The upward redistribution of wealth over the past 40 years has shifted $50 trillion from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.

That’s $50 trillion that would have gone into the paychecks of ordinary working people had inequality held constant

$50 trillion that would have built a far larger and more prosperous economy—$50 trillion that would have enabled the vast majority of people to be far more healthy, resilient, and financially secure.

In real terms this means that If you are earning $35,000 a year You are being paid $26,000 a year less than you would have had income distributions held constant.

If income distribution had remained constant you’d be on $61,000

Trickle down? Flood up.

It’s called #Capitalism

Legislative change needed to enable workers work more than their ‘banded-hours’ contracts where extra working hours are available

Research to be published today in a Mandate Trade Union report, ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ (15952_smoke&mirrors_report_interior), shows that nearly two-thirds of retail workers are earning less than €451 per week. The biggest challenge in terms of decent incomes shown in the report is the number of hours worked in the sector and the union is calling for legislative change to enable workers to work more than their ‘banded-hours’ contracts where extra working hours are available.

Dr Conor McCabe, researcher with the Queen’s University Management School, Belfast – who prepared the report for the union – said that while hourly rates have been improving, this hasn’t been fully reflected in weekly earnings because of the relatively low number of hours being worked by retail workers.

“Last July, Mandate Trade Union conducted a survey amongst 3,000 of its members and the feedback showed that just one fifth (21%) were earning more than the weekly Living Wage which was €502 back then. What’s more, the research shows that nearly two-thirds of the survey respondents (64%) were earning below €451 per week and this is due mainly to the relatively low number of working hours available to retail workers with the CSO showing that such staff work 72% of the average national working week.

“The Mandate survey shows that 75% of the respondents were on a banded-hours contract and, of this cohort, over 50% were on a contract of 31 hours or more a week. A significant number of these workers, 40%, would like to work more than their banded hours. While some do get that opportunity, many do not due to a mix of management intransigence and care responsibilities,” Dr Conor McCabe said.

Mandate General Secretary, Gerry Light said that legislative change is needed to allow workers increase their working hours where extra hours are available so that they can get a decent weekly income.

“The 2018 Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act has helped retail workers by introducing ‘banded-hours’ contracts which provide a minimum floor of hours and have gotten rid of zero-hour contracts. ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ shows that further change is needed to enable workers to avail of extra working hours where those hours are available. Our experience on the ground shows that where extra hours are available, many companies are actively choosing to by-pass offering those hours to existing staff who are looking for them, instead choosing to go with ‘new starts’ in order to keep wage their bills down.”

Gerry Light also said that the National Minimum Wage now needs to be replaced with a Cost of Living Wage.

“The National Minimum Wage is no longer fit for purpose in terms of helping workers avoid poverty – particularly at a time of rapid increases in the cost of living. To tackle this problem, the National Minimum Wage needs to be replaced by a Cost of Living Wage which would ensure that everyone in work can have enough income to live decently. In addition, the sub-minimum rates that apply to young workers and deny them decent incomes – as well as being blatantly discriminatory – need to be abolished too,” Gerry Light concluded.

Ireland’s largest public service union, Fórsa, has today (Wednesday) criticised what it describes as multiple failures of leadership by the Department of Health.

In an opening statement to the Joint Oireachtas Health Committee this morning, convened to discuss the welfare and safety of workers and patients in the public health service, Fórsa officials said the department’s current approach to leadership involves ignoring staff concerns about a broad range of issues.

These include the withdrawal of protections for staff experiencing long Covid conditions, a failure to expand the assault scheme to include all health staff, in addition to what Fórsa described as ‘arbitrary’ exclusions of some health workers from the pandemic recognition payment, and the ongoing issue of pay inequality between public health service workers and those in the community and voluntary sector.

Fórsa officials Ashley Connolly and Linda Kelly told the committee that the Department of Health’s approach to these issues was either to ignore them or to tie them up in long, drawn-out industrial relations processes “with little or no chance of a meaningful, effective outcome.”

They said the union’s position is that the department’s approach reflects “problematic cultural issues across the sector.”

Ms Kelly said: “It tells our members that that they are not valued, that their work is not important, respected or recognised and that their passion to do the best for the citizens arriving in front of them is misplaced.”

Ms Connolly also outlined a ‘significant’ failure, over multiple health service delivery plans, “to invest in clerical and administrative staff as well as HSCPs (health and social care professionals), pharmacy and other grades in a strategic and planned manner to meet service needs.”

She said a direct result of this failure to invest in recruitment has created pressure points across the health sector, most notably in the Assessment of Need, Children’s Disability Network teams, mental health, payroll, pensions, and outpatient services.

In its recommendations, Fórsa urged the committee to recognise the imminent transition to regional health authorities (RHAs) as a ‘pivotal’ moment to challenge the current leadership approach of the Department of Health, and to ensure that RHAs are appropriately resourced, in order to foster a culture of meaningful leadership in each regional area.

Fórsa also recommended the committee seek an urgent workforce retention plan from the Department of Health for all grades, and as part of that plan seek ring-fenced funding for continuing professional development for all grades, and to ensure such funding is equitably distributed.

The union also urged the committee to consider the department’s failure to engage on community and voluntary sector pay terms. Ms Connolly said: “We can’t seriously discuss the welfare and safety of staff if we don’t address fundamental issues of financial need in a cost-of-living crisis.”

The union has backed a course of indefinite strike action in community and voluntary agencies delivering health services, and is currently identifying agencies in which to ballot. Fórsa’s own research has found that community and voluntary organisations are losing up to 30% of staff each year, with workers leaving to avail of better terms in the HSE and other employments.

There’s never been a better time to join a union, and it’s never been easier. Join Fórsa today.

Fórsa backs indefinite strike action in a number of community and voluntary sector health services

Union leader slams ‘foot-dragging’ approach of Government to addressing pay and conditions inequality

Fórsa’s national executive has backed a proposal for indefinite strike action in a number of community and voluntary sector agencies funded by the HSE.

The action is likely to involve hundreds of health and care staff, in a number of agencies selected by the union. The union has also committed to footing the wage costs of striking staff.

‘Section 39’ agencies provide a range of residential and day services for people with disabilities, mental health, addiction, domestic and sexual violence services, and other supports, under service level agreements with the HSE. Similarly, Section 56 agencies operate in a similar way for children’s services, funded by Tusla.

While these agencies are funded by the state, their employees in a range of health professional, clinical, clerical and administrative grades, are on lesser terms and conditions than their HSE counterparts.

Fórsa general secretary and Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) president Kevin Callinan said: “As one of the main representative unions involved, Fórsa has decided to call time on the Government’s dragging of its own feet on this issue.

“The union’s executive has backed the decision to identify a number of these employments and to organise indefinite strike action to highlight this ongoing pay inequality, which simply cannot be sustained.

“Up to a third of experienced professional health and care staff are leaving their jobs in these agencies every year to take up better remunerated employment with the HSE and elsewhere.

“We will ballot for indefinite industrial action in a number of employments, and Fórsa will foot the wage costs of those staff who go on strike. Services will simply be brought to a halt. At this stage, no other course of action will drive the point home,” he said.

Mr Callinan added that while limited strike action by Fórsa members in Galway, Mayo, Cork and Kerry last year garnered strong support from across the political spectrum, he said neither the Government, Department of Health or the HSE have since taken any meaningful action to address the issue, and workers continue to be left behind.

He added: “On the one hand, the health minister acknowledged in the Dáil last October that the Government is the ‘main and often sole funder’ of these organisations, and that its funding affects the ability of agencies to improve pay and conditions.

“On the other hand, it has spectacularly failed to grasp the link between its chronic underfunding of the services and the subsequent failure to meet the HSE’s recruitment targets in, for example, disability services. For every member of staff freshly recruited, another experienced staff member is walking out the door. The situation is both unacceptable and unsustainable.

“Government action is essential. It needs to address the funding of organisations in the sector, to make pay improvements for staff, stem the high rate of staff exits each year and fulfil recruitment targets for vital health services, including disability and homeless services,” he said.

Until 2008, workers in these agencies received pay increases under national wage agreements. At the onset of the financial crisis they were subject to FEMPI pay cuts in line with the same cuts applied to public sector pay. Limited pay restoration measures were eventually won by unions in 2019 but pay in these agencies remains significantly behind, and no formal mechanism for collective pay bargaining exists for workers in the sector.

Fórsa’s research has revealed that recruitment and retention of professional health staff in these employments has become a major challenge. The union said Section 39 employers are burdened with higher recruitment costs and growing waiting lists for services.

There’s never been a better time to join a union, and it’s never been easier. Join Fórsa today.

An excellent article from the Socialist Voice website in explaining the Industrial Relations Act.

The Industrial Relations Act (1990) was introduced on 18 July 1990, replacing the Trade Disputes Act (1906), the main principle of which was that anything done in a trade dispute, provided it was not illegal in itself, would be free from criminal and civil liability.

The 1990 act was introduced as a control mechanism on trade unions. It was a response to equivalent legislation being introduced in Britain because of increasing levels of industrial unrest and strikes, as dissatisfaction rose during the 1970s and 80s when the post-war gains made by workers under social democracy were slashed. Unions were being softened as they became cosy with the state under “social partnership,” and allowed it to be introduced with a minimum of fuss.

Among some unions there were serious issues with many parts of the act, covering political strikes, secondary pickets, individual workers’ rights, and the change in requirements covering strike ballots; but the act was passed and accepted. Reassurances and guarantees were given by the then minister for labour, Bertie Ahern (a former union official), who was regarded as a friend and sympathetic to workers’ rights. This has not proved to be the case, as his guarantees have proved to be about as reliable as his memory over his financial affairs.

The act introduced many changes to the accepted norms of industrial relations up to that time.

The definition of a worker was very loose and left self-employed and contract workers vulnerable, with the “gig economy” and bogus self-employment on the rise. This is something that has huge implications today.

In single-worker disputes the individual worker is very vulnerable, as all agreed procedures must be exhausted before action is taken. So the issue has to be dealt with first by a rights commissioner, the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Relations Commission before collective action is taken. This could take months, if not years; and there will be no guarantee of reinstatement at the end.

This leads to individual workers being at a huge disadvantage, which strikes at the very heart of the trade union principle of “an injury to one is an injury to all.”

Political strikes are banned. This would rule out tax marches. It would rule illegal the strike by the ten brave workers in Dunne’s Stores who stood up to the South African apartheid regime by not handling South African goods in 1984. (Even Ben Dunne has said of this strike that, on reflection, you cannot defend the indefensible.) It rules out a similar action against Israeli products today.

The CIE companies are very vulnerable in this regard, as during the dispute in 2015 over the selling off of 10 per cent of the service to private operators the implication by the Government was that this was deemed a political issue. With more of this coming down the line in the three CIE companies, it is an industrial minefield. It will also have huge implications for the ESB and all state-sector workers as the spectre of privatisation hovers over Ireland.

Secondary picketing and support strikes are also banned. During the Bus Éireann dispute recently it was the secondary picketing on Dublin Bus and Irish Rail depots that eventually forced the company to the negotiating table; but this was illegal and could have been very expensive for the trade unions involved.

A secret ballot of all members must be carried out before a strike can take place, and seven days’ notice must be given to the employer involved. The executive of the union has the final say on whether a strike is to go ahead in the case of a majority vote in favour, but there is no similar authority where a minority vote for strike.

Some industrial disputes require immediate action and can’t wait for the seven days’ notice required. This could happen in the case of a health and safety issue, when immediate action might be needed in the interests of workers’ safety. The recent situation with Clery’s department store required immediate action, but this was not available to the workers in question.

Sit-ins are also illegal.

These are all weapons whose use (or even the threat of their use) workers no longer have available to them. This weakens workers’ power and strengthens employers.

Judicial interpretation of what is a strike and what is a legal ballot or dispute are the essence of the 1990 act. The possibilities for litigation are endless. The decision is put in the hands of the judiciary, who have never been friends of workers. Strikes and industrial action can be delayed for weeks, which allows employers to take action to lessen the effect of the strike.

There is a willingness and an ability by employers to sue unions and officials for loss of income caused by industrial action, which has been made possible under the 1990 act. Under the 1906 act this was not possible, as unions were deemed exempt from such action. This is a huge weakening of the labour movement.

Trade unions act to promote values of social solidarity and to provide a check on the socially corrosive effects of the markets and individualism. The 1990 act is the worst dilution of workers’ rights in the history of this state. It facilities employers and gives them the power to question how ballots are carried out. A ballot was purely an internal matter for a trade union, but not according to the 1990 act.

In a survey in 1997 of union officials, 73 per cent said that the 1990 act was a mistake that should not have been accepted in its present form.

With pay and conditions under attack, rising inequality, and poverty at crisis levels, for workers to defend themselves in this neo-liberal climate we need to repeal the 1990 act and to strengthen workers’ power, and bring a bit of pride and solidarity back among workers if the trade union movement is to survive.

People in struggle gain class-consciousness from that struggle. It’s time for the trade union movement to fight back against the class war being waged against us. To do this we need to tip the balance of power from capital to labour. The first step is to repeal the 1990 act, and the equivalent anti-union legislation in the North.

Unions must become radical or become redundant.

Read this: 

https://socialistvoice.ie/2020/11/the-industrial-relations-act-must-go/

The 42nd National Conference of the All-India Trade Union Congress is taking place in Alappuzha, Kerala on 17-20 December 2022 with the participation of delegates from all regions and sectors of India.

A big international delegation of trade unionists from different continents is attending the Congress.

The WFTU general secretary, Pambis Kyritsis addressed the AITUC expressing the solidarity of the international class-oriented trade union movement with the struggle of the heroic Indian working class.

You can read below the whole WFTU intervention.

WFTU General Secretary Pambis Kyritsis Speech in 42^nt National Congress Of AITUC India

Dear comrades,

First of all, I would like to thank for the invitation and the possibility  to attend yours historic 42nd  National Congress.

I especially thank the General Secretary of AITUC, Comrade Amarjgeet Kaur  a prominent leadership figure of the Indian but also the international class labor movement, who we have the honor of being a vice-president of our World Federation.

On behalf of  more than  105 million members of the World Federation of Trade Unions from 133 countries from all corners of the earth,  I convey to you and through you to the workers of India, militant class greetings.

AITUC has been and remains, one of the foundation blocks upon which the strong edifice of our World Federation is built. Since the establishment of the WFTU in 1945, it has steadily and continuously participated actively, occupying a leading and irreplaceable role in the development of the World class-oriented trade union movement.

That is why it rightfully leads our regional office for Asia and the Pacific and the regional coordinator Comrade Sri Kumar is a member of the Secretariat and one of the deputy G.S. of our Federation.

In the historical records of WFTU are recorded many names of important trade unionist leaders of the AITUC, who served the World Trade Union Movement through important posts.   I mention only a few of them, like S. A. Dange founding leader, member of the executive committee, Debkumar Ganguli, founding member, Secretary for Asia Pacific and Deputy General Secretary,  Sukomal Sen, General Secretary of  TUI Public Servants, Indrajit Gupta and KL Mahendra, WFTU  Presidents and of course com. Mahatevan who served for many years as coordinator of the regional office and one of the deputy secretaries of WFTU.

To those fighters and so many others I haven’t named to whom we owe, honor and glory.

Dear comrades, delegates of the 42nd National Congress of AITUC.

The world is going through a phase of extreme intensification of political, economic, and military antagonisms, aiming at controlling and exploiting the economic resources of our planet.

The peoples pay the price of the imperialist wars and interventions.

After the Russian invation in Ukraine the USA, the NATO and the EU they attempt to present the situation as a war between liberalism and authoritarism.  Thinking that this way, their own criminal role in the developments can be hushed up.  But  so many bloody  wars and interventions to promote their own selfish imperialistic interests are clearly visible.   Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yugoslavia, Cyprus and so many other places.   The world peace is not being protected by even more militarism or patronage of all kinds of far-right nationalists and fascists.  It cannot be based on blockades, sanctions and economic wars.

WFTU is fighting for peace, for an end to this war and to imperialist wars and interventions in generally, for the dissolution of NATO and all military coalitions and for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The crisis of capitalism it deepens and strengthens, resulting the open violation of democratic and trade union rights,  the deterioration of working and living conditions and the dramatic widening of social inequalities, poverty, and exploitation. The results of the war of NATO and Russia in Ukraine, attempted to be loaded to the shoulders of the working class.

The sharp and uncontrollable increase in prices of all basic necessities, dissipates the living standard of the working people families at the same time that multinationals and monopolies are reaching new records in profits.

For WFTU it is clear that there is only one path to follow and this is the path of dignity, the path of the struggles.

The workers refuse to pay for the capitalist crisis and the imperialist wars, through remarkable struggles, strikes and mobilizations, all over the world.  WFTU affiliates are at the forefront of these struggles for the satisfaction of the contemporary needs of the workers at all levels: salary, employment, security, culture, and mental. To defend the democratic and trade union freedoms, the collective bargaining and the stable, permanent, and agreements-regulated labor.     The sharpening of state repression and authoritarianism,   is the response of the bourgeois governments to the just popular demands. Unfortunally with the cooperation or intolerance of surrendered trade union leaders together with yellow unions.

The arrest of the recently elected Secretary General of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC),  Luca Visentini brings to the surface one more time the issue of corruption within the Trade Unions and the necessity to intensify the struggles  to protect their autonomy and their class orientation, away from bureaucracy, corruption, and manipulation by the capital and employers.    In this particular case the arrest linked with the cover-up of terrible crimes committed against thousands of workers, many of whom lost their lives during their daily work.

The incorporation of the leadership of ITUC and ETUC to the neoliberal, anti-labor policies, the absence of a substantial reaction on its part, clearly coexists with the corruption and use of Trade Union positions for purposes foreign to the class interests of the workers.

Dear comrades, brothers and sisters

Concluding my intervention, I would like to wish you every success in the works, of your congress.  I am sure that with your pure class orientation and the militant guidelines of the WFTU 18th Congress, your future initiatives and struggles will meet  the demands and the  expectations of the working class of India.

I assure you that we watch your daily militant action  and you can always rely on the support and solidarity of the WFTU. For the defense of the political, social and Trade Union rights  of Indian workers,  against capitalist barbarity, for a world free of wars and interventions, without any kind of discriminations and man by man exploitation.

• Long live the working class straggles for peace and social justice
• Long live AITUC and the working class of India
• Long live the WFTU

Thank you

Strikes have been taking place since just after midnight and have seen nurses, ambulance staff and other health workers walking out and standing with placards in temperatures as low as -4C.

“It was extremely cold, but they were very determined to stand out and speak up” Anne Speed

Anne Speed, head of bargaining and representation at Unison Northern Ireland, told Nursing Times thousands of nurses were striking.

She said the atmosphere on the picket lines was one of determination and frustration and that there was “great solidarity among the workers”.

Members of the public had also shown support and had brought striking staff hot drinks and snacks.

“In freezing temperatures, that response from the public has been a real morale boost,” said Ms Speed.

On Strike placard sits in garbage pail post strike. Narrow depth with soft background. Shot in sun setting light.

Ms Speed said she was at the picket at Antrim Area Hospital this morning and the first group of staff who came out were nurses.

“It was extremely cold, but they were very determined to stand out and speak up,” she added.

One staff nurse on the picket line, who has been nursing for more than 40 years, described the current pay and conditions for health staff as “terrible”.

Nurses in Northern Ireland only received confirmation of their 2022-23 pay award last week, following an eight-month delay.

The award will see most staff on the Agenda for Change scheme receive a boost of £1,400 to their full-time equivalent salaries, as per the recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body.

The below-inflation pay package is the same as that received by nurses in England and Wales which is causing them to strike too this month.

ICTU submission on Auto-enrolment

The Mandate Trade Union has called on members of the public to respect retail workers during the busy and intense Christmas shopping season. The call coincides with UNI Global Union’s international day of action which seeks to raise awareness about the importance of combatting violence and harassment across the retail sector.

Mandate General Secretary, Gerry Light, said that this is an extremely important issue for those working in the various precarious employments across the retail sector.

“The last two years have been extremely difficult for everybody but particularly for retail frontline workers, who continuously served their communities throughout the pandemic and prior to the rollout of a vaccination. The recognition of this fact alone should be the key motivating factor for customers to ensure that retail workers and the environment within which they work is free from violence and harassment. Dignity and respect must transcend across all workplaces, across all people and sections of society.

“Unfortunately, evidence from across the globe seems to indicate that this type of unacceptable behaviour towards retail workers is on the rise resulting in some cases with workers tragically losing their lives. Evidence also supports the reality that women are more likely to be subjected to unacceptable behaviour.”

Gerry Light called on all employers to implement a zero-tolerance approach to safeguarding the safety, health and welfare of all workers.

“Employers cannot remain silent on this issue and Mandate is calling on employers to generate greater customer awareness around this critically important matter and in this regard our members would welcome in-store point-of-sale signage that sends out this clear message.

“As part of our ongoing campaign ‘Respect for Retail Workers’ campaign Mandate is further calling on the Government to review and introduce – as necessary – stronger legislation which outlaws the abuse of workers and prohibits violence in the workplace. Examples of such robust legislation hve already been introduced in other countries like Scotland, Sweden and Australia.” 

Mr Light concluded by saying that respect for retail workers is not just for Christmas – it should be maintained throughout the year – but this time of year does allow for a heightening of awareness around the issue and for a renewed call to customers to show retail workers the same level of support, solidarity, and respect that they unselfishly displayed particularly during the Covid crisis. Whilst recognising that most customers act in a responsible and respectful way, one case of abuse is one too many, Gerry Light said.