Trade Union Left Forum. Launch Fair Employment Act

An act to restore the cost of living and civil society remits of trade unions, to legislate for a trade union right to access to members and workers in the workplace, to legislate for trade union right to be heard in negotiations on behalf of members where collective bargaining is recognised,  and related maters. Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:    

Interview about The Industrial Relations Act and why it should be abolished.

This interview took place on Thursday 26th May with the Irish Language Station Raidió na Life with a Unite The Union activist. Click on this link

MLSA Industrial Action Enters Second Week

Issued by the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association (MLSA) Industrial Action Week 2 Monday May 23, 2022. Medical Scientists to Step Up Industrial Action Two days of Action to be taken by Medical Scientists this week Medical Scientists to continue on picket lines to resolve – unfilled posts, pay parity, career pathway and increasing demands. Medical Scientists are stepping up their industrial action this week – in frustration over long-standing pay and career development issues. Two days of action are taking place on Tuesday May 24 and Wednesday May 25, following an initial one day of action last week. No approach […]

Trade Union Left Forum 20/05/2022 Statement:

At the last Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) biennial delegate conference on 26/9/21 a motion proposed by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions (DCTU) was unanimously passed calling for legislation to be enacted to return all rights lost by workers as result of restrictions imposed under the 1990 industrial relations act. Since then, very little has happened to progress this legislation. The Trade Left Forum (TULF) have stepped up to this challenge to draft a bill for legislation that would repair some of the damage done by years of anti-Union legislation in Ireland. TULF have now drafted a bill […]

Slow pace of social dialogue undermining cost-of-living crisis response

The absence of agreement between unions, Government and employer representatives on practical measures to expand the range of free and affordable public services is undermining the national response to Ireland’s cost of living crisis, according to Fórsa. Speaking at the 80,000-strong union’s national conference in Killarney today (Thursday), Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan said Ireland should resist a return to the “poor quality” social dialogue in place prior to the pandemic, during which more intense engagements shaped and delivered workplace safety protocols and emergency income supports. He called for intensified dialogue to improve Ireland’s ‘social wage,’ or state spending on […]

SIPTU members brief Joint Oireachtas Committee on threat to community schemes

SIPTU members attended a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands on Wednesday (11th May) to brief it on the growing threat to the operation of community schemes across the country. Rural Social Scheme (RSS) supervisor and member of the SIPTU RSS National Committee, Liz MacDonald, told the Committee that the programmes she operates provide financial support to low-income farmers and fishermen in return for them providing 19.5 hours of work each week supporting services in their local communities.  She said: “The work carried out by RSS is far reaching and includes tidy town projects, […]

XVIII Congress of WFTU: Rome declaration

We publish today the “Rome Declaration” which was adopted by the 18th World Trade Union Congress on May 8th, 2022 in Rome, Italy, and constitutes the main guidelines of the WFTU for the next 5 years.  

WFTU statement on the 74th anniversary of Nakba Day

The international class-oriented trade union movement commemorates the 74th anniversary of Nakba Day and the killing of 15.000 Palestinians on May 15, 1948, and the displacement of 750.000 others during that period, by the state of Israel.  The World Federation of Trade Unions on behalf of its 105 million workers who work, live, and struggle in 133 countries on the 5 continents firmly stands on the side of the heroic Palestinian people and strongly condemns the constant crime of the Israeli occupation and its barbaric consequences. We denounce the hypocrisy and the dirty role of the USA, EU, and NATO […]

AIB need to restore the 35 hour week.

The Financial Services Union (FSU) have launched a campaign to restore the 35-hour working week in AIB. The Union state that during the years of austerity the working week in AIB was extended from 35 hours to 37 hours. Speaking at the Triennial Conference of the FSU, Billy Barrett, Senior Industrial Relations Officer with responsibility for members in AIB commented: “In a judgment a couple of years ago the Labour Court stated that “employees who cooperated with adjustments to pay and conditions of employment during the crisis are entitled to have those progressively reversed as circumstances improve “AIB has reported […]

Trade Union Left Forum. May Day Statement:

Trade Union Left Forum   Mayday Statement: Trade union left forum wish to extend our solidarity greetings to workers their families unions and communities in Ireland and beyond on this International Workers Day. We take this opportunity to announce that the TULF have completed drafting a bill for legislation to replace many of the workers’ rights lost as a result of decades of anti-worker legislation dating back to the 1940s. The TULF  have been campaigning for the last 4 years against anti-worker legislation, many unions along with the next generation of workers in the form of the Union of Students in […]