’ Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Postal Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How Unequal is Ireland? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-23 “Cut the Inheritance Tax” - Mary White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24-25 Information for Members involved in a Road Traffic Accident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

National Executive Council 2016-2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8th Biennial Conference 2016, Galway, Photos . . . . . . . . 28-31 CWU Biennial Conference Media Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . 32-33 Political Activists killed across Colombia . . . . . . . . . . . .

CWU People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35-37 Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CWU Membership Application Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39-40

Editor: Steve Fitzpatrick Sub-Editor: Imelda Wall Issued by: Communications Workers’ Union, 575 North Circular Road, Dublin 1. Telephone: 8663000 and Fax: 8663099 E-mail: info@cwu.ie Incorporating the PTWU Journal, THE RELAY and THE COMMUNICATIONS WORKER The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the CWU.

Photographs: John Chaney Printed by Mahons Printing Works, Dublin.

As we look forward to the summer break and hopefully to some balmy weather, it is timely to take stock of where we are as a Union, and indeed, as a country. As a country we have seen the election of a new parliament, a result which can only be seen as a massive defeat for the government parties. Of course, that defeat was not the result of a resurgence of the left, or even a unity of the left, but rather we have been stuck with a hodgepodge of independent small parties, along with the traditional parties, with possibly the exception of Fianna Fáil, making little or no ground. The Fianna Fáil story is a familiar one, as they spin and spin on the basis that people have short memories and that the recipe for the recovery of the Irish economy – warts and all – can be blamed on the last government, while Fianna Fáil take absolutely no responsibility for the disaster they helped visit on the Irish people. It may well be that the Labour Party, after its worst electoral performance in living memory, can make a similar recovery, if the same amnesia can be attributed to their performance as seems now to be the case with Fianna Fáil. One can only wonder how the political landscape would be today if the Labour Party had either opted out of government following the last election, or walked from government on one of the many occasions it arguably should have. It is interesting to note that the former Minister and now Senator, Ged Nash, had a worthwhile Bill passed through the Dáil covering all areas of workers’ rights and that he did so with the support of Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and some smaller parties and Independents. While it is a long way before

having a Bill of workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rights passed, and having the legislation enacted, one wants to be optimistic and it was nice to see people (presumably of the same persuasion) voting together in an attempt to improve the lot of workers. It is difficult to know how long a minority government can survive; but it is a major concern that it seems to be continuing on the same track on many issues (particularly Irish Water), despite the people having spoken and made themselves very clear on this point. We have still not seen the end of the arrogant approach by government, which was particularly highlighted by the misinformation given to the DĂĄil by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, in relation to the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment. It is no longer funny or amusing to see the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leader continue on his flights of fancy and you are more likely to get correct information from Jackanory than you are from him! Now that he has achieved his lifelong ambition, in that he is now the first Fine Gael leader to have a second term as Taoiseach, he might do the decent thing and go off and meet some of his imaginary friends with their imaginary pints and retire gracefully. Of course, from a CWU point of view, we have to be concerned as to how the new Minister for Communications, Mr Naughten, and the minority government will manage this crucial Department. How critical issues, such as the funding and awarding of the contract for rural broadband and the issue of the funding of the postal USO, are dealt with will be of utmost importance to our members. I have written to the Minister seeking a meeting with him and his departmental officials in the hope that we can outline to him those key issues in detail. We have also just concluded our Biennial Conference in Galway and the newly elected National Executive Council and the Officers will spend the coming months allocating the successful Motions from the Conference to the various NEC Sub-Committees, with a view to progressing the issues which your Delegate Conference has now decided are CWU policy.

Steve Fitzpatrick, General Secretary, CWU

Many cynical people believe that such Motions passed at our Conference are ignored, but I want to make it absolutely clear that every year each Branch of the Union is given a document at either the Conference or the Spring Seminar which outlines the progress or lack of progress on each issue as agreed at the previous Conference. Furthermore, where the matter is not finalised, it outlines how the Union hopes to progress the outstanding issues. This year the NEC election saw quite a number of changes and, in particular, saw a considerable increase in the number of female representatives at the NEC table. I would like to take this opportunity on your behalf to wish all of the incoming NEC, and especially the new members, the very best of luck in what will be a difficult future. I would also like to put on record my appreciation for those members of the outgoing Executive Council who, for one reason or another, are no longer members of that body. The energy, effort and work put in by those people over many years are some of the reasons why the CWU remains so strong. 3

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New Grievance and Disciplinary training launched at Conference Private Sector

Simone Enright-Ryan, Branch Secretary, 3 Ireland

Damien Byrne, KN Networks Committee

As reported in our last issue, the Organising department had identified a need for a tailored training module designed to meet the specific needs of activists in sectors where members do not enjoy collective bargaining rights or are in the early days of Organising in their workplaces. The traditional mentoring model that exists in wellestablished Branches allows newer activists to learn, on a day to day basis, from their more experienced colleagues. However, members in so-called ‘non-union’ companies do not enjoy the benefits of this gradual approach. In a sometimes hostile environment, activists in these newer companies are very aware of the challenges they face when they decide to stand up for their colleagues with management. The Organising department is always eager to make the Conference experience relevant and engaging for our colleagues in the private sector and, with this in mind, it

was decided to trial the new training in the Private Sector session. This year’s event enjoyed its largest crowd by far, with members from a broad range of sectors and attendees ranging from first time delegates to Branch Secretaries. The session was very positive and the members engaged enthusiastically throughout. Members were invited to give feedback on what changes or improvements could be made to the module and this amended material has already been fed back to the activists. The first official session of the module is already being planned for brand new activists in the next few weeks. We want to thank our colleagues for their positive contribution but would particularly like to applaud them for their continued work, in sometimes very difficult situations, to help their colleagues to build a stronger Union to fight for better treatment and conditions at work.

William Norton House Dublin’s Newest Conference & Event Venue visit www.cwu.ie for more information

Mentors & Students at Deerpark CBS Closing Ceremony 16.4.15

COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS’ UNION AND SUAS Suas Educational Development says a huge Thank You for the ongoing support of CWU’s members and Executive to our vital literacy work in disadvantaged communities across Ireland. We couldn’t do this work without the generous three-year funding partnership with CWU. Recent research by the World Literacy Foundation has calculated that poor literacy is costing Ireland a staggering €3.9bn. That’s a huge sum of money but worse than that, its thousands of young people still leaving Irish schools with serious difficulties in reading and writing. Everyone one of those young people deserve better…so much better. We know all too well how difficult it is for a young person to get on in life – to fulfil their potential – when they have not had the chance to master the initial, essential skills of reading and writing with confidence. Our volunteer mentors work with children, typically 8 – 14 years, who are struggling with reading and because of this are starting to fall behind in all their subjects. CWU members with An Post volunteered as literacy mentors in a project in Deerpark School in Cork late last year. The Deputy Principal of the school has talked about the many benefits to the children – the improvements in their literacy and communication skills but also the growth in confidence that comes from the patient encouragement of their mentor and the positive recognition they get from seeing the programme through. He reports that class teachers have seen a great change in the attitude of children who took part. The generous support of CWU allowed us to reach over 700 children last year with our vital literacy support work. And we have already worked with a further 360 children since January this year. We want to keep growing this programme and reaching more children. But that means finding more mentors. We hate to have to turn schools – and children – away. We are always looking for mentors for our projects in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway. Mentoring usually involves an hour a week of one to one

support with a child in a local school over a period of eight weeks or half an hour a day for 4 days a week over five weeks. Mentors don’t need any particular background or experience, just a willingness to connect with and encourage a child that needs support. Suas provide training and all materials. We would be delighted to hear from CWU members who would like to help make a difference in a child’s life. Please email grainnef@suas.ie for more information and have a look at our website – suas.ie. Thanks to all the members and the executive of CWU. We couldn’t do this work without you!

Youth Committee Update

Conference votes in favour of a Referendum to Repeal the 8th Amendment

further afield to access such rights. Many others, for financial and legal reasons, cannot travel at all. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2015 recommended 'that the State party 'take all the steps necessary, including a referendum on abortion, to revise its legislation on abortion'. In light of the above, and as a core equality and workers’ issue, Conference calls upon the incoming NEC to join the growing 'Trade Union Campaign to Repeal the 8th Amendment' in order to campaign for a referendum.

The Trade Union Campaign to Repeal the 8th Amendment, launched in September 2014, is selfdescribed as ‘a group for organising trade union activists and members from all trade unions in the fight to repeal the 8th’. The 8th Amendment, inserted into the Irish Constitution in 1983, effectively serves to equate the life of a woman to the life of a foetus. The enshrining of restriction to abortion care within our constitution has had massive implications for women’s rights in Ireland. As a result, progressive legislation regarding abortion in Ireland has been hampered or indeed made impossible. However, since the death of Savita Halapannavar in 2013, we have seen massive mobilisation on the issue on our streets, within the media and in everyday conversation within our communities, within our workplaces. Numerous recent opinion polls indicate a clear message - people in Ireland want and indeed need to have a say on abortion rights and our treatment of women in this country. Following the passing of a motion proposed by Fiona Dunkin on the issue at the 2015 Youth Committee AGM, work got underway to have the CWU, as a union, join the Trade Union Campaign to Repeal the 8th in an official capacity. The proposal and subsequent passing of the motion by Dave Morris, of the North Wexford/South Wicklow Postal Branch meant it would be possible to highlight the issue at the 2016 CWU Biennial Conference.

On Friday 13th May, having already been supported by the CWU National Executive Committee in previous days, the motion was proposed by Dave Morris to conference. Many members also spoke in support of the motion, including Barry Gorman, Chairperson of the CWU Youth Committee, Declan Fitzgerald, Fiona Dunkin, Colum Courtney and others, and was met with no opposition. The motion was passed unanimously, meaning that the CWU had become, along with Unite, one of the first unions in the country to pass such a motion at conference. Indeed, the passing of this motion represented a victory for young people in Ireland, who have never had a chance to voice their opinion on the 8th Amendment, a victory for women in Ireland, 12 of whom travel overseas everyday to access a basic healthcare right, and a victory for workers in Ireland, often faced with emotional distress and financial burden, as a direct result of Irish abortion laws. A proud moment for the Youth Committee, a proud moment for the CWU - but only the beginning.

The motion reads as follows; Conference notes the lack of provision by the previous and current Government of adequate sexual and reproductive rights for women in Ireland. Under the current highly restrictive legislation, thousands of women are forced to travel each year to the UK and

Fiona Dunkin Vice-Chair of CWU Youth Committee

Youth Committee Update

The Importance of Youth Officers Just before the Youth Committee AGM in April, a general circular was sent out calling for branches to appoint a youth officer on their committee. This was met with a great response from both the Postal and Telecommunications sectors, with attendees coming from as far as Donegal and Kerry to attend. However, there are still a number of branches throughout the union that have a left the position of youth officer vacant, and this is a real shame. Started in 2013, the Youth Officers position was created to allow young members to become active members of their branch committees and the youth committee, and to gain valuable trade union training, skills and experience in the process which would enable them to become future trade union leaders in their branches and elsewhere. The Youth Officer initiative has been a great success, as many of the first youth officers have gone on to take leading roles in their respective branches, and in the trade union itself. Unfortunately, this, and officers reaching the “youth” cut off age of 35, has meant that a lot of the youth officer positions on branches across the country have now been left vacant. It is extremely important that we make an effort to engage with the young members in our branches and encourage them to become active CWU members. We often hear that the youth are the future of the trade union movement and it is particularly true in this situation, as without youth involvement and activation, many branches will struggle to survive in future years.

As part of the Youth Committee address at the Biennial conference in Galway this year, I spoke about how I became involved in the Youth Committee, over six years ago. At that time, I had only a slight interest in being active within the CWU, or within the trade union movement as a whole. It was only a very persuasive branch secretary, who pushed me to attend the youth committee open day that was being held at the time, with the promise of a few days off work to attend! Sometimes, it just takes the slightest bit of encouragement to make a young member active within your branch, and the Youth Officer role places them in a unique position to not only learn the structure and inner workings of branches and the CWU through their participation on the committee, but it also allows them to learn more widespread trade union and social justice activism through their participation as members of the Youth Committee. Of course, the Youth Officer is not the only way that young members can become active, and all branches are encouraged to send as many young members as they can to the youth committee meetings throughout the year. And who knows, maybe in six years time, it’ll be a young member from your branch who is chairing the youth committee! For anyone who wants more information, feel free to contact me Barryf.gorman@gmail.com or Laura McKenna in Head office. Barry Gorman Chair of CWU Youth Committee

My experience of the Youth Committee AGM Hi All, My name is Joe Lyons, a postal operative from Cork. I recently attended my first Youth AGM. It was a bit nerve wracking attending not knowing anyone but it was a brilliant experience. It gave me a much greater understanding of what the CWU is about. It also allowed me to meet some great and helpful people. Sometimes being a younger member in an office or company it can be hard to have a say or input. At the AGM, I learned that being a youth member is valued greatly. Steve Fitzpatrick spoke to us about how the CWU works and what it is doing for its members and how we can help steer the ship. He spoke very passionately and powerfully about the CWU and was happy to answer any of our questions. We also heard from Dave Gibney of Mandate, speaking to us about Right to Change. Dave spoke with great passion on this topic and would baffle you with his knowledge of the

issues. He is a guy I would not like to be debating. We also spoke on the Repeal the 8th Campaign and were given lots of information on the issue to bring back to our members. All in all, it was a big step going to the AGM, but a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned. I made some good friends in both An Post and the communications sector and would strongly advise anyone who is young enough to find out about this part of our Union and get involved. Speaking to the more senior people in the youth committee and seeing the knowledge they have acquired over the years just by being involved, showed me that by attending and learning from these meetings and AGMs, improves my knowledge on the CWU. Joe Lyons Youth Committee Member

The Rowland Hill Memorial Fund of Ireland Rowland Hill, a great administrator and reformer of Post Office affairs, was born in 1792. He is best known as the initiator of the Penny Post. In tribute to his work The Rowland Hill Memorial Fund was established in Britain in 1882. The Rowland Hill Memorial Fund of Ireland is a benevolent fund that has been in existence since its inauguration in 1928. It has as its object, the relief of distress among members of staff of the former Department of Posts & Telegraphs, An Post, Telecom Éireann and eircom, throughout the State, whether still in service, or retired, who have fallen into necessitous circumstances. It also affords assistance to Widows, Orphans and other dependants of staff, when in need. The Fund is managed by a body of trustees who are assisted by a committee of recommendation, composed

of officers of An Post and eircom, and officers who are officials of staff associations. Neither the trustees nor members of the Recommendation Committee receive any remuneration for their services. To apply for assistance, please write to: The Honoray Secretary, The Rowland Hill Memorial Fund of Ireland, G.P.O., Dublin 1 or alternatively, contact one of the eircom or An Post Welfare Officers. is managed by a voluntary committee of Trustees.

Rowland Hill, a great administrator and reformer of Post office affairs was born in 1792. He is best known as the initiator of the Penny Post. In tribute to his work the Rowland Hill Memorial Fund of Ireland was established in Britain in 1882. An independent organisation was founded in Ireland in 1928, under a Deed of Trust approved by the High Court of Justice. Today, the Rowland Hill Memorial Fund of Ireland provides financial assistance for serving or retired staff, of An Post and eircom, and their dependants. It also provides financial assistance for retired staff, of the former Department of Posts and Telegraphs and Telecom Éireann, and their dependants. Assistance may be given to those who find themselves in need due to age, poverty or infirmity. The Rowland Hill Memorial Fund of Ireland

✃

The Fund is worthy of your support because: 1. 2.

It is administered by an independent and voluntary body of Trustees. Thousands of staff and their dependants have been helped over the years when they were in urgent need of help. Subscriptions may be deducted from your pay. A few cents deducted regularly will mean a lot to someone in need. The suggested subscription is 50 cent per week.

Please fill out the form below and send it to Honorary Secretary, Rowland Hill Memorial Fund of Ireland, G.P.O., Dublin 1.

The Rowland Hill Memorial Fund of Ireland

I hereby authorise the deduction of __________ per week / fortnight / month from my wages / salary for payment to the R.H.M.F., commencing ______________20___. Name (Block Letters) ___________________________________________________________________________ Staff / Pension No. __________________ ( An Post / eircom) (Please delete as appropriate)

(Please delete as appropriate)

Signature _____________________________________________ 10

Date_______________________________

Women and the 1916 Rising by Mary Mulroney organised themselves into a women’s section. One of the key points of the constitution of the ICA was the demand that members must also join a trade union, if at all possible. The cause of women and the cause of labour was one of the main points of co-operation between middle and working class women in this period. In September 1911, when the Irish Women Workers’ Union was founded, feminist Hanna Sheehy Skeffington shared a platform with Delia Larkin, Helena Molony and Constance Markievicz. During the 1913 Lockout, while female activists from suffrage and nationalist groups participated in strikes and pickets, they also did important work in distributing food to thousands of people. The obstacles facing women in general were magnified for women from low income backgrounds, whose access to a public voice for their demands was hampered in so many ways by their poverty. James Connolly was a supporter of female suffrage and he recognised that women were doubly oppressed, but that their struggle was also the concern of the labour movement:

Members of Cumann na mBan 1916 Sometimes we forget that much of what we take for granted today was achieved by the struggle of ordinary working people who fought against huge obstacles. Despite the fact that women played a significant role in most of those struggles, too often the perception lingers that they were only the passive beneficiaries of men’s activities. For most of the 100 years since the 1916 Rising, the women who took part in the events of Easter Week were written out of history, mainly on the grounds that a woman’s place was in the home. This was also true of the women were active trade union members and who had a clear understanding that solving the national question or securing the vote for women had to be accompanied by equality in the workplace. The Irish Citizen Army was founded as a workers’ defence militia during the 1913 Lockout and women joined on an equal basis with men, although they also

[There are] none so fitted to break the chains as they who wear them, none so well equipped to decide what is a fetter. In its arch towards freedom, the working class of Ireland must cheer on the efforts of those women who, feeling on their souls and bodies the fetters of the ages, have arisen to strike them off, and cheer all the louder if in its hatred of thraldom and passion for freedom the women’s army forges ahead of the militant army of labour. (James Connolly, Forward, 23 August 1913) 11

Helena Moloney remembered in her Witness Statement to the Bureau of Military History that Connolly was more than anxious to welcome women into labour organisations on equal terms with men. She said he had performed a superhuman task in reforming and building up the broken ranks of the Irish Transport Union and what was left of the IWWU after the decimation of the Lockout: The only thing left that was not smashed beyond repair was the workers’ spirit, and lucky they were to have a man of Connolly’s stature to lead them.

Winnie Carney’s Gravestone By the evening of 24 April 1916, women were involved in all the major points of fighting throughout the city except two: Boland’s Mill, held by Eamon de Valera and the South Dublin Union, held by Eamonn Ceannt. During Easter Week Cumann na mBan and ICA women acted as couriers, carrying messages and arms from the GPO to other outposts, often under fire; they also served as nurses and provided first aid for the wounded. In all 77 women were arrested after the Rising and taken under guard to Richmond Barracks. The conditions in which the women who were imprisoned were kept were very poor, in some cases because the British authorities had not expected to encounter female rebels.

The ideal of National as well as Social freedom, which he held up to them, gave them a spiritual uplift from the material disaster and defeat they had just suffered [in the 1913 Lockout]. Eventually they all fought in the Rebellion, and, as far as I know, not one of them is a penny the better for her part in either fight. They served their country without desire or hope of gain or reward. In such a manner is the real aristocracy of a country born.

Helena Moloney’s Witness Statement is quite long and it discusses women’s political activities before and after the Rising, including the ICA’s policy on women’s role in the organisation: The women in the Citizen Army were not first-aiders, but did military work, except where it suited them to be firstaiders. Even before the Russian Army had women soldiers, the Citizen Army had them.

Dr Kathleen Lynn was Medical Officer of the ICA and during the Rising she took over from the fatally wounded Sean Connolly as commander of the garrison in City Hall. In the years before the Rising, she gave classes in first aid in Liberty Hall to the members of the ICA in which men and women were taught together. The women who took part in the Easter Rising refused to be relegated to the rear of combat. For example, Winifred Carney was running the Irish Textile Workers’ Union in Belfast when James Connolly personally requested she come to Dublin just before the Easter Rising began. Armed with a Webley revolver and a typewriter, she arrived at the GPO where she served as Connolly’s aide for the entirety of Easter Week. Arrested after the surrender, she was held in Kilmainham Gaol, Mountjoy Prison, and Aylesbury Prison in England and was not released until December 1916.

Richmond Barracks c. 1916 In a letter written on 10 May 1916 to the War Office in London, General Sir J.G. Maxwell, the Commander in Chief of the British forces in Ireland outlined his concerns about the women activists: On the conclusion of the fighting which took place in the Dublin area, I found that about seventy women had either surrendered with the rebels or had been arrested by the police. The majority of these belonged to the Sinn Féin ambulance society, an association which did not entirely confine itself to Red Cross work; it was in fact the women’s brigade of the Irish Volunteers and was highly seditious in its activities… … the reports which I had received disclosed the fact that the allegation that they were merely Red Cross workers could not be sustained. They were also persons who were known to the police before the rising, and who, had they been male prisoners, I would have at least recommended for internment. In view of their sex, however, I considered that it would be desirable that they should be granted their liberty.

Winifred “Winnie” Carney 12

In the aftermath of the 1916 Rising, many women left the ICA because of the new outlook which dominated it, which they considered to be “entirely different to that which had been moulded by Connolly and Mallin”. In his Witness Statement to the Bureau of Military History Frank Robbins recalled: I found that practically all the women who had taken part in the 1916 Insurrection were not now members of the Citizen Army. This was due to the fact that new members had been recruited into the women's section who had very obnoxious pasts as far as Trade Union matters were concerned; at least two of them had actually scabbed in the 1913 strike. This, of course, was too much for the women who had lost their jobs fighting to uphold Trade Unionism in the past to accept, not to mention the trials and tribulations endured in the performance of their national duty by taking part in the Easter Week Insurrection.

Louie Bennett research still to be done in terms of recognising the part played by female trade union activists in challenging the obstacles of class and gender that faced women one hundred years ago and through the decades since. Many of those barriers to equality have been overcome because of struggles for economic and social equality, inspired and carried on by women who were more than ready to step outside the confines of a ‘woman’s place’. Irish members of the Association of Post Office Clerks were among the first female trade unionists anywhere to raise the demand for equal pay for equal work. They and their successors understood, as did the trade union women who took part in the 1916 Rising, that solidarity in struggle can break the strongest chains.

The IWWU general secretary, Helena Moloney was imprisoned after the Rising and her place in the union was taken by suffragist, pacifist and labour organiser Louie Bennett. Bennett, as well as leading the IWWU, took over the editorship of the Irish Citizen, the newspaper of the Irish women’s suffrage movement. The rights of women as women, and as workers, were both expressed in the newspaper. The resurgence of women’s, labour and republican activity drew Cumann na mBan, the Irish Women’s Franchise League and the Irish Women Workers’ Union closer together in the years immediately after the Rising. The British government made terrible mistakes in the aftermath of the Rising, including underestimating the women who had taken part. While women are no longer airbrushed from the historical record there is much

Readers can access the accounts of many of the women who took part in the 1916 Rising in the Bureau of Military History website: http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/

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Education Update

Big Gains for Striking Verizon Workers in New Agreement

Published 30 May, 2016

Company agrees to add 1,300 new call centre jobs on the East Coast; 10.9% raise over four years; first contract for wireless retail workers

“Our children and our families have been depending on us to stand up for what’s right and what’s fair,” said Fitzgerald Boyce, a Verizon field technician based in New York. “Striking wasn’t an easy decision for our families, but we knew that we had to fight to save good jobs and our way of life. We fought hard and we won.” “Because we fought together as a union, my kids will be able to see me at night. We were all so worried about the potential of transfers and more offshoring, but now Verizon is going to bring more jobs back. All American companies should be doing more to keep good jobs in the country,” said Christina Martin, a Verizon call center worker in Pennsylvania. “For the first time, Verizon Wireless retail workers have a union and a fair contract,” said Mike Tisei, a Verizon Wireless retail worker in Everett, Massachusetts. “For the wireless retail workers who joined CWA in 2014, that means a better quality of life and meaningful economic security for our families. Today is a great day for my family and working families along the East Coast, and it’s only possible because we stood together.” “We secured a contract our members can be proud of. It secures additional good middle class jobs for our members in the Mid-Atlantic and keeps them in our communities,” said CWA District 2-13 Vice President Ed

Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers who have been on strike since April 13 are celebrating big gains after reaching a tentative agreement with the company. After 45 days of the largest strike in recent history, Verizon will add 1,300 new east coast call center jobs, and reverse several other outsourcing initiatives that will create new field technician jobs. The four-year proposed agreement provides 10.9% in raises, a $1250 signing bonus in the Mid-Atlantic and a $1000 signing bonus plus a $250 healthcare reimbursement account in the Northeast, $2800 minimum in profit sharing, pension increases, and a first contract for Verizon Wireless retail store employees in Brooklyn, NY and Everett, MA. “CWA appreciates the persistence and dedication of Secretary Perez, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director Allison Beck and their entire teams. The addition of good new jobs at Verizon is a huge win not just for striking workers, but for our communities and the country as a whole. This contract is a victory for working families across the country and an affirmation of the power of working people,” said Chris Shelton, President of the Communications Workers of America. “It proves that when we stand together we can raise up working families, improve our communities and advance the interests of America’s working people.” 16

Mooney. “We were able to push back against a number company demands and achieve a contract that includes new job growth, specifically 850 call center jobs, returns work to union members; keeps centers from being closed and job security is intact and provides improvements in retirement benefits. I am so proud of the members for standing together and standing up for themselves; our communities, the customers and their families.” “After more than six weeks on the picket line, Verizon workers won an excellent new contract that will protect good jobs and preserve our standard of living. The members’ unity and determination defeated company proposals to outsource and contract out work, and the new agreement will create 1,500 new union jobs up and down the East Coast,” said Dennis G. Trainor, Vice President of CWA District One. “Together, we are turning the tide from cutbacks against working people to building a stronger labor movement and strengthening the power of working Americans. And, for the first time in history, Verizon Wireless retail employees in Brooklyn, NY and Everett, MA will have a union contract that improves working conditions and gives workers a united voice on the job.” Striking workers will be back on the job on Wednesday, June 1. Those with evening shifts that go past midnight on June 1 will be back on the job at the beginning of their shifts on Tuesday, May 31. Highlights from the proposed agreement, which will be presented to members for a ratification vote after the return to work, include: •

•

A 10.9 percent raise over the next 4 years with compounded interest, including 3% upon ratification, and 2.5% on each anniversary of the contract. $1250 signing bonus in the Mid-Atlantic and a $1000 signing bonus plus $250 healthcare reimbursement account in the Northeast, and a minimum of $700 in corporate profit sharing payments in each of the next four years. The first contract ever for nearly 70 Verizon Wireless retail store workers

•

All call centers that had been threatened with closure in the Mid-Atlantic region will remain open. Three of the five threatened call centers in upstate New York will also remain open; the six workers affected in the other two centers will be offered jobs locally in the company.

•

The new contract guarantees that an increased percentage of customer service work will be handled by unionized workers. As a result, Verizon will add 1,300 call center jobs, 850 in the MidAtlantic region and 450 in the Northeast.

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Several major contracting initiatives will be reversed, sustaining work for union members in their communities and returning a significant amount of pole maintenance work to the unionized workforce in New York State. There will be a 25% increase in the number of unionized crews doing pole work in New York State.

•

Existing Job security language will be preserved, as will existing language on transfer and seniority protections for retirement incentives. All of the company’s proposals on forced interstate transfers of technicians were withdrawn.

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All proposed reductions of pensions were withdrawn by the company, and there will be three 1% increases in the defined benefit pensions over the life of the agreement.

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The company agreed to terminate a performance supervisory program (known as QAR) in effect in the five boroughs of New York City that workers found extremely abusive, and both parties will work with an outside consultant to develop a non-punitive program. This was a major issue for NYC-based technicians.

•

Proposed cuts in accident and disability benefits were withdrawn. The parties agreed to changes to active and retiree healthcare that generate savings to the company while protecting excellent plan designs for medical care.

Telecoms Update

National Broadband Plan delayed and split between two Government Departments Ireland, socially and economically, further delays would be unacceptable. Whilst high speed broadband is not a simple answer to all of the economic problems facing rural Ireland it would be true to say that without it rural Ireland does not have a fighting chance of creating much needed employment and business opportunities. It should be noted that the National Broadband Plan for Ireland, if and when it is completed, will represent a very progressive (and impressive) piece of national infrastructure and the question of who will retain ownership of the network will be one that the CWU will monitor closely. There are basically two models being considered by the Department, one where the State retains ownership and the other where the successful bidders will hold on to the networks they have built. There are pros and cons to both but what is noteworthy is that the network will cover 96% of the land mass and around 40% of the population. In contrast to Irish plans for broadband development, the UK government has just announced changes to its plans for the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and associated State investments which will deliver a minimum speed of 10Mps. Interestingly, the plan aims to bring broadband to 95% of the population by 2017 but the remaining 5% will now have to request a connection and it may take up to four years before these applications can be made. Where they are granted the customer may have to contribute to the cost of the connection. It is thought this will be along the lines of the current phone connections costs whereby BT absorbs the first £3,400 and thereafter the customer picks up the tab.

What began as an initiative by the Department of Communications to bring much needed investment to national broadband infrastructure to rural Ireland has now been split with the Department of Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht. The new Minister for Communications, Denis Naughten TD, confirmed the decision recently and acknowledged that the plan is also behind schedule. The expectation was that announcements would be made before the end of this year on the successful bidders but this has now been pushed out until mid-2017. It is now understood that the bidders will be announced in the next month. Despite this, the delay in the process will mean a possible two-year delay for homes in the most rural parts of the country. The original plan aimed to deliver high speed broadband of 30Mps download and uploads of 6Mps to 100% of the population by 2020 (in line with the EU’s digital strategy) which entailed 85% of those homes being connected by 2018. The delay therefore is disappointing. But perhaps of more concern is the fact that the plan is now split across two departments. The Department of Communications will continue to work on the bidding process and will design the entity that will manage the State’s broadband contracts. The Department of Regional Development and Rural Affairs, headed by Minister Heather Humphreys TD, will be tasked with ensuring that the rollout takes place in a timely and efficient manner. In effect this means that two teams of civil servants and department officials will now be involved in the process and it is understandable that some are concerned that further delays might occur in this context. Given just how critical this investment is for rural

Independent Operators threaten eir with case to European Competition Authorities A group of telecoms operators comprised of Sky, Vodafone and BT has again accused ComReg of failing to sanction eir over six separate non-compliance notices that were issued since 2015. The group is now considering making a formal complaint to the European competition authorities. This is the latest instalment in a long running war of words over access to eir’s broadband and fixed-line network where allegations have been made that the company is favouring its own retail arm to the detriment of its competitors. Since 2015 ComReg has been accused by eir’s competitors of failing to take action against the former semi-state for these anti-competitive practices which are described as ‘regulatory abuse’. The group, Alto, will no

longer accept resourcing excuses from the regulator for non-action. In response, eir plans to publish details of its compliance position following a review of the regulatory issues in relation to competition where it is expected that the company will demonstrate that most of the issues have been resolved. ComReg has said that it expects to announce the appointment of consultants very soon who will be charged with the responsibility of reviewing the position of eir in the wholesale market. The review should be complete in early 2017 and it could pave the way for functional separation of eir’s wholesale and retail departments.

CREDIT UNION MEMBERSHIP EXTENDED!

an post employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; credit union ltd.

Spouses, children, grandchildren, parents, brothers & sisters

Includes: An Post employees Former employees Pensioners Postmasters and their post office assistants Companies where An Post has a shareholding

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Postal Update

DPD Update

UPS Update There has been a delay in holding a meeting between UPS and the Union in which we hope to conclude an agreement on a new Framework for Full Collective Bargaining Rights. A new country manager has been appointed by UPS to Ireland, the Union look forward to meeting her and progressing some our outstanding issues. Also we recently held a meeting with some of our members in Cork, as a result a new committee is in place and we have seen a good rise in new members in the Branch.

At our recent Conference in Galway, the news that Krzystof Kolodziejczyk aka (Stretch) had been elected to the European Works Council for DPD was recognised by the General Secretary and we would like to thank everybody in Athlone who helped in this great achievement.

Regarding the issue of the rate of pay for Sunday Work, this has been submitted to the Workplace Relations Commission for adjudication and both sides have committed to attend the hearing.

Pictured on the left, from l to r: Willie Day, David Cassin and Michael Daly UPS Delegation to Conference.

21 Years of DPDB Branch Secretaries

Pictured from l to r: Dave Moran, Joe Guinan and Frank Donohoe who between them have given 21 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; service to the Dublin Postal Delivery Branch as Branch Secretary 21

How Unequal is Ireland? This Union has consistently highlighted the issue of inequality in Irish society, particularly where income and tax avoidance is concerned. Below we reproduce an article by David McWilliams, Economist, published in the Irish Independent; neither of whom could be regarded as having a left-wing ideology. The article clearly highlights the growing divide in Irish society, where a small number of wealthy people own a disproportionate amount of the wealth.

election, you don’t actually have to offer any tangible, workable solutions if the system is already broken; you just have to keep saying it. Inequality is one of the reasons that mainstream politics all over the globe is fractured. Today, when people in Ireland are looking for reasons to explain the gradual erosion of the centre ground in Irish politics, growing inequality has to be one of the obvious reasons.

HE PANAMA PAPERS revelations underscore again the nature of wealth inequality in our world. This is becoming one of the single biggest dilemmas facing the world economy and it is not just an issue for traditionally unequal societies such as Russia. All over the world, the rich have been getting ever richer and the gap between the rich and the middle, not just the very poor, is amplifying. This growing gap is one of the factors that are leading many people to feel fed up with mainstream politics. The mainstream political message for so many years is that there is a conveyor belt to prosperity. The vision has always been that if you do well by working hard, your children will have a better chance than you did. As the very rich rise out of sight and pull the drawbridge up behind them, many millions begin to feel disillusioned with the social contract and reject mainstream politics. This is where Donald Trump and other demagogues such as Marine Le Pen come in. Trump is tapping into a resentment of the elites - and the Panama Papers are indicative of the elites squirrelling away their money in fake companies, usually with the explicit aim of avoiding tax. The average guy can’t do that. At the root of all this is enormous inequality, where scarce resources are hoovered up by a tiny percentage of the population, some of whom feel so entitled that they won’t even pay their dues on these huge fortunes. Don’t get me wrong, I have yet to meet a person who happily pays more tax than they absolutely have to, but the fact that those at the very top are cheating on their own countries gives yet more legitimacy to would-be politicians who point out that the system is broken. In an

So how big is the problem? A few months ago, I presented a programme on RTÉ documenting the great wealth divide in Ireland. One of the most fascinating aspects of inequality in Ireland was the fact that while almost everyone in Ireland knows that the spoils of the society are not divided equally, in our ideal world, the vast majority of us claim that wealth should be distributed more equally. What the programme highlighted was the difference between what people thought the wealth divide was, and what people thought it ought to be, was wildly out of whack with what it actually is. One of the recurring themes in all surveys taken on the issue of wealth in Ireland is the fact that most people believe in a fairer society. For the programme, we decided to revisit this conundrum. We conducted a Red C poll to see what you thought the wealth divide was in Ireland, then, we asked you what you thought it should be, and then we revealed what it actually was. In an ideal world, you thought that a fairer Ireland - a truly republican Ireland, where all the citizens have a chance - would be one where the top 20pc would have a 22

the chart above. Now, if you want to see how wealth is distributed in Ireland, check out the next two charts which go a bit deeper and reveal what the distribution of wealth is like when you break the population down into the top 10pc down to the bottom 10pc. You can see that the concentration of wealth in the top 10pc is extraordinary. According to the latest publication by the CSO, the top 1pc in Ireland owns 14.8pc of the entire wealth of the country. This is about the same as the bottom 50pc of the population. So to put it another way, the top 1pc of the population own the same amount as the bottom half of the population. These are the latest official figures, published by our government. These developments in inequality are not unique to Ireland. In fact, all over the OECD, we are seeing similar patterns. The Panama Papers are yet more evidence of one rule for the hyper rich and one for the average dude. Against this background, can you blame people for turning their back on the mainstream at the ballot box?

little bit more than 20pc of the wealth and the poorest 20pc would have a little bit less. This is kind of what you would expect from people who live in a republic but understand that life isn’t always fair. As a result, rich people have more, but not hugely more, and poor people have less, but not dramatically less. That’s your ideal world. Then we asked you what you thought was the state of play. And you thought, in contrast to your ideal Ireland, that the real picture was one whereby Ireland’s richest 20pc probably had more than half of the country’s wealth and the poorest 20pc had 11pc of the wealth.

Then we showed what the reality is The reality in Ireland, according to the latest figures for the CSO, is that the most affluent 20pc in Ireland actually own 73pc of the country’s wealth, while the poorest 20pc don’t own the 11pc you thought they own, but they own just 0.2pc of the country’s wealth. And as for the top 5pc, their combined wealth is nearly double that of the entire “squeezed middle” - the 60pc of Irish people in the middle. You can see all this clearly in 23

the current oppressive regime and about adult children being thrown out of the family home because they have to sell the house to pay the tax when their parent dies. Some of these stories are complete nonsense. If you’ve been living in your parents’ house for three years and you inherit that house, you pay zero tax on the inheritance anyway. Raising the threshold for the tax, as the Government is now doing, does nothing for you. And if you are not living in your deceased parents’ house? At the moment, you can inherit €280,000 without paying a cent in tax. So let’s say the house is worth the new limit of €500,000. This leaves a taxable inheritance of €220,000. You pay 33 per cent inheritance tax on this, so your actual tax bill is €72,600. Under the existing regime you’re still getting €427,400 tax-free. That is well over ten times the average annual salary of an Irish worker. Is this really an injustice that cries out for immediate remedy? No, it’s a windfall that is, by definition, available only to those in society who are lucky enough to be able to inherit valuable property. If you think getting €427,400 tax-free is hardship, you should emigrate to Nashville as you have enough self-pity to power the whole country music industry. But even if you think the removal of a very modest tax on unearned income is a good idea, why should it take priority over other ways of spending scarce public money? The Government’s plan will cost, according to the Fine Gael manifesto, €75 million a year. This is almost certainly an underestimate, especially as property prices rise. But let’s go with it and think of some things this money could have been spent on. For €75 million a year, the Government could have quadrupled the number of free school meals, eliminating food poverty among children. It could have increased the respite care grant for carers by about €700, giving some comfort and support to 86,000 of the bravest and best people in Ireland. Or it could have employed 1,600 new teachers. Or it could have gone almost all of the way to making primary school genuinely free (including transport, books, uniforms and abolition of “voluntary contributions”). Or it could have employed 1,500 extra speech and language therapists to end the scandal of

During the course of the recent election campaign, an issue that went unnoticed in the media was the competition between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, as to which party had the best policy on Inheritance Tax. A Fianna Fáil candidate in the election went to the expense of hiring a plane to fly over Croke Park during the Dublin –v– Mayo game trailing a banner demanding action be taken on Inheritance Tax. The Programme for Government contains a commitment “to raise the Band A Capital Acquisitions Tax Threshold (including all gifts and inheritances from parents to their children) to €500,000”, which will result in the Exchequer foregoing €75m per annum in tax revenue. Below we reproduce an article by Fintan O’Toole from the Irish Times on this issue and some interesting comments on how €75m would be better spent.

ELL, THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG, DID IT? The shiny new Government, fully committed to new politics and social justice, has highlighted its first big initiative: a huge tax break for comfortable people. It is a cynical giveaway that has not been subjected to any scrutiny as to whether it is a good or bad use of scarce resources. The big initiative is the virtual abolition of inheritance tax on most houses. Children inheriting from their parents will now pay no tax at all on the first €500,000 of the value of an estate. In other words, a single adult child will be able to receive half a million euro tax-free. There is only one purpose of this measure: to copperfasten the transfer of privilege from one generation to the next. It does not address any injustice or further any social or economic objective. It does not improve the “incentive to work” of which Fine Gael purports to be so fond, but it does improve the incentive to be born of parents who can leave you a nice inheritance. But it pleases middle-class swing voters, especially in Dublin, where property prices are high.

Sob stories If you mention inheritance tax in print, as I have done in the past, you will be bombarded with sob stories about 24

Pork-barrel politics

children having their education and development held back because they can’t access these services. For €75 million the Government could have increased child benefit by another €5 a month, helping 1.2 million children. Or it could have increased the fuel allowance for 381,000 needy people by €7.50 a week. Or it could have employed 1,200 more nurses. Or 1,000 educational psychologists. Or it could have added €2 a week to the old age pension. But instead of doing any of these things, it is going for a lazy, cynical, crowd-pleasing ploy. Why? Well, if you were lucky enough to be in Croke Park for the DublinMayo semi-final last September, you know why. You will have seen a low-flying plane tailing a giant banner that read: “Cut the Inheritance Tax – Mary White. ”

White was the Fianna Fáil candidate in Dublin Rathdown. She organised a big meeting of the oppressed peasants and workers of south Dublin at the Mount Merrion community centre and collected signatures for a petition demanding that the threshold for inheritance tax be raised to €500,000. And Fine Gael, fearing a middle-class revolt, panicked and adopted the policy as its own. Thus White, her clothes stolen, didn’t get elected in Dublin Rathdown. But Shane Ross did. He’s railed all his public life against pork-barrel politics and the parish pump. Here’s his chance to step up and show that he despises the pork barrel when it’s in Mount Merrion as much as when it’s in Mountmellick.

Back Row l to r: Ray O’Brien, Pascal Connolly, Damien Tuohy, Deirdre O’Hara, Gerry Bourke, Tom Sheehan, Ger Nolan, Tom Hayes, Willie Mooney, Willie Day, Adrian Scanlon, Anthony Mc Crave, Gerry Sexton, Front Row l to r: Deirdre Medlar, Kevin Molloy, Ray Lawlor, Frank Donohoe, Martina O’Connell (President), Mike O’Connor (Vice President), Ellen Moore, Geraldine Isherwood, Helen Fleming, Jason Caulfield Missing from photo : Ivor Reynolds, John Dunleavy, Liam O’Laighin, Michael O’Toole, Willie Tyrell, John Clarke and Frank Burke

National Executive Council 2016 -2018

8th Biennial Conference 2016, Galway

The Three Amigos

Monica Hempenstall

Steve Fitzpatrick, GS

Carol Scheffer

Pascal with Patricia King

Geraldine Thompson & Imelda

Headquarters Staff join in with Auld Lange Sange 28

Seán McDonagh

Gerry and Ray O’Brien

Barry Gorman

Derek Keenan

Jay Asolo & Larry Ojelade

Standing Orders Committee 2016 : Jim McCarrow, John Curtin, Tony Grogan, Robbie O’Connor, Noel Adamson & Pat Delaney

Diarmuid O’Connell

Seamus Sweeney

Christy Keenan

Kathleen O’Reilly

Anthony Brennan

David Morris

Noel Mullaney

Declan Fitzgerald

Anthony McCrave

Ger McManus

Mike O’Connor

Mikey Wall

Brian Deegan

Thomas O’Brien, Frank Joyce and Ger Nolan Portlaoise District Branch and next year’s Arrangements Committee for Spring Seminar 2017 Pictured left: Imelda, Seán and Galway Arrangements Committee

Tony Grogan

Pat Coyle, Anthony Thomson & John O’Mahony

Christy Brannigan, Paddy Redmond, Charlie O’Neill and Kevin Keatinge

Colin Moore

Christy Brannigan

Ivor Reynolds, John Clancy and Pat Broderick

DPDB pictured l to r: Diarmuid O'Connell, Gerry Sexton, Frank Donohoe, Christy Keenan, Sean Coultry, Kevin Keatinge, Anto McMahon, Keith Butler, Karl Donohoe, Paddy Costello and Sean Boylan 30

Jim Gaynor

Stephen De Matteo

Barney Foley

Ellen Moore & Helen Dunne Phelan

Margaret Hegarty

Matt Finnegan

Steve Brannigan

Barry Haddock, Carmel Higgins, Kathleen O’Reilly and Mary Conroy

Martin Condron & Anthony Brennan

Colum Courtney, Fintan King and Paul Dowd

Headquarters Staff with 1916 GPO Graphic Photo from l to r: Adrienne Power, Ciara Melinn, Sandra Connors, Ruth Dungan, Imelda Hyland, Lorraine Newman, Claire Kelly, Jimmy O’Connor & Robbie O’Connor

CWU Biennial Conference Media Coverage

eir Contractors

which one of the major contractors in eir, with which the union has had problems securing recognition, rang up the CWU head office to see if they would take 35 of its workers into membership. The reason, he explained, was the contractor was tendering for work with the ESB and was told it wouldn’t get the contract unless the workers were members of a union. He said the union has tried to engage with eir itself to put pressure on the contractors, but was told by management that legally they can’t impose collective bargaining on anybody. “We are not prepared to allow workers employed by eir contractors to be treated differently to those employed directly. This includes being denied proper representation and their right to organise and access the industrial relations machinery of the state if they need to”, Mr Delany said. He warned that the union would take whatever action is necessary to enforce the CES agreement on all eir contracts.

At the telecoms section of the conference, Deputy General Secretary, Terry Delany, warned delegates that a “serious situation” was emerging within eir (formerly eircom), where contractors are refusing to engage with the union. Mr Delany said that contractors within eir now employ over 1,000 staff, mainly in customer care and network maintenance. He said that the union will pursue a campaign to force contractors to observe Contractor Employment Standards (CES) agreements, which require contractors to engage in collective bargaining, recognise trade unions, observe and engage with the industrial relations apparatus of the State and allow trade unions to organise at their premises. The union official said the CWU wants contractors in eir to abide by the same type of agreement as exists for contractors in the ESB, which allows for collective bargaining and union recognition. Mr Delany instanced a paradoxical situation recently, in

Some employers ‘cling’ to 19th century model of workplace relations

WU General Secretary told Conference that some workers experience ‘oppressive and intimidating disciplinary procedures’. Some employers still “cling” to a 19th century model of workplace relations that refuses to recognise union representation, according to the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) general secretary Steve Fitzpatrick. This includes companies with “lucrative” State contracts who tend to hold the State’s industrial relations structures in “complete contempt”, Mr Fitzpatrick told CWU delegates at the union’s biennial conference in

IRN - 19 May, 2016

Galway on Wednesday afternoon. A number of these companies impose “oppressive and intimidating disciplinary procedures on their workers”, and yet consider themselves to be “beacons within their own industries, and examples of caring and enlightened employers”. 350 delegates, representing over 15,000 employees in the postal, courier and telecommunications sectors, called for contractual conditions to be included in all State-awarded contracts. These conditions would require employers to respect and participate in the industrial relations machinery of the State, including the Labour Court and Workplace Relations Commission. CWU President, Pascal Connolly, said that Ireland holds the “dishonourable title of being the most unequal country in the EU”. “The rise in inequality is driven by the endless attacks on working people and their employment

conditions,” Mr Connolly told delegates in his address. “ Economic and workforce policies spawned during the Thatcher – Regan era have pitted workers against the combined forces of business and government,” Mr Connolly said. “However, solidarity amongst workers is what they fear most,”he said, adding that it “remains the most effective weapon against these divisive forces”. The CWU represents over 15,000 workers in the postal, courier and telecommunications sectors, including call centre workers and workers in the 999 emergency call answering service. Mr Fitzpatrick reported that “good progress” is being made through negotiation at An Post, Eir, Vodafone, HCL and Phonewatch, with wage increases in the 1.5 to 3.5 per cent range being agreed, along with commitments to negotiate on phase two increases as part of these agreements.

ICTU chief insists it is not engaged in ‘secretive’ talks to revitalise Social Partnership

HE IRISH Congress of Trade Unions is not engaged in “secretive” talks to revitalise Social Partnership, the head of the body has insisted. Speaking at the Communications Workers’ Union Biennial Conference in Galway, ICTU chief executive officer Patricia King said there had recently been some debate on the development of a social dialogue mechanism. However, she stressed: “Let me make it exceptionally clear, Congress are not seeking to revitalise Social Partnership and are not talking to anyone, in secret or otherwise on the matter.” Ms King also criticised the Government for the ongoing dispute among 999 call answering staff. She

Union wants stamp price to rise to 95c

t the biennial conference of the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU), delegates heard a warning that An Post cannot continue to carry the cost of the Universal Service Obligation (USO), which requires it to collect and deliver post nationwide. In 2014, ComReg agreed a fiveyear price cap model, which could move the price of a stamp up to 75 cent by 2018. However, Ian McArdle of the CWU said this limit should be implemented now and the union should push for an

said the root cause of the dispute between staff at the Emergency Call Answering Service (ECAS) and the service provider BT Ireland/Conduit “lies in the terms of the Public Contract offered to this company by the State in the first instance”. “I have absolutely no doubt that the only real determining factor for the Government was the ‘lowest possible tender price’. It seems they had little regard for the fact that ECAS cannot be regarded as a normal commercial call centre. That this work involves the delivery of an essential public service, requiring the utmost accuracy and precision,” she said. Ms King said workers in ECAS are providing one of the most important and essential services to the State. “Their remuneration is deficient and their conditions of employment poor. When you boil it all down, this situation has arisen as a direct result of the State, using taxpayers money, selling public service jobs to a contractor whose sole interest is in making a profit,” she added. Speaking on public procurement Ms King said the Trade Union

Movement had to be clear in its resolve that it will not facilitate the outsourcing of public service jobs “on the basis of a race to the bottom”. Ms King said that while there were “reputable employers” in Ireland who engage with Trade Unions and develop collective agreements, there were also “a considerable number of employer advocacy groups who show no concept of the consequences of low pay or growing inequality for workers or their families.” “They have no notion of paying a living wage or providing decent work. They take the view that the State should subsidise wages with no disruption to their growing profits through current economic growth. These are no small lunatic fringe sniping from the margins of Irish life, their view is well represented among political groupings and even some media commentators,” she added. Irish Independent 11 May, 2016

ICTU: not seeking return of social pact

additional 20 cent increase over the next five years. That would bring the price of a stamp to 95 cent, a figure Mr McArdle stressed would be comparable to the European average. Mr McArdle said the USO cost the company €32.3m in the last accounts. “That could be invested in the infrastructure of the company, in the people of the company and is definitely a cost that shouldn’t be borne by the company alone,” he said. “We have a 40pc rural population in this country and it’s not sustainable for An Post to continue in this way,” he added.

he Irish Congress of Trade Unions is not seeking the return of social partnership and is not in secret talks to bring it about, according to General Secretary, Patricia King. Addressing the Communication Workers’ Union in Galway, Ms King said wage increases offer the only “sustainable basis” for economic progress. “Let me make it exceptionally clear - congress are not seeking to revitalise social partnership and are not talking to anyone, in secret or otherwise, on the matter,” she said.

Irish Independent 16 May, 2016

Ms King told some 350 delegates that the State’s demands in public contracts had caused the 999 emergency call service strike. She had “absolutely no doubt” contracts were being won with the “lowest possible tender price”, though essential public services require the “utmost accuracy and precision”. Ms King claimed that employee earnings at the BT emergency call answering service (ECAS) was “deficient” and criticised employment conditions there. The State’s €8 billion public procurement budget should be awarded to companies honouring new EU rules incorporating social, environmental and labour clauses into national legislation, she said. Irish Times 12 May, 2016

CWU People

Presentation of James Connolly Prints

Pascal presents a print of James Connolly to Martin Condron, for 40 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; service to the Carlow Postal Branch and the Union.

Pascal presents a print of James Connolly to Ray Lawlor, for over 25 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; service on the National Executive Council.

Eileen Maddock Retires

Willie Mooney (left) and Brian Deegan (right), present Eileen Maddock, who retired from Dublin Postal Clerks Branch, with the Union Scroll. 35

CWU People

A Lament for James Connolly

Pic courtesy Mark Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor

CWU member Eamonn Walsh is pictured playing a lament for James Connolly in Arbour Hill during the centenary of his execution. Eamonn also played during the centenary of 1916 leader Eamonn Ceannt, who was himself a noted Uilleann piper and founder of the Pipers Club in 1900.

ERRATA An error was made on page 43 of the last Connect: Kevin McGing did not retire as stated, he was recognised for having 40 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; service. Apologies for the mistake.

Final night at Conference

Paddy Redmond, Steve Fitzpatrick and Christy Brannigan enjoying the final night at conference listening to the Funkey Munkey Band in Tonery's Pub Galway.

CWU People

Michael Murphy Retires

Michael Murphy is presented with his Union Scroll by Leonard Coote (Branch Secretary, Ennis) following his retirement from Tulla sub office (Ennis Postal Branch) after 25 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; service. Michael was a great supporter of the Branch over the years and the members would like to wish him the very best of luck for the future.

Happy 40th Birthday to Sarah & Sandra!

Sarah & Sandra recently celebrated their 40th birthdays with both not looking a day over 21! Congrats from all of us at the CWU!

Bernard Clancy Retires

Sammy Reid Retires

Willie Mooney presents the Union Scroll to Bernard Clancy on his retirement.

Willie Mooney presents the Union Scroll to Sammy Reid on his retirement. 37

Book Reviews

SIMPLIFIED HISTORY – THE 1916 RISING by Joan O’Reilly to 1916 to let us know what led to the Rising. Then we hear how bad conditions were for people in 1916 and on to the groups involved in the Rising. After that we meet the Leaders of the Rising and the Plan that was in place and then the events of Easter 1916 and who was where. The various maps, illustrations and photos really bring home what it was all about. I especially liked the Visiting Dublin Landmarks on page 55 of what to see in Dublin starting with the GPO of course, even including where to find bullet holes! It is available to buy at www.simplifiedhistory.com for €5.00 plus p&p (€1.50 or €3 worldwide) (Sold at Glasnevin Cemetery Gift Shop for €5.50)

This little history book is only 55 pages long. It is the briefest and most concise book written on the 1916 Rising you will find. Joan O’Reilly is a graduate and lover of history whose aim is to make history more accessible to everyone. History books are normally bogged down with endless facts and information and it is great to cut it down to the bare minimum. Every member of a family could read this book both young and old. The book starts off with a very brief history from 1169

Every member of the family could read this book both young and old!

‘Let’s be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading.’ Lena Dunham

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