SIPTU Dublin Fire Brigade Firefighters rally outside City Hall

Over the coming days, the talents and achievements of communities throughout Ireland will be celebrated at St. Patrick’s Festival events. These occasions will remind us that Irish society and economy is built around thriving local communities. It should also remind us that those who work in the Community Sector play a vital role in ensuring that our communities are strong and inclusive.

That is why these workers need support and it is vital for communities across the country that they receive it. Next Wednesday, Community Sector workers from around the country will be making such a call for solidarity at a protest outside the Dáil to launch their “Rebuilding Our Communities” campaign.

In recent years, community based services have been disproportionately affected by cutbacks. Community workers are now saying it is time to rebuild our communities through investment focused on the provision of quality local services and ensuring respect for workers.

As we celebrate all that is good in Ireland, let us not forget that it is only by supporting those who work for our local communities in their call on the Government for decent pay and conditions of work that we can ensure our society progresses.

SIPTU activists in the Community Sector will hold a protest to launch a new campaign focused on Rebuilding Our Communities outside Leinster House, Dublin 2, on Wednesday, 22nd March, between 1.30 p.m. and 2.00 p.m.

SIPTU Sector Organiser, Eddie Mullins, said: “The Rebuilding Our Communities Campaign will focus on three key issues for workers across the sector: the funding of the vital services they deliver, problems associated with creeping privatisation and the need for movement on pay and related issues. All three of these issues directly impact on tens of thousands of workers and hundreds of thousands of community sector service users across the country.

“Our members are calling upon supporters to ask their local TDs and Councillors to sign a petition in support of the Rebuilding Our Communities Campaign. We are also asking people to contact the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, and ask him to ensure his officials meaningfully engage in theHigh Level Forum for the Community Sector.”

SIPTU representatives have criticised an attempt by the management of Bus Éireann to force through inequitable wage cuts at the company which overwhelmingly focus on the earnings of bus drivers and other staff while ignoring senior management.

In a letter to the management of Bus Éireann, sent on Wednesday (15th March), SIPTU Sector Organiser, Willie Noone, said that SIPTU did not break down the recent discussions between unions and management at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). 

He added: “The company wanted savings which would have involved immediate cuts to the pay of some employees and breaches of collectively bargained agreements. This was not acceptable. Senior management for example were not asked to make any contribution and this clearly was not equitable or fair.” 

During the talks process Willie Noone states that “a number of inefficiencies” at the company were “acknowledged and accepted” by all sides.

“SIPTU is committed to eradicating inefficiencies as this is a mechanism to secure good employment terms for our members into the future,” he added.  

A planned all out strike by the over 900 SIPTU members in Bus Éireann, which had been scheduled to begin on 6^th March, was suspended in order to facilitate the WRC talks. That process is currently suspended without agreement between management and unions. 

Trade unions and senior management in Dublin City Council have agreed to enter into a talks process in relation a dispute which results from an attempt to break up the Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) Emergency Medical Service by removing its ambulance call and dispatch function.

The agreement to begin talks followed an invitation from the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Brendan Carr, on 8th March. In order to assist the process SIPTU and Impact members suspended industrial action scheduled for 18th and 27th March.

The talks process will be chaired by the former Director General of the Workplace Relations Commission, Kieran Mulvey.

In a statement both unions thanked the Lord Mayor, adding: “This outcome has been achieved as a result of the commitment and solidarity of union members in Dublin Fire Brigade, as well as the overwhelming support they have received from the public and their elected representatives.”

A 24-hour work stoppage by SIPTU members at Edenderry Power Ltd (EPL), Edenderry, County Offaly, will begin at 7.30 a.m. on Monday, 27th March, in a dispute concerning collective bargaining rights.

SIPTU Organiser, John Regan, said: “During the stoppage pickets will be placed on entrances to the facility. This dispute is in relation to the Bord na Móna subsidiary refusing to accept that a collective bargaining agreement signed in November 2013 covers our members’ right to have their basic pay increases negotiated by SIPTU representatives.

“Workers in EPL have not received a pay increase since 2007. This is remarkable when it is considered that they are working for a subsidiary of a semi-state company which has recorded profits of €85 million over the last three years.”

SIPTU members in EPL voted by a five to one majority for strike action in a ballot counted on 23rd February.

A delegation from the SIPTU Big Start Campaign attended a meeting of Mayo County Council on Monday, 6th March, to inform councillors of the problems and growing crisis within the Early Years education sector.

Thirty councillors heard from Early Years educators within their local communities on how services are struggling and workers are demoralised. 

SIPTU Organiser and co-ordinator of the Big Start Campaign in Mayo, Ann O’Reilly, said: “With pay so low for these qualified professionals, retaining staff in the sector is a major concern. A high turnover of staff has a huge impact on the quality of education and care provided.

“If the Government expects quality services then they need to address pay. The sector has a predominantly female workforce and it is time that the exploitation of this workforce was ended.”

There was an overwhelmingly positive response from the councillors to the Early Years educators. Many stated that they were unaware of the precarious state of the sector and the conditions of the professionals working in it.  Councillors pledged their support and encouragement for the aims of the Big Start Campaign.