3 minute read
CSNA news
CSNA NEWS
PETER GAUGHAN, national president, CSNA
CSNAhas moved!
The CSNA has moved from its office premises in the Ampersand Building on the Naas Road to its new office in Ladytown Business Park, Naas, Co Kildare. The association’s new full address is below; the CSNA phone number remains as 045-535050.
CSNA, W4D1, Ladytown Business Park, Naas, W91 V8X2
Reminder:Alwayscheck contactlesspaymentsbefore customerleaves
We would like to remind all members that when a customer is making a contactless payment, to check that the payment has been approved before the customer walks away. We have heard instances in stores where a customer Ensure all contactless has made a contactless payments have been accepted payment, walked away, the on your POS terminal before payment has been declined the customer exits and must instead be made by chip and pin. We ask that you remind your staff members of this to ensure that this doesn’t happen to you.
AllianceforInsuranceReform: Renewalchecklist
The Alliance for Insurance Reform has compiled an informative four-step checklist for insurance renewals. It is recommended that these areas are reviewed in preparation for your insurance renewal. View the full document on the CSNA website at www.csna.ie/renewal-checklist/.
CEOmeetsMinisterforRetail
Minister for Employment Affairs and Retail Businesses Damien English invited CSNA CEO Vincent Jennings to meet with him and officials from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to discuss how CSNA members were managing in these troubled times.
The CEO provided the minister with examples of the levels of stress and strain that all members and their employees were encountering whilst providing an acknowledged essential service. The association made the minister aware that the past few weeks have been particularly difficult, not only because of the mandatory face covering rules, but also the fact that we are six months into the pandemic and do not see an early return to “normal”. The CEO asked the minister to consider the provision of a mental health programme for all retailers and staff.
Face masks/coverings
Following on from a series of queries that CSNA had requested his department to put to the Department of Health, the minister has accepted that retailers are not expected or obliged to confront any customers entering a store without a mask. Furthermore, the CEO has asked the minister to provide written confirmation from the Department of Health that accepts that “extreme distress” is not a disability, something that the department has verbally asserted but haven’t committed to in writing. There is a grave concern from HR and employment law experts that an employer or shop owner could be accused of Equality Law discriminatory behaviour if they fail to accept the “right” of someone not to wear a covering due to the “extreme distress “ dispensation in the regulations.
Covid illness benefit
The minister agreed with the CEO that the absence of a payment to people awaiting the results of Covid
Minister for Employment Affairs and Retail Businesses Damien English discussed the challenges faced by CSNA members with CSNA CEO Vincent Jennings
testing, either for themselves or their children needs to be addressed and committed to raising the issue with Minister Heather Humphreys at the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP).
The meeting also discussed the VAT reductions, the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the need to include the decline in profits rather than the decline in turnover when designing relief schemes and the importance of ensuring that existing problems such as insurance, local authority rates and valuations and the struggle for survival of small and medium-sized family businesses were foremost in the minds of the department.
It is refreshing to note the importance that the past three governments have given to the retail industry, culminating in the appointment of a Minister for State for Retail matters. Consultation and sharing of viewpoints are essential in an open economy such as ours. ■
