SIPTU completed a ballot of its members in Dublin Bus on Tuesday (20th August), with workers in the clerical, craft, operative, engineering supervisor, inspector and executive grades voting to accept Labour Court proposals to change their terms of employment.

SIPTU Dublin Bus drivers voted in a ballot counted on Friday, (16th August), to reject the Labour Court proposals related to their grade’s terms of employment by 72% to 28%.

The proposals were arrived at after overnight talks between trade union representatives and management on Thursday, 8th August. The talks followed three days of strike action at the transport company on 4th-6th August.

SIPTU Sector Organiser, John Murphy, said: “It is clear from the non-bus driver grade result that some progress was made in the recent Labour Court talks. SIPTU representatives are available to meet with the management of Dublin Bus in the hope of resolving matters still in dispute in the driver grade.

“It is now up to the company to decide whether it wishes to enter a negotiation process which could resolve this dispute without further industrial action and disruption to services.”

SIPTU represents approximately 1,200 drivers and 450 workers in other grades in Dublin Bus.

Dublin Central TDs Joe Costello, Maureen O’Sullivan and Mary Lou McDonald have signed a SIPTU petition calling on the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, to “respect community sector workers and meet their union”.

Over 1000 people have signed the petition in response to Minister Hogan’s refusal to meet with SIPTU members to discuss their concerns over plans to align Local Development Companies with Local Authorities. This alignment process will have major implications for jobs and services as well as removing control of services from local communities.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Joe Costello, said: “When fundamental changes are being made there must be consultation with all stakeholders, particularly workers, and structures established that ensure ongoing engagement”.

Maureen O’Sullivan said: “I support the petition because there has to be meaningful consultation with the workers. Staff and services for communities have to be prioritised. The community workers are the people who know the issues and the problems, and can certainly contribute to the solutions”.

Mary Lou McDonald said “Phil Hogan should have the sense to know that you can’t bring about major change in any organisation without talking to the workers. He needs to engage directly with workers and their union”.  

SIPTU LDC Committee chairman, Manus Bree, said: “We welcome Minister Costello’s support for our campaign. Phil Hogan needs to recognise that without talking to workers his plans for the community sector will fail. These vital programmes and services that people in disadvantaged communities depend upon should not be put in jeopardy by a Minister’s refusal to talk.”

A spokesman for Minister Hogan told the Irish Times on Wednesday, (21^st August), that he had “no plans at the minute” to meet with SIPTU representatives.

To sign the petition visit: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/minister-phil-hogan-respect-community-sector-workers-and-meet-their-union

Milne Foods workers and their supporters will march in Birr, County Offaly on Saturday, 24th August, to protest at the refusal of the company to implement a Labour Court recommendation or meet with its employees’ representatives.

The protest will begin with a rally in Emmet Square, Birr, at 4.00 p.m. followed by a march to the Milne Foods plant in the Syngefield Industrial Estate.

The protest march follows a series of strike actions at the plant due to the company’s failure to adhere to a Labour Court recommendation that management meet with the workers' representatives and implement improvements to their pay and conditions.

SIPTU Organiser, Michael Browne, said: “This company is in receipt of State funds from contracts to supply publicly funded bodies including a number of Health Service Executive hospitals. However, management is refusing to honour a Labour Court recommendation or even meet with workers’ representatives." 

The treatment of staff, including the implementation of compulsory redundancies without negotiation, by the new management of the Sunday Business Post has been condemned by SIPTU Organiser, John White.

“The new management of the Sunday Business Post has introduced a culture of intimidation rather than co-operation into the running of the newspaper," he said.

"A trade union activist who has worked at the company for 23 years was called in last week from annual leave to receive one month’s notice that he was to lose his job and receive a minimum statutory redundancy payment.”

He added: “The new management has implemented a brutal approach to the running of the newspaper, which has included an attempt to get workers to waive their legal protections. It has refused to recognise the constructive role trade unions have played in maintaining the company as a going concern. Rather than negotiating with workers in accordance with long standing collective agreements management has decided to treat loyal staff with contempt."  

Workers in Crowley’s Pharmacy in Mahon, Co. Cork, conducted a one-day work stoppage on Wednesday, (21st August), to protest at unilateral changes to their terms of employment, illegal deductions from their wages and a management refusal to engage in meaningful dialogue with their union representatives.

The action follows protests by workers in a number of pharmacies run by Uniphar Retail Services (URS) throughout the country in recent months.

SIPTU has served notice of industrial action on five of the 60 pharmacies managed by URS. As well as Crowley’s the pharmacies affected include Byrne’s (North Circular Road, Dublin), Blake’s  (Celbridge, Co. Kildare), O’Rourke’s (Monasterevin, Co. Kildare) and O’Sullivan’s (Bantry, Co. Cork). However, despite a refusal to recognise SIPTU for the purpose of collective bargaining, management at Byrne's and O'Sullivan's have agreed to attend proximity talks and the action at these locations has been temporarily postponed.

SIPTU Organiser, Graham Macken, said: “URS management and its representative from the employers group IBEC have acknowledged that the company’s deductions from the workers wages are illegal under the terms of the Payment of Wages Act."

SIPTU members in G4S Cash Solutions Ireland Ltd have voted to accept restructuring proposals aimed at securing the long-term future of the company.

In a ballot counted on Thursday, (8th August), workers voted by 79% to 21% to accept the proposals.

SIPTU Organiser, Brendan Carr, said: “The company’s restructuring proposals envisage approximately 30 voluntary job losses and changes to workers' terms and conditions of employment.”

SIPTU represents the 615 workers employed by G4S Cash Solutions Ireland Ltd.

Supporting Quality, the SIPTU supported consumer campaign aimed at protecting jobs in Ireland and supporting quality Irish products, marked a successful first year in operation with an event in the Heineken (Murphy’s) Brewery in Cork on Tuesday, (30th July). Those addressing the event included Lord Mayor of Cork, Catherine Clancy, and SIPTU General Secretary, Joe O’Flynn.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage SIPTU’s 200,000 members, their families and consumers in general, to consider the wider economic and social impact of their shopping choices.

Catherine Clancy welcomed the success of Supporting Quality campaign saying that it indicated the ability of trade unions to adapt and play an innovative role in supporting economic recovery.

The campaign grants products and services which are produced in unionised workplaces in Ireland the right to indicate this with a Supporting Quality mark and their inclusion on the Supporting Quality website and associated advertising.

Among over 60 leading Irish brands signed up to the campaign are Heineken, Avonmore, Electric Ireland, Tayto, Coca Cola, Batchelors, Ballygowan, Tegral Tiles, Erin and Newbridge Silverware.  

Joe O’Flynn said: “Indigenous manufacturing will be central to the country’s economic recovery and the Supporting Quality campaign allows consumers to play their part in helping the recovery by choosing quality products produced by companies which provide decent jobs.

He added: “Opting to support quality workplacescan mean the difference between survival and failure for many businesses in Ireland.  Joining the Supporting Quality campaign sustains existing quality jobs in Ireland and allows consumers to play their part in reviving the Irish domestic economy.”

The use of strike-breakers by the management of Kells Credit Union, County Meath, marks a “new low” in its attempts to deny workers collective bargaining rights, according to SIPTU Insurance and Finance Sector Organiser, Adrian Kane.

On Thursday, (8th August), and Friday, (9th August), credit union workers continued their series of rolling strikes with a 48-hour work stoppage. Management brought in outside staff in an attempt to maintain the operation of the credit union.

Adrian Kane said: “The use of strike-breakers by the management of Kells Credit Union is a new low in its treatment of workers. This is a management team that is completely out-of-step with the feelings of credit union members and the people of Kells.

During the work stoppage local supporters and former employees of Lagan Brick, Kingscourt, County Cavan joined the workers’ picket outside the Credit Union. The Lagan Brick workers, who last year conducted a 39-week strike to secure their redundancy entitlements, presented the credit union employees with a cheque to support their campaign.

The workers have welcomed a statement by Meath East Labour TD, Dominic Hannigan, calling on the Labour Court to intervene in the dispute.  

Adrian Kane said: “SIPTU would welcome the intervention of either the Labour Relations Commission or the Labour Court, however, thus far regrettably, management of the credit union has shunned attempts by both institutions to help resolve the dispute.”

SIPTU supports the maintenance of the free travel scheme for pensioners and other eligible groups utilising public transport.

SIPTU Organiser Paul Cullen said: “SIPTU supports the maintenance of the free travel scheme for eligible people on services provided by the CIE group of companies. Such a scheme is in line with our union’s belief in social solidarity. In comments reported initially on Sunday 4th August, I was quoted as stating that questions had been raised by SIPTU members about the maintenance of the current free travel arrangements.

“What was not made clear was that these questions had been raised in the context of the Government's failure to increase funding for the scheme while the numbers utlising it are rising. This is part of a wider problem concerning the need for the adequate funding of public transport.”

Paul Cullen added: “Certain media commentators have since decided to make the completely erroneous claim that SIPTU does not support the free travel scheme. This is blatantly untrue and a deliberate misrepresentation. In an article in the Irish Examiner printed on Wednesday, (7th August) public relations consultant, Gerry Howlin, went further by weaving this untrue claim into a wider argument in support of the privatisation of public transport services.

“His proposals are detrimental to the travelling public. In the case of Dublin Bus the reality is that, until 2007, it was a highly profitable company, posting a €5 million annual surplus. This was achieved in spite of having one of the lowest State subsidy levels in Europe, representing a mere 28% of operating costs. In comparison, the privatised services in London and Brussels had a subsidy level of 38% and 68%, respectively.

“The question must be raised as to why are certain media commentators so keen on misrepresenting the SIPTU position concerning the maintenance of the free travel scheme?”

SIPTU members have voted unanimously in favour of industrial action in the Marks and Spencer store in Tallaght, Co. Dublin.

The union has issued the company with notice of industrial action to take place on or after Tuesday, 10th September.

 SIPTU Organiser, Neil McGowan, said, “The result of the ballot shows that our members have become frustrated with the company and, in particular, its failure to engage meaningfully with their union to explore all options for the workers.”

“Union representatives are available to meet with management to negotiate a resolution to this dispute that adequately takes account of the workers’ interests.”

Mandate trade union members in the Tallaght store, and three others which the company plans to close, have also voted for industrial action.

This year marks the Centenary of the Dublin Lockout when employers in the city sought to destroy the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, which they saw as a threat to the status quo and their own dominant position within it. Two books launched on Tuesday (30th July), in Liberty Hall, look at the dispute in its historical and current contexts.

“From William Martin Murphy and the Dublin United Tramway Company to Michael O’Leary and Ryanair the fundamental questions remain the same”, said Yeates. “Should workers have a right to collective bargaining, to seek a larger share of the profits they help create and a voice in their workplace, or are these luxuries a competitive society can ill-afford, that interfere with the right of companies to maximise their profits?

Daryl D’Art said: “Are Trade Unions still Relevant? provides a unique detailed focus on union recognition in contemporary Irish industrial relations, incorporating extensive comparisons with European and Anglo-Saxon countries. Using large-scale surveys in Ireland and Europe, we find not only a strong belief in the need for unions but a strengthening of this conviction among employees since the early 1980s.

“Results show a significant positive effect on political participation, with associated higher levels of political activism and electoral participation. We conclude that there is a significant union representation gap in private sector services, lower skill occupations and among younger workers.”

Michelle O’Sullivan said: “The trade union movement is increasingly feminised. Female workers have a strong orientation towards unions and solidarity, while studies of unionisation by immigrant workers highlight the importance of the length of residency, and sector, in determining union membership levels.

“In the first representative survey of MNCs operating in Ireland we explore determinants of unionisation and rates of ‘double-breasting,’ where firms simultaneously operate union and non-union sites. We assess the implications of the Supreme Court Judgement in Ryanair v The Labour Court and the legislative options operating in states with similar constitutional frameworks.”

The SIPTU Sligo District Committee is hosting a series of events to commemorate the Sligo Dock Strike of 1913 on Thursday, 29th August.

The events begin with the unveiling of a plaque in memory of ITGWU member Patrick Dunbar in the SIPTU Sligo Office in Cleverath at 5.00 p.m. Patrick was killed during a confrontation with strikebreakers in March 1913 and was buried in Sligo Cemetery without a gravestone.

The SIPTU Sligo District Committee has now erected a gravestone for Patrick and this will be unveiled at 6.00 p.m. The unveiling event will be chaired by SIPTU Sligo District Committee President, Anthony Lyons, and will be addressed by SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor.

Following the unveiling of the gravestone a series of lectures will be held in Sligo Town Hall. Those speaking will include local historian, Brian Scanlon, Galway University historian, John Cunningham and author of the 1913 Lockout, Padraig Yeates.

Sligo Mayor, Marcella McGarry, will also address the event. Marcella’s father, Teddy McGarry, was himself an active trade unionist and docker.

SIPTU Sligo District Committee secretary, John McCarrick, said: “The events are open to the public and are expected to be attended by local trade union activists as well as a number of former dockers.”   

A series of events commemorating the centenary of the 1913 Lockout will take place in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, between Thursday, 22nd and Sunday 25th August.

The events will begin with the launch of an exhibition ‘Dún Laoghaire and The 1913 Lockout’ in the National Maritime Museum (Moran Park), on Thursday 22nd August at 6.30 p.m. 

On Friday, 23rd August, a two-hour walking Tour of Dún Laoghaire’s historic places including significant locations of the Lockout will be led by historian and author Paul O’Brien, leaving from the Dún Laoghaire Club, Eblana Ave. at 7.00 p.m.

Events on Saturday 24th August begin with the unveiling of a 1913 Centenary Plaque by broadcaster Joe Duffy.  The plaque commemorates Dún Laoghaire’s involvement in the events of the 1913 Lockout. 

This will be followed by a round table discussion hosted by History Ireland in the Assembly Rooms, Dún Laoghaire Town Hall, Marine Road. Padraig Yeates, Eamon McCann, Brian Hanley and Ann Matthews will participate in a discussion entitled ‘Looking At The Lockout’, chaired by Tommy Graham of History Ireland. 

Saturday’s events conclude with an evening of music and readings with ‘Bread and Roses’ and special guests, from 8:00 p.m. at the Dún Laoghaire club, Eblana Ave.  Tickets for this event (€10, €5 concession) are available from the Dún Laoghaire club or from Costello Jewellers, 1 Northumberland Ave.

On Sunday a series of lectures will be held in the Dún Laoghaire Club.

Full details of all the weekend’s events can be found on the Dun Laoghaire 1913 Commemoration Event Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/events/457680614322346/

The effects of the 1913 Lockout are still evident in Irish society, 100 years after the great struggle between employers and trade unionists.

Although the employers, led by the owner of the Irish Independent William Martin Murphy, failed in their objective of destroying the ITGWU the outcome of the Lockout allowed them, along with the Catholic Church and Home Rule political establishment, to set the conservative nature of the Irish State that was founded less than ten years later.

The agenda that emerged dominant after the Lockout, which places business interests above the common good, has resulted in the Irish State failing to reach its potential. As an economic model it continues to place the interests of a minority over the needs and aspirations of the majority, a fact starkly illustrated by this State’s inadequate response to the current crisis.

However, the trade union movement did survive the attack of 1913. The vision of that great generation of working class leaders of the early 20th century remains relevant. It is the duty of trade unionists to ensure the movement can once again mount a challenge to those forces that through narrowness of vision and greed are still failing our people.

Trade unions remain the only organisations capable of providing workers with an independent voice and addressing the power imbalance with employers. Countries with high levels of union density and collective bargaining rights tend to be more equal and have more comprehensive welfare systems.

It is still the case, as James Larkin believed, that by building the strength of the union you are also building a better society.

Four of Ireland’s main charities are coming together for The Gathering Charity Run 

Sunday, 1st September 2013

12.00 p.m. Leopardstown Racecourse

Distance: 8km     Registration: €22 per runner

All proceeds will go directly to the following charities:

Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin – www.cmrf.org
Irish Hospice Foundation – www.irishhospicefoundation.ie
Irish Heart Foundation – www.irishheartfoundation.ie 
NCBI (National Council for the Blind of Ireland) – www.ncbi.ie 

The Gathering Charity Run is an 8km road run (two laps) around the outer Leopardstown tarmac track of the racecourse.  

Register online:  www.charitychallenges.ie or with any of the charities listed above.

First 100 runners to register will receive a high tech running top 

Lead Sponsor: FM104 - Media Sponsor

Other Sponsors include: Paddy Power / Precision Timing / Louis Copeland / Rock Jewellers / Dunnes Stores / Musgraves / Nestle

Contact: Gráinne Barnett on 087 2055566
Email: info@charitychallenges.ie
www.charitychallenges.ie

(Text of speech by Padraig Yeates at Wreath laying and Poetry Reading in Memory of Francis Ledwidge, Poet and Soldier, National War Memorial Gardens, Islandbridge, Dublin, 4th August, 2013)

4th August, 2013, is 99 years to the day since Britain declared war on Germany in the conflict that became known as the First World War. It would devastate much of France and Belgium, northern Italy, the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as destroy the Ottoman Empire, give birth to the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement, and facilitate the rise of the United States to super power status.

An estimated ten million people died in Europe alone and it created the conditions that led to the Second World War and the deaths of 50 million more across Eurasia within a generation. Most of the crises and conflicts we face today can trace their roots to the ‘guns of August’.

Francis Ledwidge was one of those millions of combatants who died in the Great War. He was ‘Killed In Action’ on 31 July, 1917, one of a group of Royal Inniskillings designated to work as pioneers on communications trenches and roads in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres. ‘Killed In Action’ is of course a euphemism designed to obscure the obscenity of industrialised warfare and production line slaughter. He was reputedly drinking a cup of tea and smoking a cigarette when a German artillery shell sent him and four comrades into oblivion. It was probably as good a death as anyone could hope for on the Western Front in 1917, and my father used to say you weren’t supposed to hear the one that got you.

He endured similar bombardments in Italy and described them as the most terrifying experiences of his life. The silence that followed the shells was quickly filled with the screams of the injured and the maimed. The generation that fought in British Army uniform between 1939 and 1945 had far fewer illusions about war and less appetite for it than their predecessors of 1914. Their main objective was to come out the other side in one piece.

Download the full speech here

The Band are:

Mat Callahan: Vocals and Guitar

Yvonne Moore: Vocals

Alan Burke: Vocals and Guitar

Geraldine Fitzgerald: Vocals

David Bruehlmann: Vocals, Accordion and Bodhran

Joe McHugh: Uilleann Pipes and Whistles

Stefanie Aeschlimann: Fiddle


For more information log onto https://www.facebook.com/JamesConnollySongsOfFreedom