School secretaries have today (Wednesday) voted overwhelmingly to accept an historic new package of pay and working conditions, which places them all on public service salary rates after a decades-long campaign for pay equity. The deal, negotiated by Fórsa, significantly improves incomes and paid leave arrangements for low-paid secretaries, who the union says have been overlooked and undervalued for years. The new agreement will see all school secretaries transfer to a new pay-scale aligned with the public service clerical officer scale. Prior to today, most of them were employed directly by schools, with most earning no more than the minimum […]

Belfast phone app delivery drivers are staging a walkout on Wednesday over pay and conditions. Staff working for high profile firms Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats will down tools for six hours amid claims they are seeing their income fall thanks to changes in pay structures and rising fuel costs. The industrial action is being organised by the App Drivers and Couriers Union, or ADCU, and comes amid a cost of living crisis affecting workers across countless sectors. Delivery workers will stage a six-hour work stoppage on Wednesday between 11am and 5pm with a public protest to be held […]

A very informative statement from the Worlwide Federation of Trade Unions In 1999, at the heart of Europe, NATO, the USA, the EU, and their allies bombed Yugoslavia. Today, in 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine in an unfair and destructive war.  Nevertheless, where are hidden all those who in 1991 were trying to persuade all the peoples that the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the overthrows in the countries of Eastern Europe were taking place in favor of international security and global peace? The truth was different when there was the Soviet Union, there was a “counterbalance”, there was a […]

A welcome article from the President of Cuba. My thanks to Monthly Review.   It is my responsibility to close the Ninth Legislature’s Seventh Ordinary Period of Sessions and, at the same time, I come before you, the highest representation of our people, to comply with a legal mandate: to render accounts and report on my administration as president of the republic. I will do so by sharing some assessments of the situation we have faced in this period, the issues on which we have focused our work, and the issues toward which we must direct our principal efforts. I […]

Speaking after the meeting of the Covid-19 Stakeholder Forum, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary Patricia King said: “Following the lifting of the majority of public health restrictions on Friday, the Forum met today to discuss a number of issues to ensure people can be confident that workplaces are safe for staff and the public.  The Forum noted that notwithstanding the changes to public health advice the pandemic is not over.  It was agreed that the Work Safely Protocol will now be updated to provide ‘good guidance’ to employers and workers to maintain safe workplaces. The Health and […]

What can YOU do to pressurise union leadership to start the campaign for the restoration of workers rights taken away by the 1990 Industrial Relations Act?  Email the general secretary of your union, the Ictu and your local trades Council. All Ictu Unions & trades councils are now calling for the restoration of all rights lost as a result of the 1990 industrial relations act.  Can’t hear them?  Ask them why not?    Here is a template you can use or draft your own:   Dear [insert General Secretary/National Exec name],   ​​I am contacting you as [insert your trade […]

This article will update readers on a couple of interesting and important developments for unionised workers in both the South and the North of Ireland. Two position papers have been published in the last couple of months on union recognition, collective bargaining, and the right to organise, and one piece of important legislation has been brought forward in the Northern Ireland Assembly. As readers will know, the Government in the South has instituted a high-level working group to review collective bargaining (including the ICTU) which will specifically look at the question of union recognition as well as wage-setting mechanisms. While […]

When a loved one dies and after they are laid to rest, attention has to turn to get their affairs in order. This is no small task for grieving families.  For some, this will include starting the probate process, notifying insurance companies and financial institutions, cancelling utilities and subscriptions, closing social media and email accounts. For all, it will require contacting multiple government departments and official agencies to cancel benefits, entitlements, and public services.  During this extraordinarily difficult time, a bereaved relative is required to telephone, write or attend each relevant section within each public body to notify them of […]

It’s a story straight out of A Christmas Carol Union activists dressed as Scrooge characters will shortly be calling on the controversial billionaire Denis O’Brien to protest against the poor treatment of UK construction workers employed by his construction company. Denis O’Brien is the second richest man in Ireland. He is also the majority shareholder of Actavo, which was called Siteserv up until 2015. It carries out work at British Steel in Scunthorpe (UK) where scaffolders are being paid up to 15% below the agreed national rate. The Actavo (UK) workers have been on continuous strike for 9 weeks. Unite […]

He who pays the piper …….! The EU has pledged money for the development of a “European newsroom” bringing together sixteen news agencies in a hub where news correspondents can work together on EU affairs. Under the coordination of German agency dpa, news agencies such as AFP (France) & ANSA (Italy) are participating. The consortium will launch in January and the integrated newsroom is expected to begin work next summer. The aim is to encourage cooperation at the EU level & news about the EU in several languages. The project was selected following a €1.76 million open call for proposals. […]