Housing in Ireland needs to be viewed as a right and not a commodity, according to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. A national survey carried out by the IHREC suggested that 82% of people in Ireland consider housing to be a basic human right. The survey was carried out to mark Human Rights Day which is celebrated on 10 December annually. On this day in 1948, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration consists of 30 articles detailing an individual’s “basic rights and fundamental freedoms” and is considered a foundational text in the history of human […]

Financial Services Union calls on Minister Donohoe to raise Ulster Bank vulture fund issue with UK chancellor Issued : 4 December 2020 Call receives support from figures across the political spectrum The time has come for Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to raise concerns about the potential sale of the Ulster Bank loan book to a vulture fund with the UK chancellor. That’s according to general secretary of the Financial Services Union, John O’Connell. Speculation on the future of Ulster Bank has led to media reports that NatWest, parent company of Ulster Bank, is in discussion with Cerberus to buy […]

Fórsa said new CSO figures published today (Friday) demonstrate the need for Government to continue to stimulate the economy through income supports, business supports and investment in  public services and infrastructure. The CSO data  shows that domestic demand soared when Covid-19 restrictions were eased in the third quarter of 2020. The country’s biggest public service union said the figures underlined the need for Government to reject austerity in its approach to public finances, and instead give people – particularly those on low incomes – the hope and confidence that will help the economy bounce back when the Covid situation stabilises. […]

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing more than 105 million workers who live, work and struggle in 130 countries of the 5 continents, congratulates the awe-inspiring strike that shacked  India with the participation of 25 crore workers, farmers, and employees of all sectors. India’s trade union movement emphatically and strongly condemned the anti-worker, anti-people and anti-national policies of the Modi government. The WFTU joins its voices with the trade union movement in India and stands by the side of farmers’ unions which are in stay-in protests in the four borders of Delhi, continuing their united struggle for the scrapping […]

Public Health Doctors confirm plans for 3-days of strike action in January Disappointment at “no meaningful engagement” from Dept of Health for 5 months Monday 30th November 2020.  The Public Health Committee of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) met today to consider the overwhelming (94%) vote by Public Health doctors in favour of industrial  action in their fight for parity of esteem with other parts of the health service.  Currently regardless of qualifications, no public health specialist is recognised as a consultant despite meeting the same criteria as all other consultants appointed in the health service.  The Committee decided to serve […]

Friday 27 November 2020 Mandate Trade Union, representing almost 30,000 workers in the retail sector, has called on all employers to strictly adhere to Covid19 protocols as the retail sector reopens in the run up to Christmas. The Union has also called on consumers to respect retail workers following an increase in abusive behaviour. Gerry Light, Mandate General Secretary, said the health and safety of workers should always be paramount. “The current Covid regulations must be strictly adhered to if we are to reduce transmission of this deadly disease and ensure we don’t go into a third lockdown – which would obviously […]

Thursday 19 November 2020 A Mandate Trade Union delegation comprising of Gerry Light, Mandate General Secretary and three ex-Debenhams shop stewards, Jane Crowe (Henry St, Dublin), Valarie Conlon (Patrick Street, Cork) and Michelle Gavin (Waterford), met this morning with An Taoiseach Micheál Martin and a team of senior officials from his department in an effort to find a solution to the protracted Debenhams dispute. More than 1,000 workers lost their jobs in April of this year as the company entered liquidation. Since then, the workers have been on strike for 224 days. Mandate General Secretary Gerry Light said: “We used […]

Two out of five people in the world do not have a hand washing facility with soap and water on premises.  Almost half of the schools in the world do not have handwashing facilities with soap and water available to students.  We do not know the proportion of health care facilities in the world that have functional hand hygiene facilities with soap and water or hand sanitizer.   ▪ Frequent and proper hand hygiene is one of the most important measures that can be used to prevent infection with the COVID-19 virus ▪ There are two main routes of transmission […]

As the Citizen’s Assembly prepares for sessions on Women in the world of work, we examine some of the issues they will be discussing. https://www.ictu.ie/blog/2020/11/13/women-in-the-world-of-work-citizens-assembly/  

Mandate has today (Friday, 13th November) welcomed the commitment from An Taoiseach Micheál Martin to meet with the Union. The meeting will be an opportunity to resolve the protracted dispute involving 1,000 ex-Debenhams workers and the Union is looking forward to productive engagement between the parties. Debenhams workers have been on strike for 218 days after their employer filed for liquidation during the Covid lockdown. The workers are seeking their agreed collective redundancy package of four weeks pay per year of service. Mandate has informed Debenhams members of this development and has reached out to the Taoiseach’s office to arrange a […]