Workers and SIPTU representatives will meet with Kells Town Council on Monday, 15th July, to discuss the industrial dispute at St. Colmcilles' Credit Union in Kells, County Meath.

Following a request from SIPTU, councillors confirmed the credit union workers can attend the Town Council meeting to outline the background to the dispute which has arisen in response to a management failure to recognise their union for collective bargaining purposes.

SIPTU Meath District Council secretary, John Regan, said: “It was unacceptable that management has refused to recognise their employees’ right to join and be represented collectively by a trade union.

“The Labour Court recommended that management at the Credit Union recognise SIPTU for the purposes of collective bargaining. The workers at Kells Credit Union joined SIPTU over a year ago and the union has been attempting to engage with it ever since.”

He added: “However, management has refused to engage in direct talks with the union over the issue of collective bargaining rights and has ignored efforts by the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court to resolve the dispute.”

The Credit Union workers commenced industrial action with a one-day work stoppage on Friday, 28th June. Further industrial action is planned if management continues to refuse to recognise the workers’ union for collective bargaining purposes.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions Biennial Delegate Conference (BDC) was held in the Assembly Buildings, Belfast, from Tuesday (2nd July), to Thursday, (4th, July). 

Over 700 delegates and observers attended the conference whose theme was Decent Work, Better Future. The motions debated dealt with a wide range of issues including the economic crisis, the reform of trade union structures, workplace rights and equality.

Delegates passed motions on the economic crisis that called for “an end to the failed deflationary policies which for five years have depressed domestic demand and prevented growth”, and one demanding the introduction of a sustained programme of investment to create jobs. 

Other motions passed included one on the restructuring of the trade union movement across the island and the necessity for Ireland to meet its international legal and human rights obligations by honouring the Government commitment on trade union rights and the right to collective bargaining. 

At the conference, Congress General Secretary, David Begg, said he would be stepping down before the next biennial conference.

He said in the interim he had three objectives: the introduction of new rights for collective bargaining, the development of a new constitution for the trade union movement and the drawing up of a new economic plan for the country in association with the Nevin Economic Research Institute.

Incoming Congress President John Douglas told delegates it was critical that the union movement reorganises its structure and makes a political impact if it is to achieve its aims.

Addressing the conference Douglas said: “I am sick of politicians north and south pandering and tipping the forelock to multinational abuse of the tax regime, while the same politicians cut services to the most vulnerable and criminalise ordinary workers who can’t pay service charges.

“The present crisis presents the trade union movement not only with challenges but with a great opportunity. We are still the biggest civil society organisation in Ireland; our challenge is to build on our strengths, refine our structures and to mobilise with a unity of purpose.”

The Dublin Tenement Experience: Living the Lockout, is an innovative performance and interpretation-based exhibition, on Henrietta Street in Dublin’s North Inner City.

A joint initiative of Dublin City Council, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and the Irish Heritage Trust, the exhibition is open to the public for two months, until the end of August at No.14 Henrietta Street. The 35-minute drama element of the experience is performed by the award-winning ANU Productions.

The former head of the SIPTU Legal Rights Unit, Michael Halpenny, was a historical advisor for the exhibition.

He said: “The house at Number 14 Henrietta Street, where the performance takes place, is virtually unchanged since 1913 and gives a glimpse of an authentic tenement home of the period. ‘Living the Lockout’ tells the story of that momentous event through the eyes and the words of ordinary workers and tenement dwellers of the time and in a manner which has already received the praise of visitors as a” must see”.

The exhibition has been listed as one of the “100” things to do in Dublin this summer by the Irish Times. 

Number 14 Henrietta Street is open 6 days a week 10 am – 12pm and 2pm – 5pm (closed Wednesdays) from until the 31st August this year. Timed entry tickets are available from www.dublintenementexperience.com or the box office at Number 14 Henrietta Street – Admission €5 / Concessions €3.  

For further information and ticket sales see http://bit.ly/19v9o2r.

The attempt by IBEC to ensure that there will be no tax increases in the next budget is nothing more than a thinly camouflaged attempt to insulate the better off from tax commitments that are already scheduled, while inflicting more misery on the less well off.

IBEC is right in one respect. It is time to ease off on austerity. However, it is also time for the rich to contribute something.

The Government must not retreat from the commitments to abolish tax relief on pensions over €60,000 per annum. This would yield revenue of a quarter of a billion euro per year.

Other measures to generate a further quarter of a billion from the better off are also necessary in Budget 2014. Together with deployment of the billion euro afforded by the Promissory note deal, this would reduce the effect of the adjustment due in the next budget by 50%.

After that the key issue is to how quickly the €6 billion in the Strategic Investment Fund can be leveraged into the economy, thus generating thousands of jobs and further reducing the requirement for austerity.

We can actually get to the 3% deficit target by the end of 2015 without inflicting more misery on the great majority of our citizens, although those at the top of the incomes spectrum will have to contribute a billion euro in extra taxes over two budgets to enable this to happen.