The fight for pay rises and the use of social media for union organising was to the fore of discussions at the SIPTU Manufacturing Biennial Conference.

Talks by international guests, lively debate on motions and musical performances were all packed into the one-day conference on Friday, 7th November. The event was attended by 200 delegates representing over 40,000 workers across all manufacturing industry sectors including pharmaceuticals, electronics, chemicals and agribusiness.


SIPTU Manufacturing Division Organiser, Gerry McCormack addressing delegates at the Division's Biennial Conference

The battle against the privatisation of vital public services and utilities was central to debate at the two-day Biennial SIPTU Public Administration and Community Division Conference on 5th-6th November.

Addressing over 200 delegates on the first day of the conference, SIPTU Public Administration and Community Division Organiser, Gene Mealy, said: “The last time we met, it was against the background of the most severe economic crisis this country has ever faced. As we emerge from this crisis we have an opportunity to change people’s attitude to society and in particular to the delivery of good quality public services”.

SIPTU member Miriam Stewart from Galway Rural Development at the conference

SIPTU representatives will be among a delegation of Irish community activists visiting the European Parliament to discuss the adverse impact of the ‘alignment process’ on the LEADER rural development scheme on Tuesday, 18th November.

The delegation, which will include SIPTU Organisers Eddie Mullins and Trevor Quinn, as well as representatives of the INOU, ICTU and the Disability Federation of Ireland, has been invited to visit the Parliament by Sinn Féin MEP, Liadh O’ Riada.   

Pay rises for workers’ are top of the agenda for SIPTU members in the private and public sector. After years of economic crisis during which workers have borne the brunt of others failures the time has come for the rebalancing of earnings in favour of the real wealth producers.

The issue of pay was prominent at the two recent biennial SIPTU Divisional Conferences. At the Manufacturing Division Conference delegates heard that the Division's pay strategy had seen rises of on average 2% per annum delivered for over 50,000 workers.

At the Public Administration and Community Division conference delegates heard that their endurance during the economic crisis must now be recognised by the return of pay they had lost. Such ‘pay restoration’ was now a key issue and will be raised in discussions with Government in the coming months.

In this week’s GLC,Pierre Habbard gives an analysis of the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) which was prepared by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In a meeting held in November 2013 in St Petersburg, BEPS was then endorsed by the G20. Habbard argues that “The international cooperation on tax evasion has been on the G20 agenda since 2009 but tax avoidance is a fairly new topic for the G20. Unlike tax evasion – which is illegal – tax avoidance is in the grey area of compliance.”   

You are invited to attend a Commemoration Event for:

Pat Burke 1897 - 1987

volunteer in the International Brigades from Achill, who fought in the Spanish Civil War to defend the Spanish Republic against Fascism

 1.00 p.m., Sunday, 16th November, 2014
Slievemore Graveyard, Keel, Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland.

Exhibition and refreshments afterwards at Gielty’s bar, Dooagh, Achill.

Join Siobhán ODonoghue of the Migrants Rights Centre of Ireland in a discussion with Jane McAlevey about her book, Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell). In her book, McAlevey describes her experiences in the labour movement organising bold, large scale campaigns in ‘Right to Work Nevada’ and elsewhere in the U.S., rebuilding the labour movement into a winning movement.