AUTUMN 2016 VOL: 18 NO. 3
retail says NO NO NO NO Maternity Pay
Sick Leave
CWU SAYS
NO WAY!
Editorial
Dear Colleague, Contents Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Telecoms Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ESCCU Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CSTWF Annual Report 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organising Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #999 Respect: CWU engaged in Living Wage talks with Conduit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Halligan Home Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Right2Water Submission to the Expert Commission on Domestic Public Water Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FM Downes & Co Health Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carer Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Equality Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Postal Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letter to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . An Post Employee Director Election 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . Education Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Courier Companies Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Subsidiaries/An Post Contractors Updates . . . . . . . . . . . How Unequal is Ireland? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Justice for Clerys Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Why we must remain vigiland to the threat of Payday loan sharks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CWU People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . An Post Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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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.
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Every now and again as I read and hear the news headlines, I wonder have I woken up in some “twilight zone”. We now live in a country where public services have been ravaged by successive governments’ austerity policies. Homelessness is at its highest level since the famine, where it is now commonplace in our country to see families sleeping in cars and doorways. Child poverty, according to the UN, is on the rise at an alarming rate. Employment rights and pay & conditions are under attack on a daily basis, and we have left our children and grandchildren with a debt they may well only pass on to their own offspring; it seems the list gets longer and more depressing every day. Of course, much of the reason for the aforementioned is down to the fact that successive governments agreed that it was the role of the Irish people to pay 48% of the overall European banking debt following the economic collapse. We, as model Europeans, did everything we were told to do by the European Union and the European Central Bank on the basis, according to successive governments, that we had no choice, we had no option, and that we would not survive if we did not do as we were told. All discussions concerning the lack of schools, hospital waiting lists, poor infrastructure, underinvestment in public transport etc etc, take place against a background of lack of resources for investment. Of course, many of those resources are lacking because the last two governments put tax cuts for the better off ahead of much needed public expenditure. Then lo and behold, those dictators from Europe decided that the Irish government was owed in excess of €13bn in back tax from the Apple corporation. At last, there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel and there seemed to be hope that we could rebuild the Republic into a proper civilised society, which values the services it provides for its citizens. There also seemed to be the prospect that we would not have to sell off the last of the family silver, such as our forestry and our water. Astonishingly, the outrage expressed in Dáil
Éireann at the award against Apple was tumultuous. The pioneers of austerity in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour decried the actions of the EU Commissioner. All kinds of lunatic statements, generally centred around tax and Irish sovereignty, were blurted out in panic from Dáil Éireann. Every conceivable excuse was trotted out to try and explain why we should not accept this money and why the EU is overstepping its limits. All of a sudden, the all-powerful EU which could dictate that we pay the vast bulk of the debt it created was being harangued for dictating that the country should be given tax billions, through which the dire circumstances of our country could be vastly improved. I do not know about you, but it beggars belief that the same people who lectured us on the primacy of the EU when it suited them, could so easily flip-flop on a decision that benefits a multi-billion dollar corporation above the Irish people. It is no wonder that ordinary citizens have completely lost faith in mainstream politics! It now appears that, throughout the world, Ireland is seen as a tax haven; “a great little country to do business”. Many countries now have Ireland listed with other states they consider tax havens, such as Liechtenstein and the Cayman Islands. We are synonymous with the grubby laundering of taxes avoided in almost every country in the world. It is remarkable that NAMA is being investigated in a number of jurisdictions around the world, including the UK and the US, while we steadfastly refuse to have any examination whatsoever. If one was to be embarrassed by our country’s international reputation, we would all be hanging our heads in shame, but of course we know these are not the actions of ordinary citizens. We know that the “golden circle” supported by a pliant media has always seen it as their right to be involved in any kind of murky dealing that creates additional profits and less taxes for themselves. Such practices have been rife in this country for donkey’s years; as the asses push each other out of the way to get their snouts into the trough. The advent of social media has done more to report and expose the murky dealings of our so-called “betters” than the National Broadcaster and the mainstream media, whose role of keeping us in the dark and spinning misinformation is now being undermined by new media streams. Of course, that is not the way it is supposed to be. Indeed, that is not the way it should be, and it is certainly not the way the majority of people want it to be. This is reflected in the mass movement of people across the world, the hundreds of thousands who attended Bernie Sanders’ rallies in the States, to a
Steve Fitzpatrick, General Secretary, CWU resurgence in core labour values through the Jeremy Corbyn election as Leader of the Labour Party in the UK. It is also reflected in mass people’s movements all across Europe: namely, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece etc, and it is mirrored in this country by popular movements such as Right2Water and Right2Change. Indeed, on Saturday 17th September, once again, a massive people’s demonstration in support of the principles of the Irish Water movement was held in Dublin. It was the eighth massive demonstration organised through, what is now, the most popular mass movement in the history of the Irish state. The last General Election was the first indication that the old way of doing business is no longer acceptable to a majority of the Irish people. The brown envelopes, back-hander sweetheart tax deals, an acquiescence to our so-called betters, is coming under increasing pressure. Of course, none of these things will change unless people support the courage of those making a stand. Citizenship – like trade union membership – should not be a spectator sport and if, like me, you are increasingly concerned about the type of country and society we are now living in and if you want to try and improve that for your children and future generations, there is an absolute necessity that you become part of these broad protest movements, if you have not done so already. 3
Telecoms Update
eir Business MSC changes Agreement has recently been concluded with management in eir Business re changes to the coverage model in their MSC in CityWest.
6 Monday to Friday on a three-shift basis with the out of hours cover provided by a Partner model.
4.
The new Tier 1 model will be supported by a comprehensive training programme to up skill all members of the new team with the required skills across all supported technologies and facilitate career progression. In this regard a programme is in place to develop labs for not only Cisco but also on Avaya red technology. This will enable remote study on more up to date material and equipment.
Key to concluding this agreement were : • •
Compensation for loss of earnings, and An agreed career development path for the members impacted
5.
The agreement is reproduced in full below:
Introduction
• •
This is a collective agreement between eir Business and the Communications Workers Union (the parties) in relation to reform of the Tier 1 service mode which will deliver a simplified Incident Management structure within Service Operations to service the needs of our large Enterprise and Government customers.
2.
•
•
Current service model eir Business currently operates an ITIL based service model comprising a single point of contact (Customer Response Centre (CRC)) and a Network Operations Centre (Managed Services Centre (MSC)). Customer Incidents are managed by the Incident Management desk in the CRC and escalated as required to Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams within the MSC. The Tier 1 team also provides out of hours services on a 24/7 basis.
3.
Career progression The parties are fully committed to proving a career progression framework to allow eir employee’s progress from Tier 1 to Tier 2. This framework will include the following:
eir Business Tier 1 reform 1.
New Tier 1 model supports
Statement of the required qualifications; Training and development programmes to attain these qualifications; Commitment to allow all interested and qualified employees the opportunity to gain experience working at Tier 2[1]; and Commitment that all vacancies at Tier 2 will be filled through closed competitions open to all Tier 1 eir employees in the first instance.
The parties will jointly review the implementation of this framework on a regular basis, but at a minimum every 6 months, over a two year period from the date of this agreement.
6.
Loss of earnings Loss of earnings arising from the cessation of shift allowance will be compensated by the payment in advance of a lump sum (equivalent to the shift premium paid for a quarter) on a quarterly basis for eight quarters.
New service model Under this agreement this new model consists of the replacement of the service desk with a unified Tier 1 team which will drive best practice in Incident Management and simplify the customer journey. The 24/7 model will cease and be replaced by a core attendance model for the Tier 1 team of 8-
7.
Governance This collective agreement [was] signed by the parties.
[1] This commitment may delay the filling of a Tier 2 vacancy in order for all interested eir employees to be given an equal opportunity to develop ahead of the competition consistent with the needs of the business.
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Telecoms Update
AR 616 - Performance management and bonus out turn 2015/2016 As members are aware Joint Conciliation Council (JCC) Agreed Report 616 provided for performance management process for graded employees, in eir, who prior to this agreement were not in receipt of a bonus opportunity and certain NMCT graded employees. Below is a summary of the out turn for the second year. The agreement makes provision for an individual/team element to the scheme for the first two years. The table below confirms that 87% of participants recorded either a “Meets” or “Exceeds” rating for the year.
2015/2016 out turn
IFA backs eir in bid for National Broadband Plan
The issue of rural broadband repeatedly came up as a major concern on the doorsteps during the last general election. More than 80,000 farms are located in broadband blackspots. eir is one of three shortlisted bidders for the scheme, which was recently expanded to encompass 927,000 homes, nearly half the total housing stock. “Access to high-speed broadband is critical for farm families in running their farm businesses and having the same opportunities for their families in terms of education and other areas,” IFA president Joe Healy said. The Government has opted to privatise the proposed infrastructure, on the grounds it will reduce the cost to the State by up to 70 per cent. The three consortiums vying for the tender – eir, Siro and Enet – are likely to mount bids using predominantly fibre technology as it is the fastest available.
The end of year performance ratings for the over 1,700 graded staff is as follows:
Farmers’ group announces strategic tie-up to bring high-speed broadband to rural areas The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has rowed in behind eir’s bid for the National Broadband Plan, the Governmentbacked scheme which aims to bring high-speed broadband to rural Ireland. As part of the strategic tie-up, announced today, the IFA will assist eir, the State’s largest telco, in developing the best broadband solution for the Irish farming community.
3. Exceeds
26%
2. Meets
61%
1. Did not Meet
13%
CWU HA Convoy 2016 wishes to thank
Celtic Horizon Tours for their support on this year’s convoy. For the best ferry rates across the Irish Sea – call Celtic Horizon Tours on
01-6292000 www.celtichorizontours.com 5
Telecoms Update
TELL EIR TO CARE CWU Members in Meteor Demand Equal Treatment and Respect in the Workplace
Clerys workers last summer and the recent offensive by Tesco bosses to cut the pay of their long-serving staff. Over the past two months, CWU organisers and activists have been visiting Meteor and eMobile stores across the country to listen to their issues. From speaking to members, it is clear that there is a strong appetite for action to address the Brompton issue. The CWU is now considering what action to take, which could include anything up to and including an all-out strike, and we will be consulting with our members in the coming weeks. The real culprits in this sorry saga are eir management whose “hear no evil, see no evil” approach has allowed a situation to develop whereby the majority of staff employed in eir retail stores are denied basic entitlements
Staff are angry that the majority of retail workers in eir are now agency staff employed on rolling 9-month contacts and are denied job security, sick pay, maternity pay and pensions. Employment agency Brompton Recruitment were brought in by eir on the strict understanding that this was a temporary arrangement to enable the Company to carry out a review on the number of stores required to provide retail services. Following the review, the number of stores remains the same and the Union now finds itself in a position where a temporary arrangement entered into in good faith is now being regarded as a permanent arrangement by the Company. The Union is now calling for all agency staff working in Meteor to be directly employed by eir. As well as denying their employees basic standards at work, there have even been reports of attempted union busting by Brompton’s top management. New staff were clearly and explicitly told that they should not join the CWU. An anti-union company like Brompton which does not respect workers has no place in eir. Agency staff now make up the majority of the retail workforce in Meteor and eMobile and we are now confronted with a situation where we have a two-tier workforce. Brompton staff do the same work as their directly-employed Meteor colleagues but receive less in return. As a result of this display of unfairness and disrespect, staff morale has plummeted and scores of staff are leaving the company. The continuing employment of workers on rolling 9month contracts as well as the denial of basic benefits is part of a wider move by employers to undermine the pay and conditions of retail workers. The most high-profile examples of this was the disgraceful treatment of the
Pay Negotiations with Manpower
The Union has been engaged in discussions with Manpower with a view to securing pay increases for our members’ and as the discussions were not successful, the Union has referred the claim to the Workplace Relations Commission.
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Telecoms Update
eir launches legal challenge against rural phone services duty Company believes it should not be stuck with cost of uneconomic rural phone lines
eir: company plans to take regulator ComReg to court to have part of USO designation relating to access at a fixed location overturned. Photograph: Maxwells eir is challenging the law requiring it to provide rural phone services under the universal social obligation (USO). The State’s largest telco believes it should no longer be saddled with cost of connecting uneconomic rural lines with the advent of broadband and mobile phone services. The company plans to take regulator ComReg to court to have part of its USO designation relating to access at a fixed location overturned. It is due to file a statement of
claim with the High Court in the coming days, which will outline its arguments in more detail. If successful, a major plank of universal service, designed to ensure every person can receive basic telecommunications services, no matter where they live, may become a thing of the past. “eir has lodged an appeal in the High Court as we believe Ireland no longer needs a universal service provider for voice services given the commercial rollout of fibre already delivered, future plans for fibre rollout and mobile services in place,” the company said in a statement to The Irish Times. ComReg declined to comment other than to say that it planned to publish an information note on the issue later in the week. Under its USO, eir is obliged to connect homes and businesses in rural areas up to a cost threshold of €7,000 after which the customer must cover part of the connection cost. The USO also obliges eir to provide phone boxes in remote locations, publish telephone directories and provide certain disability services, but these services are not thought to part of eir’s legal challenge. In July, the regulator redesignated eir as the State’s universal social provider (USP) for another five years, a move that appears to have prompted the company’s legal challenge. Ronan Lupton of Alto, the umbrella group for non-eir firms, disputed eir’s assertion that the availability of broadband warranted the move away from USO and the company’s specific USP designation, citing the 920,000 homes and businesses,
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which have been earmarked for state intervention under the National Broadband Plan. He also highlighted that eir’s obligations under the USO mandated the upkeep and repair of the existing telecoms network, claiming that eir’s performance has been substandard. Non-eir companies – Sky, Vodafone, BT and Magnet which use eir’s network to deliver their own bundles – are in a separate dispute with the former semiState over fault repair times, which they say are too long and fall below European industry norms, a claim the company rejects. eir has been lobbying ComReg to have the cost of providing rural phone services, which it estimates to be about €10 million a year, shared among providers. To this end, it lodged a series of retrospective funding claims, dating back to 2010 and totalling €45 million, with the regulator. eir reclaims part of the connection costs via line rental charges but argues the overall costs should be shared among operators as customers can choose different service providers when connected. ComReg has ruled against the first of these claims , while judgments on the others are still pending. The European Commission is considering introducing a USO for broadband across member states as part of wider plans to revamp its digital agenda. Minister for Communications Denis Naughten has already signalled his intention to consider introducing such a legal imperative here once the NBP is in place.
Telecoms Update
eir not to be compensated for phone services USO ComReg rejects first part of multi-year claim, saying €5m cost ‘not an unfair burden’
ComReg said the cost of the USO on eir amounted to about €5.1 million in 2009. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA Wires Telecoms regulator ComReg has ruled that eir should not be compensated for at least part of its universal service obligation (USO). The State’s incumbent telco is seeking to have the cost of
providing rural phone services, which it estimates to be about €10 million a year, shared out among all providers in the sector. It has lodged a series of retrospective funding claims with ComReg, dating back to 2009 and totalling more than €50 million. The regulator has, however, rejected the first of these applications relating to compensation for the 2009-2010 period, while rulings on claims for the following years are still pending. In its decision, ComReg said it had found that the cost of the USO on eir amounted to about €5.1 million in 2009, compared to eir’s claim for €6.2 million. It found that this net cost did not represent “an unfair burden” on the former semi-State. eir reclaims part of the connection costs via line rental charges but argues the overall costs should be shared among operators as customers can choose different service providers when connected. It still has over €50 million in outstanding claims. Non-eir operators have complained about the slow pace of ComReg’s adjudications, claiming that a financial uncertainty is hang-
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ing over their accounts as a result.
Broadband The European Commission is considering introducing a USO for broadband across member states as part of wider plans to revamp its digital agenda. Minister for Communications Denis Naughten has already signalled his intention to consider introducing such a legal imperative here once the National Broadband Plan (NBP), which will establish a rural broadband network, is in place. With people being pushed online for all manner of basic transactions, the lack of broadband may soon appear discriminatory. A broadband USO is likely to overlap or supercede the current phone services obligation.s A big issue will be whether it will be funded through an industrywide levy or via a financial obligation on the monopoly provider. The cost of connecting the “final 5 per cent” of remote rural homes in the NBP is expected to be high, given the dire legacy of one-off housing and controversial planning
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This article is reproduced by kind permission from Jacobin magazine. It was written by Jane McAlevey, a union organiser based in the US, who has worked with the CWU in the past. Jane’s second book No Shortcuts : Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age is now available to buy and this article is a good taste of the main themes in that book which carefully analyses union organising strategies that have been successful. A worthwhile read for anyone interested in building worker power that can win.
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always cutting your benefits and messing with your schedule. The basis for organizing workers today, then, is the same as it’s always been. In my years as a labor organizer and negotiator, I do this by adhering to a class struggle theory of power, in which I identify and mentor organic worker-leaders by engaging in hard fights and constant testing. I can’t do this on the shop floor because paid staff are legally barred from private-sector workplaces before the union is formed (and often through the first contractnegotiations period); I do it by demystifying power and teaching workers how to get it for themselves. Organizers, whether paid or unpaid, are leaders, defined as people with real followers who trust them and support them — not employees or colleagues. A true leader can only serve with the active support of their community or other workers. Most social-change activists, by contrast, are not organizers. Organic leaders are ordinary people inside and outside the workplace who are already leaders before anyone sends them to some “leadership development” workshop. These leaders are the essential ingredient to building power by developing unbreakable solidarity — a solidarity that will not back down in the face of adversity and will do what it takes to win. The most critical skill of an organizer, then, is to be savvy about identifying the most respected workers and persuading them to support the union or fight for any other cause. The role of organizers is to identify the organic leaders and coach them through the inevitable fight with the employer, which is often ugly and difficult. Organizers can only find these leaders by having serious conversations with all of the workers. By the same token, mass participation only happens when thousands of organic leaders rise up from the ranks and help their fellow workers to understand their own power to change their lives for the better. Any labor organizing strategy that puts power in the hands of consultants, union staff, pollsters, political operatives, or backdoor deal-making by top union leadership is doomed to failure. Unfortunately, this characterizes much of what passes for “organizing” these days, in both labor and community arenas.
ower comes in many forms, but for the working class it always boils down to the same fundamental ingredient: unbreakable solidarity. In my two decades of organizing across the United States, we almost always win when workers are in the driver’s seat. We lose when we forgot about solidarity and think we might succeed with easier, less confrontational activities like lawsuits, policy mobilization, and cozying up to elected officials. Today’s struggle for social change requires the same worker-focused strategies and methods that built enough power to achieve the amazing social and economic gains made by ordinary people from the 1930s through the 1960s. Everything old is new again. Think the “gig economy” is something fresh and exciting? Think again. It promises (and delivers) the same endless insecurity, lousy benefits, extreme power inequality, and demoralizing treatment faced by our grandparents who labored in the coal mines and garment factories of the 1920s. Granted, the bathrooms are a lot nicer now, and if you work for a tech company you sometimes get free M&Ms. Workers and worker-organizers in those times knew that they could not address the depredations of ruthless employers without confronting the question of power — both in society at large and on the shop floor itself. Building real workplace democracy is about identifying the already existing, organic leaders of the working class and helping them move into position to successfully lead their coworkers into battle. The goal is what 1930s-era radical labor organizer William Z. Fostercalled “systematic mass participation.” Building that kind of mass participation should still be the principal goal of rank-and-file and staff organizers today.
The Class Struggle Theory of Power
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apitalism has changed over the past eighty years, but certain things remain the same. People get up in the morning, go to work, and find out that they live in the same old nasty world where you can be fired for any reason — or no reason at all — and someone is 12
The Chicago Example
declared they would rebuild the ranks of unions by organizing the unorganized. But in this, their most important task, they failed. Instead, pollsters, public-relations firms, and secret negotiations replaced face-to-face organizing.
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nions in the United States are in decline, for sure. But it doesn’t have to be this way. To see what solidarity and real working-class power look like today, look to the 2012 mass strike called by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the extraordinary worker leaders who led that strike. Their 2012 strike (and this past April’s one-day walkout involving nearly thirty thousand teachers) demonstrates the promise of working-class power. A strike is a boot camp for learning about solidarity and power. Strikes develop leaders like no single other tool (certainly better than the expensive, feel-good leadership seminars so fashionable in today’s movement). The best labor leaders, like CTU’s Karen Lewis, are fearless and unapologetic, and they are often women of color. The CTU strike showcased from-the-base organic worker leadership at its best, women and men who exercise all manner of brilliant decision-making and leadership as part of their daily routine: They are educators. When they bring that intelligence and life experience to a fight with the bosses, watch out. As the CTU’s example shows, the bad news about union decline is also the good news: The biggest factor in the decline of working-class power lies not in the changes we see in contemporary political economy, formidable as they are, but in our own decisions about how to build worker power. The labor movement was once led by enough people who believed so deeply in the human capacity to act that it would have been unthinkable to speak on workers’ behalf without their participation. But today, among the unions that regularly engage with the broader progressive community — referred to here as “New Labor” — union officials think that they can act alone, working out big problems for the poor benighted masses. Actual workers are not welcome. New Labor discourages meaningful worker participation. Peter Olney, the longtime organizing director for the International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU), summed this viewpoint up succinctly when I interviewed him: Just before the split at the AFL-CIO, the conversations [that New Labor was driving] were about how workers really got in the way of organizing. We [the national organizing directors] would actually sit in rooms, in annual meetings about the state of organizing, and the discussion would be that workers often got in the way of union growth deals. Twenty years ago, it was obvious to New Labor leaders and everybody else that winning union elections and running strikes was getting more challenging. They
Strategic Sectors
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hese days, New Labor leaders have zeroed in on thelowest-wage sectors of the workforce. Prioritizing the lowest-wage workers as the key strategy for labor’s revitalization is understandable in some respects. Workers’ wages at the lower rungs of the labor market are far too low in this country and need to be raised dramatically, and low-wage workers have long been ignored by much of American labor. But focusing simply on a workforce because it earns low wages is strategically misguided. It will not succeed in rebuilding organized working-class power in this country on a mass scale. Simply put, workers in some sectors are better placed to build working-class power than others. As power is what’s urgently needed, we need to be focused on organizing those strategically key sectors today. The brilliant organizers of the CIO understood that within the industrial economy of the mid-twentieth century, steel, coal, and other key industries mattered more than other industries. Within the service economy today, education and health care are the strategic sectors. For at least the next couple of decades, there can be no exit threat: Schools and colleges, nursing homes and hospitals, clinics, and many other components of the always-changing education and health care delivery system can’t be moved offshore, automated, or relocated from a city to its suburbs or from the North or Midwest to the Sunbelt. That is why the corporate right is campaigning tirelessly to change thelegal structures that govern labor through the cases it brings before the Supreme Court. Immune (for now) to the exit threat, education and health care are also especially strategic terrain for organizing and movement building because of their social and geographic placement in the community: They aren’t walled-off industrial parks, and the nature of the services they provide creates an intimate relationship between the workers and their community. These workers are still difficult to replace and often (though not always) have some savings in the bank — all factors that enable them to successfully take high-risk actions like real, production-disrupting strikes. Some unions have organized strikes with these groups of workers in recent years. But perhaps such “strikes” should be put in quotation marks. In my book, a strike happens when the majority of workers walk off the job.
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But in today’s PR-driven world, unions’ “strikes” are often temporary work stoppages by a few workers, who then stand on the sidewalk handing out leaflets or doing TV interviews. Unfortunately, this can be seen most clearly in the Fight for 15 campaign, in which workers in most cities are taking incredibly brave action in walking off the job, but aren’t walking off with enough of their coworkers to cause significant disruption to the businesses they’ve left behind. New Labor likes to claim that it wants to empower workers, but in practice it’s the opposite. The focus on highly vulnerable, easily replaced low-wage workers allows labor movement professionals — people like Workers’ Lab founder, SEIU leader, and media darling David Rolf — to be in charge and stay in charge. Instead, we need people like Karen Lewis in charge. The Karen Lewises of the working class are smart. They understand that in order to win, solidarity has to be developed not only between workers at work but outside the workplace, too. When Chicago’s teachers struck, they changed Chicago, not just their union. Like the union organizers of the 1930s, they understood the importance of a broader class struggle — not just the needs of their own members. They built a base both inside and outside the schools through dogged, determined, and methodical work. They’ve raised expectations that the working class deserve more and can win it for themselves if they organize. To be clear, there are plenty of full-time staff working with the rank-and-file educators in Chicago and elsewhere. The issue is not staff versus the rank-and-file; it’s the roles that staff and members should play in the union. Strikes that involve an overwhelming majority of the workforce rather than a small handful of particularly courageous workers make it easier to ensure that workers themselves are calling the shots and that staff are there to support them. But in the always hostile workplace terrain, it does take experienced staff to nurture and prepare workers to build toward and succeed at real strikes.
like Chicago’s teachers, routinely employs all-out, openended strikes where the vast majority of workers decide together to walk off the job. Winning a strike is not impossible today. It all comes down to a fundamental strategic choice — should we organize and put the levers of power in the hands of ordinary workers, or should we mobilize and put power in the hands of professional staff activists? Organizing is a high-participation, movementbuilding, long-term approach that emphasizes building the power of workers to challenge the power of capital; it helps people through a transformative process of selfdiscovery, leading to the realization that solidarity is both essential and beautiful. Mobilizing, on the other hand, is a campaign-focused, short-term approach that does not build the kind of power that can change the structure of elite power. It aims to replace bad elites with more responsive ones who can be counted on to say the right things (but, all too often, not do them). Mobilizing has gone from being one of the tools in the organizer’s toolkit — like big flag-wielding demonstrations — to being labor’s weapon of choice. Organizing is based on the already existing worker leaders, not professional activists, paid staff, and other do-gooders. They might do a lot of good, but they are not building worker power. The job of staff is to help the already existing worker leaders learn to organize, not substitute their own too-clever-by-half PR schemes for genuine worker leadership. New Labor, following the example of community organizer Saul Alinsky and his acolytes in the labor movement, has created a model where the full-time organizer is not a leader who answers to the thousands of grassroots people they recruit, but a professional staff person primarily accountable to their supervisor or national leadership. They call it “organizing,” but the results speak for themselves: Staff organizers and official leadership are mostly unaccountable to union members, and unions and workers are weaker now in relation to the owners of capital than at any time in the past century. Separating something called “community organizing” from the unitary process of class organizing both at work and at home bastardized the original CIO model. That model brought class into the community through the workers themselves. A one-dimensional view of workers as solely workers, rather than as whole people, limits good organizing and prevents organic worker leaders from effectively building power in every aspect of their lives. In previous periods of working-class strength, workers built these relationships inside and outside the workplace. William Z. Foster devotes an entire chapter of his 1936
Whole-Worker Organizing
W
e need to go back to whole-worker organizing. This is what got the goods back in the days of the CIO. The CTU strike shows that it still works, but so do other recent examples. In eastern Pennsylvania, a small independent union called the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) has pulled off a string of incredible organizing wins without any of the top-down deals of which some other health care unions are so fond. Health care workers have been picking ferocious fights with the bosses and winning all of them. And PASNAP, 14
need to leave behind the false divisions created by mobilizing and get back to whole-worker organizing.
pamphlet Organizing Methods in the Steel Industry to what he calls “special organizational work.” The chapter is divided into four sections: “Unemployed — WPA,” “Fraternal Organizations,” “Churches,” and “Other Organizations.” Under “Churches,” for example, Foster argues, “In many instances, strongly favorable sentiment to the organization campaign will be found among the churches in the steel towns. This should be carefully systematized and utilized.” Foster also argued that the union should set up committees inside ethnic and other community-based organizations “in order to systematically recruit their steel worker members” into the steelworkers’ union. The CIO’s organizing methods incorporated an appreciation of power inside and outside the workplace. They were systematic about the broader community in which the workers lived. Yet today, most good unions that organize inside the shop mobilize outside it, in the broader community — deep inside, shallow outside. It’s as if they can’t see the full extent of the battlefield or the vastness of their army. These relationships, built by workers with the support of staff — not by the staff themselves — can help build the power of the working class through a mutually supportive relationship that improves the union’s visibility and reputation and the power of the broader working class. Sadly, even the few unions that are strong on workplace organizing leave the community work to activists who are not intrinsically part of working-class struggle. They end up with “community allies” who are largely symbolic “rent-a-collar” do-gooders, rather than influential leaders in the broader working class and community. If we want to restore power to the working class, we
What Teachers’ Unions Teach Us
T
he success of the war on teachers has been dramatic. Today, it’s not uncommon to hear liberals say that they support unions but not teachers’ unions. In Chicago, the teachers showed that a workplace struggle embedded in a broader community struggle can be transformational for the whole of the working class. Karen Lewis would never have become a more popular figure than Rahm Emanuel in that city without a successful strike. Chicago changed — not just the teachers, not just the parents, not just the students — and its working class gained real power in an all-out fight for good public schools, led by teachers who care deeply about all aspects of their students’ lives. In the process, the city’s working class also changed its view of teachers, schools, racism, neoliberalism, and the city’s slick neoliberal mayor. That doesn’t happen through a PR campaign or a mobilizing model. It happens through real organizing by teachers themselves, with their coworkers, with their students and parents, and in their communities. We have to go back to basics and follow an organizing model that is consistently strong, both inside the workplace and outside the shop, based on the way our forebears did it in the 1930s. The good and bad news is that there are no shortcuts. If we do it right, we can build power and win. If we don’t, just look to the last few decades of declining union membership and even more rapid shrinking of ordinary people’s power to change their own lives for the better.
AA Staff Vote to Accept Pay Offer
April 1, 2016. Performance related pay (PRP): “Introduce element of PRP (2016 – management only); All will receive element of PRP in 2017 and going forward; enables individuals to receive up to an additional 0.5% on base pay.” Salary ranges were also reviewed and benchmarked with the result that there will be an increase to minimum point on the scale for the majority of roles by at least 10%; increase to maximum for all roles by at least 1%; anyone currently paid below the new minimum for their range will be moved up to the new minimum. In the recent ballot the members agreed that the offer was “fair and reasonable” in the circumstances. This is a significant win for the CWU members in AA who patiently stuck with the negotiations.
Following protracted and intensive negotiations the CWU was finally in a position to recommend acceptance of a pay offer from American Airlines (AA) management. The three-year deal, which could potentially yield around 10%, is designed to protect against inflation thereby give member a real pay increase for the next few years. It covers the 2016-2018 period and runs as follows: • 2016: 2.8% for all employees • 2017: 1.5% + inflation rate • 2018: 1.5% + inflation rate Pay terms took effect in August and are backdated to
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#999 Respect CWU engaged in Living Wage talks with Conduit CWU organisers and activists have been engaged in conciliation talks at the WRC with Conduit Global in a bid to resolve the ongoing dispute in the 999 emergency call answering service.
engaged with the CWU or the WRC. It shows that the worker power our members exerted when they went on strike earlier this year has forced their greedy bosses to finally sit down and listen to their issues. Conduit agreed to ensure that 999 workers will no longer be casually threatened with punitive disciplinary investigations as was the norm previously. They also agreed to provide counselling for 999 operators after they deal with traumatic calls. However, Conduit bosses refused to engage constructively on the core issues of pay, increments and allowances. Although they deliver a vital public service, Conduit/BT continues to undervalue and underappreciate the important work 999 operators do. The CWU will now be referring the unresolved aspects of the case i.e. matters relating to pay, on to the Labour Court under the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015. Under this legislation, the Labour Court can issue binding recommendations on pay and conditions. This may be quite a lengthy process, but I will be keeping members up to date on any developments.
Our members are campaigning for a Living Wage of ₏11.50 per hour, collective bargaining, improved night shift allowances and pay increments. The conciliation hearing took place on Thursday 11th August, during which the CWU made the case that ECAS workers should be properly paid for the vital work they do. The union also sought assurances that Conduit will address health and safety issues (including access to counselling) and not allow the company’s disciplinary policies to be used in a harsh and unfair manner as they did in the past. This is a significant milestone in the #999Respect campaign, as it is the first time Conduit have ever
William Norton House Dublin’s Newest Conference & Event Venue visit www.cwu.ie for more information 16
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Right2Water Submission to the Expert Commission on Domestic Public Water Services 1. Right2Water: Background and policy
2. Expert Commission on Domestic Public Water Services: Terms of Reference
Established in 2014, Right2Water is a public campaign of activists, citizens, community groups, political parties/individuals and trade unionists which is calling for the Irish government to recognise and legislate for access to water as a human right.
Right2Water welcomes the opportunity to submit the enclosed evidence to the Expert Commission on Domestic Public Water Services, whose remit as set out in the Terms of Reference is “to assess and make recommendation upon the funding of domestic public water services in Ireland and improvements in water quality, taking into account:
“[The UN] recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.”
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Concerned that private ownership of water and sanitation introduces the profit motive to this fundamental human right, Right2Water holds as a fundamental principle that water privatisation should not be considered or facilitated in any way. To this end, Right2Water has hosted seven national demonstrations, the largest of which attracted upwards of 120,000 people onto the streets of Dublin. Right2Water’s call for the abolition of water charges is supported by a large majority of TDs returned to the Dáil in 2016. We believe that the government’s refusal to accept the express wishes of Irish citizens and abolish domestic water charges exposes the anti-democratic nature of Ireland’s political system and has given rise to the necessity of an eighth national demonstration against water charges on 17 September. Right2Water is in favour of protecting our water and sanitation services from privatisation and the profit motive by enshrining public ownership of our entire water system in the Irish Constitution. On legal advice we have commissioned the drafting of a wording and enumeration of a new Article 28 Section 4:2.1, which reads:
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•
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The maintenance and investment needs of the public water and waste water system on a short, medium and long-term basis; Proposals on how the national utility in State ownership would be able to borrow to invest in water infrastructure; The need to encourage water conservation, including through reviewing information campaigns on water conservation in other countries; Ireland’s domestic and international environmental standards and obligations; The role of the Regulator; and Submissions from all interested parties.
The Commission will be empowered to commission relevant research and hear evidence to assist this work. The Commission shall endeavour to complete its work within five months of its establishment.” At the outset, we wish to record our concern that the Terms of Reference are restrictive and cynically disposed towards a system of domestic water charges. Specifically, the invitation for “Proposals on how the national utility in State ownership would be able borrow to invest in water infrastructure” is predicated on the existence of a revenue stream to fund repayments of the resulting debt. Unless the Government are disposed to doing this through general taxation, it can be strongly argued that the Terms of Reference for the Expert Commission imply an outcome favouring the retention of domestic water charges. Furthermore in relation to the Terms of Reference Right2Water wrote to the Minister seeking the inclusion of the following paragraph in the Terms of Reference but unfortunately it was denied: “The social implications of funding water services in the short, medium and long
‘’The Government shall be collectively responsible for the protection, management and maintenance of the public water system. The Government shall ensure in the public interest that this resource remains in public ownership and management.” The Right2Water campaign will continue to seek political, trade union and wider public support for a referendum asking Irish citizens if they wish to guarantee, within Bunreacht na hÉireann, the ownership and management of the public water system. 18
term – including water poverty, future privatisation and potential water shut offs for low income families.” The exclusion of this or any similar provision in the Terms of Reference indicates that the Minister takes no cognisance whatever of the costs in terms of the social damage that domestic water charges cause and the cost to the exchequer when tackling these inevitable problems in the future. Ideally, for a balanced and informed debate, the Terms of Reference should include the economic, environmental and social implications of funding water services. To completely exclude from the remit of the Commission any reference to the social implications of this vital human rights issue indicates the ideological perspective behind the Irish Water project from the outset which is solely aimed at water commodification and privatisation.
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•
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3. Water charges infringe human rights
The phenomenon of shutting off citizens’ water supply based on their inability to pay is increasingly prevalent across Europe and further afield. It is because this is an established practice worldwide that the introduction of domestic water charges poses such a fundamental threat to the human right to clean drinking water and sanitation.
Over 2.6 billion people worldwide have no access to proper sanitation, while almost one billion still drink untreated drinking water. Until the introduction of domestic water charges in October 2014, Ireland could boast of being one of the very few OECD countries with guaranteed zero water poverty – i.e. no one would be deprived access to clean, safe water and proper sanitation because on an inability to pay an ‘end user’ charge. This was due to the funding of water and wastewater services through general taxation with additional contributions from commercial rates, a practice underpinned by the progressive principle of universalism: everyone pays their fair share in order that no one falls through the net. Right2Water is concerned that, based on international evidence and experience, domestic water charges will lead in due course to water shut-offs and a spike in water poverty, regardless of whether they are administered through a state utility or a private sector entity. This view is borne out by a number of international precedents: •
•
In February 2011, just three months after being taken over by Veolia, the company’s local subsidiary, Sofiyska Voda, increased water rates by 9% in Sofia and threatened to shut off the water service of customers who failed to pay their bills. Sofiyska Voda had operated the water system in the Bulgarian capital since 2000 when it received the country’s only water service concession. In cities in Hungary and Cyprus, where privatisation and the introduction of domestic water charges has taken place, non-paying, poor citizens in the suburbs have been cut off from their water supply. Similar examples are to be found in Paris, Rome, Bucharest and parts of the Czech Republic. The price of water in five US cities – Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, San Francisco and Tucson – ballooned by more than 50% over the last five years –five times higher than inflation.
4. Privatisation and profiteering 4.1 Profiteering in the water industry Water is fast becoming one of the most profitable industries in the world, with the privatisation market now worth in excess of $1 trillion. “Water is a focus for those in the know about global strategic commodities. As with oil, the supply is finite but demand is growing by leaps and unlike oil there is no alternative.” – Credit Suisse. “Water as an asset class will, in my view, become eventually the single most important physicalcommodity based asset class, dwarfing oil, copper, agriculture commodities and precious metals.”– Citigroup Chief Economist Willem Buiter.
In the city of Detroit, Michigan, an estimated 70,000 families have been affected by a mass water shut-off conducted by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department – which is a public owned water system. The UN has described this practice as “contrary to human rights.” This practice has also recently been introduced to the city of Philadelphia, where the impact on residents has yet to be felt on the ground. Following the privatisation of the municipal water supply Cochabamba, Bolivia’s third largest city, Aguas de Tunari, the company which had been granted a monopoly over all water resources threatened to turn off people’s water if they did not pay their bills. Rate hikes and water shut-offs ensued, leading to a series of mass protests that culminated in the emergence of a mass social movement and the reversal of privatisation by the government.
“Investments in water offer opportunities: Rising oil prices obscure our view of an even more serious scarcity: water. The global water economy is faced with a multi-billion dollar need for capital expenditure and modernization. Dresdner Bank sees this as offering attractive opportunities for returns for investors with a long-term investment horizon.” – Allianz SE’s Dresdner Bank. With the industry expanding at an exponential rate, publications such as Fortune Magazine are advising investors how to maximise their profits from betting on the price of water through emerging futures markets. Meanwhile the list of multinational corporations with water-related investments or water-targeted hedge funds is 19
privatisation and does so deliberately. Despite the wishes of peoples across Europe (see submission to Commission from the European Water Movement) the European Commission and other institutions continue to push an ideological commodification and privatisation agenda:
endless. Household names such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Allianz, Deutche Bank and HSBC have joined companies such as Nestlé in securing a stake in the privatisation of water. Others firms such as Veolia Water, a company intimately linked with Irish Water, form part of a conglomerate known as the Global Water Summit, whose domain name (www.watermeetsmoney.com) tells us everything we need to know about the agenda being pursued by those involved. A review of existing case study evidence gives some indication of the exorbitant profits to be made from the privatisation of water. In Britain, for example, the 19 private water firms made profits of more than £2.05 billion in 2013 and paid £1.86 billion to shareholders, but only £74 million in tax. The largest, Thames Water, has made more than £1.8billion between 2008 and 2013, paying more than £1.4billion to its shareholders and paying an effective tax rate of 0.128% for that period. In 2013 it was one of seven firms not to pay any corporation tax at all. Meanwhile average water bills have rocketed by 313% since the water industry was privatised by the Tory government twenty-five years ago – which is almost double the average price increase of all other goods. An investigation by Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee has recently concluded that Britain’s privatised water companies made windfall gains of at least £1.2 billion between 2010 and 2015 from bills being higher than necessary. As one important element of the contract to privatise Berlin’s water system, a process that began when the city entered into a public-private partnership with RWE/Vivendi (now Veolia), it was agreed that water and wastewater fees would remain stable until the end of 2003. By 1 April 2004, however, fees were raised by 15.1%, with the company announcing a further 5% increase in 2005 followed by a 2-3% increase in subsequent years. Faced with these steep increases in water prices, Berliners successfully organised a popular referendum in 2011 for the remunicipalisation of the city’s water services, with an overwhelming majority voting in favour forcing Veolia out of Berlin. Finally, a comprehensive survey of water companies across the US, by the Food & Water Watch, has found that privatisation invariably leads to excessive rate increases. This is, by its very definition, profiteering on the back of something that the UN regards as “a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.” It must be noted that when dividends are paid to shareholders this results in valuable resources that could be used for investment in necessary infrastructure being lost.
“The Commission believes that the privatisation of public utilities, including water supply firms, can deliver benefits to the society when carefully made. To this end, privatisation should take place once the appropriate regulatory framework has been prepared to avoid abuses by private monopolies.” – European Commission response to Parliamentary question, 2 October 2012. “Privatisation of Irish Water envisaged.” – Eurostat, 2015.
is
ultimately
Proposals to introduce domestic water charges first appeared in the Irish government’s National Recovery Plan 2011-2014, published in November 2010, and subsequently re-appeared in the Memorandum of Understanding agreed with the Troika in December of that year. It has been suggested on the basis of Cabinet papers that the impetus for domestic water charges came from Fianna Fáil, independent of external pressure and before the Troika bailout. The EU/European Commission is one of the main driving forces behind the privatisation agenda. The logic of privatisation under the thin veil of “liberalisation” or “competitiveness” is enshrined in the Nice and Lisbon Treaties, and forms a central pillar of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently being negotiated between the US and EU. The European Commission together with the European Central Bank has imposed some of the harshest discipline, including privatisation conditions, on the European states that sought debt relief in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The existence of water charges in Greece and Portugal, for example, has meant that the water utilities there are ripe for privatisation, offering a ready-made income stream for investors. The European Commission (as part of the Troika) has attempted to impose the privatisation of water utilities on Greece, Portugal and other member states by making it a condition of their bailouts. In response to a question from Irish MEP Marian Harkin in June of this year, the European Commission stated that: “Ireland made a clear commitment to set up water charges to comply with the provisions of Article 9(1) [of the Water Framework Directive] … Ireland subsequently applied water charges and the commission considers that the directive does not provide for a situation whereby it can revert to any previous practice.”
4.2 The privatisation logic of domestic water charges
However, the Commission is also on record as stating that it considers “established practices” to be those
Privatisation leads to profiteering, and it is our strongly held view that domestic water charges opens the door to 20
• •
practices which were “an established practice at the time of adoption of the directive”. This Directive was adopted on October 23rd, 2000, and transposed into Irish law in 2003, when it is beyond doubt that Ireland used general taxation as its established practice. Indeed, this was the established practice right up until the introduction of domestic water charges in October 2012 in a project which has now been resoundly rejected by the majority of Irish citizens. On this basis, Right2Water believes it is the Irish government’s duty to use its derogation, justify its approach to river basin management and, if necessary, challenge the Commission through the EU courts. If the political will is there this could be done with reference to the 2014 landmark case on EU water recovery rules whereby the European Court of Justice found in favour of Germany, after the European Commission tried unsuccessfully to take that state to court for, in its opinion, failing to fulfil its Water Framework Directive obligations. This judgment conclusively stated that it cannot be inferred that the absence of pricing for water service activities will necessarily jeopardise the attainment of the Water Framework Directive. The EU’s fiscal rules also have a major bearing on the transition from domestic water charges to privatisation in that the Fiscal Compact Treaty enables water funding to be moved off balance sheet providing the government can prove that over half of Irish Water’s revenue comes from customers. By effectively demanding that 51% of funding must come through water charges before it can be discounted from the government balance sheet this rule encourages states to firstly implement water charges in order to offload water from government accounts, and secondly, as we argue above, to privatise the water system.
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All of the above expenditure comes to approximately €600m which is double the government spend on water services in 2013 – and this is before any investment is spent on fixing pipes or upgrading infrastructure. It is waste that could be completely avoided if water continues to be funded through general taxation. A proportion of the spend could be utilised to encourage water conservation through financially incentivising water saving devices and a nationwide conservation education campaign. This would also allow Ireland to achieve the objectives of the Water Framework Directive. The government’s aim of treating water like any other utility (gas, electricity, etc.) should be a concern for all. Firstly, water is not like any other good in that you cannot live without it and there is no alternative. But with Ireland having the highest fuel poverty levels in the EU, it should be a worry for all low income households as to the future direction of water services. The spend that Ireland currently has in terms of fuel allowance – which tackles fuel poverty – would be necessary to compensate for water poverty should charges proceed. This should be factored into any economic forecasts for Irish Water.
6. Environmentalism and conservation “International research shows that installing domestic water meters is unlikely to make any real difference to the amount of water used by families. For example in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands it has been found that metering each home makes little difference to the amount of water used by families.” – SIPTU, Water… A resource for the people, 2011.
5. The economics of water charges Funding water services through domestic water charges is economically inefficient. “The proposed expenditure on water metering would mean spending more than €1 billion which we don’t have on something we don’t need!” – Engineers Ireland, 2011.
There is currently no evidence that Irish households are profligate or wasteful with their water. In fact, Irish Water estimates that Irish individuals use 54,750 litres per day. The average usage for a single person medium usage household in the UK is 68,405 per year, approximately 20% more, and the UK has had water meters since the late 1980s. Astonishingly the government itself has admitted that it did not conduct any research into the environmental impact of introducing domestic water charges and the water metering programme. Given the massive costs and waste involved the failure of the government and the department of the environment to produce any evidence that domestic water charges reduce consumption is itself a worry and, again, exposes the purely ideological
“Senior Executive Engineer for Water, Gerry Concannon, estimated that the cost of unmetered water is currently about €350.00 p.a. per domestic unit. When all of the costs of metering involving installation, maintenance, administration and replacement are considered he pointed out that this cost almost doubles.” – SIPTU, Water… A resource for the people, 2011. Other costs: •
Consultants (€90m) Call center staff • Billing cycle (6m letters in 6m envelopes with 6m deliveries) (FOI request showed €5.6m spent in 10 months) IBEC fees (six figure sum – Sindo report). Metering – as already mentioned - €500m Borrowing repayments – interest, etc.
Advertising expenditure (TOTAL €2.85m and €717,000 to RTE alone - FOI) 21
SUMMARY
privatisation focused nature of the project. The failure to conduct any investigation into whether introducing domestic water charges have a negative consequence for the environment exposes that the policy is not based on good environmental practice but instead on the commodification of a basic human right. For instance, Irish Water posts more than 6,000,000 letters per year which includes at least six million pages and six million envelopes. The metering programme has hundreds of vans driving throughout Ireland drilling holes in the ground and installing plastic meters that will need regular maintenance and repair, as well as replacement. This all has a cost, both economic and a substantial environmental cost and carbon footprint. In conclusion, the people the Government says it wants to pay the highest bills are those, apparently, with swimming pools and those constantly washing their cars or watering their gardens. While the seriousness of this matter does not lend itself to flippancy making arguments about swimming pools and pools of cars in Ireland is systematic of the impoverished nature of the debate on this vital human rights issue in Ireland to date. In fact the international evidence shows that the higher a person’s income, the less they are likely to conserve in water. This is because domestic water charges are so small in terms of a proportion of income for high-income earners while, for those lower down the earnings brackets the situation gets progressively more serious. While water charges as proposed by Irish Water when applied to a retail worker would reach approximately 3% of their total incomes, a higher earner is expected to pay approximately 0.5% or even more for the more wealthy. There is therefore no incentive for higher earners to conserve water arising from charges. Domestic water charges are extremely regressive in nature. The situation would be significantly worse if, as proposed by some, ‘allowances’ were included as part of the package. Because the Irish Water model is based on economics and not social impacts, and because the terms of reference of this Commission continues in that vein, Irish Water is constructed to raise a set amount per annum circa €500 per annum. If allowances are allocated this set amount of income demanded does not reduce and so the allowances simply add to the cost of every litre of water over the allowance threshold, whatever it might be. Those at home most, usually the most vulnerable, will generally use the most water. Unemployed, under employed, pensioners and those with disabilities will, in that scenario, be hardest hit with increasing bills calculated to reach a determined amount of income over that requires to be raised over and above allowances. The EU insistence that in order to be ‘off balance sheet’ bill payers must pay 51%costs simply acerbates this problem and makes the entire project unsustainable. In summary including allowances makes an already regressive method of paying for water and sanitation even more so.
Ireland’s established practice of paying for water and sanitation is through progressive general taxation. This method is the most environmentally sustainable, economically efficient and equitable manner of doing so. It is also the clearest, possibly only, method which is assured of vindicating the human right to water. That the EU have refused to follow the United Nations in ascribing water and sanitation as a human right points to the EU’s wish to have water turned into a commodity and privatised. This is confirmed by the nature and workings of the EU institutions themselves. Ireland leads the way in having the most sustainable and efficient way of vindicating for our citizens water and sanitation rights and the Commission must view the international evidence and submissions from Europe and North America in this regard. Insofar as investment is required this can be raised more cheaply by a sovereign nation than a private or semi-state entity and a funding stream to support such investment should be ‘red circled’ from progressive taxation. The Commission is flawed in not being permitted to assess a fundamental issue of human rights in light of social impacts and is prevented, deliberately and by design, by its Terms of Reference, from doing so. In this regard it is impossible to hope that the Commission can help solve this issue of vital national importance. Right2Water will continue to ensure that Ireland leads the world in refusing to engage in a structured effort to privatise and commodify our water and sanitation rights. Right2Water deplores the waste of vital public money on meters, billing systems, public relations, consultants, legal advisors, and offices in the pursuit of privatisation. Right2Water demands a referendum as outlined above to allow the Irish people to choose whether to enshrine public ownership and management of our water and sanitation in our Constitution. Right2Water urges the 32nd Dáil to act on its mandate to abolish domestic water charges and to desist in its efforts to subvert that democratic mandate. Right2Water notes the recent ability of the Irish Government to face down the will of the EU Commission in the European Court of Justice and insists that this newfound defense of what the Government argue is the Irish interest is extended to defending, should it become necessary, our long established and much envied practice of paying for water and sanitation through progressive general taxation. This completes our submission
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE:
http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/carb.aspx DO YOU HAVE A FAMILY MEMBER, RELATIVE OR FRIEND WITH A DISABILITY OR ILLNESS WHICH HAS CAUSED THEM TO REQUIRE FULL-TIME CARE AND ATTENTION? Full-time care and attention means that they require continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day in connection with normal bodily functions or continual supervision in order to avoid danger to themselves.
DO YOU NEED TO TAKE A BREAK FROM WORK TO PROVIDE THAT CARE? If so, you may be entitled to Carer’s Leave and Carer’s Benefit.
WHAT IS CARER’S LEAVE? Carer’s Leave is a form of unpaid leave available to people who have been in their current job for at least 12 months and who need to take a break from work to provide full-time care and attention to someone. You can apply for one continuous period of 104 weeks or for a number of periods not exceeding a total of 104 weeks and you will have your job kept open for you for the duration of the leave.
WHAT IS CARER’S BENEFIT? Carer’s Benefit is a social welfare payment, based on your PRSI contributions, payable to employees who take carer’s leave or end their employment to give full-time care and attention to a person needing that level of care. It is payable regardless of any other income you may have.
HOW MUCH IS IT? Carer’s Benefit is payable at €205 per week. If you are single parent, you can get an additional €29.80 weekly per qualified child you have. If you are married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting, you may get an additional €14.90 weekly per qualified child you have as long as your spouse/partner’s income does not exceed €400 per week.
HOW DO I QUALIFY? You must be aged 16 or over and under 66, have been working at least 16 hours a week (or 32 hours a fortnight) in 8 of the 26 weeks before you apply or the start of your Carer’s Leave. You must have at least 156 contributions paid at any time between your entry into insurable employment and the time you make your claim for Carer’s Benefit and: • 39 contributions paid in the Relevant Tax Year or • 39 contributions paid in the 12-month period before the start of Carer’s Benefit or • 26 contributions paid in the Relevant Tax Year and 26 contributions paid in the year before that. The Relevant Tax Year is the second last complete tax year before the year in which you make your claim.
HOW LONG IS IT PAYABLE FOR? Carer’s Benefit is payable for a maximum of 104 weeks for each person you care for. You can take it in one go or for a number of periods not exceeding a total of 104 weeks.
WHERE CAN I GET FURTHER INFORMATION? Further information and an application form [CARB1] can be obtained from www.welfare.ie, by email to CarersBenefit@welfare.ie by phone to 043-3340000 or in writing to Carers Section, Department of Social Protection, Government Offices, Ballinalee Road, Longford. 24
Equality Update
Updates on Paternity Leave What is paternity leave?
before your leave is due to commence. You must provide a certificate from your spouse or partner’s doctor confirming the due date. If applying for paternity leave after the birth, then you will require confirmation from the doctor of the date of birth. For adoptions, a certificate of placement for the child must be provided. Refer to your company circular for the application procedure.
As of September 1st 2016, new fathers (see “relevant parent” below) are entitled to paternity leave following the birth or adoption of a child. This leave as per the Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016 provides for paternity leave of 2 weeks for births and adoptions on or after 1st September 2016. Accordingly the leave can be taken within the first 26 weeks following the birth or adoption placement.
What about Public holidays and annual leave?
Who does it apply to?
While you are on paternity leave you accumulate annual leave and public holiday entitlement.
Under the Act, a “relevant parent” for the purposes of paternity leave entitlement includes: • The father of the child • The spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the mother of the child • The parent of a donor-conceived child
What if I have twins? In the case of multiple births, or where two or more children are being adopted at the same time, only a single two-week block of Paternity Leave will apply.
In the case of an adopted child, the relevant parent is as includes: • The nominated parent in the case of a married same-sex couple or • The spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the adopting mother or sole male adopter
Anything else I need to know? Paternity leave is statutory leave and as per the legislation, you are entitled to return to work to the same job with the same contract of employment. If this is not reasonably practicable for your employer to allow you to return to your job, you are then entitled to suitable alternative work whereby the terms are not substantially less favourable than those of your previous job. Members can also refer to their company circulars for details should they need to postpone or transfer paternity leave.
(Source: Citizens Information)
Do I get paid if I take paternity leave? Employers are not obliged to pay employees who avail of paternity leave. You may qualify for Paternity Benefit from the Department of Social Protection if you have enough PRSI contributions and you must apply for Paternity Benefit at least four weeks before you intend to take up the leave. You must also have a Public Services Card to apply for Paternity Benefit. (see “where can I get more information”.) We recommend that members refer to their company circulars or employment contracts to see if additional arrangements for payment are in place for the duration of the paternity leave. For example, it may be the case that your employer has an arrangement for you to receive full pay less the amount of Paternity Benefit payable to you. (Refer to your company circular)..
Where can I get more information? This article provides a brief overview of some of the main paternity leave entitlements and does not provide a legal interpretation of the referenced Act. Again members should refer to their company circulars and/or employment contracts for further details and as always if members have queries or concerns regarding paternity leave they are requested to discuss these with their Branch Representative or with Union Head Office directly. More details on paternity leave can be found on www.citzensinformation.ie or the Workplace Relations Commission’s Information and Customer Service section. For information on Paternity Benefit please refer to www.mywelfare.ie
How do I apply? It is essential that you provide written notification to your employer of your paternity leave request including the intended dates no later than 4 weeks
25
Postal Update
Joint Accommodation Update - August 2016 C&D Ballymote:
Proceeding, Q1 2017 is target date.
Bray:
Site meeting taking place with a view to securing a viable site.
Castleblaney:
Planning authority have raised concerns regarding the proposal to create a vehicular access road to serve the office. They have also queried the use of the side yard which is currently used as a playground. Landlord now unable to get vehicular access to side yard but proposes pedestrian access. Planners want more parking spaces for the retail.
Clifden:
Premises leased and planning permission lodged. Tenders being prepared.
Clonakilty:
Insufficient space to consolidate sub offices. Site meeting to take place to explore all options.
Enniscorthy Extn:
Work in progress. Completion subject to no additional works October 2016.
Fermoy:
Complete - Due to take possession of adjoining unit, fit-out works out to tender.
Kinsale:
Unit is being developed by the developer. Statutory consent has been lodged. Developer is behind schedule but doing some work to facilitate fit out. Target Q1 2017.
Portlaoise DSU:
Recently completed.
Roscommon:
Complete.
Roscrea:
Complete.
Other C&D Offices to be assessed Bantry:
Potential building, subject to redevelopment, has been identified.
Cashel:
Site search ongoing-option to consolidate with Cahir ruled out by operations.
Dungarvan:
New DSU required- potential option has been identified.
Skibbereen:
Working on proposal for purpose built DSU. Meeting has taken place with Planning Office.
Youghal:
Site search ongoing.
The Union side also raised concerns about the proposed Ravensdale Road and Glenageary DSUs and Accommodation/Building issues in both.
Retail Offices All Company Retail Offices have been repainted in the last two years.
Thurles:
Search for alternative premises ongoing.
New Ross:
Refurbishment in progress.
Loughrea:
New Welfare Area provided.
Mallow:
Revised scope of works to improve working conditions prepared and out for pricing. 26
Postal Update
Dublin’s Double Up Parcels Operation exploring savings opportunities to fund pay increases, the Company is tolerating the squandering of bucket loads of money on a wholly inefficient parcels operation. This enhanced operation was supposedly set up on the pretense of having to deal with Health & Safety issues at Merrywell. Furthermore, at the very same time, the Company is recruiting more and more staff to work in the parcels area, while it is actively seeking agreement to let staff go on costly VS/VER packages. This is in circumstances where the staff who are leaving are only based a couple of miles away from the staff who are being recruited and trained to do very similar sortation work. A further display of a disintegrated mails operation! The Company accepted that the growth in parcels volume led to “a strain” (some strain) on the operation originally implemented in Merrywell, which required some additional staff, but stated that the “main driver” (Unrelated to the Network) for the move to Holly Road arose because of Health and Safety issues. If that’s really the case, why is it still in operation nine months later? .
Last August the Monitoring Group issued a comprehensive Determination in respect of An Post’s Dublin Parcel Operations Arrangements. Their investigation was required following a number of serious concerns regarding the Company’s two parcel operations in the Dublin area. Yes, you did read that right! Without as much as a plan, consultation with the Board or CWU, Mails Operations opened up a second sorting and delivery operation within two miles of Merrywell and the Dublin Mails Centre. In 2012 members cooperated with the Company’s Parcels Reengineering which included closure of the Kilbarrack Parcels Office, to facilitate consolidation of the Dublin Parcel Operations into a new single Parcels Office in Merrywell, as well as the rationalisation of the Network and staff reductions in the provincial Mails Centres. The Company had argued that these changes were required so that it could cut costs to become more competitive in order to grow the parcels business. While the Union had expressed serious reservations regarding the Company’s proposals, especially the consolidation of all Dublin parcels into the site at Merrywell, it accepted and cooperated with their implementation. Since then, the Union has frequently raised major concerns in relation to the development and operation of the parcels business, and had also written to the Company in this respect. The Union expressed the view that the original parcels changes, as implemented, were poorly conceived and unfit for purpose, because they were unable to cope with the increase in parcels volumes, even though these were in line with growth projections. Furthermore, the Company had put significant resources, including many casual staff, back into the parcels business without, seemingly any operational plan as to whether they were required. On top of these additional resources a new temporary extension to the Dublin parcels operations was launched at Holly Road premises which is used as the Christmas Mails Office (XMO). Adopting a Christmas all year around approach is unlikely to lead to a viable parcels/packets service. More likely it is bordering on making the very same mistakes which resulted in the closure of SDS or is a deliberate bumping up of scarce resources in order to give credence to automate the sorting processes. Last January Mails Operations Directorate attempted a solo limp to the Board, with its ironically titled APPLE project (Automated Packet, Parcel & Logistics Engineering) They were headed off at the pass and put back in their box, as a comprehensive “End to End Packet/Parcel Review “instead,taking place as” demanded by CWU. This exercise is to be reviewed at the October Board meeting. CWU Officials have been updated by the main Senior management players on progress to date and has received Company assurances regarding further engagement before any decision is taken. We are supportive of this as its critical to the future viability of the Company that we expand and develop in this area. In this regard the priority is the right decisions are made as we can’t afford an SDS 2 scenario. In the interim at a point where the Union is actively
The Monitoring Group determined that the following should take place immediately: The Company needs to carry out a detailed review of its expanding parcels operations in both its Merrywell and Holly Road sites over recent years with specific reference to the business case data that led to establishing Merrywell initially. The review to include; Office design data (Volumes x work standards = no of people required), Volumes growth pa, Resource planning & Management of resources – including overtime, OWT Compliance and the use of temporary staff. A review by the Corporate Centre of (a) any special payments or allowances paid to staff, and (b) a review of the application of payments under the Travel & Subsistence Schemes to staff, and (c) the manpower planning process in operation at local level and (d) the authorisation process where additional resources were hired, with a view to addressing any gaps or other issues arising under the existing control processes. The Company should share the findings of these reviews with the Union at Headquarters level, and report back to the Monitoring Group at the next meeting scheduled for the end of August. At this meeting, and the meeting with the Union – with a view to reaching agreement on these issues, the Company should also set out its interim plans regarding how it intends to manage the Dublin parcels site(s), pending the conclusion of the separate but ongoing project on the parcels business. At the next scheduled Monitoring Group meeting, the parties should provide updates on the level of progress made on the areas outlined for attention in this determination, as above. Also, the Company’s interim plans will be reviewed and discussed with input from both parties in this regard. At the time of writing in mid-September An Post had failed to complete the review. 27
Postal Update
Update on issues under discussion at the Joint Conciliation Council Set out below are a number of issues that are the subject of discussion at the JCC
Return to Full time Working following Job Sharing / Work Sharing
iv.
For some time, members who wish to return to full time working following a period of Job Sharing / Work Sharing have been experiencing difficulties. In particular the issue has related to what constitutes a fillable vacancy. Following discussions at the JCC the following has now been agreed. An Post has confirmed that they will endeavor to accommodate employees on Work Sharing arrangements who are seeking a return to full-time work or have additional hours made available to them. Staff wishing to return must give 2 months’ notice and outline the reason for their request (This notice is needed to ensure that a temporary employee recruited to cover the reduction in hours is given sufficient notice with regard to a termination of their contract).
Additional hours may become available due to: -
3.
Return to Full-time Work An employee may revert to full time working:
Employees may opt to wait until a fillable vacancy arises in the future.
All applications will be considered on a case by case basis.
i.
When a similarly graded fillable vacancy becomes available in their current work location, or in another location; ii. May be assigned to a fillable vacancy in another grade at the same level or lower, within their current work location or in another location; iii. May be assigned to cover a similarly graded temporary full-time contract in their current work location, or in another location.
The above is due to be finalised at the JCC Meeting in September and it will then form an addendum to the Work Sharing Agreement.
Amendments to the Annual Leave Provisions of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997
An employee who is assigned to a fillable vacancy in a lower grade under (ii) above will retain his or her previous terms and conditions on a personal to holder basis.
2.
Seasonal work Maternity leave cover Parental leave cover Term-time cover Career Break cover Sick leave cover Attendance at training course(s) cover
In all instances, positions taken up will be on a voluntary basis and subject to suitability. This will require flexibility on the part of the employee in relation to travelling to another work location and/or attending during hours they may not be accustomed to.
They may then avail of the following
1.
If a number of employees on Work Sharing arrangements in the same location seek additional hours, they may be placed on a panel of available employees to whom additional hours will be allocated on a rota basis.
The European Court of Justice on the 20th January 2009 delivered its decision in respect of two references on the correct interpretation of the Working Time Directive. The cases referred to a British case (Stringer v HMRC) and a German case (Schultz – Hoff v Deutsche Rentenvericherung Bund). Both references dealt with the proper interpretation of the annual leave provisions in Article 7 of the Directive. Article 7(1) requires the member states to ensure that every worker is entitled to be paid annual leave of at least four weeks “in accordance with the conditions of
Additional hours work An employee may avail of additional hours (when available): i. ii.
within their current grade and work location; in another grade at the same level or lower within their current work location; iii. in another grade at the same level or lower outside their current work location. 28
Postal Update entitlement to and the granting of such leave laid down by national legislation and practice”. This removed any doubt that workers on sick leave should continue to accrue their statutory annual leave (4 weeks per year plus public holidays) and that they should be allowed to carry over their entitlement to annual leave when they return to work. As the Irish Government failed to implement the changes, the ICTU complained to the EU Commission about this failure as contrary to EU law the Organisation of Working Time Act failed to secure an employee’s right to annual leave on foot of sick leave. Under Section 19 of the 1997 Organisation of Working Time Act, employees only accrued annual leave in respect of hours actually worked. As a result of the Trade Union campaign provisions contained within the Workplace Relations Act amended the Organisation of Working Time Act to give effect to the above and brought the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 into line with the annual leave provisions of the EU Working Time Directive as interpreted by the European Court of Justice in the cases referenced above.
•
•
•
The amendment to the legislation will have the following effects: • •
•
Statutory annual leave entitlement to accrue during a period of certified sick leave An annual leave carryover period of 15 months after a leave year will apply to those employees who could not, due to illness, take annual leave during the relevant leave year or during the normal carryover period of 6 months On termination of employment, payment in lieu of untaken accrued annual leave will apply to leave which was untaken as a result of illness in circumstances where the employee leaves the employment within a period of 15 months following the end of leave year during which the statutory leave entitlement period
•
• •
In order to give effect to the above the Union and the Company have agreed the content of a circular which will in addition to setting out the above also address the carryover of leave. The main points of the Circular are: • • •
• •
Employees must take their full Annual Leave entitlement during the leave year to which it applies Any carry over of leave will only be permitted if exceptionally approved by management The period for which carry over is sought must have originally have been identified as Annual leave and must have fallen during a period of absence i.e. maternity leave or long term sick leave Any application to carry over leave for personal reasons will be exceptionally considered Annual Leave days approved for carry-over should be taken within the first six months of the following
leave year, unless otherwise agreed. When an employee is absent from work due to illness, and on condition that the employee has provided the Company with a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner in respect of that illness, the period of sick leave will be deemed to be time during which the employee was at his/her place of work or at the Company’s disposal, thus enabling an employee to accrue statutory annual leave whilst on sick leave. This includes the accruing of statutory annual leave where an employee is on Pension Rate of Pay Statutory Annual Leave is calculated by one of the following methods: o Four weeks leave in a year where the employee works at least 1,365 hours o One third of a working week per calendar month in which the employee works at least 117 hours o 8% of the hours worked by an employee in a leave year, subject to a maximum of four working weeks The leave should be granted within the leave year to which it relates or, with consent of the employee, within the period of 6 months after the end of that leave year. If it has not been possible, due to illness, for the employee to take all or part of his/her Statutory Annual Leave entitlement within the leave year, or within 6 months of the end of that leave year, then the leave must be granted within 15 months of the end of the leave year, (i.e. 9 months after the expiration of the 6-month period referred to above). This will be calculated by reference to the statutory leave year i.e. 1st /April to 31st March This means that the maximum amount of leave years during which at least some untaken leave can accrue during a period of long term sick leave is three, i.e. o The current leave year (the leave year in which the employee returns to work); o The last leave year (the leave year immediately before the current leave year); o The year before the last leave year – depending on the month the employee returns to work.
The above should be finalised at the next JCC Meeting in September and will subsequently issue as a Company Circular.
CCTV Policy While CCTV has been in operation for some considerable time within the Company there is no policy in place governing its use. The Data Protection Commissioner has issued extensive guidance in relation to the use of CCTV and 29
Postal Update has advised that a written CCTV Policy must be in place. The Company produced a draft policy and requested the establishment of a JCC Sub Committee to examine and agree it and this was agreeable to the staff side. Our primary concern in agreeing a policy is to provide clarity to members as to the circumstances in which CCTV images are retained, accessed and used. Section 2(1)(c)(iii) of the Data Protection Acts require that data are “adequate, relevant and not excessive” for the purpose for which they are collected. This means that an organisation must be able to demonstrate that the serious step involved in installing a system that collects personal data on a continuous basis is justified. Before proceeding with such a system, it should also be certain that it can meet its obligations to provide data subjects, on request, with copies of images captured by the system. In addition to the above the policy will detail the following:
•
•
Company Doctor Members have advised of difficulties they have experienced regarding the unavailability of the Company Doctor on occasions. As a result, the Union raised these concerns with the Company. The Company has advised the Union that while it expects doctors to provide appointments for members without undue delay, no doctor is obliged to provide a member with an appointment on the same day. It is within the doctor’s discretion to assess the urgency of any particular case and to then allocate appointments accordingly. The Company has agreed to examine instances, where a member has had particular difficulty in securing an appointment, on the merits of the case and will reimburse the cost of a visit to an alternative doctor where this is considered appropriate. Such cases should be referred to the appropriate Company HR Manager.
Objectives •
• •
The reason for which CCTV has been installed i.e. security, the prevention of crime and the promotion of safety and customer service. The policy will state that CCTV will not be used for the day to day supervision of employees. The policy will also set out from time to time matters of a serious nature arise which may be appropriate to be dealt with as a breach of contract or pursuant to the Company’s Grievance or Disciplinary Policy. In dealing with these matters, the Company may seek to establish if any relevant material is held on CCTV systems operated under its control.
Term Time and Annual Leave Following discussions with the Company we have agreed the following in relation to the deduction of annual leave during periods of term time: 22 DAYS LEAVE (includes 2 days service leave)
Principles •
•
•
•
camera(s) will only be carried out for a limited period of time Data will be retained for periods no longer than those permitted by the Data Protection Act. Data recorded on CCTV will be retained for no longer than 31 days. The policy will set out the responsibilities of all Managers and they will be briefed to ensure they comply with the policy
4 weeks term time 8 – 12 weeks term time
The Company is committed to ensuring that recording and monitoring is conducted in a professional, ethical and legal manner. Information obtained through CCTV recording may only be released when authorised by the Head of Security, Regional Operations Manager, HR Manager or Level One or Two Manager as appropriate to the circumstances under enquiry. Information recorded on CCTV will be retained in secure designated locations. Where access is given to information recorded on CCTV, the manager responsible for granting access will record to whom it is given and why access is granted. An audit will be carried out from time to time, to check that procedures are being complied with. The policy will set out how covert surveillance is permitted which is only on a case by case basis and where it is required for the purposes of preventing, detecting or investigating offences, or apprehending or prosecuting offenders. The use of the covert
1.5 days deduction 2 day deduction
21 DAYS LEAVE (includes 1 days service leave)
4 – 12 weeks
1 day deduction 20 DAYS LEAVE
4 - 12 weeks
no deductions
As a result of the above where an employee has an odd half day’s leave allowance as a result, it can be carried forward into the next leave year and combined with a further half day should they avail of Term Time in the second year. If the person does not take Term time in the second year, the taking of the half day’s leave should be facilitated by local management no later than the end of the second year. We have also agreed that the conditions of Term Time Leave as detailed above will be set out in a new Company circular and will also be summarised on the application. The Union has still to address a number of issues with the Company and these discussions are ongoing and we expect to finalise them shortly. 30
Postal Update
An Post: Financial Stability Threatened alone it is no surprise that the Chief Executive, Donal Connell is quoted as saying, “I cannot over emphasise the importance and urgency of this matter.” Given the seriousness of this development it is the intention of the Union to write to both ComReg and An Post and we will produce a detailed General Secretary circular to capture all of this correspondence in the coming weeks. In the meantime this article from the Examiner captures some of the coverage the issue got.
At the time of going to press there was considerable media attention given to the increasingly precarious financial position of An Post and its ability to continue to provide the Universal Postal Service. Members will be aware that the CWU has campaigned long and hard on this issue over the years. In almost every submission we make to the Regulator we make reference to this problem and at long last it seems An Post have decided to take a firmer line on the issue. With losses arising from the USO of €32.2 last year
An Post under threat as finances worsen
two years. Overall mail volumes are down 35% since the peak of 2007. It has estimated there will be a further decrease of about 5% to 6% in mail volumes this year. Mr Connell warned that the price An Post can charge for incoming cross-border mail from outside the EU was fixed by international agreements made by the State and was too low to cover the company’s costs. In June, ComReg expressed concern at the large losses suffered by An Post as a result of processing and delivering international inbound mail. Mail posted in other countries for delivery by An Post in the Republic accounts for almost 40% of the company’s total losses in providing a universal postal service. In 2015, An Post reported that it suffered a deficit of €13.2m on processing and delivering international inbound mail. An Post’s cash reserves have fallen by about €300m over the past seven years to just €50m at the end of 2015. In a separate letter to ComReg, An Post’s director of services, Brian McCormick, said significant adverse developments which had affected the company were largely outside its control. He claimed the restoration of regular pay increases, without any changes to the price cap, would place An Post in an “unaffordable and unsustainable” situation. An Post admitted it had proven difficult to achieve savings in order to improve efficiency, as required by ComReg in the past few years. Mr McCormick said that overall target savings of 10% were now becoming “increasingly challenging, if not unachievable”. The move by many banks and utilities to electronic billing is also a significant factor. “It is likely that An Post is now experiencing the first significant signs of e-substitution at a structural level which will result in further significant volume decline,” said Mr McCormick. He pointed out that the €0.72 domestic stamp rate was significantly below the EU average of €0.93.
Seán McCárthaigh (Irish Examiner) September 19, 2016
A
n Post has warned that its ability to provide a national postal service is under threat because of the company’s worsening financial situation. The company’s chief executive, Donal Connell, has called on the postal sector’s regulator, ComReg, for a review of the existing prices cap on postal charges. In a recent letter to ComReg, Mr Connell said the company was continuing to sustain substantial losses in providing a national mail delivery and collection service due to increasing costs and falling revenues.
An Post suffered a €32.3m loss last year. “I cannot over emphasise the importance and urgency of this matter,” said Mr Connell. The An Post chief executive said the company had been able to cross-subsidise such losses in the past from other income but was now clearly unable to do so. “This situation threatens the financial stability of the company and places the provision of the universal service obligation in jeopardy,” said Mr Connell. He attributed An Post’s deteriorating financial situation to a number of factors, including a recent Labour Court award which gave staff a 2.5% pay rise which will cost the company €11.2m to implement. It has also incurred an extra €2.3m in pay costs since the start of the year as a result of a second Labour Court decision relating to the consolidation of allowances into basic pay for some staff. An Post had also suffered a greater than predicted decline in the number of mail items posted in the last
31
Postal Update
An Post: How to turn a profit when you’re obliged by law to make a loss
year the State-owned company racked up losses of €32m as a result of these obligations – €19m of which related to both outbound and inbound international mail, with the remaining €9m attributable to the domestic market. The company recently announced that it had more than doubled its profits in 2015 to €8.6m, on a turnover that was up by €10m to €826m. “The contributions we get from our other businesses and services essentially funds the losses in the other part of the business,” says Liam Sheehan, Sales and Marketing Director with An Post. And while he points out that it has been fortunate enough to be in this position, he warns it might not be sustainable in the future. “Over the longer term, however, that is going to be increasingly difficult to sustain. As in any business, it’s hard to sustain losses in one market with profits made in other highly competitive markets,” he says.
“An Post invested wisely outside of its mailhandling function”, Liam Sheehan Sales and Marketing Director tells John McGee – Sunday Independent It is probably fair to say that most Irish people take the postal service for granted and expect their delivery to come dropping through the letterbox on a daily basis, come hell or high water. With a clearly defined Universal Service Obligation (USO) under both EU and Irish law, this poses considerable financial challenges for An Post and last
NEW DSU- Ravensdale Road, Dublin 3 It beggars belief that the Board was appraised at the July meeting of the requirement to vacate Cardiff Lane by the end of this year, but the current Director of Mails claimed neither he or his team, was made aware of any such requirement. Were this to be the case it would be astonishing. However, it should be noted that despite the fact that Mails Operations was aware that it would be relocating to Ravendsdale Road, proposals to redesign the three impacted DSUs ‘en masse’ was not included on either the 2016 count or redesign schedule. It is reasonable to conclude therefore that the Company gave no thought to its requirements in this regard and that strategic planning is redundant in the mails area of the business. As a consequence of this failure to plan the only possible solution available to the Company is to relocate DSU 2 operation to Ravensdale as currently designed, with the added inbuilt compensatory claims for travel time etc. to be negotiated and agreed. The target relocation is set for December 2016. Such rudderless direction has made it impossible for the Union to fathom what course the Company wish to chart. However, it does demonstrate why the losses are mounting up at An Post, as Mails Operations are realizing their obligation to make a loss!
In October 2014 An Post advised the Union of its decision to sell DSU 2 (Cardiff lane) and subsequently to relocate DSUs 1, 2 and 3 to a new site on Ravensdale Road. The idea being to sell a valuable property and to house a number of existing DSUs in one unit. During discussions on Pay and at other meetings, the Union raised the prospect of a better, more efficient approach to office redesigns and suggested that Ravensdale Road presented the ideal opportunity to trial such an approach. The Union had expected the Company would have given serious consideration to its suggestion and that a new method of working and design for Ravensdale Road be presented. Regrettably, Mails Operations Management (MOM) completely ignored us and the opportunity was squandered, which is consistent with the approach with the mails business generally. In mid August 2016 they advanced so called plans to relocate the three delivery units in conjunction with a redesign of all three offices in Q1 2017. The first stage being a volume/hit rate counts commencing in September with target go live in Q1 2017. This was absolute poppycock as the well-established redesign process would, at the earliest determine a target of Q3 2017. Furthermore, achievement of this was linked to clearing their backlog of the 2016 redesign schedule, which in itself, was also unrealistic.
32
15th September 2016. A Chara, I have been employed as a term- me employee by An Post for several years and have always taken out C.W.U. subscrip on as I judge it to be a “no brainer” so to speak, especially for part- me employees who tend to be more vulnerable. However, never did my taking out of C.W.U. subscrip ons prove to be a more prudent and valuable decision on my behalf than it did this summer. For this reason I owe a depth of gra tude to Jonathan Costello and Mar n Kelly in D.S.O. 11 for their help and representa ons on my behalf. Without the representa ons of Jonathan and Mar n, I can categorically and unequivocally state that I would not have received payments due to me following management’s ini al refusal to pay me for extra hours I had worked. Incidentally, these payments more than handsomely covered my union subscrip ons for my en re three months employment with An Post. Monetary issues aside, both delegates were always willing to offer support and advice no ma er what the issue was. I found their advice regarding such issues as drop boxes and second bags very helpful during my s nt. These may seem like trivial ma ers to those more experienced postmen, but this advice proved invaluable to a “novice” such as me. I confidently feel that this informa on would not have been forthcoming to me from any other source(s) within D.S.O. 11. More important and worrying was that, without this knowledge and advice, delays to mail deliveries would have inevitably resulted. In a climate whereby employers increasingly adopt more neo-liberal approaches to employees and their rights, I found it par cularly refreshing that civil society, through organisa ons such as the C.W.U., can and do, stand up for and protect part- me workers who are more vulnerable and suscep ble to exploita on and abuses. Beir bua a buacaillí agus go raibh maith agaibh arís, Is mise,
______________________ Tomás Ó Mórdha. (Thomas Moore).
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AN POST EMPLOYEE DIRECTOR ELECTION 2016 The term of office of the Employee Directors currently serving on the Board of An Post will expire on 1 November, 2016. The Union in June sought nominations from Branches for the consideration of the Postal Sectoral Executive and these were considered at July Postal Executive meeting. The Union’s Executive decided that in the event of the other An Post’s Unions agreeing to nominate a single candidate then the CWU would only nominate four candidates This was subsequently confirmed to the Union with agreement reached to nominate Niall Phelan from the PSEU.
As a result, the Union decided to nominate the four outgoing Worker Directors:
Noel Adamson, Dublin Tommy Devlin, Dublin Willie Mooney, Dublin Martina O Connell Cork The nomination period closed on the 26th August 2016 following which the returning officer Mr. Brian Fay deemed the five candidates elected and their names will now go forward for consideration by the Minister, Mr. Denis Naughten. Set out below is a short profile of the five. The Union is confident that the five nominees will collectively represent the member’s interests in a highly professional and influential manner t the highest decision forum of the Company.
Noel Adamson
Tommy Devlin
Noel joined An Post in January 1981 as a Postperson in the Central Sorting Office, Sheriff Street. Noel has been a trade union activist for 28 years in a number of roles. Noel is the Assistant Secretary of the Dublin Postal Delivery Branch, a Branch of nearly 1,400 members in 28 offices. He is also the Health & Safety Officer of the Branch. Noel is also on the CWU Standing Orders Committee. Noel is an outgoing member of the Board.
Tommy entered the Post Office as a Junior Postperson in 1976. He has served on the Committee of the Dublin Postal Driver’s Branch and was Branch Chairperson for 8 years. He has attended conference as a Delegate/National Executive Member continuously since 1996. He is currently Chairperson of the Dublin Mails Managers Branch. Tommy was elected to the National Executive Council in 2002 and has served on the Finance Committee and Organising Committee. This will be Tommy’s third term on the Board.
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Willie Mooney
Martina O’Connell
Willie joined the Post Office in 1982 as a Junior Postperson. He has been a Branch Committee Member, Branch Chairman and is currently Branch Secretary of the Dublin Postal Clerks Branch, and a member of the National Executive Council. Willie is currently a member of the CWU Education and Training Committee, Clerical Sub Committee, ASMP and The Joint Accommodation Committee. This will be Willie’s second term as a Worker Director.
Martina O’Connell joined An Post in 1993 as an Auxiliary Postperson and is now working as a Postal Operative in the South City Delivery Office. She became a Committee Member of the Cork Outdoor Branch in 1994 and then served as Assistant Secretary, and has been Branch Secretary for the past 12 years. She has been a member of the National Executive Council of the Communications Workers’ Union since 2002 and she is currently the President of the CWU. She is a member of the Unions Finance committee, Rationalisation Committee, Education Committee and the Collection and Delivery Committee. This is her second term as a Worker Director.
Niall Phelan
Niall joined An Post in 1987 as a Post Office Clerk and is a former member of the CWU. He worked in Sherriff Street’s central sorting office and as a Counter Clerk in the GPO public office. In 1990 he received promotion to the Group Technology Solutions section, where he has held a number of IT posts. In Niall’s current role, he is responsible for management of An Post’s HR/Payroll and Pension’s IT Systems. On foot of his many years of pensions’ experience, he was appointed in May 2014 as a PSEU staff representative trustee to the An Post Pension Scheme. Since Niall’s appointment as trustee, he has worked tirelessly to gain a detailed knowledge of the An Post pension scheme investments and the schemes adherence to the Minimum Funding Standard. He is deeply committed to using his pensions knowledge for the benefit of all An Post employees and pensioners, across all unions represented in An Post. He looks forward to bringing this experience and commitment to his new role as Employee Director.
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Education Update
Pictured l to r: Simon Massen CWU UK, Carol Scheffer National Officer, Martina O’Connell CWU President, Steve Fitzpatrick General Secretary and Paul Dovey CWU UK at the launch.
Pictured Right: Patricia King, ICTU General Secretary launches Unionlink
Pictured Left: Marian Geoghegan FSU, Carol Scheffer CWU and Aileen Morrissey Mandate who worked jointly on the development of Unionlink.
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Education Update
CWU launches New Online Training Initiative - UNIONlink Union activities. Tutor and technical supports are available for course participants and to date the pilot of “Your Union and You” has been very successful with participants reporting increased knowledge of union issues and the benefits to members. Particular thanks go to the members who willingly took part in the pilot programme and gave extensive feedback. Unionlink has been developed with the assistance of our sister union the CWU UK who have considerable experience and expertise in this area. The CWU UK eLearning programme is called “Left Click” and the support that we have been given by the CWU UK education officers has been invaluable to us. Our thanks as well to Gerard Norris of Conappsols for his technical expertise and Donal Higgins for video production. Unionlink was launched in the FSU on June 8th with attendees from a mix of Employers, Union Representatives and other Stakeholders. Steve Fitzpatrick, General Secretary, played the part of MC on the night with Patricia King, ICTU General Secretary, formally launching Unionlink on behalf of the group of unions. We were delighted to have Paul Dovey and Simon Massen attend from the CWU UK who have provided us with guidance and technical supports throughout the process.
Unionlink is an eLearning initiative unique to trade unions in Ireland and established by the Communications Workers’ Union, Financial Services Union and Mandate Trade Union. Its purpose is to encourage members to become more engaged and active in their union, as well as building the skills, knowledge and confidence of our activists. Unionlink will complement our current training through an interactive, blended learning approach and is an innovative way for our members to engage in trade union learning. Unionlink also provides the flexibility of eLearning so that members take control of their own learning in their own time. The first course that has been developed is called “Your Union and You” and covers the relevance of trade unions in the workplace and in society. It has three modules: 1. 2. 3.
Understanding Trade Unions My Union – The CWU and Call to Action.
The course is interactive in that it contains videos, case studies, reading materials and quizzes. This is a great opportunity for members to get to know more about their own union, the important role of the trade union movement in general as well as guidance through the “Call to Action” module on how to participate more in
Now Unionlink eLearning is available to CWU members. If you are interested in registering for this training, please contact Carol Scheffer at carol@cwu.ie You can also find further information on www.unionlink.org 37
Education Update
Branch Officer Training The Union delivered the Branch Officer course to 16 attendees from HCL, Eir and An Post year and it took place from September 13th -14th. The course is open to Assistant Secretaries, Vice Chairpersons and newly elected Treasurers. The aim of this course is to provide Branch Officers with the necessary skills to carry out the role of a Branch Officer given that they will be required, from time to time, to stand in for either the Branch Secretary of Branch Chairperson. Newly elected Branch Treasurers are also requested to attend the training, as Treasurers in addition to their own role, are also Branch Officers and will be required to represent members on occasion and will need the skills to do this. We thank all the attendees for their input and active participation.
Pictured back row l-r: John Maclean Kilkenny Postal, Richard Moyles Ballina Postal, Dean Smith Kilkenny Postal, Tom Murray Ballinasloe Postal, Tom Geraghty Galway Postal, Jackie Oates Longford Postal, Muriel Moran Castlerea and District Postal and Ronan Murtagh Navan Postal. Front row l-r: Stephen Elliot Eir Drogheda District, Ger Thompson Galway Postal, Davy Stapleton Dublin Postal Delivery Branch, Geraldine McManus Portlaoise Postal, Karen Reynolds Westport Postal, Deirdre Larkin Castlerea and District Postal, John Declan Jones HCL Cork and Paul Farren Westport Postal.
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Education Update
Chairperson Training The Union had a large group of Chairpersons requiring training this year, which took place from May 24th -26th. All newly elected Chairpersons are required to attend this course, as well as any currently elected Chairperson who may not have had the opportunity to attend in the past. The course addressed the role of the Chairperson within their Branch Structure and other relevant modules. Our thanks to all those who attended.
In attendance were: Stephen Branigan Dublin Postal Drivers, Diarmuid O’Connell Dublin Postal Delivery Branch, John Morris Kilkenny Postal, David Kane Mullingar Postal, John M. Ahern Cork Mails Centre, Gerard Lynch Cork Area Managers, Eddie O’Sullivan Kilmallock and District Postal, Patrick Byrne Nenagh Postal, John Bligh Castlerea and District Postal, Mark Brady Navan Postal, Thomas Williams KNN, Darren Jackson Vodafone, Paul McCormack eir Drogheda District, Robert Byrne Enniscorthy Postal and Jim Gaynor Dublin Postal. Managers.
KN Training Course The Union was pleased to deliver training for the new KNN committee on June 11th. The committee who are based in various parts of the country met in Union Head Office for the training day. We look forward to working with the committee in the future.
In attendance were: Thomas Williams, Kevin Barry, Aidan McWeeney, John Bohan, Pat Geraghty and Jim Pepper.
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Education Update
Branch Secretary Stage 1 Course This course took place in Union Head Office and commenced on April 12th. All newly elected Branch Secretaries are required to attend the Stage 1 course, as well as any currently elected Branch Secretary who may not have had the opportunity to attend in the past. Our five-day course is spread over two weeks covers the duties of the Branch Secretary and other work related issues. We had attendees from across the county and we thank them for their participation.
Pictured Back row l-r: Mick O’Connor Vodafone, William Donnelly Enniscorthy Postal, Aidan McWeeney KNN, Sean Morrissey Kilkenny Postal and Ben Marsh Longford Postal. Front row l-r: Barney Foley eir Drogheda District, Margaret Hegarty Cork Mails Centre, John Sharkey Castlerea & District Postal and Paul Bleahen Ballinasloe Postal.
Remaining Training Calendar 2016 The following are the courses remaining for 2016 EQUALITY REPRESENTATIVES
September 27th & 28th (2 days)
The Equality Representative is a support role to the Branch Secretary who can assist with equality related matters. This course is based primarily on the nine grounds of discrimination under employment equality
BRANCH SECRETARY STAGE 2
October 18th, 19th 20th, 25th & 26th (5 days) Venue: Union Head Office, Dublin
This course should be attended by Branch Secretaries who have completed Stage 1 and are in their second or consecutive term as Branch Secretary. This course is offered subject to numbers requiring the training. Further details on the course requirements will be issued to participants closer to the date of training.
COMMITTEE COURSES This course is normally 2 half-days in duration, namely a half-day on a Friday afternoon and a half-day on a Saturday morning, the dates of which will be set with Branches as required. We wish to thank all those who have participated in our training to date and we hope that it will prove beneficial to them in their Union Role. As always we encourage feedback from Branches on the training that they have received and we also encourage Branches to contact us with any specific requests for training that they may have and we will endeavour to meet them. 40
Courier Companies Updates UPS
There is now a new management structure in UPS Cork, we are currently arranging a meeting between ourselves and the new management team.
Substantial progress has been made in recent discussions between UPS and the CWU with a view to agreeing a new recognition framework between the parties which would allow the Union for the first time to be directly involved in pay discussions. Informal discussions will continue which we are confident will conclude with a new agreement. Following representations by the CWU, UPS have increased the pay of the screeners, we are confident of a further increase next year. We are also in discussions with UPS to extend the pilot scheme that was introduced early this year in which drivers could apply in advance to finish their day at their due finishing time.
DPD With the assistance of the WRC agreement was reached between DPD and the CWU on a new Sunday attendance in Athlone. The Union would like to thank our branch committee in Athlone for their tireless work on this issue. The Union have also commenced a review of our current agreement with DPD with a view to updating it for the benefit of all. The CWU will also be conducting a campaign to increase our membership on the day shift in Athlone.
Subsidiaries/An Post Contractors Updates Printpost The Union are still waiting for a date from the WRC to hear our two claims, (1) A pay rise and (2) Pay Equalisation. We will keep our members informed of any progress we make.
Postpoint The Union recently met with the Management of Postpoint to advance our pay claim. We hope to conclude our discussions shortly with a view to agreeing a pay deal that will cover the next few years.
Sodexo Sodexo management recently made a proposal to change the pay frequency of our members from weekly to monthly,following objections from the 3 Unions that have members in Sodexo the matter has been referred to the WRC.Sodexo have confirmed to the CWU that the current pay arrangements will continue until agreement is reached.
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How Unequal is Ireland?
Photograph: File image/Getty Images
Despite recovery, Ireland remains a hugely unequal society
‘More than one-third of Irish children live in households experiencing two or more types of material deprivation such as being unable to afford to heat their homes.’
growth in the recovery, with a more polarised work force, an rise in low-paid jobs, low-hours employment and precarious work. The minimum wage, for example, remains 20 per cent lower than the living wage of €11.50 per hour. Ireland’s progressive income tax and social protection spending does reduce this “gross” income inequality (the highest in the EU) and results in a net income inequality at the EU average. However, Ireland’s net income inequality has also risen in recent years, and an accurate assessment of economic inequality requires inclusion of other measures (such as wealth, poverty, public services, taxation, cost of living) which Tasc provides in our recent report Cherishing All Equally 2016. In relation to the distribution of wealth, Ireland has also become much more unequal. Over the last three decades, the top 10 per cent have increased their proportion of net wealth from 42 per cent to 54 per cent, while the share of net wealth held by the bottom 50 per cent has halved (from 12 per cent to 5 per cent).
The fact that the number of homeless children in the capital exceeds 2,000 for the first time since current records began is further evidence Ireland is a deeply unequal country. Economic inequality is worsening despite the recovery and, for those experiencing inequality, particularly children, Ireland is a very harsh place. Economic inequality has become a defining global issue since the 2008 crash. The rise in wealth of the super-rich while the majority suffer austerity, debt and stagnant wages has led to intense political and economic attention. Here in Ireland we have experienced similar trends. The share of gross income going to the top 1 per cent of earners increased from 34 per cent in 2011 to 39 per cent this year. And over half of the increase in total income (€21 billion) over the last five years has gone to the top 10 per cent of earners. The bottom 50 per cent of earners received just 6 per cent of that increased income. This highlights an inequality in employment and wage 42
Austerity period
positions. Another important factor is the inadequate provision of quality and affordable public services and infrastructure in housing, childcare, transport, healthcare and education. Ireland’s government expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product is now the jointlowest (with Lithuania) in the EU. Ireland’s high level of economic inequality results from structural issues shaped by the type of economic policies pursued in recent decades. We have followed a variety of capitalism that is deregulated, neoliberal and free-market in orientation. In contrast, the Nordic countries have pursued a more regulated social economy model resulting in greater equality and lower poverty.
The recession and austerity period resulted in a dramatic increase in poverty and, despite the recovery, these levels remain very high. At 36 per cent, child deprivation is double the 2007 rate, while 58 per cent of lone parents suffer deprivation, up from 35 per cent in 2007. This means more than one-third of Irish children live in households experiencing two or more types of material deprivation such as being unable to afford to heat their homes, buy new clothes, have sufficient food or socialise with friends and family. Economic inequality has a profoundly damaging impact on children’s educational development and wellbeing. At age nine months, the level of household income a child is born into has no correlation with their inherent cognitive potential. However, by just three years of age, children in higherincome families perform better with a 1 per cent increase in household income predicted to lead to a 5.1 per cent increase in educational test scores. By nine, there is a strong negative correlation between children’s self-image and their social class background, as children from more disadvantaged backgrounds are more anxious, less happy and report poorer behaviour. By 13, children have internalised their inequality by reducing their expectations. Only 36 per cent of children aged 13 from the bottom-income decile expect to achieve a third-level education in contrast to 65 per cent from the top-income decile. Children growing up in disadvantaged areas face multiple inequalities while inequalities in relation to health and housing are also significant. Women in Ireland are also disproportionately affected by inequality, with a concentration of women in low-paid, part-time work and unpaid care work. Gender inequalities result in women being underrepresented in more senior
Policy shift To reduce inequality in Ireland, particularly child poverty, requires a significant shift in policy and political decisions that prioritise equality. Proofing budgetary measures for their impact on economic inequality is essential. Would reducing inheritance tax, abolishing a progressive tax such as the universal social charge, failing to raise the minimum wage or the lack of a wealth tax pass such a proofing? Policymakers should remember the message from the public in the general election: investment in quality public services (health, housing) should be prioritised before tax cuts. This centenary year should give the economic equality dimension of the 1916 Proclamation, which declared “equal rights and equal opportunities” to all citizens, the required political and policy attention it merits. Dr Rory Hearne is a senior policy analyst with Tasc and lead author of Cherishing All Equally 2016. tasc.ie/publications/ cherishing-all-equally-2016/ © 2016 irishtimes.com
Get into print! Anyone wishing to submit articles or photos to appear in the Connect journal, please, either: email to imelda@cwu.ie or post to Imelda Wall,
Communications Workers’ Union, 575 North Circular Road, Dublin 1.
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publicity she gets over Clerys is “unmerited and distressing”. What Foley has clearly failed to grasp is that the public anger is borne not simply out of the fact that Clerys was closed down. It was the way it was closed down.
Shoddy and arrogant But “on a human level” a transaction that leads to the sacking of hundreds of workers in one of the State’s bestknown retailers after decades of service with zero notice and zero provision for redundancy payments was shoddy, arrogant and heartless. The people who took the decisions that led to the closure of Clerys in such a cynical manner, leaving taxpayers on the hook for €2 million in statutory redundancy, totally miscalculated the depth of public and political reaction. OCS Properties has applied to Dublin City Council for permission to convert the store into a hotel, shops, offices and bars , and to add a new level to the building on O’Connell Street. Siptu official Ethel Buckley said the decision of OCS and businesswoman Deirdre Foley to apply for permission before the outcome of a court case concerning the takeover and closure of the business shows a “continued breathtaking disregard for even a semblance of decent business practice”. Ms Buckley pointed out that her union had succeeded in getting Dublin City Council to stipulate that plans for O’Connell Street should assure workers of fair conditions.
Maurice Bracken, who worked for Clerys for more than 30 years before the staff were turfed out when the building was sold last June, tells an interesting story about the weeks immediately prior to its closure. In hindsight, his anecdote reveals much about the moral stink around the whole transaction. Bracken worked upstairs in an office at Clerys, where he looked after payroll and other financial issues. In the lead-up to the closure, before staff were aware of their impending fate, he was asked to help compile an up-to-date financial report that included details such as all employees’ length of service, holiday entitlements owed, etc. As he totted up the figures before he was unceremoniously sacked along with the rest of the workers, Bracken had no idea that he was, in effect, being asked to help dig his own grave. The information he compiled would come in useful in helping to calculate some of Clerys’ liabilities when the operating company was liquidated a short time later.
Obligations “I am sure that the former Clerys workers, trade unions, Dublin City Councillors and the general public will ensure that any future development of the store strictly meets these obligations in their entirety,” she said. Maureen Deans of Justice for the Clerys Workers said she hoped the council would not grant planning permission until Ms Foley and Clerys purchaser Natrium engage with former staff. “It is my hope that the Director of Corporate Enforcement will also act in relation to the events surrounding the sale of Clerys and the manoeuvres that took place in advance of the closing of Clerys.” Liquidators Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of KPMG were appointed to wind up the company. Shortly after that the Workplace Relations Commission instructed inspectors James Kelly and Pat Phelan to investigate the circumstances surrounding the redundancies. D2 Private and Deirdre Foley recently went to the High Court to challenge the inspectors’ right to enter the company’s premises and seize documents as part of their investigation. The court has yet to rule on the challenge.
Breathtaking cynicism Bracken was being made to assess entitlements that he and his colleagues would never receive. He didn’t know this at the time, but others involved in planning the upcoming transaction clearly did know. The cynicism of the whole thing was breathtaking. People close to Deirdre Foley’s Natrium consortium, which bought the business for €29 million before flipping it to the insolvency practitioners who closed it, have always argued that criticism of the Clerys closure was “over the top”. She was at it again in the Sunday Business Post last weekend, two days after revealing Natrium’s plans to redevelop the site. Foley was quoted by the SBP as saying that “on a human level” it is always difficult to see a business such as Clerys closing with the loss of jobs, but it was “inevitable” that it happened. As part of an ongoing action related to the seizure of documents by labour inspectors investigating the closure, she also recently told the High Court the negative 44
Letter sent on behalf of the Union to the Dublin City Council Planning Department objecting to the redevelopment of the Clerys building
It is seldom that a Trade Union finds itself in a position of complementing a company. We are pleased to join with other Unions and former Clerys employees in complementing Lambstongue, a contractor specialising in the conservation and restoration of buildings who refused to become involved in work at Clerys unless the stores new owners met workers who were made compulsorily redundant when the store was taken over.
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Why we must remain vigilant to the threat of Payday loan sharks high-interest, short-term lending come to Ireland. However, there are no current plans to regulate for their arrival. The situation is different in Northern Ireland which is subject to UK regulation. Research carried out by the Irish League of Credit Unions discovered the following findings: • Over 270,000 people in Northern Ireland have used moneylenders / payday loan companies • A further 193,000 would consider using the services of a moneylender/payday loan company in the future • 84% of those that have used a moneylender were unaware of the interest rate/APR being charged • Those who would consider accessing these types of loans would do so for fast access, emergencies or as a last resort having failed to access credit elsewhere • Consumers reporting interest rates as high as 885% on moneylender payday loans • Up to £750 is the average amount being borrowed from moneylender/payday loan companies
“Today we’re sharing an update that will go into effect on July 13, 2016: we’re banning ads for payday loans and some related products from our ads systems. We will no longer allow ads for loans where repayment is due within 60 days of the date of issue. In the U.S., we are also banning ads for loans with an APR of 36% or higher. When reviewing our policies, research has shown that these loans can result in unaffordable payment and high default rates for users so we will be updating our policies globally to reflect that. Google recently announced restrictions on adverts for Payday loan companies. Although currently there are no payday loans companies in Ireland it is a threat that we must guard against. Payday lenders have caused havoc in the lives of working class people in both USA and Britain. In Ireland, the Central Bank says that there is no policy against them, but the application process for anybody wanting to charge over twenty three percent is stringent. Sources within the industry say that while the Central Bank will review the application, it would appear that there is no appetite within any government or regulation to see
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be lurking. Reassuringly, a further barrier to the entry of pay day lenders in the Republic is the strength of a well-established Credit Union movement throughout Ireland. This may explain the dissonance of the numbers between NI and the rest of Britain. Brian McCrory, President of the Irish League of Credit Unions summed up the situation perfectly “Moneylenders and pay day loans companies are predators to those struggling financially. They offer almost immediate access to quick credit, but lurking in the small print are staggering interest rates that often result in those who can least afford it paying back nearly twice what they borrow, or worse still, getting caught in a cycle of debt that they cannot get out of.” Thus many unwittingly end up trapped in a money-goround. If you are experiencing financial difficulties, your union has a hardship fund. Applications for financial assistance from the fund in such cases are considered on their merits by the financial committee and grants are made in certain limited circumstances subject to the sanction of the National Executive Council. If you’re behind in your mortgage payments, or are experiencing money problems contact “The Money Advice and Budgeting Service “(MABS), the State’s money advice service, guiding people through dealing with problem debt for more than twenty years. MABS now has a dedicated confidential, free, and independent mortgage arrears service. • MABS is a one-stop-shop for mortgage debt advice and referral. • No matter what your situation is, MABS will help you work out the next steps. • Take control of what happens next. • Call MABS today on 0761 07 2000 for independent information, advice and referral • Visit website www.mabs.ie
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56% of those borrowing from a moneylender are doing so to pay bills or pay off bill arrears • 11% said they had experienced a threat of physical injury about their loan As shocking as the findings are, the number of users of Payday loans in the rest of Britain is substantially higher. In 2014 there were a total of 1,427 pay day loan shops in Great Britain, compared to only 49 shortterm lending shops in Northern Ireland. Just to put this into context, there are 1249 McDonald’s restaurants in the UK! Furthermore, many pay day loan transactions are carried out online. It is estimated that over 8.2 million payday loans were taken out in the UK between 2011 and 2012 with around two million people regularly using them to get through the month. Payday lending has gone from being a £100 million industry, to one that’s worth £2 billion in the space of ten short years. Research undertaken by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism uncovered a correlation between areas of deprivation and payday loan shops. This suggests pay day loan companies target poorer sections of society, reinforcing the cycle of poverty, social exclusion and deprivation. The modern loan shark/pay day loan industry boomed in the 1980s in the USA. It exported its service to the UK in the early 1990’s. ‘The Money Shop’ was the first to open in 1992. Business growth was moderate until the credit crunch meant banks and credit card companies, traditionally the source of retail credit, tightened their lending criteria leaving many customers without access to money when they most needed it. The evidence from the USA and UK suggests that pay day loan companies prosper when there is little regulation. In the USA there is also evidence that pay day loan companies pre-empt legislative changes and find loopholes, enabling them to carry on regardless. It is incumbent upon those of us who want a fairer and more just society to be aware of the evil that maybe
Table illustrating UK loan companies 2013: Source Bureau of Investigative journalism UK
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CWU People
DPDB Retirements The Dublin Postal Delivery Branch would like to wish all their recent retirees the very best of luck for the future.
Peter Neary (Foxrock DSU)
Gerry Clements (Glenageary DSU)
Tommy Ennis (Swords DSU)
Fran Brennan (Bannow Road DSU)
Joe Casey (Blanchardstown DSU)
Tony Mooney (Fortfield DSU)
Paddy Yaverbaum (Rutland Place DSU) 48
CWU People
Dublin Postal Drivers’ Branch enjoy a reunion with John Whelan
Pictured l to r: Val Good, Frank Cox, Joey Coughlan, Joe O’Riordan, Tony Dunne, Terry Delany, DGS, Eugene Keenan, Ken Stephens, Seán Scanlon, John Whelan, Paddy Redmond and Eric Farrell Members of the Dublin Postal Drivers’ Branch attending “Paddy Redmond’s Monday Club” at Home Farm on the occasion of a reunion with John Whelan former Branch
Secretary of the Dublin Postal Drivers’ Branch and former NEC member.
Timmy Sheehan, Bantry Section, celebrates 40 years’ service
Timmy Sheehan (centre) of Bantry section CWU receiving a presentation from Pat O Sullivan SOM (left) for 40 years’ service, also included is Gerard Hourihane, FLM
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CWU People
Can YOU tell us anything about this photograph?
The photograph above is from the Union’s Archives and taken at a time when parcels were delivered at a more leisurely pace! We would be pleased to hear from those members who could shed any light on when and where the photograph was taken. Just contact us at info@cwu.ie with any info you may have.
Carmel Casey Retires
Pictured l to r: Anne Curley, Pauline Fox, Mary Mulligan, Anne Doyle and newly-retired Carmel Casey 50
Our Colleague, Carmel Casey, retired from operator services in Athlone last June. Carmel was a valued member of staff, and was Chairperson of the Athlone Telephones branch for many years. Carmel was very popular with all staff and her smiling face will be missed by all. We wish Carmel the very best of luck in her retirement.
CWU People
Frank Keogh Retires Frank Keogh retired on Thursday 8th September from Enfield DSU after 21 years’ service. Most of those years were spent in the old Enfield Post Office till they moved to Enfield DSU in 2015. Frank is one of life’s gentlemen and he will be greatly missed by his colleagues. We all wish him the best in his retirement.
Pictured l to r: Branch Secretary, Barry Carr, Mullingar/ Enfield Postal presents Frank with his Union Scroll.
Kevin McDermott Retires
Kevin McDermott FLM pictured with fellow workers at his retiring party. Kevin had 42 years’ service with the Company.
Martin Conlon presents a decanter of Leitrim Crystal to Kevin McDermott on behalf of the team and work mates in Carrick-on-Shannon.
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CWU People
GALWAY POSTAL BRANCH RETIREMENTS James Bane Retirement
Seรกn McDonagh, National Officer, CWU, makes a presentation to James Bane on the occasion of his retirement from the Galway Postal Branch.
Galway Postal Committee
The following Galway Postal workers were presented with their 30 year Service Badges by Seรกn McDonagh
Nora Daly
Mary Conroy
Pat Galvin 52
Paul Barke
CWU People
Jimmy Adams Retires
Eugene Erskine Retires
Pictured l to r: Jimmy Adams, who retired after 42 years’ service with Patrick Meyler, Branch Secretary in Wexford DSU.
Eugene Erskine, who has retired from Killybegs P.O. Donegal after 20 years’ service, is presented with the Union Scroll and Silver Badge by Paul Crawford, Branch Chairperson Donegal SW. We wish Eugene the very best in his retirement from all in Donegal South West.
Ian Pratt Retires
Hugh Callaghan R.I.P.
The death occurred on the 10th June 2016 of Mr Hugh Callaghan of openeir based in Buncrana A.E.H. Hugh was a member of the Communications Workers’ Union since commencing with the P & T in 1982. He was attached to the FAST Cabling team in the North West up to the time of his illness under Mr Matt Raftery FLM. He is missed by his Colleagues. May he rest in peace.
Ian Pratt recently retired from the Portlaoise Postal Branch. He is photographed here (on the right), in front of the truck he used to drive, being presented with the Union Scroll by Tom Prendergast (Branch Secretary).
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CWU People
In Memory of our Colleagues at Mullingar DSU Recent events were in memory of two colleagues from Mullingar DSU who passed away too early in life. These annual events have been taking place for the last number of years.
Pitch & Putt tournament in memory of Postman Eamon Boyle Pitch and Putt Champion, Mark Murray
Go Karting Event in memory of Postman Shane O Connor Pictured l to r: Joe Kiernan, Barry Carr, Blaine Gibney, Mark Murray, Trevor Thompson (Champion) Wayne Gilhooley, Kyle Gavin, Alan Rickard (2nd), Ava Rickard, André Stalenburg, Conor Beglan, Mickey Kiernan (3rd) & Pat Rickard Front Row Shane’s family Left to Right: Ger O’Connor, Martin O’Connor, Joe O’Connor, Tracy O’Connor, Eileen O’Connor & Luke O’Connor (son) in the cart.
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Book Reviews by Adrienne Power BODIES OF WATER by V. H. Leslie Available from Eason Online Price €11.75 with free delivery night drawn to its mysterious depths. As you read on you feel the omnipresent danger seeping through the pages. Chapter two begins in 1871 when Evelyn is sent to Wakewater House by her father to avail of their new and already famous water cure facility. He is worried about the state of her mind when she campaigns to help the fallen women of London. After a short while Evelyn realises there is a lot of strange goings on behind closed doors. It was a very interesting idea telling the story from the two different women in two different eras. One in 19th century and the other in 21st both after suffering nervous breakdowns and hoping the body of water can help cure them. I found the story extremely ghostly and creepy. It is a novella of 130 pages that you could read in one sitting. The writing is very vivid. It is a mix of gothic with modern folklore overtones. It is a good blend of chilly and unsettling with themes of obsession and destruction. As Halloween approaches and the leaves start to fall, along with shorter days, it is a good book to curl up with and feel the shivers run down your spine!
The story opens in present day London when Kirsten moves into the newly renovated Wakewater Apartments after being completely won over by the exclusive view of the Thames River. She is hoping the quiet seclusion will help her get over a break up from a long time relationship. The design of Wakewater Mansion with its waves engraved into its masonry complements the body of water below. Kirsten wondered if she was the only resident in the newly opened apartments. That evening while unpacking she looks out the window and sees the shadowy figure of a woman standing close to the water’s edge. A second later the woman has disappeared. Was it a ghost she saw or a real person? Soon Kirsten hears the gurgling sounds of pipes being used above her flat and gets to meet the other resident Manon, who is fascinated by the history of Wakewater. She dangerously wanders along the edge of the river at
Feel the shivers run down your spine! A BROTHER’S CONSCIENCE by Fran O’Reilly gangster also on his sister-inlaw’s trail, Andrew becomes even more leery. The web of intrigue thickens as he follows his suspect through Bulgaria and Spain, determined to seek out justice for his late brother. This tale of drugs, mystery and deceit is very true to life, and has an uncanny insight to recent events in Dublin City’s dark side. Fran’s books are all available from Amazon books (and on kindle). They are also available direct from Fran himself. Contact No. 0861989818
“A Brother’s Conscience” is the third book published by Fran O’Reilly. Fran works in Crumlin District Office, Dublin 12. This story deals with a suspected murder, and is set against the backdrop of the drug’s scene in the South Dublin area. When his brother Edward dies suddenly while abroad, Andrew becomes suspicious. He also feels guilty at not having spent more time with his only sibling, letting a busy life get in the way. Andrew Beacon vows to do right by his brother in death, feeling that he had failed him in life. He sets out to discover the truth, and soon realises that he is in way over his head. With an east-European
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