“Seven days in, we’re staying strong. Today (Thursday 29 May) workers and supporters will again take our demands to the estate of multi-millionaire company director Ruth Savill in Wicklow. It’s the end of the month: our rent is due, we have bills to pay. Giving up is not an option.
Last Friday morning, to stop company director Yannick Forel from stripping assets from the bakery, we began a sit-in. We’ve spent six nights here, sleeping on the floor, just to get the money we have already earned.
Paris Bakery workers were in the Dáil to hear Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD respond to their plight on Tuesday (27th May). The workers had been occupying the Moore Street bakery in Dublin for five days in an attempt to recover almost €100,000 in unpaid wages and entitlements owed to them by employers Yannick Forel and Ruth Savill.
SIPTU has called on the Government to redouble its efforts to retain jobs at the Bausch and Lomb/Valeant manufacturing plant in Waterford following the announcement today that 200 jobs are to go at the company.
Responding to the announcement, SIPTU Sector Organiser, Alan O’Leary, said:
“The announcement today of 200 job cuts is very bad news for the workers in Bausch and Lomb, Waterford. This development comes at a time when retaining quality manufacturing jobs is a key priority. SIPTU is calling on the Government to redouble its efforts to protect jobs in Bausch and Lomb, the largest employer in the South East Region.
A ceremony marking the official naming of the Rosie Hackett Bridge, which spans the Liffey between Marlborough Street and Hawkins Street, took place on Tuesday (20th May).
Pictured at the official naming ceremony of the Rosie Hackett bridge in Dublin on Tuesday, 20th May were (l-r): Rosie Hackett's nephew, John Grey, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Oisin Quinn; Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar TD; SIPTU General Secretary, Joe O'Flynn and Sabina Higgins. The new bridge will connect the green and red luas lines once the luas Cross city is completed. Ms Hackett was the only woman present at Liberty Hall at the printing of the 1916 Proclamation. (Photo: /Photocall Ireland)
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has described the slowdown in employment growth as “extremely worrying and further proof that Government must now intervene directly to stimulate job creation and boost growth.”
SIPTU members in Irish Rail voted by 51% to 49% on Wednesday (21st May) to reject a Labour Court recommendation issued in relation to cost containment plans at the transport company.
Over 1,700 members participated in the ballot that was conducted by the SIPTU Irish Rail Committee.
Welfare staff working for The Donkey Sanctuary have expressed disgust at their treatment by management following its failure to accept union representation at a meeting held on Wednesday (21st May) to discuss the ongoing dispute at the registered charity.
A presentation by the Waterford Traveller Community Health Project to the ICTU/SIPTU HETAC Equality Module students on Monday 26th May 2014 was part of the programme by tutor Margaret de Courcey of developing the awareness and understanding of course students to the traveller ethnicity. “As one of the nine grounds under the Equality legislation we all too often pay lip service to this ground in favour of developing more detailed discussions on other areas like gender, age, disability etc. I felt the opportunity to explore in more detail this areas would enhance our awareness on the serious issues that confront the traveller community”
Pictured: (l-r) Wayne Walsh, SuperValu; Harry Acheson, Group 4S; Nan O’Reilly, Development worker, Waterford Traveller Community Health Project; John Hogan and Walter Comerford, Kilkenny County Council and Donie Brophy, Kilkenny Golf Club.
“Today I was not supposed to be sad”. These words of Irma Gonzalez stunned the crowd of 2000 people into silence at the concert organised as part of the International Commission of Inquiry into the case of the Cuban Five in London.
International Financial Expert, Prof Stephany Griffith-Jones, says public investment banks could boost growth and job creation
The need for increased investment through a new approach to banking in Ireland was a key theme of the Nevin Economic Research Institute’s (NERI) second annual Donal Nevin lecture delivered on Wednesday (28th May) by Professor Stephany Griffith-Jones, Financial Markets Director at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University.
Pictured at the Nevin Lecture were (l-r): ICTU General Secretary David Begg, Director of NERI Tom Healy, Professor Stephany Griffith-Jones and SIPTU Vice President Patricia King.
Ratification of the EU/Colombian Free Trade Agreement will be before the Dáil in the coming weeks. Please add your name to this petition to tell our TD’s and senators that it is the wrong time to approve this agreement.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) held an investor briefing with United States Stock Exchange analysts in New York on Tuesday 27th May to explain why energy giant Chevron’s Gorgon project in north-western Australia is over-budget and delayed.
Workers at 5 Autogrill service station outlets have been taking indefinite strike action for better pay since 16 April.The Company is currently paying new employees €7.00 per hour in east Germany and €8.00 in west Germany. Click here to send a message to Autogrill, demanding the company concludes a fair collective agreement with its workforce in Germany.
The announcement of 200 job cuts at the Bausch and Lomb/Valeant manufacturing facility in Waterford is a further blow to a region already devastated by unemployment.
Several large manufacturing plants have closed in the south-east in recent years notably the Waterford Crystal plant and thousands of workers have lost quality jobs.
While the Government has insisted that protecting manufacturing employment is a priority, it is evident that efforts to replace the jobs lost over recent years have been singularly unsuccessful.
The announcement by Government of the establishment of a Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) is a very welcome development. The timescale for its establishment, its mode of operation and delivery and the scale and impact of that delivery will be vital to an assessment of the impact of SBCI. The Programme for Government agreed in 2011 by the incoming Government committed to the following:
With the upcoming European elections, political parties on the left like the Party of European Socialists, the European Left and the European Green party are paying lip service to the call for a European minimum wage policy (European Green Party, 2010; European Left, 2014; PES, 2012). Such a policy would serve as a first step in the development of a more social Europe, enhance the legitimacy of the Union and could contribute to a wage-driven growth model for Europe. In this column we do not go into detail about the economic and social aspects of such a policy, but focus on the campaigning for a European minimum wage. A European minimum wage policy would mean a radical shift in the policy orientation of the Union and by consequence, the campaign for such a policy will be long and exhausting. Luckily, the European left can learn from two very recent and largely successful minimum wage campaigns in Europe: Germany and Switzerland. In Switzerland the campaign is still running while in Germany the current coalition is planning to implement a legal minimum wage in 2015.
In a significant decision, trucking company, Stobart, has been ordered to compensate eighteen SIPTU members who were denied their rights when they transferred their employment from the food distributor Keelings in October 2010.
Liberty Online is produced by the Communications Department of SIPTU. Liberty Online is distributed on a regular basis to members who are on the SIPTU e-mail data base. In order to maximize circulation of this news bulletin and other messages and statements we urgently ask recipients to gather the e-mail addresses of other SIPTU members who are not already on the data base. Please forward e-mail addresses to communications@siptu.ie
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