Mandate saddened by passing of Mel Corry Thursday 14 January 2021 Mandate is deeply shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of our brother Mel Corry yesterday afternoon after a short battle with Covid. Mel had been working for Trademark Belfast as a tutor on Mandate’s education courses since 2013 where our staff and our members had the pleasure of learning from a trade union stalwart. Members loved his dry wit and twinkle in the eye. Mel was working class. Therefore he acutely felt and understood the struggles met by workers and their families. Through his union work it […]

Retail workers demand early vaccination Tuesday 12 January 2021 Mandate Trade Union has written to the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, seeking clarity on the prioritisation of retail workers in the rollout of the vaccination programme. Gerry Light, Mandate General Secretary, said the HSEs listing of priority groups published on 6th January for vaccination is ambiguous and doesn’t explain where retail workers are in its listing of priorities. “Retail workers, particularly grocery and pharmacy staff, have kept the country going over the last 12 months and they deserve recognition as essential workers risking their health every day. As such, the Minister needs to […]

SIPTU says Minister for Health must act now to remove roadblocks to health service recruitment Date Released: 08 January 2021 SIPTU representatives have today (Friday, 8th January) urged the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, to immediately intervene and remove any roadblocks to health service recruitment as part of an emergency effort to address the unsustainable staffing crisis that is spreading right across the health service. SIPTU Health Divisional Organiser, Kevin Figgis, said: “The current stress on our health services is completely unsustainable. Patient numbers are rising while staffing levels are falling. The Minister must act now and make sure recruitment is fast […]

A brigade of 220 Cuban doctors arrived in Panama on Christmas Eve. The Cuban medics will help in the fight against COVID-19 in the Central American country which has one of the highest rates of infection in the region. Socialism at work. 500 Cuban medics also travelled to Mexico in December to treat patients infected by the pandemic there. Since March, 4,000 medics have worked in 40 countries affected by coronavirus. Please sign our Nobel Peace Prize for Cuban Doctors petition here  

Mandate’s Newspaper is now out. you can read it here

Trade Union Left Forum offers it’s Solidarity & Support to the bus drivers of Arriva-Moravia Company, who went on strike this week December 19, 2020. We consider their demands fully legitimate and right. We agree with their trade unionists’ saying that the employer’s proposals make worse their both working and wage conditions. We fully agree with the fully logical and rightful claim that working hours to increase, moreover, to be coupled with the wage cuts, is totally unacceptable for the employees. We consider unacceptable, too, the Arriva-Moravia Company to transfer its economic losses onto its employees’ shoulders by both working […]

Press release 16.12.20 Student nurses and midwives have decided that they will engage with government-proposed, independently verified reviews of their remuneration and conditions. The reviews – details of which were finalised this morning – were offered by the Minister for Health in response to an ongoing campaign. There are two reviews proposed. The first review will focus on the immediate short term. It will report back to the Minister for Health in December, for implementation in January. The second will look at longer-term issues beyond the pandemic. It will be held in January and February, with a view to implementation […]

Nine couriers have died this year as Covid demands and poor protections take their toll At a logistics depot the size of an aeroplane hangar in southern Seoul, couriers recently held a ritual at the start of another gruelling work day: They stood for a moment of silence to remember more than a dozen fellow couriers who they say died this year from overwork. “We won’t be surprised here if one of us drops dead, too,” said Choi Ji-na, one of the couriers. Choi (43) and other delivery workers in South Korea say that they feel lucky to have jobs amid growing unemployment, […]

The Executive Board of Education International has adopted a resolution condemning the human rights violations in Colombia that have led to thousands of deaths of trade unionists. The decade-long attacks on human rights and the lives of more than a thousand unionists and social activists were at the core of a resolution adopted today, 9 December, by the Executive Board of Education International, which is meeting for the 56th time. Read More The attempts of groups controlling power in Colombia to wipe out social organisation and mobilisation, quell protests, and suppress the right to organise and proclaim the validity of the public education system has led to […]

SIPTU representatives have today (Thursday, 10th December) confirmed that unions have made a significant breakthrough on pay restoration for members in 250 State-funded voluntary health and social service providers. The positive development for workers in these Section 39 employments follows a conciliation conference held under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). SIPTU Divisional Organiser, Adrian Kane, said: “This interim settlement is well overdue but it delivers money into the pockets of our members’ pockets from next month and that is critically important. The issue of parity of treatment with colleagues in the larger section 39 employments hasn’t gone […]