Friday 25 September 2020 UNION REFERS DISPUTE TO LABOUR COURT 40 Estee Lauder workers in Dublin Airport are on strike for a second time today (Friday, 25th September) as they seek to prevent compulsory redundancies and stop the company rehiring workers on inferior terms and conditions of employment. The strike will take place from 7am at the Dublin Airport roundabout. Mandate say workers should be afforded the principle of voluntary rather than compulsory redundancy but the terms of the redundancy package must be negotiated including the selection criteria. The Union also wishes to negotiate the terms & conditions of those […]

Congress withdraws from Low Pay Commission 22 Sep 2020 The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has announced it has withdrawn from the Government established Low Pay Commission. Commenting on the decision, Patricia King, ICTU General Secretary said “we have been engaged in extensive discussion at the Low Pay Commission on proposed changes to the National Minimum Wage to be issued to the government for consideration. It became very clear to myself and Gerry Light General Secretary of Mandate, this evening that other members of the Commission were not prepared to propose an increase for 2021 beyond 1%, i.e. 10 cent. We could not in conscience […]

Aramark staff mount unofficial picket after receiving week’s notice of job loss see report from the Irish Times    Catering staff at the former Allied Irish Bank (AIB) headquarters in Ballsbridge, Dublin say they were “dumped after years of loyalty” when given just a week’s notice earlier this month that their “jobs were gone”. Kitchen and restaurant staff, who remained working at the restaurant after AIB moved most of its workforce to a new headquarters in the city-centre in 2019, have mounted an unofficial picket at the site. While their union Siptu says 12 members are involved, their employer Aramark say only eight are involved in […]

Estee Lauder workers in Dublin Airport are to participate in two days of industrial action this week as they attempt to prevent compulsory redundancies and stop the company rehiring workers on inferior terms and conditions of employment. The strike will involve 40 workers and will take place from 5am on Monday 21st and then Friday 25th of September at the Dublin Airport roundabout. Mandate say workers should be afforded the principle of voluntary rather than compulsory redundancy but the terms of the redundancy package must be negotiated including the selection criteria. The Union also wishes to negotiate the terms & conditions of […]

The World Federation of Trade Unions, the, the world’s class-oriented, progressive trade union movement, considers the achievements of technology to be very important and positive, given that they are used to improve and facilitate the lives of workers and the peoples, such as in modern health care, improved working conditions in the workplaces etc.    Tele-working, working from home, which increased greatly during the COVID-19 Pandemic in all countries, could be considered as one of the achievements of progress and technology.     However, tele-working had a negative effect on the working conditions of the workers, such as the increase of […]

19 September 2020 met today and decided to ballot its members in relation to a number of key issues which have emerged since schools re-opened.   The meeting heard that ASTI members have serious concerns about the health and safety of school communities. Issues raised include:   Physical distancing in schools Provision of PPE The definition of close contacts Comprehensive testing and testing turnaround times Provisions for high risk teachers IT resources for students and teachers to facilitate remote teaching/ learning   “The fact that high risk teachers have been asked to work in crowded classroom is unacceptable to us […]

16 Sep 2020 THE Executive Council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has reiterated its full support for the official strike action by Debenhams workers, members of Mandate trade union. Congress is demanding Government intervention to break the deadlock in the dispute. Gerry Light, General Secretary, Mandate updated Council members on the ongoing dispute at its meeting today. Mandate Trade Union had negotiated a redundancy package for Debenhams staff in 2016 which included four weeks’ pay per year of service. However, when the company entered liquidation earlier this year, the liquidator reported that there were no assets to pay […]

Further to a letter in today Irish Times. Trade Union Left Forum have a copy of the report in a review of Adult Critical Care Services from 2009 and now over eleven years it is a damming inditement of various governments in relation our people’s health care.    In the letter from the Irish Times today Thursday 17th Nov 2020 the letter writer ( an intensive-care consultant states the following) It is ironic and instructive to reflect on a report commissioned by the then-government in 2008 from management consultants Prospectus. Completed in 2009, it defined existing and anticipated ICU bed […]

“Patients are on chairs” – 80 go without beds in Limerick today       80 admitted patients are without beds in University Hospital Limerick today – with more than 12 being cared for on chairs overnight, without even a trolley. See here for full figures.   This is the highest figure recorded in an Irish hospital since the COVID-19 restrictions began.    The INMO has called for urgent intervention from the Minister for Health, with the immediate appointment of an external crisis management team to oversee governance at the hospital. This team would set out a clear plan to:   – […]