SIPTU members in the security industry have expressed outrage at a decision to defer the implementation of pay increases contained in a new Employment Regulation Order (ERO) for the sector until 1st September, 2021. SIPTU Organiser, Brendan Carr, said: “Workers in the security industry have already been waiting months for pay increases and other improvements to their conditions which are contained in this ERO. It is deeply troubling that the Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English, has deferred the implementation of these improvements for three months from the agreed date of 1st June until 1st September 2021. This […]

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), representing 105 million affiliates in 133 countries of the planet, sends a warm internationalist and combative greeting to the workers around the world, on the occasion of this May Day 2021. All over the world, the class-oriented unions, the militants, commemorate May Day as it deserves it; like workers’ day. As the day that marks the irreconcilable struggle of the workers in each country and throughout the world for the abolition of the exploitation of man by man. As the day that illuminates our struggle for a society whose epicenter will be the […]

Friday 23 April 2021 Mandate Trade Union has condemned the heavy-handed tactics of Gardai last night on Parnell Street, Dublin where ex-Debenhams workers were forcefully removed from picket line at the request of KPMG, the Debenhams liquidator. Mandate General Secretary Gerry Light said the incident was entirely unnecessary and preventable. “This incident should never have happened. The workers had decided to ballot for a potential resolution to this dispute at 4:30pm yesterday and then we see these traumatic videos last night where female retail workers, who were treated abysmally by their employer and left without their agreed redundancy packages, are […]

Wednesday 21 April 2021 Mandate General Secretary Gerry Light has called on the Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Leo Varadkar, to establish a task force looking into the future of retail in Ireland as a matter of urgency following today’s announcement that almost 500 jobs have been lost in Carphone Warehouse. Mr Light said the government needs to understand that while they’re procrastinating hundreds of jobs are being lost. “Today there are hundreds of Carphone Warehouse workers wondering how they’re going to pay their bills. Those workers join the long list of workers who have lost their jobs in […]

Issued : 16 April 2021 No excuse for not establishing a banking forum. John O’Connell, General Secretary of the Financial Services Union (FSU) has called on Bank of Ireland (BOI) and KBC to publish the memorandum of understanding and to confirm that transfer of understanding legislation (TUPE) will apply to any possible sale of KBC to BOI. “The announcement this morning that KBC and BOI have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding is a deeply worrying development for staff, customers and communities. The FSU are calling for immediate clarification from BOI and KBC that transfer of understanding legislation will apply […]

Date Released: 15 April 2021 SIPTU representatives have today (Thursday, 15th April) written to the Minister of State with responsibility for Social Inclusion in the Department of Social Protection, Joe O’Brien, seeking a firm commitment to support the campaign to halt government plans to privatise community job activation services. SIPTU Sector Organiser, Jane Boushell, said: “The Minister’s contribution to the Social Inclusion Forum this week, his proposal for a solidarity tax and his many public statements about creating greater inclusion in communities by reducing the consistent poverty rate to 2% or less by 2025 are very much welcomed by SIPTU members. “However, […]

Let’s win our rights as workers together On March 30th the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Leo Varadkar, announced, as he does like to, the setting up of a High-level Working Group under the auspices of the Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF) to review collective bargaining and the industrial relations landscape in Ireland. This review body will be chaired by Professor Michael Doherty, of Maynooth University. For those interested Michael delivered an education meeting for the TULF on a critical assessment of ‘social partnership’ during the summer of 2020. A podcast version can be heard here . What is […]

Alitalia 11.000 workers are fighting on these days to save their jobs and their family against the landing of the company caused by the final exploitation of the italian market wanted by UE commission and supported by actual italian government. Alitalia,  main italian airline company with 74 years history, after the privatisation happened in 2008, has been destroyed by bad management and lack of public control. Finally, 4 years ago, the workers unite defeated the last proposal of salary and jobs cuts and Alitalia and sent away private owners (etihad company) and Alitalia went in controlled administration ruled by the […]

Date Released: 06 April 2021 A major manufacturing company based in county Limerick has been found to have made unlawful deductions from the pay of some of its workers by the Workplace Relations Commission. The case, involving 48 SIPTU members, arose following a cut in wages for workers put on short-time working by the company in 2019. At the hearing, SIPTU representatives successfully argued under Section 5 of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 that the workers were entitled to be paid for the period they were on short-time because they had not consented to, nor was there a term and condition […]

Wednesday 31 March 2021 Mandate Trade Union today expressed strong criticism of yesterday’s government announcement to scrap the previous vaccine roll-out plans in order to follow an aged-based model similar to the UK. Mandate General Secretary, Gerry Light, said “The sudden shift from prioritising job categories, including essential workers who have kept society functioning, over now to an age-based roll-out is a serious slap in the face for the many thousands of our members who have continued to serve the public. Those essential retail workers who have bravely attended work and who have been on the frontline continuing to work […]