Connect September 2013

AUTUMN 2013 VOL: 15

NO. 3

LOCKOUT 1913 – 2013 CENTENARY

Editorial

Dear Colleague,

Contents Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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

Volunteering: Africa Calling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the lead-up to the Lockout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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

A Garden Party in Áras starts the 1913 Celebrations . .

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

History of our Union in Firstsource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

UNI Global Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CWU ramps up online presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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

Colleen Cleary Legal Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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

What the papers say: Frankly, it’s all over. . . . . . . . . . .

Vodafone Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pension Entitlements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CSTWF Annual Report 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ESCCU Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Your chance to win €300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Education Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Scenes from an Indian Summer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lockout 1913-2013 Centenary Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CWU People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

GS Circular GSC 20-13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The CWU says “Bon Voyage” to the Humanitarian Aid Crew as they head off to Bulgaria . . . . . . . . . . . .

Orphans’ Pensions Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CWU Group Life Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2-3 4-11 12 13 14-15 16-17 18-19 19 20 21 22-25 26 27 28-29 30-32 33 34-35 36 37 38-39 40-41 42-43 44-50 51 52-53 53 54 55-56

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.

2

It has been a rare occurrence over the past few weeks to turn on your radio or TV or open the newspaper without encountering some story in relation to the infamous 1913 Lockout. It is gratifying for once to see such a historic event getting the type of blanket coverage which is usually denied to working people and their representatives. Of course such coverage has not happened by accident but it is as a result of many months of planning by the 1913 committee led by Padraig Yeats a former journalist and SIPTU official.

Indeed Padraig addressed your union conference this year in Wexford and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the events surrounding the Lockout.

The Committee have arranged with support from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and its constituents a large array of events to commemorate this seminal moment. A hugely successful event called the Tenement Experience has been held over the summer months in Henrietta Street in Dublin but this unfortunately finished on the 31st August 2013. It was one of those ideas that turned out to be far more successful than could ever have been envisaged. The performances on Henrietta Street were booked out solid and indeed there is now a huge demand that experience be re-enacted with school children in particular in mind.

That experience brought into sharp focus the dreadful living conditions tens of thousands of Irish people faced each day living in old tenement buildings sometimes with ten to a room with no proper facilities

and very little hygiene. The majority of these buildings where in a dangerous condition and infant mortality rate was one of the highest in Europe.

Many other events are running side by side or will be opened over the coming months.

The programme culminated in a State commemoration occasion at which President Michael D Higgins and Francis O Grady the head of the British TUC both laid wreaths at Jim Larkin’s statue in O’Connell Street. That occasion also saw a re-enactment of the original Bloody Sunday which saw the police baton charge indiscriminately, protesters and innocent bystanders alike. There have also been many publications surrounding the Lockout including the Big Jim comic by Rory Mc Conville and Paddy Lynch and the reprinting of the Lockout book written by Padraig Yeats which is commonly accepted as the authoritative work on the subject. In addition there has been a stamp launch recently with three stamps commemorating Jim Larkin, James Connolly and Countess Markievicz and it is incredible to see the sales relating to those stamps throughout the country.

Many people questioned the reasoning behind having the head of the British TUC laying a wreath of Larkin’s statue. It is a little reported fact that it was the TUC donations which helped feed the workers during the Lockout as the political, religious and legal establishment banded together to break Irish workers. Indeed British working class families offered to take the children of the locked out Irish workers in order to feed them and were infamously barred from bringing their children on board ships by various right wing catholic organisations who feared for the religion of those children while at the same time they contributed to the effort to starve them into submission.

The next big event in the calendar will be the unveiling of the 1913 Tapestry Project. This is an ambitious large scale collaborative visual arts project which was commissioned by SIPTU and the National College of Art and Design to create a visual art 30 panels. The

panels will be laid out in a tapestry consisting of multimedia textile pieces sown and embroidered by volunteers. It is expected that the project will be formally launched in Liberty hall on the 18th of Steve Fitzpatrick, September 2013.

General Secretary, CWU In addition there are still many other exhibitions and events which will be held over the coming months and I would strongly advise all of you to check out the commemoration website in order to see what is on and where and I would urge each and every one of you including all members outside of Dublin to try and catch one of those events before the end of the commemorations.

One constant view being expressed to me by members in relation to 1913 and that is the fact that such an important informative piece of our history is almost ignored in the school curriculum. It is almost reminiscent of some former Soviet Union history books where people were airbrushed out of history in an attempt to ensure that their historical contribution and message was deliberately buried. It is one of the great successes of the 1913 commemoration project that, that our forefather’s history is now getting the type of exposure which was denied to those history makers in the past.

Of course history is generally written by the victor but the one truism that nobody can deny in relation to Irish Labour History is that 100 years after that great struggle we have still failed miserably to gain legal rights for workers to collectively bargain. That unholy alliance of the establishment of politics, capital and religion still come together to deny what is a basic human right. A far more fitting commemoration during this centenary year would be recognition by Government of that entitlement.

3

Telecoms Update

eircom Business In mid July the CWU concluded negotiations with eircom Business on a restructuring in that area. The agreement reached will lead to a reduction of 20 in the Field Engineering team. The Agreement is reproduced below except for a portion, consisting of a table and some text from Section 4, dealing with a detailed breakdown of the revenue streams which has been removed. of this business. It is now essential that steps are taken to immediately address the cost base and to put in place a new operating model that will be sustainable in the longer term.

eircom Business Agreement for Restructuring of Field Engineering July2013

3. The Irish PBX Market 3.1. Volumes and Revenues

eircom Business Service Transformation 1.

The Irish market continues to be very challenging as the impact of the recession continues to be seen across our business.

Since reaching a peak in 2008, when 5054 new PBX systems were sold, the market has declined significantly.

In 2012 only 2338 new PBX systems were sold and deployed. This represents a decline in the systems market of 54% compared to 2008 levels. (See Graph 1) While a slight growth in new sales is forecast over the next 4-5 years, it is predicted that PBX volumes will not recover to their past levels and overall annual new systems sales will peak at approximately 2700 systems per annum by 2017. This represents a reduction of over 35% when compared to new system sales in 2008.

During this time period, PBX technology will also evolve significantly and by 2016 traditional non-IP PBX sales will cease completely in favour of pure IP or IP hybrid based systems.

Compounding the effect of decreasing system sales,

Introduction

This document sets out the understandings and agreement reached between the Communication Workers Union and eircom Group (the parties) regarding the implementation of the restructuring of the Filed Engineering organisation in the light of significant market place and technology changes

2. Purpose The Irish PBX market has undergone significant change in recent years driven by the economic downturn. In addition, technology developments are enabling fundamental changes in the way PBX systems are being deployed and supported. The combined impact of these factors has adversely affected the financial performance Graph 1.

Source: MZA Telecoms & IT Forecasts 2012

4

Telecoms Update small independent dealers have increased significantly and are winning greater market share, particularly in the volume SME PBX segment, where focus on low cost is paramount.

Irish Market revenues associated with PBX sales and related maintenance have also dropped significantly due to product price erosion, technology evolution and increasingly aggressive competitors bidding for the reduced number of systems that will be purchased. (See Graph 2) From a 2008 peak of €50.51 million it is forecast that annual Irish Market PBX revenues will have dropped by 45.7% to €27.41 million in 2012. Revenues will increase slightly in line with small systems sales growth but these are expected to peak at €32.27 million in 2017, which would represent a drop in revenues of over 36% compared to 2008 levels.

3.2. Competition In addition to the market shrinkage that has taken place in Ireland, we have also seen a number of changes to the competitive landscape since 2008 which has seen eircom’s previous dominance in this segment diminish very significantly.

Changes in Vendor channel strategies have also emerged as manufacturers look for ways of increasing levels of business in the shrinking market. This has made it simpler for smaller resellers and other channels to get access to a wider range of products via distribution at very competitive prices, thus putting pressure on the traditional historical PBX channels. As convergence has been more widely adopted in the Mid and Large market segment, Cisco have become the dominant supplier of IPPBX products in Ireland and this has enabled the Cisco channel to grow market share however at much lower profit margins than were previously achieved with legacy PBX product platforms.

In addition, the market has seen the emergence of a number of new entrants focussed on selling converged solutions based on IP and mobile communications.

Vodafone and O2 amongst other smaller service providers such as Magnet have now entered the

Some historical eircom competitors have shrunk and some have exited the market. However the number of Graph 2.

Source: MZA Telecoms & IT Forecasts 2012

5

Telecoms Update market with a combination of mobile, hosted, CPE and cloud based services which are competing to win what was once traditional core CPE business.

•

4. eircom’s Performance in the Market eircom Business has a number of revenue streams from this market including system sales, maintenance and pull through revenues, such as from Adds, Moves and Changes. All streams have shown large revenue reductions since 2008.

The table below shows the corresponding year on year reduction in tickets issued by the Service Centre for work to be carried out by the Field Engineering team. Ticket Activity is falling annually by 14.5%. The projected decline in ticket activity from year 2008/2009 to 2013/2014 is 50%.

The combination of these factors has fundamentally changed the dynamics of this market making eircom more and more uncompetitive.

There are a number of factors which explain the significant downturn in this business; •

•

by heavy discounting. We have numerous examples of maintenance contracts being quoted by such lowcost operators at half the eircom price.

Vendors have also changed their channel strategies in an attempt to hold on to or grow market position.

The best example of this is Avaya. After its purchase of the failed Nortel business, it adopted a multichannel approach, offering equipment at the same discount to small new entrants as was being offered in the past to eircom and one other service provider.

This practice has resulted in a significant increase in competition and resulting pressure on margins.

5. Technology Developments The move to IP based technology is also changing the dynamics of this business, principally by removing barriers to entry and enabling increased competition. The PBX market is developing from a customer premise based proprietary technology which is purchased as a CAPEX spend to a location independent model which is part of the customer’s operating expenditure. This will be a gradual migration but its impacts on the business are already beginning to be felt.

The first phase of this development is network convergence enabled by IP. In a converged network, the Telephones and Voice applications are now utilising the IP network for connectivity. The PBX effectively becomes a Call Server and it is also connected to the rest of the network via the Data LAN. Traditional PBXs are rapidly becoming Software based applications which can either be deployed as an appliance, providing some interfaces to the traditional TDM work, but are also becoming more widely available as discrete software applications that can be deployed on Industry standard servers, which can then be connected via IP to the legacy TDM world via appropriate IP to TDM gateways.

Voice applications traditionally associated with PBXs such as Voice Messaging, Conference Bridge, Contact

The primary cause is the effect of the recession on the SME sector. According to the Department of Enterprise and Jobs, the number of SMEs in Ireland declined by 8,000 between 2007 and 2009 (Report of the Advisory Group for Small Business, Department of Enterprise and Jobs 2011). While no figures are available, anecdotal evidence suggests that the situation has deteriorated further since then. eircom, which has had the largest share of this market, has suffered the most as a result of the downturn.

The recession has also had a significant impact on spending patterns with businesses postponing purchasing decisions and becoming significantly more cost-conscious, often resulting in eircom losing business to lower cost players.

At the same time as the market has been contracting it has also been fragmenting. There has been an increase in competition, particularly from small localised dealers, often set up by people made redundant from larger players in the industry. These dealers have very low overheads, have significant customer knowledge and relationships and compete 6

Telecoms Update based communications solutions, where different customers can co reside simultaneously on a single service provider managed platform , where the customer can flexibly acquire new features and functionality on a user by user needs basis. Cloud implementations can be operated by the service provider on a price per user/per feature/per month OPEX basis thus offering end users a way of flexibly scaling the solution to meet their business needs and keeping it up to date with latest technologies

Centre and Call recoding are also becoming server based software applications that can connect to the IP network and the IPPBX/Call server via the LAN. System management can be accessed from anywhere via the IP network. IP based systems are simpler to manage and adds, moves and changes of IP based desktop and mobile devices can be deployed easily on the LAN without the need for specialist skilled PBX engineers to make site visits.

Ultimate model sees complete convergence with Voice and other applications in the Cloud.

Modern IPPBX platforms and UC applications are becoming server based software applications as opposed to the traditional appliances that used to be based on proprietary operating systems. As affordable high speed, high bandwidth IP based services become widely available to customers, it becomes far simpler to consider moving the servers that communications applications require off of a customer premises and locating them centrally in Data Centres where they can be easily deployed and managed by a team of centralised experts.

In many cases these can be deployed on virtualised server platforms.

Removing traditional voice CPE and UC applications servers enables end users to free up floor space, reduce utility bills and allow the complex IT management and support element of owning these solutions to be undertaken by a service provider thus enabling them to redeploy their own internal IT resources into other revenue generating functions. Co-Location of modern IP based Communications hardware and software based applications is also a service that can be offered to provide feature rich and highly secure Cloud based communications services identical to those that can be provided by CPE based voice and UC solutions.

Other cloud implementations utilise Muti-tenant

without the need to make continuous ongoing Capital investments that would be required if they owned CPE

6. Immediately rightsize the business Accordingly to address these issues there is an immediate need to rightsize the business.

The Field Engineering team currently comprises 52 FTEs divided into 5 teams (5 Team Leaders and 47 Team members) covering Dublin/ North Leinster, Dublin/ South Leinster, North West, Mid-West and South West.

The remit of the Filed Engineering Team also includes covering two Tier 2 positions in the MSC in Citywest on an interim basis.

This structure will be reduced in size to two teams (covering Leinster and Rest of Ireland) each comprising 1 Team Leader and 14-16 Team members, as well covering the two positions in City West. The reduced teams have been designed based on a Geo/Skills matrix.

The Before and After position is outlined below.

Summary of current org structure and size 5 Teams 5 Team Leaders 47 Team Members Total 52 7

Summary of new org structure and size 2 Teams 2 Team Leaders 30 team Members Total 32

Telecoms Update The detail of the teams as envisaged as a result of this restructuring is as follows:

BEFORE Leinster North

1 Team Leader

Leinster South

1 Team Leader

Leinster North

10 Team Leader

Leinster South

14 Team members

South-West

1 Team Leader

Mid-West

1 Team Leader

North-West

1 Team Leader

South-West

9 Team members

Mid-West

8 Team members

North-West

6 team members

AFTER Leinster

1 Team Leader

Leinster

17 Team Members* • 12 Dublin • 5 Leinster

Rest of Ireland

1 Team Leader

Rest of Ireland

15 Team Members* • 5 North-West • 5 Mid-West • 5 South-West

*Final location numbers may change based on outcome of process

including the role of technician in Network Operations.

An incentivised exit package will be available during the selection period for those employees who wish to leave the business.

The following are the principles and details of the selection process:

6.1. Implementation of new Organisation – Process A selection process will be undertaken to achieve the new structure. The following roles will be available under the process; • 2 Team Leader roles (Leinster & Rest of Ireland Teams) and • 30 Field Technicians (Leinster & Rest of Ireland Teams) At the outset of the process employees can indicate their preference as follows:

•

•

The five current Team Leaders can express their preference to be considered for a role as: • A Team Leader and/or a Field Technician in the new organisation • The MSC Tier 2 interim positions • Redeployment to a role in Network Operations (detailed below).

• Field Technicians can express their preference to be considered for a role as: • A Field Technician role in the new organisation • The MSC Tier 2 interim positions • Redeployment to a role in Network Operations (detailed below) However, final allocation of roles will be based on the requirements of the business and all outcomes will be announced simultaneously.

Any employee who is not selected for a role in the new structure will redeploy to a suitable alternative role 8

Roles in the new Field Engineering Organisation: • All employees are assumed to be in scope for the selection process • Selection will be by means of an Expression of Interest (EOI) form. Forms used in the 2011 restructuring process will be made available to all employees. These can be updated to include experience and qualifications achieved in the interim. If not updated or returned the existing version will be used for selection purposes • Positions will be filled based on Expression of Interest Forms / Interview; Skills; Geographic and seniority considerations • Direct assignment to roles will apply based on skills within a geographic area • Interviews will apply for Team Leader positions • Interviews will be competency based and staff will be notified in advance of the potential roles that they are being considered for • The decision of the Reviewer/interview panel is final • The relevant Manager and/or HR will provide feedback to candidates

Telecoms Update •

Redeployment opportunities: Employees who wish to be considered for the role of a technician in Network Operations will be considered for redeployment. Redeployment is contingent upon assessment of skill set & completion of a tailored training program to address any identified skills, process and health & safety compliance gaps; including as required shadowing field technicians in the field.

17th& 18th Selection process complete: Aug 19th Announcement of new organisation c Aug 20th Implementation of new structure: September 2nd

6.2. Develop and implement business model and product set which positions the business on a sustainable footing

Following formal assessment successful technicians will be assigned to roles in Fixed Access Operations to meet business needs.

Any loss of on call allowance (pensionable) will be comprehended by the agreed loss of earnings compensation framework (ref JCC 614).

Staff currently in Field Engineering who are assigned to the MSC will be in scope of this process.

While the Company notes the position of the CWU on outsourcing, the company will continue to examine sustainable models to secure the long term future of this business and will engage further with the CWU in this regard in the coming months.

7. Governance This collective agreement was signed by:

The proposed timetable for this process is outlined below: Finalise Agreement: July 11th Communicate process and options to staff: July

Jim Browne National Officer On behalf of the CWU

Brian Walsh Head of Employee Relations On behalf of eircom

Property Rationalisation In June the Company advised the CWU that Property Services, in conjunction with Network Field Operations, were carrying out a review as to how effective the non-specialised AEH / AERO site are performing and whether there is scope for improvement in how the company uses its property and if surplus property can be rationalised.

The review has centred on approximately 60 properties spread geographically over the Republic of Ireland.

rationalisation on a phased basis and are now in a position to give the formal notice of proposal for the following sites: • Clonmel AEH • Letterkenny AEH • Bandon AEH • Wexford AEH • Thurles Area HQ • Castlerea AEH • Claremorris AEH

Proposals have being tabled for the following sites:

Cost Savings

• • • • •

By closing the twelve AEHs, we expect to save over €300K opex on annualised basis. As part of the programme, eircom will invest around €400K in total to upgrade other AEH/exchanges to continue to support field operation.

Carlow AEH; Dundalk; Templehill; Dingle; and Listowel.

Next Steps

Detailed discussions are taking place with the relevant branches in order that all individuals headquartered in these premises are catered for in alternative locations.

The Company will bring forward detail proposals together with the nominated manager(s) to engage with the CWU regarding each property site. The Telecoms executive decided that the district coordinators would liaise with all interested parties branches etc in relation to these locations.

Notice of proposal As previously advised the Company is approaching site

9

Telecoms Update

Cost of Universal Service may have to be carried by eircom to underline the digital divide. The report observed that the copper network had a key role to play in the provision of broadband. ComReg’s decision could act as a disincentive for eircom to continue to invest in and maintain this network in areas where it is uneconomic to do so. Of course there are legal obligations and targets imposed on eircom to ensure equal access but suggesting that between and five and six million euro is not an unfair burden and expecting eircom to internalise this cost will The consultation document acknowledged that the inevitably have a knock-on effect in terms of available provision of the USO led to a net positive cost of between capital and investment decisions. €5,095,545 and €6,225,219 for 2009-2010 for eircom.

The provision of the USO in Ireland is already very The CWU considers this to be a very significant amount challenging in light of our largely rural (40%) and highly of money and is surprised that ComReg has decided that dispersed population. The average rural population for it does not represent an unfair burden on the company.

Western Europe is around 5-10%. In contrast to this, Notwithstanding the very technical and detailed 40% of the country’s population live in the reasoning that supports the draft decision by greater Dublin area – a stark indicator of the ComReg, the fact that one operator is being It is entirely extent of the urban-rural divide that exists compelled to carry such a cost in a fully right, proper on this island. Furthermore, it has been liberalised and highly competitive and fair that suggested that, in looking at CSO data, marketplace is at odds with the notion a sharing mechanism 70% of the population live on just 10% of free market competition that of the land mass available. In these ComReg advocates. be established circumstances the draft decision does The CWU fully supports the concept to allow not make sense. of the USO and considers access to all operators to Other telecoms operators enjoy the basic telephony services at an affordable contribute to benefits of the USO coverage that allows price to all end-users in the State as being these significant segments of the a vital part of our economic and social the cost of population in uneconomic areas to have infrastructure. The Union would prefer for the USO. access to basic telephony. The CWU is of the ComReg to be more progressive in its view of view that these operators are able to and should be the USO and include broadband as part of the universal expected to contribute to the cost of the USO in service as has happened in other countries such as circumstances where they (and their customers) benefit Finland. The CWU has consistently argued that from its provision. The CWU cannot imagine that any of broadband should be treated like a utility to ensure all the other multinational operators that have a presence in citizens have equal access to it. And whilst the USO does the Irish telecoms market would tolerate a situation where not include broadband at this time it is clear that they had to carry a six million euro burden alone, maintaining and investing in the current copper network regardless of the significant resources they might have at is vital to the development of universal broadband access. their disposal. It is entirely right, proper and fair that a It is the view of the CWU that the draft decision of sharing mechanism be established to allow all operators ComReg that the USO costs are not an unfair burden is to contribute to the cost of the USO. putting this kind of investment at risk which could have It should also be noted that expecting eircom to grave implications for those users who live in internalise this cost will have an adverse effect on uneconomic areas. employment in eircom. While it might be argued that the The urban/rural divide in the telecoms market is financial situation eircom is in is not material to the USO already well established and the CWU has previously the reality is that forcing the company to cover these costs argued that this digital divide is only going to grow on its own, where they are considerable costs, will mean without adequate state intervention. As evidenced by the that other sections of the business will have less resources NGBT report of last year, up to 30% of the population available to it. This will inevitably create further pressure could be left to languish with their current broadband to reduce costs which puts more jobs at risk in the service while the rest of the country has access to high company. speed broadband. This draft decision by ComReg appears

In a recent consultation conducted by ComReg it appears that the regulator will decide to leave eircom holding the bill for the provision of the telecoms universal service obligation as it is not ‘an unfair burden’.

10

Health Screening Coming To An Eircom Location Near You Soon!

As part of eircom’s commitment to promote and encourage good health for all staff members, I am delighted to announce that HealthWatch, Ireland’s leading independent workplace health screening service provider, has been commissioned to offer all staff members a comprehensive Health and Lifestyle Screening Programme which will provide participants with a valuable overview of their current health status.

Having successfully screened employees in 1HSQ, the health screening programme will now begin in the following eircom locations on the dates listed below: • • • • • •

September 10th - Citywest September 17th - Churchfield September 24th - 1HSQ October 1st - Portlaoise October 8th - Mervue October 15th - Rathedmond

Please note: Additional information regarding the programme and details on how to book an appointment either online or over the phone will be provided to you closer to the above commencement date of the programme in your area.

WHY HEALTH SCREENING? Health screening is widely accepted as an important tool in maintaining good health. Knowledge of any health risk factors, especially the silent risk factors that people may not be aware of, is the first step towards a healthier life. For example did you know that there are 200,000 people in Ireland living with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes?

The tailored eircom health screening programme has been designed to ensure each participant will receive the maximum benefit possible without the need to take annual leave as the screening programme seeks to: • • •

Screen participants for pre-existing health problems Assess the individual’s risk factors for disease Provide recommendations on lifestyle and health that will encourage a longer and healthier life

eircom has worked with HealthWatch to develop a tailored health screening programme to suit your requirements.

Rest assured that the entire health check process is completely confidential as the results of your health screen will be reported directly back to you and you alone. For more information you can contact HealthWatch directly on 1800 252 969 or info@healthwatch.ie.

Testimonial: “I have always thought about getting a full medical check-up but never seemed to have the time to actually go and do it. Having this service right at our office door made it so convenient. I am delighted that I did it as certain deficiencies in my health were detected in the tests I had done. Had I not had these tests I would not have known about these deficiencies and my health would have continued to downward spiral. My GP was able to treat me straight away having the results to hand. The nurse I had was so friendly, I was completely at ease with her. She gave me some good advice which I have gladly taken on board. I would strongly recommend this service to everyone. Thank you, Victoria Nolan”

11

WPMVOUFFSJOH Bgsjdb!Dbmmjoh CWU-supported charity Nurture Africa wants union members to volunteer for one or two weeks’ work in Uganda next October 25th 2014. Nurture Africa also has one or two week placements in April 2014.

Irish volunteers reading session experiences like safaris, gorilla-trekking and whitewater rafting on the Nile.

The CWU has been supporting Nurture Africa, an Irish charity providing health care and education for orphans and children affected by HIV-AIDS in Uganda. The organisation also provides employment and health education programmes in the communities where the kids live.

Nurture Africa has ‘general skills’ placements, for which no formal qualifications are required. They also offer specialist placements for physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, nutritionists, and those with a background in community and social care, health, children’s services, or HIV.

What you have to do • •

Get more information and an application form.

Pay for your flights and vaccinations.

Get more info Contact: kevin@nurtureafrica.ie Text: 086 888 6532 Call: 01- 5424178 Visit: www.nurtureafrica.ie

What it means for you •

•

Nurture Africa needs enthusiastic, self-motivated and adaptable people to undertake a two-week placement in Uganda next October 25th or April 2014.

You’ll work in community, health and education outreach programmes, or construction projects.

It’s a fantastic opportunity to develop your professional skills while learning about a different culture and gaining new perspectives.

• •

You’ll receive comprehensive pre-trip information, induction and training.

Weekends are free, with access to unforgettable

Michelle Conway and Michelle Bracken with Ugandan nurse assessing a child in the Health Centre.

12

In the lead-up to the Lockout An Irishman’s Diary: When women took a leading role

by Mark Lawler (from The Irish Times online)

Delia Larkin and Countess Markievicz set up soup kitchens in Liberty Hall, where Larkin presided over the feeding of some 3,000 children per day

W

HILE HISTORIANS generally regard August 26th, 1913 as the beginning of the Dublin Lockout, when tram drivers pinned on their Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) badges and abandoned their vehicles in protest against employer William Martin Murphy’s bid to smash the nascent ITGWU, one can trace the origins of the Lockout back to two other events that preceded this strike, both of which highlighted the important role played by women in general, but two brave women in particular, in the events of 1913.

The first event took place two years earlier at W & R Jacob and Co’s Biscuit Company on Bishop Street. On August 22nd, 1911, 3,000 women came out on strike in support of their men – “A procession of the strikers was then formed . . . A great deal of excitement in vent of the strike spirit was manifested . . . Shortly after noon, the strikers were reinforced by some 3,000 girls . . .

These latter formed in professional order and moved about” (The Irish Times, August 23rd, 1911).

Jim Larkin opined that the conditions for the biscuit makers were “sending them from this earth 20 years before their time”. The person who galvanised these “3,000 girls” was Rosie Hackett, an 18-year-old messenger at Jacobs, and her successful negotiations led to an increase in wages and better working conditions at the factory.

The plight of women at that time is captured in the words of Annie Ryan, a cigarette factory worker: “Nothing was

granted: not your vote, not your education, not your daily wage – all were hard fought for”. Two weeks after the successful Jacobs’ strike, Rosie Hackett was a founding member of the Irish Women Workers Union (IWWU), established to represent women like Annie Ryan and protect them from the Dickensian working conditions then prevailing in Dublin.

As Countess Markievicz said at the founding meeting, “Without organisation you can do nothing and the purpose of this meeting is to form you into an army of fighters . . . As you are all aware, women have at present no vote, but a union such as has now been formed will not alone help you to obtain better wages, but will also be a great means of helping you to get votes . . . and thus make men of you all.”

The second event occurred on July 10th, 1913, in the shadow of Jacob’s factory. Thomas Somerset and Co (Belfast) had opened a linen factory in Golden Lane. More than 100 women were employed there, but rather than receiving a weekly wage, they were paid the (even then) paltry sum of 2d per dozen items which they worked extremely hard to produce. Delia Larkin, sister of James Larkin but a committed socialist in her own right (and co-founder of the IWWU), mobilised the women to seek better conditions and an improvement in their wages. But Somerset and Co stood firm and the factory was closed. However, the exploitation of women in Dublin factories had been brought to light.

The women at Jacobs played a 13

pivotal role in the Lockout of 1913.

Three women who refused to remove their union badges were summarily dismissed, but by the end of the day, 1,100 women had come out in support for their colleagues. The subsequent lockout by management was painful for these women; a significant number lost their livelihood. More than 20,000 workers around the city were “locked out” by the bosses, leading to a fourmonth period of extreme hardship for them and their families. Undaunted, Delia Larkin and Countess Markievicz set up soup kitchens in Liberty Hall.

Other visionary members of the IWWU, such as Helena Molony, set up a co-op on Eden Quay to provide work for women who had been blacklisted by employers.

Rosie Hackett never got her job back.

But she became a printer and helped print a certain iconic document that shaped a nation and handed it, with the ink still wet, to James Connolly some two and half years later. Given that 13 out of the 16 Liffey Bridges are named after men, would it not make it 14th time lucky if the burghers of this fair city named the new conduit that stretches across Anna Livia Plurabella in the shadow of Liberty Hall after Rosie Hackett?

A Liberties Heritage Association exhibition “Bare Feet and Bowler Hats”, on Dublin 1913 and celebrating the role played by women in the Lockout, runs from tomorrow until September 17th at St Nicholas of Myra Parish Centre, Carmans Hall, Dublin prior to transferring to Dublin City Hall.

Postal Update

40% of SMEs have seen decline in amount of standard post

98% of businesses use An Post as their main provider.

Almost 40% of businesses have seen a decline in the amount of standard post received over the past two years, according to a ComReg survey.

According to the regulator’s 2013 SME and Consumer Postal User Survey, the rise in electronic communication was cited as the main reason for the fall, with companies expecting this trend to continue over the coming 24 months.

Almost three quarters of companies said they received payment by post, with 80% of those saying they would prefer to receive this electronically.

In terms of their postal company of choice, 98% of the 501 SMEs surveyed said they used An Post as their main provider.

The vast majority of companies – 90% - are aware of alternatives but just one third actively use them, with price and speed of delivery being the main motivator.

Almost 80% of those asked said they expected to

14

only use An Post in the next 12 months.

Meanwhile, half of those asked had no preference about the introduction of postcodes. 40% were in favour of their implementation, while just 10% were opposed.

Of the 1,000 consumers surveyed, 98% use An Post as their main provider, while 92% said the semi-State would be their first choice for sending post.

The majority of consumers – 84% - had internet access and 42% of those had ordered goods requiring delivery in the past month.

However nearly two-thirds of consumers said they preferred to receive bills and statements via post, as opposed to online.

15% of consumers have had issues with An Post’s service in the past year, mainly relating to delivery, with people living in Leinster most.

Of the 51% of consumers that expressed a preference in relation to postcodes, most were in favour of their introduction.

Postal Update

Paperless billing threatens much more than the postal service out what they are being charged. Many customers do not have access to decent broadband or may lack the computer skills to access email or online billing.”

Aside from the fact that significant parts of country simply do not have access to the internet, many customers view paper bills as a more secure and reliable way of managing their household costs.

Recent media reports have stated that consumers find utility bills confusing which in turn leads to overpayments. These overpayments can be as much as €220 per year.

This underlines the importance of clear, transparent and easily accessible bills. The paper bill is still seen as a very effective reminder to pay outstanding bills and it has been noted in the UK that the shift to online billing could cause a rise in bad debts and damaged credit ratings. Studies have shown that 40% of customers say the removal of paper statements entirely could seriously affect their finances, such as missing a bill payment. In a recent survey conducted by ComReg, nearly two-thirds of consumers said they preferred to receive bills and statements via post, as opposed to online.

The CWU is asking that all telecoms customers make sure that they are receiving a paper bill which has to be provided for free and has called on the telecoms companies to only switch people to paperless billing on the basis of a clearly expressed consent.

Recent moves by telecoms companies eircom, Meteor and ‘3’ to move their customers on to paperless (or online) billing without their express consent have been denounced by consumer groups and advocates for the elderly. The pro-consumer argument being put forward by these groups is a simple one – how you receive your bill should be your choice as a consumer.

The telecoms companies are, however, switching customers to paperless bills without the customer’s express agreement to do so. If the consumer wants to continue to receive a paper bill they have to make that preference known to their provider. This approach has been condemned as having a negative impact on consumer rights.

As a result the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) is backing a campaign by postmen and women to highlight the decision of telecom companies to unilaterally switch customers to paperless billing without their express agreement.

Commenting on the campaign, CWU General Secretary Steve Fitzpatrick said: “While this action on the part of phone companies is deeply damaging to our postal systems, it is also infringing on the entitlement of customers to receive a detailed paper bill through the post. Customers are entitled to receive a paper bill free of charge. For many customers, this will be the only way that they can find

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

15

Garden Party in ´ras starts the 1913 Celebrations

Pictured from l to r: Lorraine Newman, Sarah Vaughan, Imelda Wall, Mrs Sabina Higgins, President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, Terry Delany and Pat Kenny.

Pictured from l to r: Ian McArdle, Jim Browne, Mrs Sabina Higgins, President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins and Gerard O’Rourke.

16

Pictured on a beautiful day in front of Áras an Uachtarán The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins and Mrs Sabina Higgins stand amongst the actors who took part in the Street Theatre Re-enactment of the 1913 Lockout.

Pictured from l to r: at the Garden Party held in Áras an Uachtarán are Pascal Connolly, Lorraine Newman, Imelda Wall and Gerry O’Rourke

Pictured from l to r: at the Garden Party held in Áras an Uachtarán are Pat Kenny, Sarah Vaughan, Imelda Wall, Lorraine Newman, Terry Delany and Eileen Sweeney.

17

Telefonica O2 to be sold to Hutchinson Whampoa

Telefónica agrees to sell O2 Ireland to Hutchison Whampoa for €850m 24.06.2013 Mobile giant Telefónica has agreed to sell its O2 subsidiary in Ireland to Three’s owner Hutchison Whampoa for €850m.

Telefónica today reached an agreement with Three, the Irish subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa, to sell its 100pc stake in Telefónica Ireland, which trades under the O2 brand. The transaction will be subject to approval from the Competition Authority of Ireland.

The total price of the sale of O2 Ireland will be €850m, out of which €750m in cash will be paid on completion of the deal with the remaining €80m depending on financial targets being achieved.

Once complete, the new O2/Three entity will command about 40pc of the Irish mobile telecoms market.

Silicon Republic.com

Further to the news of the impending sale of O2 Ireland to 3/ Hutchinson Whampoa the union decided to contact each member individually. Every member has now received a phone call, giving information on activities to date and offering an invaluable opportunity for members to raise any queries they may have regarding the sale. Concerns ranged from individual worries about roles and redundancy to collective issues surrounding the two companies’ plans for the future.

With two companies combining it is important that we are fully informed of the potential impact on each team, store and individual. All the information so far has helped us assemble a picture of where issues might arise to better enable us to address them.

While the process of the sale may take some time, it is vitally important that we are prepared for any eventuality.

Meetings are being arranged in both Dublin and Limerick, starting with O2 Engineers on the 3rd September. The union will continue to engage with the company on members’ behalf, as we have done successfully in the past and will keep you updated on any developments.

Discussions are ongoing and it is important that your colleagues are invited to join your Union. Strong membership numbers mean more influence and strength at the negotiating table and for this reason it is vitally important that as many of your colleagues as possible are members of the union.

put on hold as part of the economic instability. However the union recognised that key aspects needed immediate upgrading which included new chairs, blinds, and the fixing of some desks. The working conditions of the employees are still to this day one of the major aspects we fight for. The union notice boards were put up around the centre to give notice to staff about any important issues which may pertain to them.

In March 2010 it was decided that the full time agents would be redeployed to CSS on a voluntary basis where they would be on full time hours. This was favoured by the union. Call volumes were still falling in 11811 and it emerged that eircom were looking at other companies to continue the contract. Employees were uncertain of their future and in a world of economic recession many feared that they would not have a job by the end of the year. A complete refurbishment of the 2nd floor was undertaken, after it was announced in early 2011 that Firstsource would be taking over the staff. In addition, they were taking on more employees for meteor as customer care agents and they would also be occupying the top floor. Towards the end of 2011, the floor was opened and the staff moved in.

It was brought to the union’s attention that Firstsource’s new employees were being brought in on €8.65p/h. The union raised this issue with management and an agreement was reached that all new employees would commence employment at €9.50 p/h with a further increase on annual basis Our Union reps ensure that we accompany all our members during the grievance process and give our members advice regarding disciplinary or grievance matters. We have ensured that several members have retained their jobs in situations in where their jobs were under threat. Every month, a union-management meeting is conducted to discuss any issues which are impacting our members.

This is how we have the working conditions that we have today and THIS IS OUR UNION!

History of Our Union in Firstsource In February 2008, UK group Capita won a €25 million, 5 year contract to provide contact handling and directory enquires services to eircom. At the time DQ was handling 40 million calls each year.

Recruitment began in March and after two weeks training the employees went on the floor. DQ would be based in the 2nd floor of the Cork centre. The floor had not been renovated in a while so the staff went in and worked with older equipment. The capita staff were mixed with some eircom staff, who were members of their own branch of the CWU, but after a year in employment it was decided that the Capita staff would form their own branch as they felt they could better represent themselves on their own issues. And so we became the CORK TELEPHONES BRANCH of the CWU. The first year was the committee’s hardest. We had to learn how a union was run and what our roles were as union reps. But this was soon explained as training was provided and we had the full support of CWU HQ, the Deputy General Secretary Terry Delaney and members of the education committee who were always on hand to answer any queries or solve any problems. The main problems on the union’s agenda that year were the stability of workers, working conditions and the employees’ rotas. These rotas were only being printed a week before the week was due to commence. The union fought hard on this issue as we felt that workers needed more time to plan their home lives. It was agreed that schedules would be issued 2 weeks in advance, but since then we have secured further improvements.

In August 2009 the union agreed, as part of cost cutting procedures due to falling call volumes, that hours would need to be cut. This move, although painful, was necessary to sustain viability while preventing any job losses. A complete refurbishment of the centre was

19

Reaction to the new ITUC Global Poll on the eve of the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg for the global economy. This coupled with growing inequality is sapping economic vitality. The G20 must face this challenge and rebalance the global economy so that it is fairer for all. That is the challenge and the L20 and the labour movement are ready to work with the G20 governments to find real solutions.”

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, warned about the latest signals Reacting to new ITUC Global from BRICS nations, as they show that we Poll released on eve of G20, are at best facing an era of prolonged stagnation and an economic leadership global unions, including UNI, crisis that the G20 Leaders must address. warn of stalled growth, rising Philip Jennings, Burrow said “The global economy is no unemployment and increasing UNI Global Union more stable today than it was six years General Secretary income inequality ago. While output has stopped falling in some economies, unemployment continues The ITUC global poll released today, as to rise.

A key driver of social and economic progress – world leaders head to St Petersburg for the annual G20 hope that the next generation will be better off – has been conference, outlines the huge challenges ahead: One in lost. eight people can no longer pay for basic living expenses “64 percent of people think future generations will be and over half of those polled can no longer save money. worse off than their own. G20 leaders need to foster UNI Global Union General Secretary, Philip Jennings youth inclusion in the labour market and increase longsaid, “The writing is on the wall for the global economy term investment in infrastructure and the green economy unless there is a change of direction. The G20 has a big to rebuild our economies,” task ahead this week to set a new course for inclusive The Labour 20 will be presenting the findings of the economic growth. To be relevant to working people the ITUC Global Poll 2013 and their policy G20 must get back to tackling issues which impact on the recommendations to G20 leaders in a consultation real economy. It’s time for resolve and a global agenda meeting during the summit. for jobs and growth.”

“A G20 jobs action plan that sets national The ITUC public survey in 13 countries includes employment targets and raises sustainable aggregate Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, demand and reduces income inequality must be a centre Japan, Russia, Spain, South Africa, the UK and the USA, piece of the G20 response to rising unemployment and representing half the world population. inequality,” said John Evans, General Secretary, Trade In emerging economies of the BRICS countries 54 Union Advisory Committee to the OECD. percent of people have directly experienced unemployment or the reduction of working hours and 78 percent report their income has stayed the same or fallen To read the entire “Report of the ITUC Global Poll behind the cost of living in the last two years.

2013 - Economic and Social Outlook”, Jennings said, “The warning that quantitative easing please see the following link online: will be wound down has put emerging markets in the eye of new financial turbulence. Over $12 trillion was printed http://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-global-poll-2013with a third going to emerging markets. The hot money is economic-and now returning. The financial turmoil, particularly in Asia and the Pacific region, indicates severe turbulence ahead

Global economy faces storm of financial turbulence

20

CWU ramps up online presence A special session was organised at our last Conference held in Wexford to give members the opportunity to feed back their thoughts on the union’s communication tools. The clear message from members on the day was that, as a communications union, it was important to keep up to date with the latest trends in social media and all forms of online communications. The members’ input was extremely valuable, with many specific recommendations. As a result, significant work has already been done to put these suggestions in place. Our existing platforms have all been assessed to see how they could be improved and several new options are also now available to members.

www.cwu.ie

The CWU main website, which was dramatically re-designed a few years ago, is currently being re-evaluated to identify where improvements can be made. With any website, it is essential that functions are kept up to date so that users can benefit from the most up to date technology.

There is also a dedicated website for call centre workers at www.callcentreunion.ie.

Keep an eye out for new features coming soon.

www.unionadvantage.ie

The Union advantage site has been redesigned and optimised for mobile and tablet users. This website features a number of handy calculators that allow you to quickly see how much you are benefitting financially from being in the union.

Facebook – CWU Ireland

Twitter

The main CWU facebook page is attracting increasing numbers of people and content is updated several times a day. Every day, the facebook page is keeping our members up to date with events, news and interesting items from around the world.

CWU Youth Committee Ireland

@CWU It couldn’t be easier to get started on twitter. Simply pick a user name and password and you’re off. Finding your union is just as easy. Simply search for @CWU and click ‘follow’. Join your colleagues on the fastest growing social media platform in the world!

@YouthCWU

The CWU Youth committee have their own dedicated facebook page for younger members. With a particular focus on issues affecting Ireland’s young people including emigration, unemployment, internships and more, this page is a great resource not only for our younger members, but also for their families and friends.

The Youth Committee recently opened a twitter account and all members, families and friends are invited to follow them for the latest news and a take on events affecting all young people in Ireland.

21

Youth Committee Update

Youth Committee host 1913 Lockout walking tour of Dublin

by Derek Keenan (Chair) Dónal, whose particular research field is the social history of Dublin, was keen to tell the stories of the ordinary workers, their families and living conditions before the Lockout, which were the driving force behind the courageous actions of the workers in 1913.

Through his passionate description of events such as the newsboys’ strike, Bloody Sunday and the tragic Church St. tenement collapse, Dónal brought the story of the 1913 Lockout to life for all of us who took part in the tour. I would like to thank the General Secretary and head office for funding this initiative. The Committee are looking forward to taking part in the many events that are planned to celebrate the centenary of the Lockout and hope to host more events like this one in the future. Make sure you don’t miss out by keeping an eye on our facebook page -

In order to commemorate the centenary of the 1913 lockout, the Youth Committee organised a walking tour of Dublin with historian Dónal Fallon. It was decided that the invitation should be extended to all members and their families, free of charge. On a beautifully sunny day, members and their families set out to learn about the pivotal events in the very places they happened 100 years ago.

The tour took in all of the key sites connected with the Lockout and more besides. We were introduced in detail to the chief protagonists of what was the greatest battle ever between the forces of Irish capital and the forces of Irish labour, namely William Martin Murphy and James Larkin. Too often however, the Lockout, like many historical events, is presented as being nothing more than a battle between ‘Great Men”. Such a narrow historical narrative ignores the reality that it was the harrowing socio-economic conditions of life that brought workers together in trade unions to take on the Capitalist class.

www.facebook.com/pages/CWU-YouthCommittee-Ireland/ 22

Youth Committee Update

ALTERNATIVE YOUTH SUMMIT, BERLIN

by Barry Gorman

mass emigration of youth from our countries, with over 125,000 young people under 24 leaving Ireland in the last 4 years alone. Austerity has led to a disillusionment and disenfranchisement among young people towards their countries’ current governments which in turn has led to the growth of far-right political groups, with Golden Dawn in Greece being a prime example.

After the round table discussion (and a brief interview with the Irish Times!) I was part of a delegation of 8 young trade unionists invited to meet Angela Merkel in the Chancellery. As we were led Barry Gorman with other Youth Summit delegates through strict security to her office, we In July, as the leaders of 20 European countries convened were bolstered by the sounds of our comrades from the in the German Chancellery in Berlin to discuss short-term Youth Summit, who had all joined in protest against the efforts to stem the rising tide of youth unemployment Eurozone austerity measures outside the Chancellery. across Europe, across the road a less high-profile but Once the brief introductions were finished, the delegates equally important discussion was taking place. The and I sat down with Frau Merkel and some of her Alternative Youth Summit, hosted by The German government members to discuss the youth unemployment Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) brought young crisis and the investment of the Youth Guarantee. While trade union activists together from all across Europe to we were glad to learn that the Youth Guarantee was raised discuss issues affecting them and the youth in their from €6bn to €8bn, there were still questions over respective countries. As the ICTU Youth Committee whether this would be enough. When averaged out delegate, I was delighted to be invited to attend. among the over six million unemployed young people We kicked off the day in the packed conference room across the Eurozone, it only equates to €1,066 per with a brief opening statement from Michael Sommer, the person. And that’s only if it is dispersed equally among President of the DGB, and an introduction from Florian member countries. In reality, Ireland will be receiving Haggenmiller, the DGB National Youth Secretary. It was only a fraction of that €6bn to invest in youth then time for a roundtable discussion with young people employment. There were also questions raised as to how from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, the youth guarantee would be spent, with fears that a Spain and Portugal with myself as the Irish representative. wholesale rollout of internship schemes, like Irelands’ As we stood on the stage and discussed the issues facing JobBridge scheme, would occur. It was a very frank and young people across Europe, and answered questions on interesting discussion among both parties, and we left such diverse topics as youth unemployment, precarious with an agreement that a future meeting would take place, work, mobilising young trade union members, emigration, circumstances allowing. the effect the economic crisis has had on trade unions, We then left the Chancellery to join our trade union trade union participation in Brussels and the need for comrades in the protest outside, which was still going international solidarity, it struck me how similar the strong. Between the drummers and chants which echoed situations in our own respective countries were. Youth from the square, there was a great sense of international unemployment across Europe is at an all-time high of solidarity among the 200 or so activists present and 23.9%. Countries like Greece and Spain are worst hit with hopefully this gave the 20 European leaders inside some 64.9% and 55%, respectively, of young people between food for thought. All in all, it was a fantastic event, which the ages of 19-24 unemployed. Ireland is not far behind, showed that Europe’s youth is not willing to take with a youth unemployment rate of over 30%. We also austerity lying down, and I am really looking forward to discussed how these figures do not take into account the the next one.

23

Youth Committee Update

CWU Youth Committee hold event in Cork

by David Morris titled: “The Revolution will not be Televised”. The film is about two Irish film makers who had gone to Venezuela to shoot a documentary on Hugo Chavez, then president of Venezuela. While making their film they find themselves caught up in the middle of a CIAled military coup to oust the President from power. I won’t give any more away but I highly recommend it to everyone. The Friday evening was capped of with a social get together in one of Cork’s great pubs.

The next morning we held our Youth Committee meeting in the Gresham Metropole Hotel. We discussed matters arising from when we last met and what we were looking to achieve in the immediate and not so immediate future. We came away from the meeting encouraged and with a clear picture of various things to do before we meet again.

The event was a great success. We made new contacts and caught up with friends. It is the hope of the Youth Committee to hold a couple of regional meetings each year and try encourage as many youth members throughout the CWU to get involved which will only lead to a stronger Youth Committee into the future.

The Youth Committee recently held their regional meeting on July 5th and 6th in Cork. The idea of having a regional meeting was to encourage more involvement from youth members outside Dublin and to make it more accessible for those who find it hard to make the trip to Dublin. The meeting was part of a two day event which was attended by youth members from Cork, Kerry, Laois and Wexford to name just a few. We arrived on the Friday afternoon and began with an introduction to the Youth Committee for those who were new to the group. Derek Keenan (Chair) and Barry Gorman (Vice Chair) led the discussion on what the Youth Committee is all about. They outlined some of our achievements to date and our goals for the future.

When this section concluded, we were very pleased to welcome guest speaker Rónán Burtenshaw who told us about his experiences in Turkey during the recent uprising in Istanbul. It was great to get a first hand account of what it was like to be caught in the middle of such a disturbance. We would like to thank Rónán for taking the time out to come down to Cork and share his story with us.

To finish off the day, the Committee showed a film

We in the Trade Union movement need to show a new generation of young workers what they can achieve…

This is the task that the ICTU Youth Committee has set for itself.” Announcing the Committee’s new campaign, he said: “We call on all trade unionists to support our Youth Equality Solidarity campaign. The YES campaign seeks to mobilise young workers around 5 key rights, which we have identified as being of critical importance.

Youth Committee Chair addresses ICTU Conference in Belfast As Chair of ICTU Youth as well as the Chair of our own Youth Committee, Derek Keenan was invited to address the ICTU Biennial Delegate Conference in Belfast .In his speech, Derek told the delegates about ICTU Youth’s purpose and goals.

– – – – –

Addressing Conference Derek said: “There is no doubt that young people have been disproportionately effected by the economic collapse of our country - emigration, unemployment, precarious work, unpaid internships, increased college fees, cuts to grants, cuts to social welfare for those under 25 and the prospect of having to work until the ripe old age of 70 and perhaps beyond…

The right to a job The right to a future in Ireland The right to decent and secure employment The right to equal pay for equal work The right to collectively bargain

Embracing and becoming relevant to young workers is not a choice, but an imperative if our movement is to sustain itself into the future. I sincerely hope we will do just that, as I believe our movement to be the greatest mechanism for achieving the kind of transformative change required for the advancement of working people throughout Ireland.”

24

Youth Committee Update

Youth Committee JobBridge campaign makes significant progress

participation, where there is a clear understanding that a recognised qualification can be achieved and decent work could be available on completion of a placement. In contrast, the JobBridge programme potentially supplants this recognised system with a scheme where it is accepted that employers need not pay for their labour and no guarantee exists for qualifications or work on completion of a placement.

From an organising context, this scheme has the added disadvantage of creating a section of the workforce who are unlikely to join a trade union, leaving workers even more vulnerable to exploitation and undermining trade union density in those workplaces. This damage to trade union strength will further destabilise the labour standards that have been long fought for. It is evident that there is no policy in place providing guidelines where a collective agreement exists between an employer and a trade union, and no guidelines for liaison with a trade union when placements are being considered.

It is clear that efforts need to be made to stimulate job creation. However, as JobBridge in its current form decreases paid employment, it also undermines economic recovery. Conference calls on the Executive Council to secure a definite role on the JobBridge Steering Group in order to implement strenuous safeguards to prevent abuse, together with transparent oversight of all aspects of the scheme. In addition, there needs to be substantial sanctions imposed on employers found to be abusing the programme as a mechanism to have their labour costs subsidised with State funds.”

The Youth Committee’s ongoing JobBridge campaign took another important step by highlighting the flaws of the scheme at the highest levels.

As reported in previous issues, the committee have campaigned vigorously and appeared on several important platforms advocating for light to be cast on this issue. In July, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) held their Biennial Delegate Conference in Belfast. Each delegate Union is invited to submit motions to the conference to guide Congress policy for the forthcoming years. The hard work of the Youth Committee on this important campaign was recognised by the Union when the National Executive opted to submit a motion to the Conference advocating that the trade union movement take a strong position on the JobBridge programme.

The motion read: “Conference directs the incoming Executive Council to express its genuine concern over the Government’s JobBridge scheme, as it currently exists, without any oversight or direction from the Trade Union movement. The existing scheme depresses genuine job creation by providing a pool of free labour to employers and inevitably will create downward pressure on wage levels across all sectors of the economy.

The lack of oversight and clear, transparent policies in advance of any placement leads to potential employer abuse of the scheme. With the admitted goal of using the JobBridge programme to reduce numbers on the Live Register, the Government has a clear motivation to maximise the number of placements, rather than effectively preventing inappropriate internships or sanctioning employers who abuse the scheme.

Traditionally, apprenticeships have been an established method of job creation, with Union

The motion was passed by the conference.

Ultimately, the committee have demonstrated that a relatively small group of people can advocate for and affect real change. The Youth Committee’s success on this campaign is a clear testament to their hard work and dedication. - Fionnuala

25

LEGAL SERVICES FOR PRIVATE SECTOR MEMBERS ONLY

PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS CC SOLICITORS

WHO ARE WE? Colleen Cleary Solicitors (“CC Solicitors”) currently provide strategic employment law advice to the CWU. Our specialist knowledge means that we are best placed to ensure the CWU and its members achieve optimum results within the parameters of employment law.

PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS CC Solicitors is extending its range of legal services to include personal injury claims for CWU members in the private sector. Personal injuries can include injuries sustained as a result of an accident or medical condition that has occurred in or out of work and can include the following: • • • • •

Workplace injuries and diseases Medical negligence Road traffic accidents Holiday claims Claims for personal injuries arising out of psychiatric illness developed at work

IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A CLAIM, WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? •

ACT IMMEDIATELY: If you think you may have a claim you should act immediately as legal time limits apply that may prevent you from pursuing a case if it is out of time.

•

FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION WITH CC SOLICITORS: You can arrange a FREE initial consultation with CC Solicitors to ascertain whether there is a stateable claim that should be pursued. The majority of claims are processed through the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (“PIAB”) in the first instance. If, however, (a) the PIAIB does not make an award or (b) the member or the defendant chooses not to accept the award, the claim will proceed to the civil courts and a Conditional Fee Arrangement (“CFA”) will be agreed with the member.

HOW TO AVAIL OF SERVICE For members in the private sector and Vodafone who think that you may have a claim that you would like to discuss with a solicitor you may contact your Branch Secretary to request a ‘Letter of Introduction’ from Union Head Office. This initial consultation is FREE. We look forward to hearing from you.

26

FM Downes & Co.

INSURANCE & MORTGAGE BROKERS

REDUCE THE COST OF YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE Check out the new CWU Health Insurance Plans for 2014 Call: 01 855 6666 Visit: www.fmdownes.com Email: cwuhealthinsurance@fmdownes.com SOME PAYROLL CUT OFFS ARE AS EARLY AS END OCT SO ACT NOW. Existing scheme members will be contacted individually

Make sure you enter our competition to win a weekend away Visit www.cwu.ie and answer a simple question Draw takes place on Friday 15th November

Scan here to visit our NEW website

Download i-nigma free app Francis M Downes t/a FM Downes & Co 27 is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY ...

Frankly, it’s all over.

by Frank Connolly

T

HE COLLAPSE of the Carrickmines rezoning corruption trial in July, due to the ill health of chief prosecution witness Frank Dunlop, has revived a series of unanswered questions which were raised by the conclusions of the Mahon tribunal in its final report over a year ago.

It has also raised the not unreasonable question as to why the state, through the Criminal Assets Bureau and the DPP, would proceed with a trial in the full knowledge that their prime witness had committed perjury during sworn evidence at a state tribunal.

The extraordinary and public decline of the former Fianna Fáil press secretary - once a television talk show host and an adviser to some of Ireland’s most successful developers and business people during the 1980s and 1990s, then a self-confessed “bagman” who made corrupt payments to an assortment of politicians - had been well documented before being rehashed in the Dublin Criminal Court.

The catalyst for that dizzying decline was an article published in The Sunday Business Post on October 4, 1998 in which Dunlop admitted to having received more than IR£500,000 from developer Owen O’Callaghan in fees for his

Frank Connolly is an investigative journalist and Head of Communications at SIPTU. assistance in obtaining rezoning and planning permission for the Quarryvale lands in west Dublin.

His admission, made to me during a recorded interview in the Temple Bar Hotel in Dublin earlier that week, sparked a request from the Flood Tribunal for an immediate disclosure of his financial records pertaining to the Quarryvale development.

My approach to Dunlop had been prompted by information that I received from Luton-based developer, Tom Gilmartin, who had identified that an offshore company, Shefran, had been receiving substantial Vat-free payments from his company, Barkhill, without his knowledge or agreement.

28

When he sought to identify the beneficial owners of the company, it emerged that Shefran was an amalgam of the first names of Dunlop and his wife Sheila. A confident Dunlop also conceded during the interview that part of his duty as a lobbyist had been to make “political” contributions to politicians and political parties over a number of years.

In his report last year, Judge Mahon said that The Sunday Business Post’s article “was the first occasion on which Dunlop was publicly identified in relation to matters then being investigated by the tribunal” (tribunal report page 2313:2.05), and that the tribunal’s first communication with the lobbyist was made two days later.

It also provoked the interest of the Revenue Commissioners, from whom Dunlop had withheld the details of substantial amounts of income he had received - including the large sums from O’Callaghan over previous years.

All this generated panic among many of Dunlop’s clients, not least the politicians to whom he had made payments of varying amounts in relation to rezonings and other matters. It even forced the cancellation some weeks later of the then taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s planned appearance to perform the official launch of the Quarryvale development, which was later to become the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.

In the first instance, it enraged

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY ...

Dunlop, who called me on the morning of publication and said he would have blown my head off if he were near me with a shotgun.

Apparently, he did not believe that journalists with whom he cooperated should write anything that might possibly damage his reputation or standing. It was an unsurprising conviction for him to hold, given that for years he had fed stories to unsuspecting reporters on business and political matters; stories which, very often, were published without any substantial verification.

The revelation that Dunlop was being paid massive sums by developers in exchange for the votes (and other support) of politicians from the top to the bottom of the political food chain had unintended consequences for many people including the four councillors and the businessman Jim Kennedy, who walked away smiling from the courts after the collapse of the recent trial.

On Spy Wednesday in April 2000, Dunlop was cornered when tribunal lawyers confronted him with details they had obtained concerning a hidden AIB “Rathfarnham” bank account in south Dublin. At first, he lied about this “Shefran” account, only to be warned by Judge Feargus Flood to consider his position overnight.

When pressed the next day, Dunlop admitted that the account was used to receive monies for a “war chest” used to make illicit payments in connection with a number of controversial rezonings across Dublin in the 1980s and 1990s, including on the Jackson Way lands in Carrickmines owned

by Jim Kennedy.

In one of the most dramatic tribunal moments among many at Dublin Castle, he then listed a

number of prominent property developers whose money, he said, he had dispersed to more than a dozen members of the former Dublin County Council for specific rezoning votes, including Kennedy and councillors Liam Cosgrave (Fine Gael), Tony Fox (Fianna Fáil), Don Lydon (Fianna Fáil) and Colm McGrath (Independent) - the defendants in last week’s collapsed prosecution.

Dunlop insisted that the developer who gave him by far the largest amounts, Owen O’Callaghan, was not aware of his illicit payments to politicians. It emerged that he had received €1.8 million from the Cork developer in relation to the Quarryvale rezoning, including his Revenue bills and substantial sums for his tribunal legal costs, paid even after he admitted to the wholesale corruption of the planning process.

Evidence also emerged that O’Callaghan had himself made direct payments to councillors including Colm McGrath, and the now deceased Liam Lawlor of Fianna Fáil, which were subsequently reimbursed from Gilmartin’s personal Barkhill account in Allied Irish Bank without the latter’s knowledge or permission. The tribunal heard that, on one occasion in 1991, O’Callaghan paid Lawlor £40,000 in Dunlop’s Mount Street office.

Judge Mahon found that some of the payments made by Dunlop on behalf of O’Callaghan were corrupt, and “that Mr O’Callaghan was aware that some of the payments which he made to Mr Dunlop were being used for a corrupt purpose”.

(Tribunal report Page 578:17.11) O’Callaghan has denied this, and has sought to challenge the conclusions of the tribunal through the courts.

29

Under intense grilling by Michael O’Higgins SC, for Kennedy, during the recent criminal trial, Dunlop also admitted that he had attempted to conceal from the tribunal diary entries that he made in relation to his dealings with O’Callaghan. He claimed that he had done so because they concerned his role in the development of a stadium in Neilstown, west Dublin, on lands owned by O’Callaghan which was a “private” matter and not relevant to the tribunal.

However, far from being a private matter, the project was in fact central to the tribunal’s enquiries, as it involved lands part-owned by Gilmartin, whose claim that he was the victim of a conspiracy involving O’Callaghan, AIB, Dunlop and several leading politicians to take control of the Quarryvale development, had led to its investigation in the first place.

Among the other diary entries concealed were some which were concerned with meetings between Dunlop, O’Callaghan and Bertie Ahern in relation to the stadium project.

Had the trial not been aborted due to Dunlop’s serious heart condition, it is possible that more would have been heard about his engagements with Ahern. Now, however, following the collapse of the proceedings, there appears little if any chance of further legal probes into the whole affair. Will we have a criminal investigation into the events surrounding Quarryvale? (In the immortal words of builder Michael Bailey to Jim Gogarty en route to Ray Burke’s house in June 1989) Will we fuck!

This article was first published in the Sunday Business Post in July 2013.

Vodafone Update

trading in the UK fourteen years ago. In June, the coffee chain paid £5m of a £10m tax bill agreed with the government for this year. It will pay a further £10m in tax next year.

Tax avoidance by multinational corporations has now become a problem for all European governments and during Ireland’s recent Presidency of the EU, governments agreed to act collectively to tackle the scandal of tax avoidance. In the case of Ireland, there is also a need to examine the application of low corporation tax. This tax was introduced in order to stimulate employment and it is in that context the trade union movement has supported low corporation tax. However, what has become evident is that multinational corporations, while availing of low corporation tax, are also exporting jobs from Ireland and in the case of Vodafone, the company has exported hundreds of jobs to India, Egypt and Northern Ireland.

A fair taxation system is the bedrock of any civic society and revenue raised through taxation enables governments to provide services for citizens. The failure of multinational corporations to pay their fair share of tax has a direct impact on the provision of services, and their activities in avoiding their responsibilities is despicable at a time when services to those who most need them are being cut.

T

ax avoidance by multinational corporations has once again been highlighted and the most recent case involves Vodafone, which was the subject of an extensive article in The Guardian newspaper.

The article gives an insight into Vodafone’s tax avoidance activities. What is most extraordinary is the revelation that Vodafone reclaimed €67m from the Irish Government in tax that should have been paid to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

Vodafone are not the only multinational corporation involved in tax avoidance, this issue has been the subject of a Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee investigation in the UK. A series of lively hearings of the Public Accounts Committee saw MPs savage companies such as Google for aggressively avoiding tax by exploiting legal loopholes. Recently released figures showed Google paid a paltry £10.6m in tax between 2006 and 2011 on revenue of £12bn in the UK. The firm’s boss, Eric Schmidt, appeared before the Committee in May, where Chairman, Margaret Hodge branded Google “devious, unethical, and evil”.

Starbucks was revealed to have paid nothing in corporation tax in the last three years, despite sales of £400m in 2011 and had only paid £8.6m since it began

Vodafone’s £325m-a-year Irish office with NO STAFF: Telecoms giant in multi-million pound deal with HMRC over unpaid tax

by Sandra Murphy and Mark Duell Published in The Irish Times 19 August 2013

➤ ➤ ➤ ➤

Vodafone took advantage of the generous corporate tax rate in Ireland Had £324m annual turnover collecting royalty payments for brand use

Its Irish subsidiary in Dublin employed NO staff between 2002 and 2007 The company made huge settlement in England in wake of tax dispute 30

Vodafone Update for aggressively avoiding tax by exploiting legal loopholes.

Recently released figures show Google paid a paltry £10.6million in tax between 2006 and 2011 on revenue of £12 billion in the UK. The firm’s boss Eric Schmidt appeared before the Committee in May, where chairman Margaret Hodge branded Google ‘devious’, ‘unethical’ and ‘evil’.

And Starbucks was revealed to have paid nothing in corporation tax in the last three years despite sales of £400million in 2011 and had only paid £8.6million since it began trading in the UK 14 years ago.

In June the coffee chain paid £5million of a £10million tax bill agreed with the Government for this year. It will pay a further £10million in tax next year.

Accounts filed in Dublin show that in 2009, the British taxman settled a dispute with Vodafone over its Irish tax returns, the website reported yesterday.

The overall size of the settlement has not been revealed, but it involved Vodafone reclaiming £57million from the Irish Government in tax that should have been paid in the UK, it reports.

Vodafone, the world’s second largest mobile phone company by revenue, has paid no corporation tax in Britain for two successive years, despite paying £2.6billion in international taxes in 2012.

The company confirmed to the Guardian that its settlement had never been separately disclosed in its annual reports, and was not connected to a £1.25billion payment to the British revenue in 2010, to settle a muchpublicised dispute over the use of a Luxembourg subsidiary.

A spokesman for HMRC refused to confirm whether any settlement over Vodafone’s Irish tax affairs had been made, saying it was prevented by law from discussing the affairs of individual taxpayers.

Vodafone strongly rejected any suggestion of tax avoidance and said there have been no allegations of wrongdoing.

The company said its disputes with the UK taxman over its tax arrangements in Ireland and Luxembourg would not block it from government contracts under current rules.

A spokesman for Vodafone Ireland last night told the Irish Daily Mail she had ‘no comment to make’.

The matter concerns the tax issue of the Vodafone Group, which is a separate company for revenue and reporting structures.

V

odafone has made a multi-million pound settlement with HM Revenue & Customs in the wake of a dispute over the tax it had paid in Britain, it emerged last night.

The information was revealed after it was reported that the company ran an Irish subsidiary from a satellite office in Dublin for tax purposes.

Employing no staff for five years, the telecoms giant took advantage of Ireland’s generous corporate tax rate to record a £324million annual turnover collecting royalty payments for the use of its brand.

Telecoms giant: Employing no staff for five years, Vodafone took advantage of Ireland’s generous corporate tax rate to record a £324million annual turnover collecting royalty payments for the use of its brand The UK-based group used the Irish subsidiary, which employed no staff between 2002 and 2007, to collect royalty payments from operating companies and joint ventures around the world.

During a four-year period, it emerged these royalty payments helped Vodafone Ireland Marketing Ltd send more than £850million worth of dividends to the low-tax jurisdiction of Luxembourg from their Dublin base.

The dividends, which include a final payment of £121million due to be delivered this year, came from profits made after taking advantage of Ireland’s tax rates.

The disclosure comes as the British mobile phone group came under fire for its minimal corporation tax payments in the UK. It also emerged that it is the largest supplier of mobile phones to the UK government, with more than 30 departments and public bodies, including the prime minister’s office, having contracts worth £14million a year with Vodafone.

The Guardian newspaper reported that the accountancy structure struck by the multinational was similar to the one used by Apple in Ireland.

Comparison: It was reported that the accountancy structure struck by the multinational was similar to the one used by Apple in Ireland The website reported that Vodafone moved senior marketing managers to Dublin to protect global royalty revenues from UK taxation, and trigger a lower Irish corporation tax bill from 25 per cent to 12.5 per cent of profits.

This was significantly lower than the UK rate, which was 28 per cent of profits between 2008 and 2010.

Legal Loopholes: Starbucks & Google’s Tax Controversies A series of lively hearings of the Public Accounts Committee saw MPs savage companies such as Google 31

Vodafone Update

Vodafone in multimillion tax deal over Irish office Published in The Daily Mail Group used Irish subsidiary, employing no staff , to collect millions in royalty payments By 2007, a Vodafone subsidiary registered to an industrial estate in Dublin was reporting a turnover of €380 million (£320m) a year.

Photograph: Getty

Irish government in tax that should have been paid in the UK. Vodafone, the world’s second largest mobile phone company by revenue, has paid no corporation tax in Britain for two successive years, despite paying £2.6 billion in international taxes in 2012.

The company confirmed its Irish settlement had never been separately disclosed in its annual reports, and was not connected to a £1.25bn payment to HM Revenue and Customs in 2010 to settle a much publicised dispute over the use of a Luxembourg subsidiary.

A spokesman for HMRC refused to confirm whether any settlement over Vodafone’s Irish tax affairs had been made, saying it was prevented by law from discussing the affairs of individual taxpayers.

Vodafone went to great lengths to protect its Irish income, eventually relocating a section of its global marketing team from the UK to Dublin in 2007. The transferred staff were responsible for handling such high profile sponsorships as the operator’s longstanding deal with Formula 1 and the Champions League.

The Irish brand subsidiary was wound down after the staff were brought back to the UK in 2011. According to a company spokesman the unit’s activities have transferred to a UK company which pays all its profits into the British plc and is taxed under UK rules.

The disclosure comes as MPs revealed the British mobile phone group, which is under fire for its minimal corporation tax payments in this country, has emerged as the largest supplier of mobile phones to the government.

More than 30 departments and public bodies, including the prime minister’s office, have signed contracts worth £14m a year with Vodafone.

In a stand against tax avoidance, ministers updated laws in April to ensure companies whose tax returns have been challenged by HM Revenue & Customs on grounds of tax abuse can be disqualified from working for the government.

V

odafone made a previously unreported multimillion-pound settlement with HM Revenue & Customs in the wake of a dispute over the tax paid by an Irish subsidiary created to collect royalty payments for using its brand.

The UK-based mobile phone group used an Irish subsidiary, which employed no staff between 2002 and 2007, to collect hundreds of millions of pounds a year in royalty payments from operating companies and joint ventures around the world.

By 2007, Vodafone Ireland Marketing Ltd, a company registered to an industrial estate in the Dublin suburb of Leopardstown, was reporting a turnover of €380 million (£320 million) a year.

During a four-year period, these royalty payments, collected from most countries except the UK and Italy, have helped Vodafone send more than €1 billion worth of dividends to the low tax jurisdiction of Luxembourg from Dublin. The dividends, which include a final payment of €142 million due to be delivered this year, came from profits made after taking advantage of Ireland’s low corporation tax rates.

In an arrangement which echoes those made by Apple in Ireland, Vodafone moved senior marketing managers to Dublin to protect global royalty revenues from UK taxation, and trigger a lower Irish corporation tax bill from 25 per cent to 12.5 per cent of profits. This was significantly lower than the UK corporation tax rate, which between 2008 and 2010 was 28 per cent of profits.

Accounts filed in Dublin show that in 2009, HMRC settled a dispute with Vodafone over its Irish tax returns.

The overall size of the settlement has not been revealed, but it involved Vodafone reclaiming €67 million from the 32

PENSION ENTITLEMENTS The rules governing entitlement to State Pension Contributory (formerly known as Old Age Contributory Pension) are changing, and this article aims to provide some clarity regarding entitlements. Please note that the information contained in this article is based on the National Pensions Framework 2010 and legislation will be required to implement the changes. The legislation, when introduced, may make additional changes.

Currently, a person’s entitlement to State Pension Contributory is calculated by taking the average of their full rate contributions paid over their entire working life, from the date they first entered into insurable employment until they reach pension age, and the amount of pension is calculated based on a number of bands, depending on the average number of contributions over the entire working life. However, this method is changing to a “total contributions” approach in 2020, and the age at which a person receives the State pension is also changing as outlined below: • • •

contributions or credits. The maximum number of credits that can be included is 520.

People who have a mixture of full rate (Class A) and modified rate (Class D).

Some employees, recruited before April 1995, now pay the modified Class D PRSI contributions, but have also paid a substantial number of full rate Class A PRSI contributions from previous employments and the earlier part of their career. These employees may have an entitlement to a partial State Pension, or have the potential to receive a partial pension if they leave the employment of An Post or eircom, early, and re-enter employment paying the full rate (Class A) or self employment (Class S).

The absolute minimum number of full rate contributions necessary to get any part of a State Pension is 260 actually paid. This, along with modified contributions, may give an entitlement to a Pro Rata Pension based on mixed insurance. To get on the mainstream pension, (both on the old and new calculation methods) 520 full rate contributions actually paid are required. If you have the required minimum number of full rate contributions paid, you may increase the level of pension you will be entitled to by re-entering full rate Class A PRSI after leaving the employment of An Post or eircom, and “signing on” for credits for any periods that you do not continue to work, or by becoming self employed, and paying Class S PRSI. Please note, that while you are employed by An Post or eircom, paying Class D PRSI, you cannot, at the same time, pay Class A in respect of any other part time employment, or Class S in respect of self employment. Note also, the Dept. of Social Protection is unable to guarantee that the pro rata pension based on mixed insurance will continue to exist after the changes in 2020, and therefore references to it are based on the regulations as they currently exist.

If you were born on or after 1st January 1948, pension age will be 66.

If you were born on or after 1st January 1955, pension age will be 67 If you were born on or after 1st January 1961, pension age will be 68

The new method of calculation effective from 1st January 2020 is as follows: •

•

1,560 (30 years) full rate contributions / credits will be required to qualify for the maximum State Pension, which currently amounts to €230 per week.

520 (10 years) full rate contributions actually paid will be required to qualify for the minimum one third of the full pension. The minimum pension will amount to €76.76 per week, and you will get 1/30th of the maximum pension (€7.67 per week) extra for each additional year of full rate

The following table of examples gives an indication of entitlement and / or action a person might take to improve their situation: Born

No of Full Paid

No of Modified Paid

Pension Age

Needed to qualify / improve entitlement

Remarks

1st Jan 1948

200

1560 (30 years’ established service)

66 – reached Jan 2014

Not qualified. At least 60 full rate paid needed + sign for credits

Can qualify for pro rata on mixed insurance only.

1st Jan 1953

400

1560 (30 years’ established service)

66 – reached Jan 2019

Qualified for pro rata, at least another 120 full rate paid needed for min mainstream pension + sign for credits

1st Jan 1955

300

1560 (30 years’ established service)

67 – reached Jan 2022

Qualified for pro rata, at least 220 full rate paid needed for min mainstream pension. Can work + sign for credits to improve by €7.76pw for each full year extra

1st Jan 1960

520

1040 (20 years’ established service)

67 – reached Jan 2027

Qualified for min mainstream pension. Can work + sign for credits to improve by €7.76pw for New Calculation Method each full year extra

500

1040 (20 years’ established service)

68 – reached Jan 2029

Qualified for pro rata, at least 20 full rate paid needed for min mainstream pension. Can work + New Calculation Method sign for credits to improve by €7.76pw for each full year extra

1st Jan 1961

New Calculation Method

If you are unsure how many full rate contributions you have on your record, you should request a copy of your insurance record by visiting www.welfare.ie and clicking on Online Services, or by calling Lo Call 1890 690690 33

COMBINED C OMBINED SERVICES SERVICES THIRD THIRD WORLD WORLD FUND FUND (CIVIL (CIVIL SERVICE, SERVICE, EIRCOM, EIRCOM, AN AN POST, POST, &O OTHER THER STATE STATE T AGENCIES) AGENCIES)

“ I onlyy want wantt to to go to to School!”

School!”

Another yyear Another ear iiss uupon pon us us and and time time again again fo forr th thee Annual A nnual R Report eport fr from om C Combined ombined S Services ervices Th Third ird W World orld Fund. forr aany Fu nd. It iiss oopportune pportune to rrecall, ecall, pparticularly articularly fo ny nnew ew that thee C CSTWF was thee sstaff, taff,f th at th STWF w as eestablished stablished iinn 11980 980 bbyy th Trade T rade Unions.

Unions. Its aaim im iiss to pprovide rovide iimprovements mprovements to thee qquality well than th uality t ooff llife ife f to t ppeople, eople, lless es s w ell ooffff th an uus, s, iin thee ddeveloping from th eveloping world world fr om vvoluntary oluntary ccontributions, ontributions, ssubscriptions ubscriptions and and donations donatit ons kindly kindly made made by by staff. staff.

Since then S ince th en oover ver 7million 7million hhas as been been granted granted bbyy CSTWF C STWF oonn ddevelopment evelopment pprojects rojects aand nd eemergency mergency aaid id many ggrants rants iinn m any ddeveloping eveloping countires. countires.

The Fund awarded forr P Projects awarded 62 grants grants fo rojects iinn 21 developing thee yyear developing countries countries during during th ear under Ass ccan from thee ppie under review. review. A an bbee sseen een fr om th ie

Agriculture Agriculture Industrial In dustrial Health H ealth Water W ater Community C ommunity D Development ev elopment Education E ducation

chart chart (in (in 000’s) 000’s) 48.2% 48.2% of of the the amount amount granted, granted, 184,950, 184,,950, went went to eeducational ducational projects. projects. The The Fund Fund places places a high high value value on on education education as as itit is is central central to development, development, enabling people people to overcome overcome poverty. poverty. It iiss enabling the “fishing “fishing rod” rod” rrather ather th an th andout. the than thee hhandout.

During that was thee fifirst D uring 22012 012 a llittle ittle ggirl irl to ttold ld uuss th at sshe he w as th rst member family m ember ooff hher er fa mily eever ver to aattend ttend sschool chool aass a the rresult esult ooff a sschool chool bbuilding uilding pproject roject ssponsored ponsored bbyy th he Fund.

Wee w were Fu nd. W ere aalso lso vvery ery hhappy appy to bbee iinn a pposition osition forr m maternity pprovide rovide vvital ital llife ife ssaving aving equipment equipment fo aternity an aandd cchildren’s hildren’s hhospitals. ospitals.

Health projects projects w ere aalso lso hhigh igh oonn th ist ooff Health were thee llist

Supplies water S upplies ooff cclean lean w ater aalways lways rremain emain a cchallenge. hallenge.

Many M any villages villages and and sschools chools now now hhave ave a year year rround ound water ssupply upply following following fifinancing nancing ooff vvarious arious w ater ssaving aving methods This m ethods bbyy the the Fund.

Fund. Th T is iiss pparticularly articularly rrelevant elevant to where ppoor oor pprimary rimary sschools c hools w here pproper roper llatrines atrines hhave av e which bbeen een erected erected w hich rresult esult iinn a rreduction eduction ooff iinfections nfectiions thee children children.. ssuffered uffe f red bbyy th

healthy people people live live longer longer and and are are more more healthy

Wee aare many W re aalways lways aamazed mazed to ssee ee oonn m any ooccasions ccasions thee yyear that dduring uring th ear th at ssmall mall pprimary rimary sschools chools ccan an bbee bbuilt uilt for for 7,000 7,,000 oorr 8,000 8,,000 or or lless. ess. LLikewise ikewise nnew ew modern modern cclassroom lassroom extensions extensions to existing existing schools schools can c an be forr ssimilar be erected erected fo imilar oorr ssmaller maller aamounts. mounts.

New N ew members members are are urgently urg ur genttlly needed ne eded to to help help finance fina i nce the th he work worrk of the Fund

beneficial projects projects receiving receiving 12.1% 12.1% or or beneficial 13.8

46,5 , 00 of of awards awards made. made. Better Better health health 46,500 makes an an important important contribution contribution to hhuman uman makes

17.8

happiness and and economic economic progress progress as as happiness productive. Other Other sectors sectors to bbenefit enefit fr om productive. from

46.5 185

grants made made were were A griculture, C ommunityy grants Agriculture, Community and Industrial Industrial Development, Development, aand nd th and thee provision of of water water aand nd ssanitation. anitation. A provision Allll ooff th thee

77.7

grants made made were were aaimed imed aatt m eeting th grants meeting thee basic needs needs of of people people in in developing developing basic

42.7

countries. It iiss a firm firm bbelief elief ooff th nd th at iiff countries. thee Fu Fund that people can can meet meet these these needs needs they they will will people develop themselves themselves and and their their countries. countries. develop

Like Like everybody everybody else, else, the the Fund Fund is is suffering suffe f ring from from a reduction more reduction iinn iincome ncome aand nd yyour our hhelp elp iiss rrequired equired m ore than Please thee Fu Fund than ever. ever. P lease ddoo ccontinue ontinue to ssupport upport th nd and members.

Why nott and also also help help by by recruiting recruiting nnew ew m embers. W hy no organise orga g nise a fund fund raising raising event event th through rough yyour our O Office ffif ce oorr Department?

Doo rremember make D epartment? D emember to m ake aarrangements rrangements n to have ccarry arry oonn yyour our ssubscription, ubscription, eeven ven aafter fter yyou ou ha ve rretired etired ffrom rom sservice. ervice. C CSTWF STWF aadministrative dministrative ccosts osts are thee llowest are aalways lways kkept ept to th owest ppossible ossible llevels evels aand nd have Fund’s have never never eexceeded xceeded 5% 5% of of the the Fu nd’s iincome. n c o m e.

Subscribers feel thee iimpact their Subscribers ccan an fe el vvery ery pproud roud ooff th mpact th er ei contributions make thee llives those most contributions ccan an m ake to th ives of of th os e m os t forgotten With f rgotten aand fo nd nneglected. eglected. W ith yyour our ccontinued ontinued hhelp, elp, is feidir linn.. feidirr linn Further Further iinformation nformation iiss available available on on our our website websitte

www.cstwf.ie w ww.cstwf.ie Combined C ombined S Services ervices Third Third W World orld Fund 76/78 Ha Harcourt Harcourtt Street St t Dublin Dublin 2 Ireland ☎ ++353 (0)1408 2473/75 @ thecstwf@hotmail.com thecstw wf@hotmail.com

The rate of contributions conttributions to the Fund is only pension..

1 cent or 2 cents from frrom every 10 of pay or pension

Every E very C Cent ent C Counts! ounts!

The Fund operates operates on a completely completelyy voluntary basis basis through through the the Council Council aand nd voluntary Trustees. The Management Management and and Advisory Advisorry Trustees.

Committees Com mmittees aassess ssess applications applications for for funding. fundin ng.

Honor o ary O fficers aand nd tthe he ot her vvolunteers olunteers Honorary Officers other carry out tthe he ne cessary office offfice administration. administratio on. carry necessary Great Great care care is always always taken taken with with contributors’ contributorrs’ mo oney and and grants grants are are only made made directly directly to to money beneficiaries. beneficiaries.

If you are not already a member of thee who might ffund und oorr iiff yyou ou kknow now ssomeone omeone w ho m ight be iinterested nterested in joining, please contact us immediately or go to our website www.cstwf.ie ww ww.cstwf.ie for more information andd application forms.

34

Photo: P hoto: Volunteers Volunteers man man the the CSTWF CSTWF stand stand aatt a uunion nion aannual nnual cconference onfeerence

AT Typical ypical CSTWF CSTWF P Project roject N No. o. 22631: 631: V Village illage 5511 G GB B iinn Fa Faisalabad is alabad D District istrict P Pakistan akistan iiss a remote remote rrural ural vvillage illage w where here ppeople eople aare re vvery ery ppoor oor aand nd ddependent ependent oonn ssubsistence ubsistence farming. farming. M Many, any, eespecially s pec ially w women, omen, ssimply imply ccannot annot aafford ffo f rd to bbuy uy aann aanimal. nimal. Th This is pproject roject w was as iinitiated nitiated bbyy th thee vvillage illage R Rural ural D Development ev elopment O Organisation rganisation w which hich iidentified dentified tw twenty enty m marginalised arginalised w women omen w who ho w will ill bbenefit enefit frfrom om rrearing earing ccows ows iinn a ssustainable ustainable way way aand nd ggenerate enerate iincome ncome fo forr th themselves ems elv es aand nd th their eir vvillage. illage. Th Thee pproject roject iiss ggoing oing vvery ery w well ell ssoo fa farr aand nd th they ey hhope ope ccattle attle rrearing earing w will ill ggrow row aand nd hhelp elp th them em aand nd eeventually ventually many many more more w women omen to pprosper. rosper.

Combined C ombined Se Services ervices Third Third World World F Fund und Receipts R eceipts a and nd Pa Payments yments A Account ccount Y Year ear En Ended ded 3 31st 1 st D December ecember 2 2012 0 12 R Receipts eceipts

2012

2011

Members Subs Members Subscriptions criptions Depo Deposit sit Inter Interest est

373, 373,669 669 11

401, 401,360 36 60 2 24

T TOTAL OTA AL REC RECEIPTS EIPTS

3 373,680 73,680

401,384 4 01,384

358,925 358,925 16, 16,722 722

399, 399,526 52 26 17, 17,120 12 20

375,647 3 75,647

416,646 416,646

(1,967) (1,967) 60,982 60, 982

((15,262) 15,26 62) 76, 76,244 24 44

59,015 5 9,015

60,982 6 0,982

P Payments ayments P Projects rojects O Office ffice Expenses Expenses T TOTAL OTA AL P PAYMENTS AYMEN Y TS Excess P Excess Payments ayments o over ver Recei Receipts ptts O Opening pening Bank Bank Ba Balance lance Closing Bank Balance C losing Ba nk Ba la nce

The a The above bove R Receipts eceipts and and Payments Payments Account Account was was prepared prepared from from the the books books and and records records of of The Combined Services World Fund and hereby that accordance therewith T he C ombined Se rvices Third Third W orld F und a nd I h ereby rreport eport th at iitt iis s iin na ccordance th erewith t .

((Signed) Signed)) M Maurice aurice D D.. Counihan Counihan FCPA FCPA 23rd 2 April 2013 C DK & Associates, Associates, CDK A ccountants & Registered Registered Auditors, Auditors, Accountants Mounttown H ouse, Mounttown Mounttown Road Road Lower, Lower, Mounttown House, D Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

Dun A list off c contributions and grants made available on the fund’s website: list o ontributions a nd g rants m ade iis sa vailable o n th e fu nd’s w ebsite:

www.cstwf.ie w ww.cstwf.ie

35

How is a Credit Union Different From Banks and Other Financial Institutions?

Main Difference - Ownership Credit Unions

Banks

Credit Union are true co-operatives, fully owned by the members.

Banks are public companies owned by shareholders.

Credit Unions surplus is returned to its members who are its owners.

Banks profits are returned to its shareholders and Not exclusively to its customers.

Members appoint the Board of Directors.

The Board and the largest shareholders of the Bank appoint directors.

Board members provide their services Voluntarily.

Board members are paid for their services.

Each member has a say in the running of Their Credit union regardless of the balance in their account.

Shareholders and investors effectively control a bank.

Members do not pay transaction or other fees.

Banks charge a large range of transaction and other fees.

We often hear people ask why join a credit union, what are its benefits. For years people in Ireland have achieved a better way of life through their participation in their Credit Union. Credit Unions offer members the chance to have control over their finances by making their own savings work for them. Regular savings from a common pool of money which in turn provides many benefits for members Not only will you help yourself, but you will be happy in the knowledge you are also helping your community.

List of some benefits:

• Control over your own finances • The Confidence that there are no hidden fees or charges • Each member has a say in the running of the credit union • Each member has an option to nominate a person to receive their funds on their death

Phone: 01-6792344

Fax: 01-6790802

• • • • •

Payroll deduction scheme available Death Benefit Insurance Fixed loan rates and low interest rates We have members not customers Discounted Insurances and many more….

Email: info@esccu.ie Web: www.esccu.ie

e-services & communications credit union ltd. is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Your chance to win €300 to spend on your dedicated members website www.cwugroupscheme.com What do I have to do to be in with a chance of winning €300?

It’s simple. Every member who is registered as a member at the CWU group scheme website is automatically entered into the draw.

How do I register with www.cwugroupschemes.com?

First, visit and register at your CWU members’ site www.cwu.ie . On the home page you will find a link that brings you to the www.cwugoupscheme.com website where you can enter the competition and view a variety of discounts available to CWU members. Remember, if you have already registered with www.cwugroupscheme.com you are automatically entered into the competition.

How does my CWU Group Scheme work?

Your CWU Group Scheme website is provided for you as a member benefit. The CWU has teamed up with groupschemes to provide hundreds of discounts to CWU members and their families, which means you have access to a wide range of savings on day-to-day items as well as great savings on products and services. Visit your union website www.cwu.ie for further information and all the latest union news.

Enjoy discounts from the following partners, along with many more:

To be in a chance of winning you must register before Friday 22nd November2013 37

Education Update

GSC 18-13 Education Grant Scheme Winners 2013 June 28th 2013 Re: Education Grant Scheme Draw Results 2013 Dear Colleague, I am pleased to announce the results of the Education Grant Scheme Draw. The draw took place at the National Executive Council meeting on June 26th. The results are as follows:

GAELTACHT AWARDS Award to: 1. Bláthnad Walsh 2. Lorraine Cribbin 3. Ellen Hudson 4. Michael Connolly 5. Jessica Byrne 6. Brian Horan 7. Kami Kiernan 8. Sineád Murphy 9. Jane Duggan 10. Brónagh Hartnett 11. John Phelan 12. Nicole Broderick 13. Ellen O’Connor 14. Cillian Walsh 15. Kevin Lynch 16. Gaby Murphy 17. Austin Lee 18. Odhran Barron 19. Ben Veale 20. Catherine O’Grady

Member: Michael Walsh Thomás Cribbin Basil Hudson Peter Connolly John Byrne Anthony Horan Noel Kiernan Eleanor Halley Geraldine Duggan Timothy Hartnett John Phelan Snr Patrick Broderick Patrick O’Connor Michael Walsh James Gerard Lynch Seán Murphy Jarlath Lee Noel Barron Martin Veale Martin O’Grady

Branch: Galway District Castlerea & District Dublin No 1 Tuam Postal Portlaoise Mails Centre Waterford Postal Portlaoise Postal Waterford Postal Galway Postal Cork District Portlaoise District Dublin No 1 Dublin Mails Managers Galway District Cork Managers Claremorris Postal Letterkenny Postal Sligo District Waterford Postal Galway District

SECOND LEVEL AWARDS Award to: 1. Sean Patchell 2. Paul Woods 3. Jack Lott 4. Emma Richardson 5. Eanna Hobbs 6. Alannah Mulligan 7. Ciara Farrell 8. Gemma Dignam 9. Aaron Conroy

Member: Paul Patchell Martin Woods John Lott Jerry Richardson Seán Hobbs Joe Mulligan Anthony Farrell Paul Dignam Gary Conroy

Branch: Dublin Postal Delivery Branch Dublin Postal Delivery Branch Dublin Postal Delivery Branch Tipperary Postal Dublin Postal Delivery Branch Ennis Postal Dublin Postal Delivery Branch Dublin Postal Delivery Branch Dublin Postal Delivery Branch Second Level Awards, continued on next page:

38

Education Update Second Level Awards contd.

SECOND LEVEL AWARDS Award to: 10. Niall Butler 11. Mark Byrne 12. Charlie Swords 13. John Hanafin 14. Kevin Molloy 15. Matthew Waters 16. Cara McPadden 17. Matthew Bartley 18. Davin Smythe 19. Mark Cummins 20. Gillian Hoey 21. Gavin O’Brien 22. Jordan McCrave 23. Shane Hanley 24. Mark Stanley 25. David Murray 26. Lauren Lamont 27. Michelle Buckley 28. Jack Styles 29. Fia Coote 30. Alice O’Reilly

Member: Oliver Butler Martin G Byrne Paul Swords Tina Hanafin Kevin Molloy Snr Sinead Waters Michael McPadden Gerry Bartley Mark Smythe Susan Cummins Paul Hoey Ger O’Brien Anthony McCrave Declan Hanley Margaret Stanley Valerie McNamara Gerard Lamont Joan Collins Buckley Stella Styles Leonard Coote John O’Reilly

Branch: Navan Postal Dublin Postal Delivery Branch DPAB Tralee Tels North Wexford/Sth Wicklow Claremorris Postal Sligo Postal Galway District Dublin Postal Clerks Cork Mails Centre Dundalk Postal North Kerry Postal Dundalk Postal DPAB DPAB DPAB Dublin No 1 Cork District Portlaoise Postal Ennis Postal Dublin Postal Managers

THIRD LEVEL AWARDS Award to:

Member:

Branch:

1. Meadhbh O’Callaghan

William O’Callaghan

Cork Clerks

2. Julie O’Keeffe

Seamus O’Keeffe

Central Regional Managers

3. Keith Martyn 4. Ciára Conway

Pat Martyn Brian Conway

Dublin No 1 Dublin No 1

Our congratulations to the aforementioned and our commiserations to those who were not successful in the draw on this occasion.

As per our previous circular, for the Gaeltacht Awards, payments will be made retrospectively on production of a receipt from the relevant Irish college. For those successful in the draw for the Second Level Award, it will be necessary to get the Union’s confirmation form signed and stamped by the secondary school confirming the grant winner is a student for the commencing term September 2013. The form will be posted out to the winners by the Union shortly.

Finally, for the Third Level Award, members will be required to provide documentation indicating their acceptance onto the course. For subsequent years on third level courses, documentation will need to be provided to indicate succession by the participant to the next year of the course. All receipts for payment should be submitted directly to the Finance Officer, Monica Hempenstall.

As mentioned in our previous circulars, the grant scheme will be reviewed by the Education Committee in light of budgeting, the nature of applications received and the requirements of our members.

Yours fraternally Steve Fitzpatrick General Secretary 39

Scenes from an Indian Summer

by John Fogarty I recently submitted a manuscript entitled ‘Scenes from an Indian Summer’ to the John Murray Show ‘Get you book published’ competition on RTE radio 1. To my great delight it made a shortlist of five from over 500 submissions. Unfortunately, I was not the outright winner, but I consider making the last five an achievement, especially when I reflect on where I came from educationally – but more about that below. for four years before Thirty-one years ago this heading off to London September I started work as a aged seventeen with my postman in Fethard sub-office. older, brother, Jim, who I also became a member of the was eighteen. union, now known as the Second-level education CWU. My father had been a had never been an option. postman for thirty years before I remember my mother me, and my brother, Kevin is a struggling to scrape the postman at Clonmel DSU. secondary school fees Many of my brothers, at one together to pay the time or another have done Patrician Brothers for my casual work with An Post. So, older brothers who our family has had a long attended for a short while. association with the company.

Jimmy Walsh gets his birthday cards delivered With a growing family of I come from a large family of by good friend, John Fogarty. young children it was eleven boys and one girl. So, impossible for my mother to pay the fees and both you can imagine that our house was a fairly lively place brothers dropped out. I never entered the hallowed halls with so many boys full of energy constantly tearing in of secondary school. My brother, Pat, informed me, and out. My mother didn’t bother trying to contain us – though, that I was better off since all they had learned she just released us into open space to go gallivanting was ‘aul Greek and Latin.’ around the countryside. And did we gallivant! And that I’d always felt that I had missed out on opportunities gallivanting was the inspiration for ‘Scenes from an through my lack of education. But the chance to rectify Indian Summer.’ that did not arrive for many years. Today there are a My education came to a premature end at the ripe old bewildering array of opportunities in the field of age of thirteen. It seems shocking now, but this was the education for people from every background. No matter 1960s - before Donogh O’Malley introduced free what their abilities there is always a route that can be education - when the vast majority of boys like me left followed. Everyone has a chance. school aged fourteen. Most would find some kind of So, if there is something that you really want to do, low-paid work locally until they came to sixteen or give it a go. Seize the day, and all that. Whatever the maybe seventeen and were old enough to go look for outcome you’ll be able to look back without regret work in England. knowing that you tried.

When I left school I went to work for a local farmer – I had always wanted to study English but for many, six full days a week from eight in the morning until six many years it was impossible to get into third level o’clock in the evening. I could hear the Angelus bell from education without having completed second level. Then, where I worked and that was the signal for me to mount when the mature student concept was introduced there my bike and ride like hell for home. My week’s work was still the problem of fees. Finally, in 2002, I was able also included two hours every Sunday morning and every to avail of An Post’s education fees scheme and I second Sunday evening. (There was no union to look embarked on a degree programme of study. And I have to after the interests of farm-boys, I’m afraid.) My pay? – say that without An Post’s fees refund scheme I would thirty shillings a week, all of which was given to my not have been able to do the course. I was the only person mother to supplement my father’s wages. Remember, I on the programme who had never been inside a was thirteen. My employer wasn’t even liable to pay secondary school – apart from when my brother, Jim and insurance contributions until I reached sixteen. I did this

40

acceptable today. There must always be an adult nearby to supervise, intervene, protect. Because today there is the ever-present dread of those who prey on children.

The kind of childhood that I remember and have written about would probably seem primitive, unimaginable and fill today’s parents with horror. But it is for their lack of freedom, in spite of all the material advantages they possess over my generation, that I pity the children of today. In so many ways they are prisoners of what society has become.

I didn’t want to write a sentimental ‘we were poor but happy’ account of childhood: nor did I want to write an account of a ‘miserable’ childhood of starvation, abuse and exploitation. So, I decided to focus on the long summer holidays of 1963 and through that seek to give an impression of the little dramas encountered by a young boy growing up in a small town in Ireland. (Girls didn’t feature in a young boy’s world in those days, I’m afraid.)

Where it goes from here, I’m not sure. However, the hugely positive comments from the judging panel of Ferdia McAnna, Sarah Webb and Bob Johnson with regard to my manuscript and the quality of the writing give me hope and some confidence that I will be able to get ‘Scenes from an Indian Summer’ into print in the not too distant future.

I, used to sweep the school-room floors for a small fee that was given to our mother!.

However, I had always been an avid reader and was able to compensate for the huge gap left by missing out on secondary school. I also discovered that I had considerable writing skills. I duly graduated with a first class honours degree in English Literature & Sociology.

For many years I have been writing bits and pieces for a community publication in Fethard which is sent out free of charge every Christmas to emigrants from the area.

The idea is to keep them up to date and evoke memories of former days – without wallowing in sentimentality about the good old days. It is hugely popular despite Facebook, Viber and the innumerable instant communication methods taken for granted today.

As for ‘Scenes from an Indian Summer’. The idea came from observing the restricted and controlled way in which children play nowadays. Especially during the long summer holidays. This is the age of the summer camp. There seems to be a complete lack of spontaneity about much of children’s play today. Parents organise everything: play-dates, sleep-overs. The idea of boys calling to each other’s houses – not to play Xbox or watch DVDs – but to gallivant wild and free wherever their instinct and curiosity might take them, would not be

Get into print!

Wear your Union Badge

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.

Find us under:

CWU Ireland 41

LOCKOUT 1913-2013 NATIONAL COMMEMORATION 31ST AUGUST 2013

Lockout 1913 Centenary Street Theatre, which took place on 31 August, 2013.

Photos ©John Chaney 2013

Richard & Thom as McCann

Street Theatre Re-enactment of 1913 Lockout

Eva Cantwell and daughter, Clodagh

hslaine Cristina Ní Dub 42

Actor, Jer O’Leary, plays Jim Larkin

Ciara Mooney, daughter of Willie Mooney, NEC.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS STRIVING FOR DECENT WORK AND BETTER LIVES.

Actor, Jer O’Leary, who plays Jim Larkin, performs Re-enactment of 1913 Lockout, watched by President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, John Douglas (President ICTU) and Ruarí Quinn.

Actor, Patrick Casey

Street Theatre Re-enactment of 1913 Lockou t

Street Theatre Re-enactment of 1913 Lockout

Bryan Murray reads from Strumpet City

Lockout Centenary Street Theatre Drama 43

CWU People

Tony McSharry Retires

Pictured above at Tony McSharry’s Retirement Function l t r: Peter McDonagh (Spiddal), Tony McSharry and Noreen Kelly (Spiddal).

Pictured l to r: Damien Tuohy (N.E.C.) making a presentation to Tony McSharry (Postman, Spiddal) and Pat Gillespie.

Kevin Coyne Retires A group of Staff from Clifden and surrounding offices at Kevin Coyne’s Retirement Presentation Function.

Kevin Coyne, Postman Maam of 34 years, being presented with his Union Scroll by Damien Tuohy, N.E.C.

44

CWU People

Michael Fagan Retires Michael Fagan retired from Castlepollard Post Office after 32 years’ service in total. Michael worked all his career in Castlepollard and delivered the Benison post in the north of Westmeath.

Best wishes Michael on your retirement from all your colleagues in Castlepollard and Mullingar!

Pictured l to r: Barry Carr, Branch Secretary Mullingar Postal presenting the Union Scroll to Michael Fagan.

J.J. Higgins Retires A Function was held in Tuam to mark J.J. Higgins’ retirement after 46 years’ of service with An Post.

The photo includes [back L. to R.]: John Higgins (J.J.’s son), Peter Connolly (B/S), Damien Touhy (N.E.), Jimmy O’Dea (D.S.M.), and Front Row Seated: Mrs Mary Higgins and J.J. Higgins.

Both John Higgins and Mary Higgins are also serving Postpersons.

Mick Ryan Retires

Colin Moore presents the Union Scroll to Mick Ryan on his retirement from the Dublin Postal Managers’ Branch.

John Meade Retires

Pictured l to r: Vincent Kilroy presenting scroll to John Meade retired branch manager of Carlow after 41 years’ service.

45

CWU People

Bulgaria Trip Fundraising - Galway Postal A Fundraising/Table Quiz Night was held to raise funds for the CWU Bulgaria Trip. A cheque for â‚Ź350 was presented by Damian on behalf of the CWU Ireland Humanitarian Aid Fund.

Members of the Galway Postal Branch as a recent Fundraiser for the CWU HA.

Marie Hynes receives a cheque from Damian Tuohy, NEC, for her trip on the CWU HA Convoy.

Eileen Ward Retires

Willie Mooney, Dublin Postal Clerks, presents the Union Scroll to Eileen Ward, on her retirement.

46

CWU People

Joe Dunne Retires Joe Dunne retired from the Kilbeggan Post Office after 40 years’ full-time service.

Joe delivered the Ballingore post and will missed by all who have worked with Joe in the past and present.

Best of luck from all your friends and colleagues in Kilbeggan and Mullingar!

Pictured l to r: Barry Carr, Branch Secretary Mullingar Postal, Joe Dunne, receiving his Union Scroll, and Pat Freeman, Branch Chairman Mullingar Postal.

Jim Cole Retires Jim Cole from Kinnegad Post Office retired recently from An Post. Jim had 39 years’ service on the day he retired.

Jim delivered the Coralstown post and will be greatly missed by his friends and colleagues in Kinnegad and Mullingar.

Pictured l to r: Barry Carr, Branch Secretary Mullingar Postal with Jim Cole, receiving his Union Scroll and Pat Freeman, Branch Chairman Mullingar Postal.

A retirement party was held in Raheen House hotel Clonmel for retired members of the Clonmel CWU. A great night was had by past and present members who attended and after a lovely meal, presentations were given by the CWU (Clonmel section) and the social club to Paddy Kenrick and Seamus Dorney for their long years of service and friendship .

Unable to attend on the night was Billy Quinn, also retired. Best wishes go to all three from all the lads in Clonmel and the surrounding district!

Pictured l to r: Peter Ryan (CWU Section Chairman), Paddy Kenric, Paddy Power, (CWU Section Secretary) and Ann Kenrick.

47

Three Clonmel Retirements

Pictured l to r: Peter Ryan (CWU Section Chairman), Seamus Dorney and Paddy Power (CWU Section Secretary).

CWU People

Dundalk Branch Retirements Kevin Cunningham Retires

Pictured l to r: Anthony Bellew (Treasurer), Kevin Cunningham, who was presented with the Union Scroll, and Anthony McCrave (Branch Secretary).

Kevin retired after 50 year’s service.

George Marley Retires

Pictured l to r: Anthony McCrave (Branch Secretary), George Marley, who received a presentation and Union Scroll, and Kevin McKenna (Vice-Chairman).

George retired after 20 years’ service.

48

CWU People

Michael Lowe RIP see Michael’s coffin being escorted through the Main Street flanked by all his colleagues in their uniforms.

Michael was also a long term activist on the local Branch in Bray and took a very keen interest in Health and Safety.

To Michael’s widow Jenny, his children Lorraine and Ciaran and adored grandchild Aidan we send our deepest sympathies.

The postal workers and community of Bray lost a great friend recently with the passing of Michael Lowe, Michael was a much loved husband, father and grandfather.

Michael was well know in Bray for his gardening skills, his fitness, his love of sport in particular (Manchester United FC) and his fantastic fund raising ventures for various charities amongst whom were Our Lady’s Children’s hospital and St James’s Hospital Leukaemia Ward.

Michael had a great grá for the job of being a postman and had a fantastic relationship with his colleagues and his customers, this grá was reciprocated as any one who witnessed the huge turnout at his funeral could see.

It is a long time since the town of Bray came to a complete halt for a funeral, it was also very moving to

Inez McCormack RIP Last President of NUPE and Founder Member of UNISON

Much has been said and written about Inez McCormack over the years. She is held in the highest regard across the International Trade Union movement.

In particular, she holds a special place in the heart of the US Trade Union movement where her work, not only on the peace process but also against repression of workers everywhere, has been acknowledged at the highest level.

Inez constantly battled on shifting sands on some of the most controversial issues, such as discrimination, child sexual abuse, rape in the marriage and as a weapon of war and a women’s right to choose. Her vindication lies in the fact that many of the issues on which she broke the mould are now seen as safe ground for those who came later.

The CWU sends deepest sympathy to all Inez’s family and friends.

May She rest in peace.

49

CWU People

Eugene Halion RIP he moved to Mervue United and later back to Tuam Celtic to finish off his career.

Eugene won many trophies with the clubs he played for and represented his province in interprovincial competition, but his proudest moment was when he won his intermediate international cap against England in Cork. He also played with the local G.A.A. club Tuam Stars where he won many underage titles as well as two Senior, two U21 & 1 Junior championships. He was also known in G.A.A. circles as a lethal marksman and always had the knack of scoring goals at the right time.

His goal-scoring exploits marked him out for special attention by the opposition backs. Even though Eugene was small in stature, he was always able to handle himself well and many a corner back in Galway club football will testify to that.

When he retired from soccer and football, he picked up his next passion: golf. It didn’t take him long to pick up the basics of the game and within months he was winning tournaments and representing Tuam G.C. at different team events.

It was a testament to his sporting talent that people from all sporting bodies and from different parts of the country attended his funeral. He will always be remembered as a sporting icon in Tuam.

Go ndeanaí Dia trocaire ar a anam dhilís.

There was shock and sadness among the family, colleagues and friends at the sudden and untimely death of Eugene Halion (1963 2012) at his place of work on Easter Tuesday morning, 10th April 2012.

Eugene was a loyal member of the Tuam Postal Branch over his many years in An Post and could always be depended on no matter what situation occurred. He had a great ability to weigh up an issue in his own quiet way and his views were always of great value to the Branch. He will be fondly remembered by the members of the Branch and never forgotten.

Eugene spent most of his working life as a postman in Tuam D.S.U. apart for a spell as retail clerk at Tuam P.O., but Eugene preferred the outdoor life and returned to the postal deliveries.

While Eugene’s death was a terrible blow for his friends and colleagues, the loss for his wife, Geraldine, and his two children, Caoimhe and Owen, words cannot describe, as he was a great family man.

He was also a highly talented sports man, who excelled at all sports that he competed in. He was probably best known as a “goal poacher” with Tuam Celtic in the local leagues but quickly caught the eye of League of Ireland club Galway United, where he spent several seasons. When he finished with Galway United

Larry Fagan RIP When the news came through that our Colleague and friend Larry Fagan had taken ill at work, it came as a great shock to us all.

Larry passed away on the 16th August 2013, surround by his family. He was 56 years old.

He was born and reared in Erne Street, near Pearse Street and later moved to Killester with his wife Patricia. He joined P & T in 1981. He was well known for his great sense of humour and kindness and was held in the highest regard by all that knew him.

On behalf of Dublin No.2 Branch, we offer our deepest sympathies to his wife Patricia, his son Karl, his daughter Erica, his mother Nora and his extended family.

50

Books reviewed by Adrienne Power ACROSS THE DIVIDE

by Brian Gallagher Published by O’Brien Press. Price €7.99 (paperback and eBook version) Story set during the 1913 lockout as seen through the eyes of two ten year old children.

Liam and Nora are on different sides of the divide. Nora’s father is an employer, a wine importer and Liam’s father works on the docks and is part of Jim Larkin’s Transport Union.

Liam and Nora meet up while taking part in a Féis Choir Competition. They become good friends when a Capuchin monk, Brother Raymond, invites them to be part of a new choir, which includes boys and girls singing together as well as children from wealthy and poor backgrounds. Through their friendship they start seeing things through each other’s eyes. Nora starts asking questions about people living in tenements. Why so many people have to live in one house?

Why in Dublin do babies from poor families die more than anywhere else? When Nora tells Liam she would love to know how an engine works after Liam tells her about his

father bringing his van home and showing him bits and pieces about the engine. Liam tells Nora that engines are not for girls. They both realise that just because things have been this way up until now, that it doesn’t mean they should remain so.

The story opens dramatically during the riot when Jim Larkin tries to talk to the crowd from the Imperial Hotel and men, women and children are brutally baton charged. One man is fatally injured and a good number are wounded, young Liam being one of them. Liam, unknown to his parents, decided to go to the city to see his hero Jim Larkin outwit the authorities and speak to the workers as he promised he would.

There is another terrific scene half way through the book where Nora is on her way to the Dublin Horse Show in Ballsbridge with her family and the Tram workers call a strike and walk away from their trams.

Wonderful story for pre-teens/teens about what life was like growing up in the dramatic and fearful time of change during the year 1913.

A wonderful story for pre-teens & teens!

Whichever you choose -

njoy eading!!

51

GS Circular GSC 20-13

cover is provided for from the central funds of the Union and the members therefore do not have to pay any additional contribution. The scheme provides for the payment of certain sums in the case of death, loss of limbs, and certain hospital charges, detailed on the schedule of benefits page.

All current “In Benefit” members of the CWU are covered 24 hours a day, 365 days year, anywhere in the world. The only exclusions are injuries consequent upon war, whether declared or undeclared, intentional selfinflicted injury including suicide or attempted suicide, aerial flight other than as a passenger, sickness or disease.

A claim form can be obtained from your local Branch Secretary or Union Head Office. Return the form with a certificate regarding hospitalisation. In the case of death, a Coroner’s Report and grant of probate or letters of administration (whichever is applicable) will also be required.

29th August 2013 Re: Recent Tragic Events – Various Benefit Schemes Dear Colleague, Over the last number of months, a number of your Union comrades have died, tragically young, in service, through various reasons. In some of these cases, it has emerged that the individual members had for one reason or another not protected themselves or their families for such eventualities, as it is part of the human condition that we believe that these things only happen to other people.

However, the families of the deceased are, as usual, left to deal with the outcome of those tragedies and, while money can never replace the loss of a loved one, it does make getting through life in difficult circumstances that little bit easier. With this in mind, the Union has always been to the fore in operating schemes at the lowest possible rates which gives some protection to members’ families. I have been asked by Branches around the country to highlight those schemes through this circular and the Union magazine, in order to ensure all members realise what options are available to them. I appreciate that times are difficult economically and it is worth noting that a number of these schemes are free. Ultimately, the responsibility for looking after your loved ones lies directly with yourself and all it takes is a few moments to fill in the necessary forms and to bring yourself up to date with what options are available to you.

A.

C.

A member may be paid €635 on the death of his/her spouse. The estate of a member may be paid €5,080 on his/her death. A member may nominate during his/her lifetime to whom the sum shall be payable. A Retired Member may be paid €635 on the death of his/her spouse. The estate of a Retired Member may be paid €1,270 on his/her death. A Retired Member may during his/her lifetime nominate to whom such payment may be made. There is only one mortality benefit payment due per member.

To apply, obtain a form from Union Head Office through the Branch/Section Secretary, complete same and return with copy of Death Certificate. In certain cases the Union may also require sight of the grant of probate or letters of administration, whichever is applicable.

D.

Orphan’s Pension Scheme

CWU Group Life Cover Plan

The Union has also negotiated additional schemes to cover members and their spouses in the event of death for the premia as outlined below.

The Scheme provides €100,000 death benefit insurance for entrants up to age 65. Thereafter you have an option to continue onto the over 65 Life Cover scheme, which provides death benefit insurance up to age 80 (different levels of cover apply, as per below).

Cover is provided for both CWU Members and their spouse/partner, and automatically includes €10,000 death benefit for each child aged from 1 up to 21.

Main Scheme Cover Details: Member Cover - €100,000 Death Benefit up to age 65 = €3.89 per week (gross).

Members’ deduction received tax-relief at source; Net cost @ 20% rate = €3.11 Net cost @ 41% rate = €2.29

All CWU members can enrol their children for free in the Orphan’s Pension Scheme.

In the event of the member’s death a sum of €20 per week (paid monthly) to be paid in respect of each child registered with the fund until that child reaches the age of 18 years. Members must register the names of each of their children with the fund in order to have cover provided by the scheme. This scheme is a FREE benefit to all members and application forms may be obtained from your Branch Secretary or Union Head Office.

Payments are commenced to eligible children when the member’s death is brought to the attention of Union Head Office.

2.

Mortality Benefit

Personal Accident Cover

All members of the CWU are automatically insured by the Union on the following basis.

Personal Accident Cover is provided FREE for all “In Benefit” members of the Union. The financing of this

Spouse Cover - €100,000 Death Benefit up to age 65 = €3.03 per week.

52

In addition, members can now also join the scheme online through the CWU website or

This is an after tax deduction and NOT eligible for taxrelief.

http://www.cwu.ie/Services/CWU-AVC-LifeInsurance-Quote.1651.1.aspx

Over 65 Scheme Cover Details: Members and Spouse Cover is the same: From age 65 – 69 = €25,000 From age 70 – 74 = €15,000

The aforementioned benefits are also extended to Retired Members’ as outlined in the Retired Members Benefit booklet, which can be obtained from Union Head Office.

I have enclosed for your convenience application forms for the Orphan’s Pension Scheme and for the Halligan Scheme.

This circular will be reproduced in the upcoming Union Connect magazine.

From age 75 up to 80 = €10,000 Member premium = €5.05 per week Spouse premium = €4.04 per week No tax-relief applies for either premium.

Yours fraternally, Steve Fitzpatrick General Secretary

All new entrants will receive Free Cover up to 1st January 2014.

CWU says “Bon Voyage” to the Humanitarian Aid Crew as they head off to Bulgaria

Pictured from l to r: This year’s volunteers: Paul O’Neill, Pat Lombard, Declan O’Mara, Marie Hynes, Trevor Thompson & Jim Ryan.

Pictured from l to r: eircom CEO, Herb Hribar with Pat Lombard and Jim Ryan.

Mark Graham & Damien Hunter from An Post, help load one of the trucks sponsored by An Post.

53

54

&:8 0HPEHUV DQG 6SRXVHV $SSOLFDWLRQ )RUP )RU /LIH &RYHU

*HQGHU

+RPH $GGUHVV

0DOH

)HPDOH

6WDII 1R 3KRQH 1R 0DULWDO 6WDWXV

1DPH RI 0HPEHUV (PSOR\HU

2FFXSDWLRQ

8QLRQ %UDQFK &LUFOH ZKLFKHYHU DSSOLFDEOH

3DLG :HHNO\ )RUWQLJKWO\ 0RQWKO\ )RUWQLJKWO\

6SRXVH¶V 3DUWQHU¶V QDPH 6SRXVH¶V 3DUWQHU¶V 2FFXSDWLRQ

RQO\ LI 6SRXVH /LIH &RYHU UHTXLUHG

6SRXVH¶V 3DUWQHU¶V 'DWH RI ELUWK

6HOHFW &RYHU E\ WLFNLQJ ER[ HV

0HPEHU &RYHU <RX PD\ WLFN ERWK WLFN ERWK ER[HV

&LUFOH ZKLFKHYHU DSSOLFDEOH

2I¿FH DGGUHVV

67(3

& 2

3/($6( 86( %/2&. &$3,7$/6 3OHDVH UHDG HDFK VHFWLRQ FDUHIXOO\ DQG HQVXUH \RX IXOO\ XQGHUVWDQG LW EHIRUH FRPSOHWLQJ

'DWH RI ELUWK

6SRXVHV 3DUWQHUV 'HWDLOV

,

( 5 6· 8 1

67

<RXU 1DPH 0U 0UV 0LVV 0V

(PSOR\HU 'HWDLOV

)5(( ) 5(( & &29(5 29(5 ) )25 25 1 1(: (: ( (175$176 175$176 817, 817,/ ,/ -$18$5 -$18$5< < $XWRPDWLFDOO\ LQFOXGHV /LIH &RYHU RI ¼ SHU FKLOG

67(3

0HPEHU 'HWDLOV

5 .

2

2

,

( 5 6· 8 1

16

:

5 .

1

,2

2

:

6S & HF&2 )UH : LD H & 8 O & R RQ YH 2 1 FH U VV LR Q

1, &$ 7

1, &$ 7

16

08

0

08

0

,2

&:8 *URXS /LIH &RYHU & :8 *URXS /LIH &RYHU ¼ 'HDWK %HQH¿W ¼ 'HDWK %HQH¿W ¼ /LIH &RYHU

6SRXVH 3DUWQHU &RYHU

¼ /LIH &RYHU

¼ /LIH &RYHU

# ¼ SHU ZHH # ¼ SHU ZHHN # ¼

HN ¼ ¼

# ¼ SHU ZHHN # ¼ SHU ZH HHN

5HFHLYHV 356, UHOLHI DQG WD[ UHOLHI HF H FHLYHV 356, UHOLHI DQG WD 56 I DI QG [ UHOLHI HUOLH 5HFHLYHV WD[ UHOLHI DW VRXUFH 5 HFH FHLY HYYH L Y V H V3 5 W D6, [ UH UHOL H OHL H DG W VD[ R XUH FHI H

,QFOXGHV ,QFOXGHV ¼ /LIH &RYHU IRU \RXU ¼ /LIH &R RYHU IRU \RXU &KLOGUHQ DJHG IURP WR DJH &KLOGUHQ DJHG IURP WR DJH H &KLOGUHQ DJHG

¼ ¼ 1HW FRVW # 1H HW FRVW # ¼ SHU ZHHN ¼ SH HU ZHHN

:DUQLQJ 7KH FXUUHQW SUHPLXP PD\ LQFUHDVH DIWHU WKH QH[W UHYLHZ RI WKH VFKHPH DW : DRQDO %HQH¿W DUQLQJ 7KH FXUUH DUQLQJ 7KH FXUUHQW SUHPLX XP PD\ LQFUHDVH DIWHU WKH Q QH[W UHYLHZ RI WKH VFKHPH H DW

$GGLWLRQDO %HQH¿W $GG GLWL GLWLR LR O% ¿W

/LIH &RYHU FDQ EH H[WHQGHG XS WR DJH DW D ORZ FRVW /LIH & &RYHU FDQ &RYHU FDQ EH H[W WHQGHG XS WR DJH DW D ORZ FRVW $GGLWLRQDO %HQH¿W $GGLWL LRQDO %HQH¿W LRQDO %HQH¿W &RYHU LV ¼ IURP XS WR DJH ¼ XS WR DJH ¼ XS WR DJH &RYHU LV VV ¼ IURP XS WR DJ ¼ IURP XS WR DJ JH ¼ XS WR DJH JH ¼ XS WR DJH ¼ ¼ XS WR DJH XS WR DJH

/LIH &RYHU FDQ EH H[WHQGHG XS WR DJH DW D ORZ FRVW /LIH /LIH & & &RYHU FDQ EH H[WWHQGHG XS WR DJH &RYHU FDQ EH H[W WHQGHG XS WR DJH H DW D ORZ FRVWW H DW D ORZ FRVW W

67(3

&RYHU LV ¼ IURP XS WR DJH ¼ XS WR DJH ¼ XS WR DJH &RYHU &RYHU L LV ¼ IURP XS WR D V ¼ ¼ IURP XS WR D DJH ¼ XS WR DJH DJH ¼ XS WR H ¼ H ¼ XS WR DJH XS WR DJH

3OHDVH FRPSOHWH VWHS WKUHH RYHUOHDI !!

&RQWLQXHG RQ UHYHUVH !!!

0DLQ 3ODQ 'HWDLOV Â&#x2021; 7R EH HOLJLEOH \RX PXVW EH DQ ,Q %HQH¿W 0HPEHU RI WKH &:8 Â&#x2021; <RX DQG \RXU 6SRXVH 3DUWQHU DUH RYHU \HDUV RI DJH DQG XQGHU \HDUV RI DJH Â&#x2021; 3DUWQHU LV GH¿QHG DV OLYLQJ LQ D VSRXVDO W\SH UHODWLRQVKLS IRU RU PRUH PRQWKV DW WKH WLPH RI FRPSOHWLQJ WKLV DSSOLFDWLRQ IRUP Â&#x2021; <RX FDQ FRQWLQXH SD\PHQWV E\ 'LUHFW 'HELW RQ HDUO\ UHWLUHPHQW 'LUHFW 'HELWV PXVW EH VHW XS ZLWKLQ WKUHH PRQWKV RI UHWLUHPHQW RU VHYHUDQFH GDWH Â&#x2021; 0HPEHUV /LIH &RYHU LV SD\DEOH VXEMHFW WR 5HYHQXH OLPLWV ZKLFK LV QRUPDOO\ IRXU WLPHV VDODU\ Â&#x2021; )XOO 7HUPV DQG &RQGLWLRQV LQ 0DVWHU 3ROLF\ FRS\ DYDLODEOH IRU LQVSHFWLRQ RQ UHTXHVW

VW 55 )UHH &RYHU 2IIHU IRU ¼ 'HDWK %HQH¿W XS WR )UHH &RY YHU 2IIHU IRU ¼ 'HDWK %HQH H¿W XS WR VWVW -DQX -DQXDU\ XDU\ $FFHSWDQFH ZLWKRXW QRUPDO PHGLFDO TXHVWLRQV RSHQ XS WR 'HFHPEHU 2FWREHU

'(&/$5$7,21 '(&/$5$ $5$7,21 72

&:8 0HPEHUV DQG 6SRXVHV $SSOLFDWLRQ )RUP )RU /LIH &RYHU :8::DUQLQJ 3OHDVH UHDG WKH GHFODUDWLRQ EHORZ FDUHIXOO\ DQG HQVXUH WKDW \RX IXOO\ XQGHUVWDQG LW EHIRUH VLJQLQJ LW DUQLQ 0QJ 3OHDVH UHDG WKH GHFODUDWLRQ HP EHUV D QG 6SQ EHORZ FDUHIXOO\ DQG HQVXUH WKD RX VHV $ SSO LF DW LRDW \RX IXOO\ XQGHUVWDQG LW EHIRUH Q )R UP ) RU /L IH VLJQLQJ LW H &RYHU &

67(3 67(

,I \RX FDQQRW FRPSOHWH WKLV GHFODUDWLRQ \RX VKRXOG FRPSOHWH WKH 6WDQGDUG $SSOLFDWLRQ )RUP LQVWHDG ,I \RX FDQQRW FRPSOHWH WKLV GHFOD DUDWLRQ \RX VKRXOG FRPSOHWH WKH H 6WDQGDUG $SSOLFDWLRQ )RUP LQVVWHDG

'(&/$5$7,21 '(&/ ' '(&/$5$ $5$7 $7,21 1

,, ZLVK WR MRLQ WKH *URXS /LIH $VVXUDQFH 3ODQ IRU &:8 PHPEHUV , FRQ¿UP WKDW , DP D PHPEHU VSRXVH RI D PHPEHU RI WKH &:8 DQG WKDW PHPEHUVKLS RI ZLV Q WKH *URXS /LIH H $VVXUDQFH 3ODQ IRU &:8 PHPE EHUV , FRQ¿UP ¿ WKDW WK W , DP D PHPEHU VSRXVH RI D PHPEHU RI WKH &:8 8 DQG WKDW PHPEHUVKLS RI 67( 67(3 6 7( WKH IH $VVXUDQFH 3ODQ Q LV V FRQGLWLRQDO FRQGLWLRQDO XSRQ PH P\ PH P\ VSRXVH RXVH¶V V FRQWLQXHG PHPEHUVKLS RI RI WKH WKH &:8 &:8 , XQGHUVWDQG XQGHUVWDQG WKDW LW LV D FRQGLWLRQ RI PHPEHUVKLS WKH &:8 /LIH $VVXUDQFH 3ODQ LV FRQGLWLRQDO XSRQ PH P\ VSRXVH¶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¿UP WKDW , KDYH UHDG WKH 3ODQ %RRNOHW DQG XQGHUVWDQG WKH NH\ IHDWXUHV RI WKH VFKHPH ERRNOHW DYDLODEOH RQ PDWWHUV DUH ELQGLQJ J RQ DOO PHPEHUV P , FDQ FRQ¿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Â&#x2021; Â&#x2021; DWWHQGLQJ , DP LQ J , DP LQ JRRG KHDOWK WRG , DP LQ JRRG KHDOWK WRGD\ KHDOWK XS WRG GD\ D\ ERZHO RU NLGQH\ GLVRUGHU 1HXURORJLFDO GLVRUGHU 0HQWDO KHDOWK SUREOHP ZHO R RU NL HU DGYLVHG HU 1HXURORJLFDO GLVRUGHU 0HQW 1HXURWR ORJLFDO GLVR WLQ WD KHDOW K SUR REOHP Â&#x2021; Â&#x2021; ERZHO RU NLGQH\ GLVRUGH , KDYH QRW WDNHQ RU EHHQ DGYLVHG WR WDNH DQ\ PHGLFDWLRQ LQ WKH ODVW PRQWKV IRU D SHULRG RI PRUH WKDQ ZHHNV RUDO FRQWUDFHSWLYH SLOO PD\ EH LJQRUHG

,RKDYH QRW GQH\ WDNHQ GLV RU RUGH EHH HQ WDNH DQ\ \RUGHU 0HQ PHGLFDWLRQ WDO KHDOW L WKH ODV VK SUREOHP VW PRQWK KV IRU D SHULRG RI R PRUH WKDQ ZHHNV RUDO FRQWUDFFHSWLYH SLOO PD\ EH LJQRUHG

Â&#x2021; , DP QRW XQGHU &RQVXOWDQW RU +RVSLWDO IROORZ XS RU DZDLWLQJ DQ\ WHVW RU VXUJHU\ RU UHVXOWV RI VDPH Â&#x2021; , DP QRW XQGHU &RQVXOW WDQW RU +RVSLWDO IROORZ XS RU DZDLWWLQJ DQ\ WHVW RU VXUJHU\ RU UHVXOWV R RI VDPH , :H KDYH QHYHU EHHQ UHIXVHG SRVWSRQHG RU DFFHSWHG RQ VSHFLDO WHUPV IRU OLIH FRYHU 'HDWK %HQH¿W , :H XQGHUVWDQG WKDW IDLOXUH WR GLVFORVH : H YH QHY KDYHYHU EHH K QHYHU E EHHQ UHIXVHG I G SRQHG RU DF SRVWSRQHG W GFFH RU SWHG RQ VS DFFHSWHG W GSHFLD VSHF VSHFLDO FLDO WHUPV IRU OLIH DQFH & OLI FRYHU ' 'HDWK %HQH¿W , : Â&#x2021; , : Â&#x2021; ,, KDYH QHYHU EHHQ UHIXVHG SRVWSRQHG RU DFFHSWHG RQ VSHFLDO WHUPV IRU /LIH $VVXUDQFH &RYHU 'HDWK %HQH¿W

, KDYH QHYHU EHHQ UHIX K KD Q UHIX XVHG SRVWSRQHG RU DFFHS VHG SRV SRQ HFLDO WHU PVV IRU /LIH IRU /LIHIRU $VVVXU $VVXUDQFH & &R RYHU ' 'HDWK %HQH¿W

HDWK %HQ H¿W

H XQGHUVWDQG WKDW IDLOXUH WR GLVFORVH

D PDWHULD PDWHULDO DOWKDW IDFLI IDFW P D\ QRW FRQ QVWLWXWH VWLWXWH JURXQ IRU UHMHFWLRQ UHMH RO IPD FODLPIDFWV FODLP , :H UHOHYDQW FRQVHQ LQIRUPDWLRQ

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

Q\ LQVXU QVXUPDWLRQ

DQFH FR DQFH FRPSDQ\ ZKHUH , : RP SDQ\ ZK , : : :H PD\ KDYH DSSOLHG H P PD\ KD K YH DSS LHGOLNHO\ GLI¿FXOW\ LQ REWDLQLQJ FRYHU HOVHZKHUH $ PDWHULDO IDFW UHOHYDQW LQIRUPDWLRQ LV RQH WKDW DQ LQVXUHU ZRXOG UHJDUG DV OLNHO\ WR LQÃ&#x20AC;XHQFH WKH DVVHVVPHQW DQG GLI¿FXOW\ FXOW\ LQ LQ REWDLQLQJRI SURF FRYHUFHVVLQJ P\ RXU DSSOLFDWLRQ RU DQ FRYHU HOVHZKHUH RX HOVHZKHUH $ PDWHULDO IDFW UHOHYD DQW LQIRUP LV RQH WKDW HUH DQ LQVX DQ XUHU XUHU ZRXOG UHJDUG DV UHJDUG O WR LQÃ&#x20AC;X XHQFH WKH DVVHVVPHQW DQG DFFHSWDQFH RI WKH DSSOLFDWLRQ IRU LQVXUDQFH ,I \RX DUH QRW VXUH ZKHWKHU VRPHWKLQJ LV UHOHYDQW \RX VKRXOG WHOO XV DQ\ZD\ <RX GR QRW QHHG WR WHOO ,ULVK /LIH DFFHSWDQFH RI WKH DSSOLFDWLR RQ IRU LQVXUDQFH ,I \RX DUH QRW VX XUH ZKHWKHU VRPHWKLQJ LV UHOHYDQW \RX VKRXOG WHOO XV DQ\ZD\ <RX R GR G QRW QHHG WR WHOO ,ULVK /LIH , : , :H DXWKRULVH ,ULVK /LIH WR DFFHVV DQG UHFHLYH WKLV LQIRUPDWLRQ , :H DJUHH WKDW WKLV DXWKRULW\ ZLOO VWD\ LQ IRUFH DIWHU P\ RXU GHDWK DXWKRULVH ,ULVK ,ULV WKDW K /LIH /LIHLV WR DFFHVV DFFFHVV DQG DQGRI UHFHLYH WKLV LQIR'1$ UPDW RU UPDWLRQ RQ51$ , : H D DXWQRUPDOLWLHV WKRULW\ ZLOO VW WKRULW\ ZLOO VWD\ LQ IRUFH DIWHU P\ R \ R RX RXU GHD XU GH WK KDG <RX WK DERXW DQ\ JHQHWLF WHVW WKDW LV DQ\ DQDO\VLV RI FKURPRVRPHV '1$ RU 51$ WR GHWHFW JHQHWLF DEQRUPDOLWLHV LQ LQGLYLGXDOV ZKLFK \RX PD\ KDYH KDG <RX PXVW DERXW XW:DQ\ DH DXWKRULVH DQ\ JHQHWLFHWHVW WKDW LV WR DQ\ DQDO\VLV RI UHFHLYH FKURPRVRPHV FKURPRVRPHV RU 5 1$ H DJUHH WKDW WKLV DXW WRDJUHH W GHWHFW K JDW WKLV DEQ JHQHWLF LQ D\ LQ IRUFH D LQGLYLGXDOV

DIWHU P ZKLFK \\R RX PD\\ DKDYH KDY K R PXVW , :H XQGHUVWDQG WKDW ,ULVK /LIH PXVW EH QRWL¿HG RI DQ\ FKDQJHV LQ P\ RXU KHDOWK DQG RU FLUFXPVWDQFHV SULRU WR WKH DVVXPSWLRQ RI ULVN L H WKH , : H WHOO ,ULVK /LIH LI \RX XQGHUVWDQG G ,ULVKW /LIH G WK WKDW W ,,U ULVK L DUH K /LI /LIH PXVW WHDWP EH PHQW E QRWL¿HG WL¿IRUG RU RI I DUH H DQ\ HFKDQJHV F[SHU FKDQ QJHV LLQ P\ RXU

KHDOWK K OWKDDQG RU G U LF FRQGLWLRQ FLUFXPVWDQ FLUFXPVWDQFHV SULRU WR WKH DVVX XPSWLRQ RI ULVN L H WKH KRZHYHU WHOO ,ULVK /LIH LI \RX DUH KDYLQJ WUHDWPHQW IRU RU DUH H[SHULHQFLQJ V\PSWRPV RI D JHQHWLF FRQGLWLRQ KRZHYHU ZHYH HU WHOO LI \R X X DUH KDYLQJ WUHDWPHQW IRU RU DUH H KDY LQJ WUH S LHQFL LHQFLQJ V\PSWRPV RI D JHQHWL QJ V\PSWR PV RI JHQHWL L F FRQGLWLRQ

GDWH GDWH ,ULVK /LIH DFFHSWV \RX LQWR WKH 3ODQ , :H XQGHUVWDQG WKDW FRYHU ZLOO QRW EHJLQ XQWLO WKLV DSSOLFDWLRQ KDV EHHQ DFFHSWHG E\ ,ULVK /LIH , ,ULVK /LIH DFFHSWV \RX LQWR WKH 3ODQ

3ODQ , :H XQGHUV XQGHUVWDQG WKDW FRYHU FRYH ZLOO QRW EHJLQ XQ QWLO WKLV DSSOLFDWLRQ KDV EHHQ DFF FHSWHG E\ ,ULVK /LIH , , FRQVHQW WR ,ULVK /LIH REWDLQLQJ LQIRUPDWLRQ IURP RU VKDULQJ LQIRUPDWLRQ ZLWK , FRQVHQW WR ,ULVK /LIH REWDLQ QV QW WR ,ULVK W , K /LIH / IH REWDLQ RE EWDLQ QLQJ QLQJ LQIRUPDWLRQ IURP RU VKDULQJ LQJ LLQIR I UPDWLRQ IU WL Q IURP RP RU VKD K ULQJ L LQI L IRUPDWLRQ IIRUPDWLLRQ ZLW Z ZLWK LWK K :H FRQ¿UP WKDW LQ MRLQLQJ WKH VFKHPH WKDW , ZH XQGHUVWDQG WKDW LW LV D FRQGLWLRQ RI PHPEHUVKLS WKDW , ZH DFFHSW WKDW WKH &:8 PD\ DPHQG : H FRQ¿UP WKDW WKDW LQ LQ MRLQ QLQJ QLQJ WKH WKH VFKHPH VFKHPH WKDW , ZH , ZH XQG XQGHUV VWDQG W G WK WKDW WKD DW W W LW LW L LV LV D D FRQGLWLRQ F RI RI PH HPEHUVKLS HPEHUVKLS WKDW , ZH H DFFHSW WKDW WKDW WKH &:8 &:8 PD\ DPHQG Â&#x2021; DQ\ GRFWRU ZKR DW DQ\ WLPH KDV DWWHQGHG PH FRQFHUQLQJ DQ\WKLQJ ZKLFK DIIHFWV P\ SK\VLFDO RU PHQWDO KHDOWK Â&#x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Â&#x2021; DQ\ KHDOWK SURIHVVLRQDO IRU WKH SXUSRVH RI SURFHVVLQJ P\ DSSOLFDWLRQ Â&#x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Â&#x2021; PHPEHUV DQ\ DQ\ LQVXUDQFH FRPSDQ \ ELQVXUD DQFH S Q\ ZKHUH , PD\ KDYH DSSOLHG RU PD QWKDW Q\ SSG HG RURWK PD D\ \ PDNH ODLP Â&#x2021; RI LQVXUDQFH EHWZHHQ P IL E W PH XV ,ULVK /LIH DQG WKH &RPPX , L K /LI G WK & XQLFDWLRQ : L WL :RUNHUV 8QLRQ RI ,UHODQ QG , :H DP DZDUH WKDW WKLV FRYH HU FRQWLQXHV WR DJH J RI LQVXUDQFH EHWZHHQ PH XV ,ULVK /LIH DQG WKH &RPPXQLFDWLRQ :RUNHUV 8QLRQ RI ,UHODQG , :H DP DZDUH WKDW WKLV FRYHU FRQWLQXHV WR DJH , DXWKRULVH ,ULVK /LIH WR DFFHVV DQG UHFHLYH WKLV LQIRUPDWLRQ , DJUHH WKDW WKLV DXWKRULW\ ZLOO VWD\ LQ IRUFH DIWHU P\ GHDWK , KHUHE\ DFNQRZOHGJH WKDW , KDYH , DXWKRULVH WK L ,ULVK , L K /LI /LIH WR W DFFH HVV DQG G UHFHLYH L WKL WKLV LQIRUPDWLRQ L I WL , DJUHH WKDW WK W WKLV DXWKRULW\ ZLOO VWD\\ LQ IRUFH DIWHU IW P\ GHDWK G WK , KHUHE K E\ DFNQRZOHGJH N O G WKDW WK W , KDYH K UHDG DQG XQGHUVWDQG WKH FRQWHQWV RI WKH VFKHPH ERRNOHW , XQGHUVWDQG WKDW , PXVW WHOO ,ULVK /LIH LQ ZULWLQJ DERXW DQ\ FKDQJHV LQ P\ KHDOWK RU FLUFXPVWDQFHV UHDG G DQG XQGHUVWDQG WKH FR RQWHQWV RI WKH VFKHPH ERRNOHW , XQ QGHUVWDQG WKDW , PXVW WHOO ,ULVK /LIH H LQ ZULWLQJ DERXW DQ\ FKDQJHV LQ P\ P KHDOWK RU FLUFXPVWDQFHV ' 'DWD 'DWD 3URWHFWLRQ 1RWLFH DWD 3URWHFWLRQ 3 RW R 1RWLFH 1 1RWL RWLF FH EHWZHHQ WK KH H GDWH , DSSOLLH HG IIR RU FRYHU DQG WKH GDWH P\ DSSOLFDWLRQ LV DFFHSWHG , XQGHUVWDQG WKDW WKLV FRQWUDFW ZLOO QRW VWDUW XQWLO ,ULVK /LIH IH KDV DFFHSWHG PH IRU FRYHU FR EHWZHHQ WKH GDWH , DSSOLHG IRU FRYHU DQG WKH GDWH P\ DSSOLFDWLRQ LV DFFHSWHG , XQGHUVWDQG WKDW WKLV FRQWUDFW ZLOO QRW VWDUW XQWLO ,ULVK /LIH KDV DFFHSWHG PH IRU FRYHU 7KH LQIRUPDWLRQ WKDW \RX SURYLGH WR ,ULVK /LIH &RUSRUDWH %XVLQHVV ZLOO EH KHOG RQ D FRPSXWHU GDWDEDVH DQG RU DQ\ RWKHU ZD\ DQG ZLOO EH XVHG

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

KDYH ZLWK ,ULVK /LIH KDYH ZLWK ,ULVK /LIH &RUSRUDWH %XVLQHVV 'DWD 3URWHFWLRQ 1RWLFHV 'DWD DKDYH ZLWK ,ULVK /LIH &RU 3URWHFWLRQ 1RWLFHV USRUDWH %XVLQHVV

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

<R < RX DOVR K KDYH WKH ULJ JKW W JKW WR UHTXLUH ,ULVK /LIH &RUSRUDWH H %XVLQHVV WR FRUUHFW DQ\ LQDFFX XUDFLHV LQ WKH SHUVRQDO GDWD WKDW LLW KROGV DERXW \RX /LIH DQG RU +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFHV /LIH DQG RU +DOOLJ DQG GRX DOVR KDYH WKH ULJ G RU +DOOLJ DQ ,QVXUDQ QFHV <RX DOVR KDYH WKH ULJKW WR TXHVWLRQ WKH SXUSRVH IRU ZKLFK \RXU GDWD LV KHOG

<R RX RX D DOVR OVR ULJKW OVR KDYH HRIWK WKH KH KH ULJ ULJ JKW WR JKW WR TXHVWLRQ WKH SXUSRVH IRU Z WR \RXU TXHVWLRQ TXHVWLRQ WKH VWLRQ WKH SXUSRVH SXUS RVH IRU ZKLFK ZKLF ZKLFK \RXU G K \RXU \R RXU RXU G G RU LV KHOG KHOG KH HOG <RX KDYH WKH ULJKW RI DFFHVV WR \RXU SHUVRQDO GDWD KHOG E\ ,ULVK /LIH DQG RU +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFHV E\ VHQGLQJ D ZULWWHQ UHTXHVW DQG RQ SD\PHQW RI D VPDOO IHH <R

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

$

$ SURFHVVLQJ DQG KROGLQJ RQ FRPSXWHU RU RWKHUZLVH RI DOO LQIRUPDWLRQ GLVFORVHG E\ PH RU RQ P\ EHKDOI LQ UHODWLRQ WR WKH SODQ E\ ,ULVK /LIH SURFHVVLQJ SURFHVVLQJ DQG WR KROG GLQ RQ FRPSXWHU RU RWKHUZLVH RI DOO LQIRUPDWLRQ GLVFORVHG E\ PH GLQJ P RU RQ P\ EHKDOI LQ UHODWLRQ WR R WKH SODQ E\ ,ULVK /LIH , GHFODUH WKDW , FRQVHQW WR WKH , GHFODUH FODUH WKDW , FRQ FRQVHQW VHQW WK KH &RUSRUDWH DQG %X %XVLQHVV VLQHVV VFRPSXWHU DQG D DJHQWV H WRJHWKH DJHQWV W RJ HU HU ZLWK VXF VXFK RWKHU GLQIRUPDWLRQ RWKHU LQIR LQIRUPDWLRQ VXSSOLHG XSS OLHG DOI RU LQ RU R REWDLQHG E\ ,ULVVK ,ULVK /L /LIH IH H &RUSRUDWH &RUS %XVLQHVV &RUSRUDWH %XVLQHVV LWV WRJHWKHU ZLWK VXFK REWDLQHG /LIH &RUSRUDWH %XVLQHVV $ SURFHVVLQJ DQG KROGLQJ RQ FRPSXWHU RU RWKHUZLVH RI DOO LQIRUPDWLRQ GLVFORVHG E\ PH RU RQ P\ EHKDOI LQ UHODWLRQ WR WKH SODQ E\ ,ULVK /LIH DQG RU +DOOLJDQ $ SURFHVVLQJ SURFHVVLQJ DQG KROGLQJ LW KROGLQJ WV R VHUYDQWV RQ FRPSXWHUDQG RU G RWKHUZLVH

RU RWKHUZLV RI HWK RI DOOKH LQ QIR QIRUPDWLRQ RUPDW RQFK GLVFORVH GLVFORVHG E\ UPD PH WLR PH RU QRQ RU RQVXSSOLHG P\ EHKDOI EHK QEWDLQHG UHODWLRQ E\ UHODWLRQ WR WKH WR KH SODQ SODQ EH E\ ,ULVK RUDW ,ULVK /LIH HDQG RU DQG RU +DOOL DQ +DOOLJ VHSDUDWH HO\ LQFOXGLQ VVHQVLWLYH VH VHQVLWLYH SHUVRQD ZLWK SHUVRQDO GDW GDWD DVX EH EHLQJ LQJ P HGLFDODWLRQ UHFR UHFRUGV UGV SOLHG DQG DQG RU RU ¿QDQFLD GH,ULVK GHWDLOV

WDLOV /LIH DQ DQG GDQ KROG KROGLQJ QJ RU SU RFHV VVLQJ RI WKH VDPH VDPH IRU VHSDUDWHO\

GDWD EHLQJ PHGLFDO UHFRUGV DQG RU ¿QDQFLDO DQG KROGLQJ RU DQ SURFHVVLQJ RI LQFOXGLQJ WKH GLQJ VDPH IRU ,QVXUDQFHV LWV VHUYDQWV DQG DJHQWV WRJHWKHU ZLWK VXFK RWKHU LQIRUPDWLRQ VXSSOLHG RU REWDLQHG E\ ,ULVK /LIH DQG RU +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFHV LQFOXGLQJ VHQVLWLYH ,QVXUDQFHV XUDQFHV LWV VLQFOXGLQJ HUYDQWV J DQG GHQVLWLYH DJHQWV WRJHWKHU WRJHWKHU VXFK RWK KH HPHGLFDO U LQIRUPDWLRQ LQIRUP VXS VXSSOLHG RU REWDLQHG GO E\ / LIH DQG RU +D OLJ +DOOLJ DSURFHV ,QVXVVLQJ UDQFHV

UDQFHV

QFOX VHQVL VHQVLWLYH DGPLQLVWUD DGPLQLVWUDWLYH FXVWRPH HU UHFRUGV HU FDUH DQG VHUYLFH SXUSRVHV DQ FDUH DQ QG VHUY DGPLQLVWUDWLYH FXVWRPHU FDUH DQG VHUYLFH SXUSRVHV DQG SHUVRQDO GDWD EHLQJ PHGLFDO UHFRUGV DQG RU ¿QDQFLDO GHWDLOV DQG KROGLQJ RU SURFHVVLQJ RI VDPH IRU XQGHUZULWLQJ DGPLQLVWUDWLYH FXVWRPHU FDUH DQG VHUYLFH SHUVRQDO VRQDO GDWDDWLYH F

EHLQJ J XVWRPH PHGLFD DO DQG RU LFH SXUS ¿QDQFLDORVHV DQ GHWDLOV

QG DQ QG KROGLQJ RU SURFHVVLQJ RI VDPH IRU XQGHUZULWLQJ DGPLQLVWUDWLYH FXVWRPHU FDUH DQG VHUYLFH % GLVFORVLQJ %

GLVFORV RI P\ SH HUVRQDO GDWD WR SHUVRQV QHFHVVD DU\ LQ FRQQHFWLRQ ZLWK WKH DERYH H SXUSRVHV WR UHJXODWRU\ DXWKRUULWLHV RU DV LV UHTXLUHG % GLVFORVLQJ RI P\ SHUVRQDO GDWD WR SHUVRQV QHFHVVDU\ LQ FRQQHFWLRQ ZLWK WKH DERYH SXUSRVHV WR UHJXODWRU\ DXWKRULWLHV RU DV LV UHTXLUHG SXUSRVHV DQG SRV HV DQG E\ OODZ E WR ,ULVK /LIH /LIH &R & RUSRUDWH RUSRUDWH %X %XVLQHVV XVLQHVV DQG DQG WR UVRQV RWKHUQHFHVVDU\ RWKHU FRPSDQLHLQ V WKH FWLRQ WK &RP &RPSDQ\¶ PSDQ V JDERYH URXS WR SRVHV WR UHLQVXUHU UHLQVXUHUV WR KHDOWK K OWK \SU S URIHVVLRQDOV UDXWKRULWLHV URIHVVLRQD VU DQG RUHTXLUHG E\ ODZ WR ,ULVK /LIH &RUSRUDWH %XVLQHVV DQG WR RWKHU FRPSDQLHV LQ WKH &RPSDQ\¶V JURXS WR UHLQVXUHUV WR KHDOWK SURIHVVLRQDOV DQG RWKHU % GLVFORVLQJ RI P\ GDWD SHUVRQDO DQG VHQVLWLYH WR SHUVRQV QHFHVVDU\ LQ FRQQHFWLRQ ZLWK WKH DERYH SXUSRVHV WR WKH UHJXODWRU\ DXWKRULWLHV RU DV LV UHTXLUHG % GLVFORVLQJ GLVF RVLQ Q JWR RI,ULVK RI P\ GDWD P\ DWD SH SH HUVRQDO DQG DQG VHQVLWLYH

VHQVLWLYH

WR SHUVRQV WR SH QFRPSDQLHV Q LLQ FRQQH FRQQHF ZLWK \¶ WK KH DURXS E SX SXUSRVHV WR V WK KH HWR UHJXODWR UHJXODWRU\ D R DVGLV LVRWKHU UHTX E\ ODZ WR +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFHV ,ULVK /LIH $VVXUDQFH SOF DQG WR RWKHU FRPSDQLHV LQ ,ULVK /LIH *URXS /LPLWHG WR UHLQVXUHUV DQG KHDOWK SURIHVVLRQDOV E\ OD DZ WR +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQF F $VVXUDQFH SOF DQG WR R RWKHU FRPSDQLHV LQ ,ULVK /LIH *UR RXS /LPLWHG WR UHLQVXUHUV DQG KHDOWK SURIHVVLRQDOV LQV VXUDQFH F RPSDQLHV FHV ,ULVK /LIH LQVXUDQFH FRPSDQLHV

;

0HPEHUV 6LJQDWXUH

'DWH

;

6SRXVH¶V 3DUWQHU¶V 6LJQDWXUH

67(3

1RWH

,I \RX DUH QRW HPSOR\HG E\ (LUFRP $Q 3RVW RU 9RGDIRQH 3OHDVH LJQRUH WKLV VDODU\ GHGXFWLRQ PDQGDWH DQG FRQWDFW +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFHV WR UHTXHVW D GLUHFW GHELW PDQGDWH

'DWH

&RQWDFW +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFHV RQ LI HLWKHU RI \RX FDQQRW VLJQ WKH GHFODUDWLRQ

&RQWDFW +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFHVV RQ LI HLWKHU RI \RX FDQQRW VLJQ WKH GHFODUDWLRQ

3OHDVH &RPSOHWH WKH 6DODU\ 'HGXFWLRQ 0DQGDWH ³, KHUHE\ DXWKRULVH P\ HPSOR\HU WR PDNH WKH QHFHVVDU\ GHGXFWLRQV IURP P\ VDODU\ RU ZDJHV IRU WKH VSHFL¿F SXUSRVHV RI SD\LQJ IRU P\ PHPEHUVKLS RI WKH &:8 *URXS ,QVXUDQFH 3ODQV 6XFK GHGXFWLRQV DUH EHLQJ PDGH VROHO\ IRU FRQYHQLHQFH DQG PD\ EH GLVFRQWLQXHG DW DQ\ WLPH 8QWLO VXFK WLPH DV ,ULVK /LIH $VVXUDQFH SOF KDV QRWL¿HG PH WR WKH FRQWUDU\ WKH GHGXFWLRQV DUH VXEMHFW WR WKH DFFHSWDQFH RI ULVN E\ ,ULVK /LIH´ , XQGHUWDNH WR QRWLI\ +DOOLJDQ

,QVXUDQFHV LI IRU DQ\ UHDVRQ SROLF\ GHGXFWLRQV GR QRW RFFXU DV DJUHHG

0HPEHUV 1DPH

;

0HPEHUV 6LJQDWXUH

'DWH

1DPH RI (PSOR\HU

2I¿FH 6HFWLRQ LQ ZKLFK HPSOR\HG

6WDII 1XPEHU

&:8 %UDQFK

$PRXQW WR EH GHGXFWHG ¼

SHU ZHHN

,ULVK /LIH $VVXUDQFH SOF LV UHJXODWHG E\ WKH &HQWUDO %DQN RI ,UHODQG +DOOLJDQ /LIH 3HQVLRQV /WG W D +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFHV LV UHJXODWHG E\ WKH &HQWUDO %DQN RI ,UHODQG +DOOLJDQ /LIH 3HQVLRQV /LPLWHG WUDGLQJ DV +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFHV LQFRUSRUDWLQJ 0F&DUWK\ ,QVXUDQFHV LV UHJXODWHG E\ WKH &HQWUDO %DQN RI ,UHODQG

$UUDQJHG E\ 5HWXUQ WR +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFH 5HWXUQ WR +DOOLJDQ ,QVXUDQFHV )5((3267 /RZHU 2¶&RQQHOO 6WUHHW 'XEOLQ 5 HV )5((3267 7 /RZH HU 2¶&RQQHOO 6WUHHW 'XEOLQ 56 +$//,*$1 ,1685$1&(6 8QLW\ %XLOGLQJ /RZHU 2¶&RQQHOO 6WUHHW 'XEOLQ 3KRQH 3KRQH (PDLO LQIR#KDOOLJDQ LH :HE ZZZ KDOOLJDQ LH (PDLO LQIR#KDOOLJDQ LH :HE ZZZ KDOOLJDQ LH 7HOHSKRQH (PDLO LQIR#KDOOLJDQ LH :HE ZZZ KDOOLJDQ LH