On the Day Black South African Team Captain Siya Kolisi Lifted the World Cup We Were Celebrating Our Own Heroes Who Fought Apartheid

MANDATE TRADE UNION DECEMBER 2019 SHOPFLOOR MOST DANGEROUS SHOP WORKERS IN THE WORLD

...On the day black South African team captain Siya Kolisi lifted the World Cup we were celebrating our own heroes who fought Apartheid... TWO DAYS OF MUSIC, THEATRE AND DISCUSSION – see pages 4&5 NEWSCOVEROPINION STORY Collective rights of workers must be protected

YOUR right as a worker to be- which continues to give control will no longer accept that employ- come a member of a trade union to employers and forces workers ers and employers’ organisations is enshrined in the Irish Constitu- STRAIGHT to struggle for what is a basic hold all the cards. We are demand- tion, so you might be forgiven human right. ing equal rights and protection for for believing this bestows rights TALKING The result of this imbalance of workers and their unions. that allow you to have that union power between capital (employ- We demand legislation to give ef- represent and collectively bar- John Douglas ers) and labour (workers) is that fect to this equality, we demand a gain on your behalf – but, alas, hundreds of thousands of work- Trade Union Act which gives work- not so. General Secretary, ers are consigned to work in ers legal protection to organise and Irish law does not give workers Mandate Trade Union lower-paid, precarious jobs, fear- to have their union collectively bar- the collective right to have their ful of organising and without gain on their behalf. union negotiate on their behalf. It’s trade unions, but when it comes any rights. The general election early next akin to being allowed join a golf nearer to home they will deny these The share of productivity and year will present the trade union club, but not being allowed to play basic rights to their own workers. profits produced by workers has movement with the opportunity to golf. Why are employers and employers’ been dwindling and the share highlight and campaign across all If workers desire to have their organisations (employers’ unions) so going to investors and manage- political parties for this basic de- union negotiate terms and condi- afraid of workers getting a collective ment has been steadily increas- mand. tions of employment, they often union voice at work? The answer is ing. Ireland now has one of the We will engage with all political have to forcibly convince their em- simple: they fear workers uniting highest proportion of lower-paid parties and report back to you, our ployer of this course of action. But and fighting for decency and re- jobs as a proportion of total em- members and your families, the more and more employers are un- spect. ployment of all EU countries. We position of the various political willing to engage, leaving workers are second only to the United parties so that you can make an in- with little option but to take to the Employers want to remain the sole States in this regard. formed decision at the ballot box. picket line to win what is essen- arbitrators of wages, of benefits, of hir- tially a basic human right. ing and firing. It’s about control, it’s In the Nordic countries and about bullying and intimidation – es- Germany – where collective bar- These recognition strikes are gaining and a voice at work are often difficult, employers pile mas- sentially it’s about keeping workers in sive resources into fighting against their place. commonplace – workers earn the rights of workers to have a col- The irony of the situation is that em- more wages, enjoy more leave lective voice at work, even though ployers are members of their own and are treated more fairly than the right to a collective voice at unions (employers’ organisations) their counterparts in Ireland. work is enshrined by the ILO (Inter- such as IBEC, SFA and ISME. These em- And here lies the nub of the national Labour Organisation) Con- ployer organisations give employers issue – employers here fight to ventions, the EU Charter of a voice about work, about their sector keep workers out of unions and Fundamental Rights and United and effectively lobby authorities on forming collective bargaining Nations’ Declarations etc. matters of importance to employers. because it gives them a bigger Indeed many major employers, The Government has deliberately share of the pie. They are fully many of whom are in retail, have failed Irish workers. They have never aware that a voice at work idealist corporate social responsi- introduced or proposed adequate leads to better conditions of bility policies covering their own legislation to protect workers’ rights employment. supply chains declaring the rights to organise and collectively bargain, The trade union movement of workers in their supply chain to and instead they have introduced can no longer fight with one join and be represented by free weak and ineffective legislation hand tied behind our back. We

Shopfloor is published bi-monthly by Mandate Trade Union. Mandate Head Office, O'Lehane House, 9 Cavendish Row, Dublin 1 T: 01-8746321/2/3 F: 01-8729581 W: www.mandate.ie Design & Editing: Brazier Media E: [email protected] W:brazier.media Shopfloor is edited, produced and printed by trade union labour PADDY POWER Recruitment drive Penneys shop stewards back Labour Court pay proposal boosts membership By David Gibney of all members in Penneys over the com‐ Communications Officer MANDATE membership at the bet- ing weeks. ting chain continues to rise follow- A national meeting of Mandate shop The national shop stewards meeting ing a very successful organising and stewards recommended in favour of ac‐ also endorsed a new claim for 2020 in recruitment drive. A pay claim has cepting the pay recommendation of relation to a cost‐of‐living pay increase, been served on the company, which 2.25% issued by the Labour Court on banded hours, rostering and holidays. has moved on to the Labour Court. Wednesday, 20th November. Mandate Assistant General Secretary The union is awaiting a date for the There was discussion at the meeting Gerry Light thanked the Penneys work‐ hearing. about the 2.25% recommendation not ers on the national negotiating team for Meanwhile, Mandate continues to achieving demands made by the Pen‐ their diligent work over the past 12 take successful rest break claims for neys national negotiating team, but months, as the new team of Kay Fox, members working at Paddy Power consensus emerged around a recom‐ Cathy O’Connor, Olive Lowry, Carol with hearing dates pending on mendation for acceptance. McNamara and Oskar Goldman were Mandate will now commence a ballot elected as the 2020 negotiating team. many more. Lead Organiser Bill Abom addressing Penneys shop stewards meeting on November 19th

2 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 NEWS new era for the union as bakers join Mandate IN BRIEF Big welcome: Tesco Ireland MANDATE’S National Negotiating Team are constructively engaged in contin‐ uing discussions with Tesco Ireland about Pre‐1996 staff and further meet‐ ings are planned. Along with these discussions, Mandate is to seek further information from Pre‐96 members through a members’ survey. Marks and Spencer A NATIONAL forum meeting with Marks and Spencer was held on Wednesday 6th November. At the meeting senior management outlined in full the chal‐ lenges facing the business in Ireland. Following the presentation the man‐ agers in turn faced a number of probing questions from local union representatives. Debenhams FOLLOWING a national ballot, proposals containing a modest pay increase were accepted by Mandate members. Meanwhile, against the continuing back‐ drop of difficult trading conditions there was a positive outcome from the UK courts recently over a challenge to the recently‐agreed Company Voluntary Arrangement. Arcadia SHOPFLOOR can report that only one of the planned 10 Irish stores ear‐ marked for closure will now cease trading. It follows negotiations with vari‐ ous landlords that resulted in more favourable lease terms for the retailer. MOPI AS A result of a term contained in our last pay agreement, discussions are continuing over the company’s absenteeism policy. A set of proposals has also been agreed which contain enhanced terms for Mandate members employed Above: Mandate General as online delivery drivers. Secretary John Douglas with Bakers’ Union General Secretary Martin Hanlon and McCauleys Assistant General Secretary John Martin MANAGEMENT have made a unilateral decision to award a 2% pay increase. The move follows a formal request from the union for a meeting to consider a pay claim for Mandate’s growing membership base at the pharmacy chain. Outstanding matters with this anti‐union company have now been referred to the WRC for conciliation. Boots TALKS are ongoing over a claim for the introduction of a new pay structure for Mandate members employed as dispensers. Further details will follow in updates to members. Dunnes Stores A NEW pay and benefits claim has been launched with Dunnes Stores which is similar to Tesco pay and benefits claim and follows on from the union’s De‐ cency Retail Charter. Assistant General Secretary Gerry Light told Shopfloor: “Online endorsements of the claim by Mandate members in Dunnes has ex‐ Right: Former Dublin Lord Mayor Michael O’Halloran ceeded all our expectations. This excellent initial endorsement of our Dunnes with John Swift (son of the claim demonstrates a strong desire for our campaign and we will continue late John Swift, Bakers’ Union seeking endorsements until at least the end of this year.” general secretary) LEGISLATION Combining a traditional craft Mandate backs SF bill with progressive politics... on rip-off premiums

By John Douglas music; and it played an important role Office, the last general secretary and MANDATE has given its full backing of paying legitimate claims” and en- Mandate General Secretary in every aspect of its members and assistant general secretary of the to Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty’s sure that claims could not be totally MANDATE Trade Union is delighted to their families’ lives. Bakers’ Union, Martin Hanlon and legislative efforts to bring clarity to invalidated because of minor dis- welcome into membership the mem‐ Mandate Trade Union will continue John Martin, presented on permanent the insurance industry in Ireland crepancies in what customers tell bers of the Irish Bakers’, Confection‐ this proud tradition. We will assist the loan to Mandate Trade Union a bust and stop customers having to pay insurers when taking out cover. ers’ and Allied Workers Amalgamated bakery workers of Ireland to regain of James Connolly by noted Irish rip-off premiums. Backing the move to regulate Union (the Bakers’ Union). their pivotal position in the sector and artist Hilary Heron. His Insurance Contracts Bill pricing and standards in the sector, This union has a proud history in respect for the trade. The Connolly bust was commis‐ passed its final stage at the Dail on Mandate Organising & Campaigns the social and political struggle in Ire‐ Like many sectors, the bakery sec‐ sioned by John Swift in 1946 and was November 14th and, as Shopfloor Co-ordinator Brian Forbes said: land, and at its height was one of the tor has been de‐skilled and industri‐ once displayed proudly in the Bakers’ goes to print, it is set to go before “Our members and their families most progressive trade unions on alised with many products being Union Head Office, The Four the Seanad. will welcome Doherty’s continuing these islands lead by their visionary produced on a factory scale by under‐ Speaking to the Dail, Doherty interventions in the Dáil and on the Provinces. then‐general secretary John Swift. paid and undervalued workers. said the legislation – if enacted – public record questioning the in- Mandate will keep the Connolly John Swift saw the role of trade The major bakery brands have been would ensure that “the interpreta- surance industry in Ireland. unions and trade union membership resisting union rights for some time bust on display in our Head Office as tion of a contract of insurance will “Escalating insurance impacting as holistic, from the cradle to the now but we in Mandate believe that a reminder of the strong links be‐ be interpreted to the benefit of the on the working class is another ex- grave. The Bakers’ Union ran its own we can support bakery workers’ craft tween the bakers and retail workers, consumer where there is confu- ample of the ‘rip-off Ireland’ men- bakery schools; opened a library in its and production in winning a voice at who now together in one union will sion.” tality that many organisations sign then‐head office, ‘The Four Provinces’, work and improving their terms and fight to fulfil Connolly’s vision of a He added that it would also stop up to.” on Harcourt Street; it involved its conditions. united socialist Irish Republic. insurance companies using “issues members in the Arts, culture and On a recent visit to Mandate Head Opinion: Michael O’Halloran p14 such as warranties” to “wriggle out Opinion: Pearse Doherty p29 3 December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR DUNNES ANTI-APARTHEID STRIKE

MANDATE co‐hosted a celebration of the 35th anniversary of Dunnes Stores Anti‐Apartheid Strike in Lib‐ erty Hall on Friday, 1st and Saturday, 2nd November 2019. The event, titled The Most Danger‐ ous Shop Workers in the World, was sponsored by the Communications Workers’ Union, the Financial Ser‐ vices Union, SIPTU and Unite the Union, and involved a weekend of theatre, music, spoken word and panel discussions. All proceeds from ticket sales went to MASI – the Move‐ ment of Asylum Seekers in Ireland. In 1984, Mary Manning, a young Dunnes Stores worker, followed a union directive and refused to handle goods from apartheid South Africa. This led to one of the most protracted industrial disputes in Irish history lasting two years and nine months. The determination of the 11 strik‐ ing workers prompted the Irish gov‐ ernment’s ban on importing produce from South Africa and is credited with contributing to the end of the apartheid regime. At the time of the strike, all South Africans were categorised based on their race into: Bantu (black Africans), Coloured (mixed race), Asian (meaning Indian and Pakistani) or white. The government forcibly removed black South Africans from rural areas and sold their land at low prices to white farmers. From 1961 to 1994, A strike for justice and more than 3.5 million people were forcibly removed from their homes and they were plunged into poverty and hopelessness. Black people had segregated schools, education systems, churches, public toilets, and they were denied access to ‘white’ areas, including beaches and swimming pools. They freedom celebrated in were prevented from working in cer‐ tain jobs and were often subjected to beatings and imprisoned for cam‐ paigning for equality and human rights. Nelson Mandela, who visited the workers in Dublin after his release in 1990, said the actions of the Dublin words and song retail workers helped keep him going through some of his most difficult days in prison. “Young workers who refused to handle the fruits of apartheid 21 years ago in Dublin provided inspira‐ Standing ovation for Strike! drama tion to millions of South Africans that ordinary people far away from the THE play ‘Strike!’ received a standing ovation from Most of the strikers were at the reading. crucible of apartheid cared for our all gathered in Liberty Hall Theatre. When the play ended, and as each character freedom,” said Mandela in 2008. And the passionate portrayals by the actors play- was asked if they would do it all over again, The strike was also supported by ing the roles of the strikers brought back memories each striker stood up in the audience as their Nobel prize winners, including Arch‐ for many of those involved in the original action. name was called and gave a resounding “YES!” bishop Desmond Tutu and Irish poet The story of the strikers and their humanity – as in reply. Seamus Heaney who joined the work‐ well as that of unsung heroes such as former Man- In short, a phenomenal action and a phe- ers on the picket line. date official Brendan Archbold – resonated with the nomenal play. Karen Gearon, shop steward during audience. The audience was then entertained by Farah the strike, said: “Ireland in the 1980s The villains of the piece – Ben Dunne, the local Elle, Natayla O’Flaherty and Yankari perform- had an undercurrent of racism so it manager and assorted scabs who crossed the picket ing spoken word, music and energetic dance wasn’t popular to stand up for the line – also drew strong emotional reactions from that infected the whole auditorium as they rights of black South Africans who those present. danced around the aisles. lived thousands of miles away. Unfor‐ tunately we are now witnessing an‐ ity and if there’s one thing we’d hope lighted to host this celebration be‐ other increase in racism so this event young workers today can learn from cause we believe tackling racism is a is happening at a very appropriate us, it’s that if you stand together and trade union issue. Workers through‐ time.” out the world – whether in Great She added: “We were victimised by remain strong you can achieve any‐ Britain, India, Nigeria or South Africa our employer and ridiculed by our thing.” – have far more in common with each former work colleagues. The gardai Mandate General Secretary John and the Special Branch would harrass Douglas said: “The Dunnes Stores other than with the class that op‐ us, while the Catholic Church and anti‐apartheid strikers stood on the presses them and our solidarity with many media outlets condemned us right side of history. They helped each other should not be based on for our stance. But we stood our change the world for the better. Their nationality or skin colour.” ground and ultimately our action was principled stance and their solid de‐ The Dunnes Stores Anti‐Apartheid successful. Mandate termination is something we should strikers included Mary Manning, “What brought about our victory contingent at all take inspiration from.” Karen Gearon (shop steward), the event was our collectivism and our solidar‐ He continued: “Mandate was de‐ Cathryn O’Reilly, Theresa Mooney, 4 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 PANEL DISCUSSIONS Lessons to be drawn from the action Dunnes strikers (below and above from left) Liz Deasy, Mary Manning, Karen Gearon, Cathryn O’Reilly and Michelle Gavin outside the Liberty Hall Theatre Bernadette Devlin McAliskey (second left) and Mandate General Secretary John Douglas Dunnes Strike cover picture: Derek Speirs PANEL DISCUSSIONS began in the early hours of Saturday morning, 2nd national conference in South Africa November. some years ago. The first panel, titled Back to the fu- “During their stay, they arranged to ture: discussing the political context of take a trip to Robben Island to visit 1980s Ireland and South Africa today, the prison where President Mandela was chaired by veteran activist Betty was incarcerated. En route, the tour Purcell. guide, a native of Robben Island, The panel comprised of SIPTU’s drew their attention to a nearby Frank Connolly; political activist cemetery where many Irish nationals Tommy McKearney; Bulelani Mfaco, were buried. an asylum seeker from South Africa “He then told the group that of an‐ who is now an activist with MASI; Lucky Khamule, draped in South African flag, other Irish connection, whereby he and Christabel Gurney of the Anti‐ was overjoyed at his country’s success at recalled that a number of young fe‐ Apartheid Movement. Rugby World Cup that morning... male shop workers went on strike The second panel, titled Boycott: supporting black majority people of Irish left seemed to flag up everyone the power of the boycott movement South Africa and won. else’s errors and suggested it was throughout history, was chaired by “The two trade union officials on perhaps time to work together and award‐winning Irish Times journalist the bus – John Douglas and Steve Fitz‐ respect differences. Kitty Holland and made up of Fatin patrick – were astonished because for Gethin Roberts whose campaign Al‐Tamimi of the Irish Palestinian Sol‐ once, they were unknown to the Lesbians and Gays Support the Min‐ idarity Committee (IPSC); noted his‐ group, and here in Robben Island the ers was portrayed in the award‐win‐ torian Margaret Ward, Mandate story and value of the Dunnes Stores ning movie, Pride, expressed his National Co‐ordinator for Campaigns strike was recounted.” solidarity with the Dunnes strikers. Brian Forbes and MASI’s Lucky Patricia King also pointed out that Emily Waszak from MERJ spoke of Khambule. 35 years on Irish trade unionists the need to express sollidarity with Fatin outlined the connections be‐ could still draw lessons from the those struggling in Ireland and tween apartheid in South Africa and strike. thoughout the world, including in the current treatment of Israel to‐ She continued: “In an era when we Rojava. wards the Palestinian people while are experiencing a distinctive rise in Mandate General Secretary John Margaret spoke the Irish origin of the global inequality, when the world Douglas then explained that all bat‐ Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign chairperson Fatin Al Tamimi surrounded by comrades who word ‘boycott’. looks on ineffective and impotent at tles and struggles, whether won or are demanding Israel ceases the Administrative Detention of Palestinian prisoners and releases Lucky expressed his great joy at lost, left behind them what he called all Palestinian prisoners without delay! #stopAD the continued plight and devastation seeing a black South African team of the Palestinian people, and when a legacy of activists. Vonnie Munroe, Sandra Griffin, Alma She said: “I think we can reliably captain lift the Rugby World Cup tro‐ we in this First World economy rarely He also posed the question as to Russell, Michelle Gavin, Liz Deasy, conclude that all the accolades, phy that morning, while Brian spoke if ever consider the plight of 170 mil‐ whether the Irish trade union move‐ Tommy Davis and Brendan Barron. plaques, street names, songs and with equal pride about about his lion children subjected to child ment needed a new political arm. The lead official for the strike was memoirs, national and international union having the famous Dunnes labour, 48% of whom are between The final act of the day was when the late Brendan Archbold who recognition, are all very well de‐ strike as part of its history. the ages of five and 11. the Echo Chambers podcast team in‐ coined the phrase “the most danger‐ The final panel discussion was ti‐ served by this group of workers. “Indeed when we take opportuni‐ terviewed five of the the Dunnes ous shop workers in the world” fol‐ tled Linking struggles: the importance “While the dispute is certainly em‐ ties to turn our backs on migrants Stores Anti‐Apartheid Strikers who lowing the deportation of the of solidarity between movements and bedded in the history of the Irish seeking sanctuary on our shores we spoke of the strike, its implications workers from South Africa by armed campaigns, and chaired by Sinead labour movement it has probably re‐ must embrace the persistence on them personally and their com‐ guard in the 1980s. Kenndy for the Coalition to Repeal ceived more international than na‐ demonstrated by the Dunnes Stores mitment to the cause of anti‐racism. ICTU General Secretary Patricia the 8th. l tional acclaim. strikers and believe that we can effect Their inspirational story is King opened proceedings on Friday, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey dis‐ now available on Echo Chambers “ I recall a short anecdote to illus‐ change, despite the obstacles put in 1st November with a call on trade cussed the state of the Irish left. She podcast website – check it out at: trate this… I know of two senior trade our way, and ultimately such commit‐ unionists to remember the tremen‐ pointed out how everyone on the https://tinyurl.com/DunnesPodcast dous deeds of Dunnes Stores strikers. union officials who attended an inter‐ ment will deliver a difference.” December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 5 NEWS

Stephen Nolan spoke on the political economy of climate TAKING breakdown ACTIVISM TO THE NEXT LEVEL Mandate holds successful first- ever National Activists School THE inaugural Mandate National Ac‐ tivists School was held at Lusty Beg on Lower Lough Erne, Co Fermanagh, over three days in October. General Secretary John Douglas (above left) speaks via Skype to UFCW activists from the Safeway and Giant Union Bargaining Committee who received a strong message of solidarity from Mandate activists Members drawn from six out of 10 gathered in Lusty Beg. Alan Hanson, Mobilizing Director for UFCW Local 400 (above right), joined the discussions also via Skype to talk about the union’s organising campaign at Safeway and Giant in the US Mandate divisions attended the very future direction of our union. outside of Mandate ranks, including bargaining committee. They are cur‐ ence almost identical workplace is‐ successful event which ran from “If we are to declare ourselves a Ciaran Campbell; Dave Gibney; Bill rently engaged in two organising sues and struggles to that of their Wednesday 16th to Friday 18th Octo‐ members‐led union, then we must lis‐ Abom; Stevie Nolan; and Sinn Fein TD campaigns within Giant and Safeway brothers and sisters here in Ireland.” ber. ten to the viewpoints of our activists and housing spokesperson Eoin supermarket corporations. He continued: “The phrase ‘a The numbers and the geographic in shaping our union’s strategies for O’Broin. “Our Skype session with Alan and worker is a worker is a worker’ was spread of those taking part is a signif‐ the future.” Brian Forbes said: “There was also our comrades in UFCW Local 400 was never more appropriate and despite icant indicator of the genuine interest He added: “Personally, I learned a a transatlantic hook‐up with a good extremely interactive and definitely what some employers would have us activists have towards progressing great deal from these three days with friend of Mandate, UFCW Mobilising one of the highlights of the event as it believe, we are all workers – not some of our most dedicated and effec‐ the union’s political and social agenda Director Alan Hanson and our broth‐ brought home the message that slaves.” Summing up the three days through genuine discussion and sub‐ tive activists.” ers and sisters in the UFCW Local 400 American workers in retail experi‐ of “excellent” discussion and debate, sequent direct action. Brian Forbes described the agenda Event organiser National Coordina‐ as “eclectic”, covering a wide range of tor Brian Forbes told Shopfloor: “Lis‐ issues of importance to members. ...an innovative tening to the thoughts and views of These included: union democracy, and extremely our activists on a wide range of issues structures and decision making, cli‐ over three days was genuinely em‐ mate change, Mandate local council encouraging“ ﬁrst-ever powering. structures, the important role of “It indicated a level of class con‐ women in trade union political organ‐ Mandate Activist School sciousness and commitment to na‐ ising, building union power and the well worth repeating tional and international solidarity urgent need for public housing. that certainly gives me massive hope There was a range of excellent and building upon for the organising and campaigning speakers drawn from both inside and on an annual basis ”

Eoin O’Broin TD (above) speaks to Mandate activists about the urgent need for a state-sponsored programme of public housing. Bill Caine at the flipchart (Tesco, Westport) (right) reports back on behalf of his workshop team on the theme of workers’ rights in Ireland 6 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 NEWS

DELFIN TEACHERS STRIKE Thanks for the solidarity, the pizzas and the cups of tea! THE striking teachers at Delfin En‐ Ken Reilly and everyone else in half of Mandate we wish to extend glish School have through their Mandate – and a very special thanks our ongoing deep solidarity for the union, Unite, sent a message of to Sandra Stapleton for all the cof‐ actions being taken by the English thanks, appreciation and solidarity fees and biscuits delivered to the language teachers at Delfin English for all the support shown to them in picket line!” School. their continuing industrial action to The statement went on to thank “Withdrawing your labour is secure decent pay, working condi‐ Brid Smith of PBP and Solidarity’s never an easy decision to make but tions and union recognition. Ruth Coppinger of Solidarity, who when an intransigent management And the teachers have singled out both came down with cheques for consistently refuses to address their near‐neighbours at Mandate €500 towards the Unite Hardship teachers’ concerns or to negotiate Dave Gibney gave a presentation on the theme ‘Union History, Union Identity’ for particular mention. Fund. €500 donations from Unite’s with them collectively through the In a statement, a spokesperson 102 branch and the Construction union of their choice, then workers Forbes said that it had resulted in union activity both at local and na‐ said: “Given the icy winds of the Branch were also received as well are left with little choice but to “many shared experiences” and “first‐ tional level. past few weeks, members have as a further €500 from the IWW. strike. rate inter‐divisional engagement” on “It was an innovative and ex‐ been glad of the warm welcome and “Pizza‐bearing” Atlas teachers “Retail employers engaging in the need for a well‐organised, cam‐ tremely encouraging first‐ever Man‐ hot tea and coffee in Mandate head‐ were also name checked by the similar anti‐union tactics would be paigning and fighting Mandate Trade date Activist School which is well quarters just a few doors down. Delfin strikers as were fellow lan‐ wise to pay heed to the inevitable Union. worth repeating and building upon Follow‐up action is planned with “Thanks to Mandate General Sec‐ guage instructors from Grafton, consequences of anti‐worker ac‐ on an annual basis. So members retary John Douglas, as well as Dave IBAT and the English Language Stu‐ tions. Mandate is proud to stand in those divisions who took part and should watch out for news of our sec‐ Gibney, Gerard Halligan, Muireann dio. solidarity with our Unite brothers and the union is to monitor – hope‐ ond Mandate National Activists Dalton, Moira Murphy, Ger Ryan, Mandate National Co‐ordinator and sisters in struggle. Victory to fully – any subsequent increase in School in 2020,”added Forbes. Maria Nolan, Mandate NEC member Brian Forbes told Shopfloor: “On be‐ the Delfin Strikers!”

Ciaran Campbell delivering a session on union democracy and decision making within unions

Above: Step Up’s Muireann Dalton and NEC member Ken Reilly line up with the Delfin strikers

Left: Mandate Tesco activist Ciaran Niall (front centre) visited the Delfin picket line on October 15th

FEEDBACK National Activists School... "The importance of this kind of activist “Having the opportunity to attend the first-ever Mandate training to a union on the front line of Activists School was a great experience. As an activist Mandate defending workers’ interests cannot be I’m always looking at ways to get more involved in our local National over stated. We need to learn how to council meetings and to participate much more in our union Activists organise in our communities as well as campaigns and organising. I’d highly recommend this our workplaces in order to be able to Mandate School to any member seeking to learn more School further our members’ interests, and about both the world we live in and the role of our union in build a fighting union. The activists leading a worker-led drive for increased class consciousness school in Lusty beg is an important and a better future for us all on this island.” MORE aspect to this work." Aaron Nolan, Pygmalion Bar, FEEDBACK ON Eoghan Fox, M&S, Galway Dublin Central & West Division PAGES 16,33 & 39

December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 7 NEWS IT PAYS TO BE IN THE UNION... 2.5%-8.5% rises for Kavanagh Group workers MANDATE has secured a new pay are not fit for purpose as staff are not ground for our next set of negotia‐ deal for members working in the Ka‐ being adequately rewarded for their tions which are still more than a year vanagh Group SuperValu chain which work and efforts and the contribu‐ away,” he added. has eight stores located across Coun‐ tions they make to their employers’ To this end, both Ciaran Campbell ties Mayo and Donegal. profits.” Campbell said that while it and his fellow organiser, Gerard Hal‐ The newly‐agreed pay award pro‐ was accepted that the retail industry ligan, are currently engaging with vides for a range of wage rises from a erating in the unknown because of generally was operating in “very chal‐ members in a couple of stores in Co Donegal. minimum of 2.5% to 8.5%. Brexit. It should also be noted that lenging and competitive times”, this Campbell explained: “It’s a strategy Ciaran Campbell, who is Mandate’s some retail employers feel that the could not mask the fact that most that we hope to roll out over the fol‐ Divisional Organiser for its North and National Minimum Wage (NMW) is a businesses in the sector were “in the lowing 12 months across all the West Division, said the rises on aver‐ main profitable”. benchmark in terms of pay. Because stores so that we can actually take the age represented an annual pay hike of of that, this agreement – while it’s “It is in those workplaces that Man‐ pulse of the members – on not only €1,300 for a full‐time worker. He also nothing to be sniffed at – is only a date is intent on securing rates of pay, their wishes, but their real employ‐ pointed out that some members work in progress. and terms and conditions for its ment needs. would be better off by €2,000 a year. “We have already signalled that the members that are not only meaning‐ “The results of these types of en‐ He said: “This has come at a time current pay regimes in this and many ful but that actually matter. gagement will help formulate our Alan Monaghan: praise for Mandate negotiators when unions and businesses are op‐ other similar type of employments “We’re already preparing the agenda going into the next pay round. We’ve a bit of work to do – but seeing Solidarity visit: a member better off by €30 or €40 a The LO delegation week is not only pleasing… it repre‐ proudly display sents a tangible start!” their Mandate medals Meanwhile, SuperValu Castlebar shop steward Alan Monaghan has put on record his thanks to that Mandate negotiators over the deal that was brokered. He told Shopfloor: "The recent ne‐ gotiations with Kavanagh Group have been positive, especially around the pay scale – the time taken to reach the higher rates of pay have been greatly reduced. “Let me be absolutely clear in stat‐ ing that this could NOT has been achieved without Mandate and the ef‐ forts of Gerard Halligan and Ciaran Campbell.” CLASS ACTS...

Phil of wisdom... IN THE first of our new Shopfloor section highlighting the class- conscious, publicly-uttered views of well-known celebrities, we begin with comedian Phil Jupitus. Writing under the pseudonym of “Porky the Poet” Phil had this to say about workers standing strong on a picket line... Delegation from LO visits Mandate HQ “I have always thought there’s an unrecognised grace and beauty in a picket line. Also, they are a huge By Eoghan Fox date’s transition from being a servic‐ Jonathan Hogan, who heads up the Mandate was given an informative embarrassment to the organisations M&S Galway, Mandate Western Division ing‐model organisation to an activist‐ union’s Training and Development presentation looking in particular at being picketed. The fact that, A DELEGATION from the LO confed‐ based, organising union. Department, gave a brief overview of the work of LO summer camps. Each for centuries, news organisations have eration of unions visited Mandate’s Communications Officer David Gib‐ the work done to develop Mandate’s summer a large number of young ac‐ portrayed the objectives of those who Head Office in Dublin on 21st August ney spoke about a number of the educational capacity, and the impor‐ tivists come together to visit shops stand on them as avaricious, unreason- to share stories about organising in union’s current campaigns and high‐ tant role it played in strengthening and businesses in a bid to ensure able or somehow evil is a testament to Norway. lighted the importance to Mandate of the union as a whole. compliance with collective bargain‐ the strength of the image. General Secretary John Douglas work done, for example, in defeating For their part, the comrades from ing agreements and to recruit young “A picket line is the simplest most di- gave a presentation to the seven vis‐ water charges. LO (Landsorganisasjonen i Norge) workers into the unions. rect manifestation of the will of people iting Norwegian comrades, who came He emphasised to the visitors no spoke about their organising work in The visitors were presented with to be treated with some measure of from the port city of Drammen, set‐ matter how many wage increases various respective sectors – LO rep‐ Mandate medals of our founders as a fairness. Ordinary workers, forced to ting out Mandate’s deep history of were secured for members, without resents a number of different unions. token of solidarity between us. Both stand outside a place of work, because struggle and outlining its many challenging austerity measures – They also set out a number of con‐ groups agreed to work closer to‐ they simply won’t take shit any more. achievements since its foundation. such as water charges – these victo‐ crete examples of youth participation gether into the future on campaigns Thank you for supporting everybody In particular, he flagged up Man‐ ries on pay would be null and void. in LO activities. and issues that affect us all. out on the line. Don’t cross them!” 8 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 NEWS Union’s pioneering on-field initiative... Champs Cup first

Above: Mubarak Olumegbon of Mosney FC and Pat Jennings present Dundalk’s Chris Shields with the man of the match award for Unite Left: Dundalk FC winners of 2019 Unite the Union Champions Cup By Rhona McCord doyle United followed by excellent Community Coordinator, Unite the Union runners‐up Courtown Hibs, Macroom THE Champions Cup is a three‐year United AFC and Star Rovers, Limerick. initiative sponsored by Unite the Baldoyle United is a football club in Union that brings together, in a two‐ north Dublin. This year it celebrates leg play‐off, the winners of both foot‐ 50 years of football in the local com‐ ball leagues in Northern Ireland and munity. They currently have 25 boys, the Republic of Ireland. girls and adult teams, and they run a This year’s fixtures, between Lin‐ fun ‘junior academy’ every week for field FC and Dundalk FC, were held in four to seven‐year‐old boys and girls. Windsor Park on Friday, November 8th and at Oriel Park on Monday, Baldoyle United is an inclusive club November 11th. The games ended in that promotes equality, diversity and victory for Dundalk (7‐1 on aggre‐ has a strong anti‐racist message. gate). Well done, Dundalk! Both the judging panel and Unite Unite General Secretary Len were very impressed with Baldoyle McCluskey attended both fixtures United and their commitment to and the tournament ambassador was equality and diversity that is so legendary Arsenal, Spurs and North‐ clearly represented in the activities of ern Ireland goalkeeper Pat Jennings. An all-female team of officials presided over the second leg of the competition at Oriel Park Oriel Park. A key part of Unite’s the club with girls, boys and adult Well‐deserved congratulations to sponsorship of this competition is to teams. both teams for taking part and for promote diversity, equality and com‐ The club’s participation in a range their support for this cross‐border munity throughout society and to of multi‐cultural and cross‐border initiative. challenge the intolerance that only events sends a positive message to As part of the Champions Cup, a serves to divides us. quarter of the sponsorship money our communities about friendship was allocated to local community Grassroots clubs and respect. They should be very projects and charities. A cheque was A competition open to grassroots proud of all their volunteers and play‐ presented on the night of the final football clubs throughout the country ers. Well done, Baldoyle United!The match to Temple Street Children’s was launched to find the best integra‐ Champions’ Cup is a celebration of Hospital and to Baldoyle Football tion initiatives taken by local football football and community. We acknowl‐ Club. teams. edge that people are different and we Unite also teamed up to support The judging panel, made up of acknowledge the right of each of us to two grassroots football teams – from members of Show Racism the Red celebrate our traditions but football Mosney direct provisions centre and Card, had a difficult task in reading brings us all together to a place where Quay Celtic in Dundalk – in recogni‐ through the details of the excellent we can respect and celebrate that dif‐ tion of the great work shown by vol‐ and inspirational work being done at ference. unteer coaches who give their time local level throughout the country. and commitment so that young peo‐ All of those initiatives are worthy of We look forward to continuing this ple can enjoy sports and integrate praise and we congratulate each and initiative and working with more with other. Both teams provided Unite Senior Officer Brendan Ogle and Mags O’Brien, of Show Racism the Red Card, presenting €2k every one who entered the competi‐ clubs and players for the 2020 Cham‐ mascots for the second leg match in cheque to Baldoyle United, winners of the grassroots competition for best integration initiatives tion. The overall winner was Bal‐ pions Cup. Coaching opportunities for Mosney young adults THROUGHOUT the build-up to this supply the boys’ and girls’ teams months. This is a mandatory year’s Champions Cup, Unite with new football boots. Unite is requirement for getting into foot- Community members linked up also supporting an initiative, along ball coaching. This will be followed with coach Robert Fimbo and with the FAI, for young adults by attendance at the FAI’s first young players from Mosney direct living in Mosney who have ex- level coach education course provision centre to forge links and pressed an interest in coaching where the fundamental skills will support for asylum seekers in football to pursue that goal. be taught. After the young Ireland. Supported by FAI community coaches have completed their This work will continue over the development officers in liaison initial training, they will be facili- months and years ahead. And as a with the centre and their coach, 20 tated to take up coaching opportu- result of talks with the young young adults from Mosney will nities with local clubs as well as Rhona McCord and Brendan Ogle of Unite with Mosney football coach Robert Fimbo (right) delivering players at Mosney, Unite teamed attend child safeguarding aware- helping with the running of weekly 180 pairs of football boots to players at the direct provision centre up with Toplion Sportswear to ness training over the coming football sessions at Mosney. December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 9 NEWS ROADSHOWS LAUNCHED Rolling initiative to build a momentum for United Ireland TRADE unionists from across Ireland unionists to take a strong lead in dis‐ North and South gathered in Dublin cussions towards how we might on Saturday 9th November to discuss achieve a socialist 32‐county Repub‐ Dublin Council of Trade Unions’ Mick O’Reilly (above) speaks from floor. Union activist Noirin Greene (below) did a superb round-up of day’s discussions their vision of what a United Ireland lic of Ireland. consultation with trade union mem‐ should look like. Two superbly researched eco‐ bers on these issues during a series of The seminar, titled Uniting Ireland nomic and political presentations fol‐ Uniting Ireland – Uniting Workers – Uniting Workers, took place in Man‐ lowed. The first by Conor McCabe, roadshows. date Head Office, Dublin, and was author, researcher and educator, ably Group spokesperson Ruairí Cre‐ hosted by Trade Unionists for a New followed by SIPTU political aney described the first roadshow and United Ireland (TUNUI). economist Michael Taft, both of event as “the start of a major debate whom perfectly set up the day for fur‐ This was the first in a series of within trade unions on the prospect ther discussion on the theme Uniting roadshow events to be held across of Irish unity”. Ireland - Uniting Workers and moving He said: “Trade unions have been a the country that will gather opinions towards establishing an Ireland for key driver of social and economic from trade unionists on a number of the many and not just the few. change throughout Irish history. In vital issues in the context of the Irish Attendees were then asked to give recent years, we stood by women in unity debate. their views on universal health care, Mandate General Secretary John workers’ rights and tackling climate the repeal referendum and we stood Douglas gave an opening welcome to breakdown in a United Ireland con‐ by our LGBT brothers and sisters in a packed main hall in the union’s Par‐ text during a series of coordinated the marriage equality referendum. nell Square headquarters, extolling workshops. TUNUI intends to de‐ “One of the biggest changes coming passionately the need for trade velop a policy document based on the down the road is Irish unity, and trade unionists need to put their stamp on that debate.” country and how we can better tackle now look forward to visiting places He continued: “We want to ensure climate breakdown as a unitary state. like Derry, Galway, Cork and Belfast, that a United Ireland is a New Ireland “This is part of a series of events among others, to listen to the wide that enhances the rights of workers across the country to gather the opin‐ variety of views that exist within the and gives them a bigger say in their ions of trade unionists on what a new trade union movement.” workplaces and in wider society. and United Ireland should look like Speaking following the event, Man‐ “We can’t leave this debate to the and to encourage the wider trade date National Coordinator Brian boss class. If we do, they will carve union movement to advocate for it.” out a new Ireland in their interests Forbes told Shopfloor: “We were de‐ He added: “We had an extremely lighted to be able to host this first and it will be trade union members successful event in Dublin and we who pay the price for that.” event here in our historic head office Creaney pointed out that the road‐ We want much, on Parnell Square, Dublin. shows would be focusing less on is‐ “This is an important first gather‐ sues surrounding identity and more much more ing of a series of trade unionist‐led on the material benefits that will flow than a fairer Ireland... debates, both North and South, on the from Irish unity. “ desperate need for a new Ireland. “The main themes of discussion we don't just want a “Our aim, as trade unionists, will be centred on how we can shouldn’t be that of just seeking a achieve an all‐Ireland universal piece of the cake, we fairer Ireland – no, we want much, health service free at the point of want the whole much more than that. We don't just need. We will also be discussing what bloody bakery! want a piece of the cake, we want the workers’ rights will look like in a new ” whole bloody bakery!” TRAINING

Participants in the Workplace Union Reps Intro course which took place from October 21st to 23rd at the Training Centre in Dublin

10 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 NEWS

Ruairí Creaney said TUNUI wants a new Ireland that enhances workers’ rights and gives them bigger say in society. SIPTU researcher Michael Taft (below) speaks at seminar

Conor McCabe delivers his General Secretary presentation at the seminar John Douglas

One of the discussion groups at the seminar

Pictures: Donal Higgins He continued: “We are always equal and egalitarian Ireland is an es‐ mindful that building a new 32‐ sential first step towards achieving county socialist republic from the James Connolly’s vision of an Ireland remnants of a failed republic will not from the plough to the stars. be easy and will inevitably take time. “Given our deliberations here today “However, trade unionists the in Dublin we are minded to remem‐ length and breath of this country, dis‐ ber the immortal words of Connolly, cussing and sharing views on a more ‘For our demands most moderate are, Workplace Union Representative Advanced Training This three day course is designed to provide trade union activists with the knowledge and skills to effectively contribute to and participate in their unions Recruitment & Organising strategy. Course Content: l Building workers power l Engaging workers l Talking to the undecided l Handling objections l Base building and collective action, identifying and recruiting leaders l Mapping (workplace and community) l Understanding power

Certiﬁcation and Progression: Members who successfully complete this training course will obtain a Mandate Certificate.

Noel Martin from Navan being presented with Places are limited. As there is a high demand for this course please James Connolly statue ensure you contact your Mandate Union Official or the Mandate Training after winning the draw made at the meeting Centre on 01-8369699 or email [email protected] to secure your place.

December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 11 COMMENT UNIONS MUST GET RADICAL...

Mandate NEC member Martin Mahony (centre) underlines his point that improved legislation on industrial issues can be achieved... Remove the handcuffs: ditch 1990 Act! By Jimmy Doran The meeting was told that for every Individual workers are at a huge force. Many of these workers are in Trade Union Left Forum inspection carried out in the retail ... retail workers disadvantage; but even a group of their fifties, while younger workers A WELL‐attended meeting organ‐ sector, a sum of more than €1,000 are continuously workers must now give a minimum of coming through are not joining ised by Unite in the Community, in was returned to workers in unpaid seven days’ notice, and have to abide unions, so it’s on a downward spiral. conjunction with Communities wages. undermined by other by a huge number of rules and regu‐ Many young workers have not even Against Low Pay (CALP), was held “ heard of trade unions: they hardly Martin explained: “Mandate has retail workers who are lations in the balloting of members, in Dublin recently. achieved more than €100 million in which often leads to long gaps be‐ know they exist. This is because of The aim of the meeting was pay increases across the retail sector not in a union. This tween dispute and strike. the side‐effects of ‘social partner‐ twofold: to organise low‐paid in recent years. This tips the balance of power ship’. restaurant workers into a union, “However, despite this significant freeloader mentality firmly towards the employer—as it Unions are inactive and are not and to actively identify rogue em‐ achievement, retail workers are being must be challenged was designed to do. seen on the streets or on strike ployers who are exploiting workers continuously undermined by other When the Government refused to fighting for workers’ rights. Despite by paying poverty pay and the man‐ retail workers who are not in a union. at every opportunity increase the minimum wage by 30 ‘social partnership’ being aban‐ ner they deal with tips for waiting doned many years ago, this mental‐ This freeloader mentality must be have a “radical trade union cam‐ cents in the recent budget, low‐paid staff. ity continues today, largely thanks challenged at every opportunity,” he paign”? Anti‐worker legislation is so workers on the minimum wage could The campaign against the Ivy added. ” have downed tools in a strike against to the anti‐union legislation enacted restrictive that if workers were to restaurant over employees’ tips was as part of it, which restricts unions Lobbying have such a campaign they would the minimum wage. This is also out‐ explained to the meeting. lawed under the 1990 Act as “politi‐ in taking strike action. “Mandate launched our ‘Secure need a senior counsel in one hand One of the speakers was Julia cal strikes” are banned. Under the voluntarist trade union Marciniak, a former member of staff Hours = Better Future’ campaign and and the 1990 Act in the other in order system there is no right to union ac‐ at the Ivy, who was sacked for fight‐ working alongside other unions in a to navigate all the legislation that is Collective cess; we do not have collective bar‐ ing back. Her dismissal is currently concerted lobbying campaign, which used to stop workers’ resistance. The tips issue could have been gaining rights; and there is no right being fought by her union. was led by our members in Dunnes, Let us look at three issues dis‐ dealt with in a collective manner. The to union recognition. Councillor Cieran Perry explained we won the introduction into legisla‐ cussed at the public meeting: the Ivy workers in all restaurants that are We may have the right to join a that CALP was a grassroots organi‐ tion of the Employment Miscella‐ Restaurant, the minimum wage, and stealing tips could have gone on union, but without these other sation for campaigning against low neous Provisions Act 2018. tip theft. strike in support of each other as an rights it is akin to having the right to pay and organising actions during “Workers in Ireland now have a If there was no 1990 Act in place industry‐wide strike. Restaurants not own a bike but not being allowed to trade disputes when trade unions right to seek a contract that reflects when Julia Marciniak was sacked directly involved could have had sup‐ cycle it. It puts handcuffs on work‐ are banned from doing so – in par‐ the actual hours they work – thus from the Ivy Restaurant, her fellow‐ port strikes. This would give the ers. ticular by the Industrial Relations proving that improved legislation can workers could have gone on strike workers involved a much stronger We need to remove these hand‐ Act (1990). be achieved, especially when unions and placed a picket on the premises position for fighting back against this cuffs. Then, and only then, can Cieran described how CALP had collectively combine their campaign‐ immediately and shut it down. outrageous policy that is now com‐ workers take off their gloves, roll up been active during the Greyhound, ing activities.” This could have brought the own‐ mon across the country. their sleeves, and fight back. Then, Lloyds Pharmacy and Tesco strikes. There was a call at the meeting for ers of this business to the negotiat‐ ‘Social partnership’ and its legisla‐ and only then, can workers have a Not being part of the trade union a radical trade union campaign to ing‐table. But under the 1990 Act, tion, the Industrial Relations Act, has radical trade union campaign movement or officially on strike, it fight back against low pay and pre‐ single‐worker disputes are drawn out led to union density being at its low‐ against precarious work, poverty was able to place pickets where carious employment. The question for months, and by such time all the est level in the history of the state, pay, and all the other inequalities unions were forbidden to place has to be asked: are workers able to energy is gone out of the dispute. hovering at around 24% of the work being imposed on the working class. them – for example, in shopping There is very little power in a centres during the Lloyds and Tesco union today. This power must be re‐ disputes. CALP members manned gained if we are to get a just share pickets and blocked bin lorries of the wealth that we produce. where unions were forbidden from If we had 100% union density doing so. without power we are fighting a los‐ Martin Mahony, a retail worker ing battle. What is needed is a radi‐ based in Dublin, speaking on behalf cal workers’ rights campaign to tip of Mandate, outlined his union’s the balance back in our favour. support for the campaign, citing the We must fight to have the 1990 need for unions and community ac‐ Act abolished and take on the em‐ tion groups to collaborate more in ployers, with a ballot box in one order to achieve robust legislation hand and strike notice in the other. to stop wage theft by unscrupulous Unions must become radical or be- employers. Supporters from other unions show solidarity with striking Lloyds Pharmacy workers come redundant.

12 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 NEWS All weather activism on show at claim update ENTHUSIASTIC members of the union working in Tesco Clearwater Finglas braved some particularly nasty autumnal weather to attend an update on the 2019 pay and benefits claim lodged earlier in the year. Industrial Officer John Callan told Shopfloor: “We had a large turnout on a particularly bad night, weather‐ wise. Clearwater is – and always has been – a strong union shop. “The local reps and house commit‐ tee continue to maintain a strong crease and pay equality as well as members showed only 13% of Tesco demands that Tesco management fully meeting on 30th September en‐ union structure in the store and this fairer scheduling with more set hours workers were on full‐time contracts. respect and comply with all existing dorsed the claim and committed to was evident by the enthusiasm on and predictable working patterns. The “The union is also seeking Tesco to collective agreements and engage on support the claim as well as ensur‐ the night. claim is also demanding 1,000 extra engage with the union on terms and both individual and collective issues.” ing the union remains strong in “The union is seeking a pay in‐ full‐time jobs as a recent survey of conditions of employment – the claim He added: “All those present at the Clearwater.”

Sligo Mandate activist Denise Curran (back SOLIDARITY row, centre) with other attendees at the Traveller Equality Network launch Mandate backing for Fórsa Traveller equality initiative

By Ciaran Campbell ment and Bernadette Maughan of the Divisional Organiser Sligo Traveller Support Group. PUBLIC sector union Fórsa recently Among the many Fórsa members, launched the Traveller Equality Net‐ Traveller community representatives work to highlight the many issues and guests at the launch was Man‐ that affect the Traveller community in date’s longstanding Sligo activist and the workplace. NEC member Denise Curran. These issues include dealing with Denise told Shopfloor: “I cannot the depth of structural inequalities stress enough the importance of facing Travellers from accessing these trade union‐organised cam‐ workplace as well as socio‐economic paigns and facilities which serve to rights to public policy provisions af‐ highlight the continued inequalities fecting the community. within Irish workplaces and the The initiative was officially wider society.” launched at Sligo Town Hall on Satur‐ “At a local level Mandate is only day, 9th November by Mayor Gino very proud and privileged to lend O’Boyle. what support it can to Forsá on this His introductory remarks were fol‐ very worthy cause. I am delighted to lowed by contributions from IN‐ represent that backing by being pre‐ VOLVE CEO James O’Leary, Martin sent at the event. Fair play, Forsá!” Ward of the Galway Traveller Move‐ she added. Ex-Roches employee wins Transfer of Undertakings claim against Debenhams

CHRISTMAS came early this year – or The WRC adjudication officer had ac- her bonus payment, this was in breach of should that be ve ry, ve ry late – for a fo r- cepted the complainant’s evidence that Statutory Instrument – S. l. No. 131/2003 mer Roches employee after she was suc- “despite having been searched on a European Communities (Protection of cessful in a claim at the Workplace number of previous occasions, this may Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Relations Commission (WRC) over disci- have been the first time that she was re- Regulations 2003. plinary action following a staff search quested to have her handbag included in The Adjudication Officer concluded and the non-payment of a ‘Christmas such a search”. that the complainant's te rms and condi- Box’ bonus way back in 2017. The adjudication officer also accepted tions of employment, as they transferre d Welcoming the move, Divisional Or- the complainant’s evidence that there from the transferor (Roches), currently ganiser John Carty flagged up the impor- “m ay have been confusion in relation to apply (in Debenhams) and “that there is tance of Transfer of Undertakings management's right, based on the poli- no link to the disciplinary process as it (Pro te ction of Employment) legislation, cies, to make such a request” and that the exists in the re spondent's (Debenhams) otherwise known as TUPE, in a case such final written warning could be viewed as current policies in this regard. Therefore, as this one. “somewhat harsh, in the circumstances”. I find that the respondent's (Debenhams) He said: “Mandate welcomes the WRC Ac co rding to the adjudication officer, view that the complainant (Mandate adjudication officer's findings on the the final written warning was moot due member) was not eligible for the pay- TUPE aspect of the dispute, as it will re- to the passage of time [it had expired at ment of a ‘Christmas Box’ bonus for 2017 Deferred mind De benhams of their co ntra ctual the time of the WRC recommendation]. is not consistent with her terms and con- obligations to ex-Roches workers.” As the Mandate member was not paid ditions of employment.”

December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 13 PERSPECTIVESNEWSOPINION It’s time for you get active in the union...

A NUMBER of recent stories to increase when former members ercare, Bonmarché, Karen Millen from the world of international from of staff are factored into the equa- retail prove once again the ad- the and Coast have closed. Others VIEW SHOPFLOOR tion. like Marks and Spencer, House of ditional difficulties faced by workers in badly organised When finally concluded the Fraser, Boots and Debenhams employments as they attempt Assistant General Secretary probe currently being carried out have announced a programme of to stave off savage attacks by Gerry Light Mandate Trade Union by Australia’s Fair Work Ombuds- store closures and staff reduc- their employers on well-estab- man is likely to result in the tions. lished terms and conditions of announced what appeared on the biggest case relating to underpay- Worryingly, some of these retail employment. face of it good news – an 18p an So forewarned is ment of wages. stalwarts have a presence here in In the UK, the third largest su- hour increase for staff. forearmed. It would appear that the treat- Ireland and with the full impact permarket chain, Asda, recently However, the 118,000 workers A well-organised ment of workers in this fashion is of Brexit still to unfold, it is rea- who will receive the increase must “ not that uncommon in Australia: sonable to assume that some accept unilateral changes to their workforce oﬀers the other firms – such as Qantas, Com- negative knock-on effect will be contracts, including the loss of best protection monwealth Bank and Super Retail felt this side of the Irish Sea. paid breaks, the introduction of Group – have also been found So forewarned is forearmed. A va riable shifts and a reduction in against whatever guilty of what can only be de- well-organised workforce offers premium pay for bank holidays scribed as wage theft. the best protection against what- and night shifts. is coming down Westfarmers, another household ever is coming down the track. Remarkably workers were given the track retail name Down Under, was Already Mandate has shown an one week to accept the new terms caught owing $15 million to its ability to protect workers against or face the reality of losing their business has just announced” an in- workers stretching back as far as the full ravages of cuts envisaged jobs. In what was presented as a crease in profits of 13% to £805 2010. By way of an explanation the for them by their respective em- row-back from this position man- million. employer stated this arose from an ployers. agement then stated that in- Maybe we should not be sur- “inadvertent error”. The recent journey of the stead of being sacked the prised at these latest develop- workers would simply be At a time when the threat to re- Debenhams Irish business ments as Asda is owned by the tail jobs and hard-won terms and through an Examinership process moved on to the new con- notoriously anti-union US retail tract against their will. conditions is on the increase, re- is a good case in point. giant Walmart. tail workers must become more The hugely ironic fact is Apathy and a lack of action In Australia, Woolworths admit- determined to protect their liveli- the majority of staff mem- are among the biggest dangers hoods. bers are on an hourly rate of ted to owing 5,700 of its staff $300 facing workers at this time but only £8.21 which is the na- million due to an underpayment in In the UK alone this year more remember these traits are en- tional statutory minimum their wages for as much as nine than 85,000 jobs have been lost. tirely within their capacity to wage in the UK while the years. However, this figure is likely Recently businesses such as Moth- avoid. A proud history and a future filled with hope tist Church. He persuaded the union to pur‐ Michael chase this church and build on the site a head‐ quarters for the Bakers’ Union in Ireland – O’Halloran which had members in the whole of the island. Trade unionist, That was why the headquarters building was Bakery Workers Union named ‘Four Provinces House’. member/activist & In its day, this building was the finest trade former Mayor of union centre in Dublin. It contained a confer‐ Dublin City ence hall which was decorated by murals of scenes from Irish labour history which were Picture: Kyle Strickland (CC BY-NC 2.0) Picture: Kyle Strickland (CC BY-NC BAKERS in Ireland have a long and honourable painted by well‐known Irish artists. It also had history. It is a history of achievement, struggle, a restaurant and a library for members. and success along with failure. However, over The Executive Room contained a bust of the last decade there has been a decline in the labour Irish leader James Connolly who had influence and importance of the bakery work‐ worked at a bakery in Scotland in his younger ers’ organisation due to technological change years. and a growth in non‐union bakeries. All of this was achieved with a membership The union in trying to arrest this difficulty of 4,000 which indicates the importance that amalgamated with the British Bakers’ Union. leadership and commitment can play in the de‐ The amalgamation was not a success and this velopment of trade unions and, as such, is of union has now withdrawn from Ireland. bers to pay a high rate of contributions. These goods. This objective of providing management equal importance to that of financial resources. Many of the union’s members have joined benefits continued into the 20th century but, candidates was never properly realised and its General Secretary John Swift was the person Mandate. They now have an opportunity of re‐ with state benefits improving, the union bene‐ failure to achieve this may have contributed to who drove this vision. It was his vision that es‐ building the organisation of bakers through tablished the trade school. In the History of the their participation in Mandate. fits were eventually abolished. the demise of unionised bakeries in Ireland. Bakers’ Union all of these achievements are The bakers bring to Mandate a great tradition The union was not only concerned about the Many of the managers dealing with the in trade union organisation. And this tradition working conditions of its members but also changes that were taking place in the bakery in‐ listed in greater detail and are worth reading to is marked by many great past achievements. their education and cultural life. The union pro‐ dustry had little or no understanding of the cul‐ see what can be achieved through a combina‐ The Dublin Bakers’ Union Rule Book of 1875 moted n orchestra as well as a choir and was ture of bakery workers. This affected their tion of leadership and vision. outlines the benefits that the union had put in probably the only union in Ireland to establish ability to lead and communicate the challenge Inspired by past achievements, bakers now place to assist with the welfare of their mem‐ its own trade school. This was to improve the of change. Another contribution by the Bakers’ have an opportunity of overcoming their pre‐ bers. This included: unemployment benefit, skills and knowledge of its members so as to lay Union was the building of a new headquarters sent difficulty. And their involvement in Man‐ sick benefit, the provision of free doctors and a foundation for improved management oppor‐ in Harcourt Street. The general secretary of the date provides a strong basis for the rebuilding funeral benefit. These generous benefits were tunities for bakery workers as well as improv‐ Bakers’ Union, the late John Swift, identified a of the organisation of bakery workers in Ire‐ provided because of the willingness of mem‐ ing the quality and variety of bakery‐produced site on Harcourt Street where there was a Bap‐ land. 14 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 EYES LEFT! Kerry’s very own Time Lord

VLADIMIR Lenin reserved some of his order to claim full expenses TDs must choicest epithets for one form of rep- register their attendance at Leinster resentative institution, namely “the House using the electronic fob sys- venal and rotten parliamen- tem. However, the system does not tarism of bourgeois society.” record the time at which TDs fob in. Biffo Biffo reckons auld Michael Healy-Rae, who coinciden- Vladimir must have tally is chairman of the European Af- The Eye That Never Sleeps spent a day or two fairs Committee, was forced by the in the company of media to defend his Dáil attendance Kerry’s wisest of the Healy- record by going on the offensive, Raes, the bold Michael. declaring, “I can’t be in two places at Just a few days after the Dáil the one time” and “If you’re trying to controversy over voting in the give the impression that I worked chamber, which led to some TDs only an hour a day… get your facts making public apologies, right” which would in this particular Michael Healy-Rae seemed to instance seem to contradict his have mastered the extremely fobbed-in presence in the Dáil and difficult art of bilocation. his attendance at a funeral in Sneem. On Monday 21st June 2018 he Setting the controversy of his al- was registered as being in the Dáil leged time travelling aside, his on the day EU leader Jean-Claude contrite confession that he “wasn’t at Juncker came to preach austerity to the funeral. It was the burial I made. our TDs. He also managed to be at a I didn’t make the Mass. I was late for funeral that very morning in the Mass,” could yet prove to be his Sneem, south Kerry, for the burial biggest mistake. of an uncle of his son-in-law. In Declaring so brazenly that he missed Mass won’t go down well with his voter base in Kerry. Fobbed off: Michael Healy-Rae God love him! It’s a daﬀ-a-down dilly Chitty Chitty Bang Bang yarn... THIS is an actual mural on a wall in Eddie Dempsey off the custard and East London of working class hero jelly. He’s been having an argy- and general diamond geezer Eddie bargy with those Berkeley Hunts Dempsey from the RMT! from New Labour who need a right And it was pure Donald Duck that kick in the Berlin's.” the following conversation was over- heard on an East London Uncle Gus “Cheese and rice that Dempsey between two billy bunters: geezer does a fair bitta rabbit and porking but he’s a right wee Charlie “Ere me aul dinner plate, who's that geezer’s boat race on that wall Pride all the same.” over in East London?” “I'd give ‘im a cattle truck alright.” “Awright me aul china, I fink it’s some Proof, if needed, that witty conver- left-wing struggle and grunt from the sations on an East London bus are no RMT.” different than those wee gems over- “Ah yeah, it’s that union geezer heard on our own Dublin buses.

Active shopping unit on Grafton Street THERE WAS no quarter given as shoppers ridicule an attempt at re-branding Grafton Street in Dublin. Twitter was alight with the craic and plenty of piss-taking Hot drinks for the homeless... but winner of Tweet of the Day goes to comedian PJ Gallagher who posted this THREE lads were spotted on O’Connell Street in Dublin recently carrying a Burco picture of the IRA doing their Christmas shopping on the historic Grafton Quarter. water boiler to give out hot drinks to our homeless on the soaking wet streets of our capital city. This demonstrates that while humanity and dignity is clearly 2019 Trump Award for UK Political Oxymoron of the Year ... missing from those heartless sociopaths who pass our laws, there still remains hope clearly shown in the well-meaning actions of these teenagers that our Winner – Vote Conservative to undo nine years future society might not be as doomed as people would have us believe. of Conservative policies! Love, peace and socialism, comrades, and Nollaig Shona Daoibh from Biﬀo!

December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 15 FEEDBACK NEWSINFODESK National Activists School Full report p6/7 LEGACYRevolutionary Munster celebrated By Breandán Ó Conchúir mills, and Cork harbour –take control Industrial Officer, Southern Division of the management and oversee their THE role played by Cork trade union‐ continued operation. ists during the revolutionary period The workers were motivated by from 1916 to 1921 was celebrated at both economic and political concerns a conference in University College and the soviets reflected workers’ de‐ Cork on 19th October. mands for fairer wages. Workers Focusing on the theme ‘Labour in called for the removal of particularly the War Zone’, the event was organ‐ unpopular managers and the occupa‐ ised by the Cork Council of Trade tions featured overt political state‐ Unions, the Irish Congress of Trade ments such as the painting of slogans “This course not only Unions, and the School of History at and the raising of red flags over build‐ proved very informative, it UCC. ings. The conference, which was open to gave me an insight into how The slogan ‘We make bread not the public, was attended by both aca‐ the union’s real decision profits’ was painted over the door of demics and trade union activists. They the Bruree Soviet in Limerick. There, making operates. This heard contributions delivered by a workers occupied a bakery and flour further emphasised the number of leading labour historians. Emmet O’Connor spoke on the the mill and continued to produce bread need for real member labour movement’s role in the inde‐ but sold it at a much lower price than participation to make and pendence struggle throughout Mun‐ normal. defend the decisions that Other speakers covered the impor‐ ster, while Dominic Haugh – who has drives the union policies tant role of trade unionists in the published a book on the subject – and strategies. Meeting and spoke about the ‘Limerick Soviet’ of struggle for independence through 1917. Theresa Moriarty’s talk was ti‐ general strikes against conscription conferring with other tled ‘Underpaid, underfed, hard‐ One of the contributors to the19th October conference at UCC Picture: SIPTU Twitter and in support of republican prisoners activists helped the courses driven: women workers in important actions taken by trade tations on the most high‐profile events and the refusal to transport arms. learning processes, and revolutionary Munster’. unionists in this period have received of this period of military and social As the decade of centenaries contin‐ likewise the venue ues there will be more events such as The one‐day conference was organ‐ much less coverage. struggle such as the series of work‐ contributed to that. A great ised at a time when across the country This is despite militant trade union‐ place occupations across Munster this to celebrate the history of Ire‐ the centenary of many historically sig‐ ism taking an active role in the social from 1919 which have been referred land’s revolutionary period. It is im‐ course and hopefully more nificant events is being celebrated. struggle aimed at improving the lives to as ‘Soviets’ by both the workers portant that the vital role played by to follow...” While the events of the War of Inde‐ of ordinary workers and landless rural who took part and by historians since. trade union movement in this period Mar Drewe - Tesco Castlebar, pendence are well known and have labourers. These occupations saw workers in is remembered and celebrated as part North & West Division been celebrated for many years, the Conference attendees heard presen‐ workplaces – such as creameries, flour of these centenaries.

Health and Safety Representation Presentation & for Elected Reps QQI Level 5 Public Speaking Skills

This five-day QQI Level 5 Health and Safety Course is for elected Health and This two day course is designed to provide trade union activists with the knowledge and skills to prepare, present and deliver presentations Safety Representatives. The following topics will be covered on the course: effectively with in their roles.

l l Health & Safety Legislation Role of Health & Safety Representative Day 1 - Course Content: l Safety statements l Role of Health & Safety Authority l Designing a Presentation l l Occupational health l Identiﬁcation of hazards and risk assessment Preparation & Practice l Methods of Presentation l Accident investigation l Fire safety l Effective communications l Structuring a Speech l l Health and safety promotion Not Overloading l Individual Task (Beginning your Speech)

Day 2 - Course Content: Members who successfully complete this Training Course l Engaging the Audience will obtain a QQI Level 5 Certificate in Health and Safety. l Communication Skills Verbal and Non-Verbal Verbal: Time, Pitch, Create Effect Non-Verbal: Physical Orientation, Posture, Breathing Exercise l Active Listening, Speech Timing l Speech Delivery l Overcome Nerves & Anxiety l Individual Speech Practical Exercise

Certiﬁcation and Progression: Members who successfully complete this training course will obtain a Mandate Certificate. Please contact your Mandate Union Official or Mandate Training Centre on 01-8369699 if you are interested in taking this course; or alternatively you Places are limited. As there is a high demand for this course please ensure you contact can email your request to [email protected] your Mandate Union Official or the Mandate Training Centre on 01-8369699 or email [email protected] to secure your place.

16 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 NEWS Decision not to boost NMW ‘shows contempt for vulnerable workers’

MANDATE has condemned the Gov‐ ber of “working poor” further. Mr ernment’s decision to set aside an in‐ Douglas continued: “Low paid work‐ crease for minimum wage workers ers paid a disproportionate penalty while also increasing their cost of liv‐ for a banking crisis not of their mak‐ ing through the carbon tax. ing, and it seems the Government Picture: Jevgenijs Slihto (CC BY 2.0) Minister for Employment Affairs will ensure the same workers pay for and Social Protection Regina Doherty a climate crisis not of their making.”

deferred the implementation of the Picture: RollingNews.ie/ICTU “All this budget did was increase Low Pay Commission’s recommenda‐ the number of working poor. Low tion for a 30 cent‐an‐hour increase in paid workers’ families will once the National Minimum Wage, which again have to go without because currently stands at €9.80 an hour. government refuses to recognise the Defending the decision not to im‐ struggles of everyday workers. plement the miserly 30 cent rise, “It will mean more families strug‐ Workplace Union Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that John Douglas: ‘contempt for the lower paid’ gling to pay their rent; more strug‐ Government was merely following gling to put a roof over their head; the Low Pay Commission’s advice on He said: “In recent years, low paid more people experiencing depriva‐ Representative Intro Training increasing the minimum wage only in workers have been battered by rising tion; and will increase the number of the event of an orderly Brexit. rents and housing costs, as well as children experiencing poverty.” The ‘get out clause’ for govern‐ food prices and essential goods. The And Mr Douglas explained why the This three-day Workplace Representative Intro ment, unfortunately ceded by the only thing that helps them to main‐ decision was totally unnecessary: Training course is for new shop stewards/union Low Pay Commission (LPC), was tain any standard of living is when “Employers already have an ‘inability representatives. The course aims to provide info, skills their pay is increased through the most likely an ‘unintended conse‐ to pay clause’ attached to the Na‐ and knowledge to our shop stewards/union quence’ as the Commission’s recom‐ minimum wage.” tional Minimum Wage, so any in‐ mendation was framed on the basis And he insisted that denying mini‐ crease was not likely to put any representatives to assist them in their workplace roles. of assuming an orderly transition for mum wage workers an increase in employer out of business. There re‐ the exit of the UK from the EU. the face of Brexit and an expected 4% ally is no excuse for this mean‐spir‐ Course Content: The LPC report furthermore increase in household spending that ited decision.” l The role of the Workplace Representative states:“The Commission acknowl‐ would impact on those on the lowest He added: “Any worker struggling l Terms and Conditions of Employment edges that in the event of a ‘hard’ income the most was reprehensible. to make ends meet should join their l Brexit the Government may need to “To add insult to injury, the Govern‐ relevant trade union and campaign Employment Law review the recommended rate.” ment expects the same workers to for improved working conditions. l Dealing with workplace issues Given its long lasting love affair pay an increase in carbon tax, with‐ “This decision by government l Workplace Organisation & Communications with austerity and fiscal conser‐ out access to fuel allowances, which shows that workers cannot rely on l vatism this Government didn’t need could lead to a 5%‐6% increase in liv‐ their employer or the government to Recruiting members and building to be offered the chance to dodge giv‐ ing costs,” he added. improve their lives and that the only a strong union in the workplace ing a pay rise to low paid workers The number of workers living way workers can win satisfactory l Organising and chairing meetings twice. Slamming the move, General below the poverty line increased pay increases is through well‐organ‐ l Political and Social Studies Secretary John Douglas claimed it from 91,407 in 2009 to 109,000 in ised workplaces and collectively bar‐ l showed “contempt” for the most vul‐ 2017 – and, according to Mandate, gaining with employers through their Supporting union campaigns nerable workers in our society this decision will increase the num‐ trade union.” l Agreeing actions to build a stronger union in the workplace Certiﬁcation and Progression: Members who successfully complete this training course will obtain a Mandate Certificate. Members may then carry on their training and personal development Places are limited. As there is a high demand for this course please ensure you contact your Mandate Union Official or the Mandate Training Centre on 01-8369699 or email [email protected] to secure your place. TUC hosts Women’s Council of the Isles Bar Workers THE annual Women’s Council of the ing discussion on the theme of a Isles was held this year over two woman’s place in her union.” UNION TRAINING days in November at the TUC offices Combatting the rise of the far Mandate Trade Union is designing and developing this in London. Bar Workers Union Training due to workers having right was featured as part of the identified training that they need and the need to raise Each year, the event brings to- discussions, with speakers, includ- awareness in their workplaces. gether the women’s committees of ing Colombian activist Mariela the TUC, STUC, Welsh TUC, as well as Kohon, reporting the lessons they Course Content: ICTU North and South, to discuss had learned. l Health and Safety in the workplace matters of mutual interest. This year the Irish delegation pre- l Health and Safety for the individual l Mandate delegate Joan Gaffney sented a report, titled ‘Enough is Personnel safety as a bar worker told Shopfloor: “Last year, Dublin l Legal entitlements for bar workers Enough’, on sexual harassment at l hosted the occasion. This year it was Know your employment rights work. l England’s turn and they gave us all Identification of further training requirements for bar workers a very warm welcome. Joan said: “A total of seven dele- “Not surprisingly, the issues up for Lessons from Colombia: Mariela Kohon gates were involved with the pre- Certiﬁcation and Progression: discussion at the Council of the Isles were also discussed and we heard sentation which was headed up by Members who successfully complete this training course will obtain a Mandate Certificate. centre around women’s rights. And from one speaker about what it was Melissa from Fórsa. on the agenda this year were some like to be a Palestinian woman “Other delegates – including myself – gave the voice to the suffer- Places are limited. As there is a high demand for this course please ensure you con- of the old faithfuls, including a re- against the backdrop of the ongo- tact your Mandate Union Official or the Mandate Training Centre on 01-8369699 port on gender equality. ing conflict there. ings of women in the workplace or email [email protected] to secure your place. “The rights of Palestinian women “And there was another interest- based their own experiences.” December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 17 ANALYSIS Why taxing the rich is

additional spending on education and an estimated €3,781 million and af‐ but that would involve taxing one‐ Ireland is already a significant ben‐ Michael family supports. fect 86% of all households. To achieve third of all households. eficiary of corporate tax revenue, the Would simply taxing wealth, high‐ this yield, however, would require We need a net assets tax, but we highest in the EU – and with the low‐ Taft incomes and the corporate sector taxing lots of people who have very also need to be realistic about the est corporate tax rate. [See Table 2] raise €11.5 billion? No. little net wealth and possibly low in‐ revenue it can raise within the pa‐ Irish corporate tax revenue makes comes. In addition, applying a wealth rameters of social equity and eco‐ up 6% of national income with a very Taxing wealth tax to all households would present a nomic efficiency. One bright spot: low corporate tax rate. How does this The arguments for a net assets tax, very large administrative burden.” there is a tendency to underestimate happen? This is one of the few bene‐ commonly known as a ‘wealth’ tax, More realistic scenarios suggest wealth and, thus, the potential tax fits of being a tax haven (or ‘tax haven are considerable. How much we yields of between €300 million and revenue. But that still won’t get us to conduit’ or a ‘vital link in the global THERE are many necessary and pro‐ would get from that source is debat‐ €600 million (where only 6% of the levels of other comparable EU corporate tax avoidance chain’ – gressive projects that could be imple‐ able. The ESRI and NERI’s Dr Tom households would be affected). One countries. whatever). Money flows in and mented if there was enough money – McDonnell have done excellent work could drive revenue up to €2 billion, Illustration: Stijn Felix (CC BY-NC-ND) through Ireland and the state can wet public services, in‐work supports, on the design of a net assets tax, dif‐ The corporate sector its beak – taxing profits generated in anti‐poverty programmes, social and ferent models and the resulting rev‐ The scandalous stories of corpo‐ other countries. economic investment. How would enue. rate tax avoidance suggest we should If Ireland was an normal economy these be paid for? The ESRI estimates that, in its most be capable of raising more revenue (i.e. non‐tax haven type jurisdiction – There is a tendency to underplay expansive form, a net assets tax from this source. But given Ire‐ though The Netherlands has been the question, or imply that funding would raise €3.8 billion. However, land’s position in the global tax known to play fast and loose) with a would come from simply ensuring they rightly call this “highly unreal‐ avoidance chain, we need to normal corporate tax base and tax the wealthy and corporate sectors istic”: tread carefully given the regime, it would take in far less cor‐ pay their fair share. Unfortunately, “ . . . the highly unrealistic sce‐ potential of perverse porate tax revenue – about €3.6 bil‐ taxing the rich (whether households nario of taxing all positive outcomes. lion less. or corporations) will not be enough. wealth at 1%, this would raise Calls for increasing taxation on the Let’s first look at how far we are corporate sector need to take into ac‐ behind other comparable small open count that the revenue we already economies in the EU. Among high‐in‐ raise is labelled ‘unsustainable’ – a come countries, the Department of nice way of saying that tax‐avoiding Finance suggests we should compare multi‐nationals could move their tax‐ ourselves to Austria, Belgium, Den‐ avoiding profit flows away from Ire‐ mark, Finland, Sweden and The land. Netherlands. [See Table 1] Such calls also need to take into ac‐ We find that Ireland lags well be‐ count the fact that flows into Ireland hind the other countries. In as part of a tax avoidance chain can primary revenue (total rev‐ easily be diverted elsewhere. enue excluding interest Calls need to take into ac‐ payments), Ireland would count the impact that potential have to increase public changes in international taxa‐ spending by €19.2 billion tion (e.g. the OECD base‐ero‐ to reach the average of sion proposals and the EU’s our peer group. digital tax) will have on Irish However, we don’t need taxation without any domes‐ to raise all that money as tic policy change. The fact is we need to spend less on that international tax justice pensions given our low el‐ will likely lead to lower cor‐ derly demographic. Neverthe‐ porate tax revenue for Ire‐ less, when we exclude spending on land. public pensions, Ireland would still And while Ireland has tax haven have to raise taxation by €11.5 bil‐ features, it is not by‐and‐large a let‐ lion. However, this is probably an terbox tax haven (though someone under‐estimate as we have a much might want to knock on a few doors higher youth demographic requiring Do your bit on the SHOPFLOOR! SHOPFLOOR KEEPS YOU INFORMED... HELP KEEP US INFORMED BY EMAILING STORIES & PICTURES ABOUT YOUR WORKPLACE [email protected]

18 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 not enough...

TABLE 1

TABLE 2

TABLE 3

Picture: John Jones (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) in the IFSC to see if anyone answers). ficient and progressive. Nor is it an not be sufficient to raise our revenue Most multi‐nationals here have sub‐ We need a net assets tax, but we also need to be argument against domestic reforms to the levels enjoyed in other coun‐ stantial presence – in terms of em‐ realistic about the revenue it can raise within of our corporate tax regime, even as tries. What will? I hope to take up ployment, wages and economic we support international reforms. this issue in a future article. But activity. “parameters of social equity & economic eﬃciency The operations of a number of cor‐ here’s a teaser: it’s not just about rais‐ What would the combination of porate tax expenditures (i.e. tax re‐ ing taxes. changing international tax rules and liefs) are worthy of examination and It is about progressing the econ‐ any domestic policy changes have on reform: the knowledge box, en‐ ” omy – especially the indigenous sec‐ future foreign direct investment? We What about our friends in the top €140,000. This would raise €345 trepreneurial relief, bringing forward have a tax‐based FDI policy which is tor – into higher value‐added 1%? According to the Revenue Com‐ million. While this money would be losses, enterprise incentive schemes, long past its sell‐by date. Do we have activities while ensuring a more eq‐ missioners, the top 1% income earn‐ welcome, it would not get us a whole R&D tax credits. These could yield a new one ready to go? A progressive uitable share‐out between labour and ers – earning more than €200,000 – lot closer to our peer group’s overall considerable resources that could be one that doesn’t rely on a lax regime put toward better purposes. capital. pay an effective tax rate of 35%. If we tax levels. with low tax rates? This is the hard work of transform‐ were to increase that to 50% it would This also suggests that to raise the And as for high‐income individu‐ Social Justice Ireland estimates that ing the productive base of the econ‐ raise an additional €1.4 billion. To do €2.3 billion on the top 2% would re‐ als, it’s not the rate that counts but a minimum corporate tax rate would omy while privileging the producers the same thing for the top 2% would quire an income tax rate of 70% for the base. We could lower marginal raise a substantial €1 billion. Even if rates – especially on average income (aka the workers). Increasing tax that had no blow‐back or downsides, yield an additional €2.3 billion. How‐ those on €150,000 and above; or a ever, this would require steep in‐ marginal tax rate of 81%. That is not earners – while increasing yield by revenue doesn’t always have to mean this would still leave us far from the broadening the tax base. raising taxes. tax revenue raised in other countries. creases in tax rates and could terribly realistic. This is not an argu‐ incentivise tax avoidance activities. ment against increasing taxes on A stronger Universal Social Charge High income individuals Sinn Fein proposed a more modest those who can well afford it. Taxes on could achieve this for the simple rea‐ Michael Taft is a SIPTU researcher. son that all income is subjected to the What about increasing taxes on tax on higher incomes – essentially a wealth – financial and real property – This article first appeared on Michael’s tax. However, even these changes will high income individuals? [See Table new 45% tax rate on incomes above should be a no‐brainer. They are ef‐ Notes On The Front blog. 3] While Irish marginal tax rates (the percentage of tax you pay on each ad‐ ditional euro earned) are average, av‐ erage tax rates under‐perform – but Notes On The Front not by significant amounts. So we could do a little better. Commentary on Irish Political Economy by Michael Taft https://notesonthefront.typepad.com December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 19 NEWS Retail workers SPOT THE DIFFERENCE... set to lose flat SARP v flat rate expenses – cost per employee rate expenses so millionaires can enjoy more tax benefits €80 By David Gibney Mandate communications officer ALMOST 80,000 retail, bar and phar‐ macy workers are set to lose their flat rate expenses on January 1st 2020 so the Government can hand a bonanza to highly‐paid millionaire executives. Retail, pharmacy and bar workers are currently entitled to claim be‐ tween €93‐€400 in a flat rate tax re‐ lief for costs incurred during their employment. For instance, the purchase, mainte‐ nance and cleaning of uniforms, as well as the purchase of tools of the trade, stationery and other essential work items. Just doesn’t wash: How do you get a receipt Revenue has decided that low paid for electricity used in cleaning uniforms? workers should lose these flat rate A detailed breakdown of costs in‐ expenses while the Government ap‐ volved showed how a person on €3 pears happy to stand idly by as Man‐ million a year would pay €351,000 date members lose a valuable benefit less in tax under the scheme while they have enjoyed since the 1970s. someone on €9 million would get a For a retail worker, they benefit by €1.07 million write‐off. a measly €40 per year which barely Part of the scheme also allows for covers the cost of cleaning their uni‐ tax relief on private school fees of up forms. to €5,000 per child. Revenue argue that workers can According to records, €600,000 still make the claim, but that they worth of private tuition had been must have receipts for any expenses. claimed for in 2016, the last year for If they’d only be kind enough to sug‐ which figures are available. €26,000 gest how you get a receipt for the Meanwhile, the salaries of the electricity used when washing your teachers in those private schools are clothes, or how to quantify the paid by you, the taxpayers. amount of washing powder needed SARP will be extended for another per uniform? two years with it costing the exche‐ Gains Tax rate of 33% when dispos‐ tools and stationery, for instance. the 53 employment categories with The overall flat rate expenses sys‐ quer €28.1m in tax foregone in 2017 ing of those shares, instead of the However, the flat rate means all work‐ 134 individual flat rate expenses is tem was used by 600,000 workers in and benefitting only 1,084 employ‐ ers in an employment category col‐ available on www.revenue.ie 2017 costing the exchequer €48m in ees. marginal income tax rate of 52% However, the industries appropri‐ total – or an average cost to the state Think about that: (PAYE, USC and PRSI combined). It lect the same amount irrespective of ate to Mandate membership include: of €80 per worker. We would argue l the SARP scheme cost an average was estimated in the last two Budgets how much expense they accrue. l Pharmacists – €400 this is hardly worth taking off low €26,000 for the 1,084 workers who that this would cost €10m per year. l Pharmaceutical assistants (for‐ paid workers. availed of it; while So, join the dots. Highly‐paid exec‐ How does it work? merly known as Assistant Pharma‐ But then, perhaps Revenue has de‐ l the Flat Rate Expense system utives are being awarded tax reliefs The tax relief must be claimed by cists) – €200 cided others are more deserving? cost an average of €80 for the worth €40m per year while Revenue the worker because it is not automat‐ l Shop assistants (including su‐ 600,000 workers who availed of it. is cutting flat rate expenses from low ically applied by Revenue. However, permarket staff, general shop work‐ Can you see who the State priori‐ paid workers, saving €48m. after you make your first claim, Rev‐ SARP ers, drapery and footwear assistants) In the 2020 Budget, the Govern‐ tises? We have four by‐elections coming enue should have applied it every – €121 ment announced the extension of the up in Cork, Wexford and two in year thereafter. l Bar trade: employees – €93 Special Assignee Relief Programme KEEP Dublin. It would do no harm to let The way it operates is quite simple. (SARP) scheme which gives tax relief Then there’s the Key Employee En‐ politicians know what you think of The relief allocated to your specific of 30% on income over €75,000 to gagement Programme (KEEP). these policies. employment reduces your taxable in‐ How do I claim executives from foreign‐owned com‐ KEEP is an incentive brought in by come. For instance, if you are a retail my allowance? panies who are re‐located to Ireland. the Government in 2017 that allows What are flat rate expenses? worker and you earn €20,000 per Under Revenue rules you are enti‐ Revenue figures showed 18 people companies to pay executives up to Approximately 50 years ago trade year, your taxable income is reduced tled to claim for the previous four earning between €1 million and €10 €300,000 in shares which they do not unions negotiated for workers to be by €121 bringing it to €19,879. years (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018). million a year had benefitted from the have to pay income taxes on (PAYE, able to write off expenses accrued The quickest and easiest way to claim scheme in 2016, with four of those USC or PRSI). due to their employment for taxation What are the allowances? flat rate expenses is through people on salaries in excess of €3 mil‐ The employee makes savings by purposes. This relief is for the pur‐ The allowances vary based on the PAYEAnytime, which is available on‐ lion. only paying tax at the lower Capital chase and maintenance of uniforms, role you are employed in. A full list of line via Revenue’s MyAccount facility. 20 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 FROM WHERE I STAND... ‘Not a perfect deal’... the O’Devaney Gardens sell-off and the blight of gombeen politics... Brian Monday, 4th Forbes November is a date “that should be seared in the memory of working class people in each and

WHEN it comes to giving away public every constituency when land to private developers, it would considering to whom to seem the Green Party is simply Fine Gael on bicycles, and Labour Council‐ give their votes to at lor Joe Costello something of a politi‐ the next election... cal shape‐shifter. Meanwhile, Social Democrats Councillor Gary Gannon’s previous ical housing policy of Fine Gael,” based principled stand on retaining public on the private housing and rental land for housing seems to have disap‐ market model. peared quicker than Trump’s colour‐ After voting this through, how can ing book when the White House press councillors within the Dublin Agree‐ corps arrive for a briefing. ment Group then go on to condemn The sell‐off of public land at the so‐ the spiralling homelessness emer‐ called O’Devaney Gardens land initia‐ gency (which has topped 10,000 plus tive to a private developer through a for the sixth month in a row) and crit‐ voting pact – known as the “Dublin icise public housing waiting lists Agreement Group” – in Dublin City (which currently stands at 24,000 in Council seems to me to be a sad re‐ the Dublin City area alone)? flection on a lack of political convic‐ In my view, these very same coun‐ tion and principle by some of our cillors have effectively worked with public representatives. public officials in selling off the land This was demonstrated when needed to construct publicly‐owned councillor members of the Dublin housing on publicly‐owned land. Agreement Group voted the intiative It has been proven that public land through at a meeting of Dublin City prioritised for the immediate con‐ Council on Monday, 4th November. struction of tens of thousands of qual‐ This is a date that should be seared ity public homes, which are built with in the memory of working class peo‐ unionised labour and owned by the ple in each and every constituency state, is much cheaper in the long run when considering to whom to give than the current right‐wing Fine Gael their votes to at the next election. Thatcherite approach of ‘developers And dates matter, don’t they? Let’s Above: The curing public land for public housing first, people second’. examine recent pronouncements O’Devaney as their own initiative when various Judging by the reaction on social from some Dublin Agreement Group Gardens left‐wing independents and parties media to the vote, it’s obvious many members… In a 17th September complex as it had been promoting such a policy for people are as sick and tired of these statement, Cllr Gannon asked: “The was in 2016 before the years. However, it didn’t take them shenanigans as I am. O’Devaney Gardens site is one of the long to dismantle this policy and, In Facebook posts, Karl Ivers largest tracts of public land currently last tenants moved out with it, whatever semblance of work‐ slammed the councillors for “handing in the possession of the State. If we ing class support they felt they had. over our loaf of bread so we can beg are not going to provide affordable The basic tenet of this sell‐out deal for the crumbs.” Gavin Mendel‐Glea‐ housing at this State‐owned land, Left: Votes by the Dublin Agreement Group is to son hit out at “building housing for then where else is left?” cast for and against the transfer public land – that we, the rich solicitors and doctors” in Stoney‐ And back on 5th June, Cllr Costello people, own – over into the hands of batter while they pocketed a “dis‐ called for a moratorium to be “placed private sector bid to a private property developer for a count with taxes from the working on the sale of public lands in the own‐ redevelop the profit to be made. class who can’t afford the housing.” ership of Dublin City Council while O’Devaney In effect, in the midst of a housing It’s clear what we can do... vote the housing crisis remains”. Gardens site and homelessness emergency, I be‐ these gombeens and their political In their statement on creating an‐ as it appeared lieve the Dublin Agreement Group parties out at the very next opportu‐ other private development on public on the has meekly acquiesced to the ideolog‐ nity we get. land, the Dublin Agreement Group Council Tracker admitted it had not been “a perfect website deal”. The old adage of ‘no shit, Sher‐ lock’ springs to mind... O’DEVANEY GARDENS LATEST This alliance is comprised of coun‐ Below: one cillors from various parties – Fianna section of the Deal scuppered over funding & legal concerns Fail, the Green Party, Labour and the old blocks of AS SHOPFLOOR was going to press to a private developer on the basis Social Democrats – who have hi‐ flats is torn of a claim that it seems was com- jacked local democracy by construct‐ down... an important development broke on the O’Devaney housing saga... pletely false. Murphy questioning ing a 34‐strong voting bloc out of a Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy – why the total of 63 councillors thereby secur‐ (or the Minister for No Public Housing! – O’Devaney Gardens deal was ing a perpetual majority over the life‐ Ed) warned that the “agreement” approved by city councillors, citing time of this council (which runs from on the proposed development, that there is no legal basis for this 2019 to 2023). claimed to have been reached by agreement, is a game changer. They have set up a voting bloc that, the Dublin Agreement Group of What looks like an utter sham- in effect, neuters any opposition to Dublin City Council, cannot now be bles is surely not as important as any plans these councillors decide to implemented due to funding and the simple fact that the Dublin City implement – schemes such as the legal concerns. In essence, this so- Council agreement with Bartra was shameful O’Devaney Gardens deba‐ called grouping secured majority BAD for the local area and would cle. When this alliance formed they support for the transfer of a multi- have set a DISASTROUS precedent had the gall to declare a policy of se‐ million euro housing development for the entire city. December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 21 ANALYSIS The case for flat rate increases... A REAL BREAD

By David Gibney TABLE 1 Mandate communications officer RENTS have gone through the roof. Current pay 2% House prices are unaffordable for the vast majority of the working popula‐ €20,000 €400 tion. Insurance premiums are in‐ creasing year on year. Yet for low paid €30,000 €600 workers, pay increases are meagre and do not keep up with the real cost €40,000 €800 of living. Over the last decade the number of €50,000 €1,000 2.0) Banquet Committee (CC BY-NC-SA Picture: Tiny adults living in poverty who have a job has grown at a steady pace. €60,000 €1,200 In 2009, there were 91,407 work‐ ers living in poverty and by 2013 this €70,000 €1,400 had increased to 100,133. By 2016, when the Government de‐ €80,000 €1,600 clared a “recovery” there were 104,011 workers living in poverty. €90,000 €1,800 The following year we saw an extra 5,000 added to the working poor at €100,000 €2,000 109,000. Overall we’ve seen an increase of €200,000 €4,000 20% in the working poor between 2009‐2017 – or 17,593 more workers €300,000 €6,000 living in poverty today than in 2009. Many of those workers have vul‐ €500,000 €10,000 nerable dependents which is why 230,000 children are now in poverty. €1,000,000 €20,000 Worse still, the number of lone par‐ ents in poverty doubled between 2012‐2017. And the gap between the payscale every year with an appropri‐ TABLE 3 Total benefit based on 2% pay increase for 5 years... rich and poor is growing every single ate increase for all workers. [as year and one reason for this, I would shown in ‘Our Own Union’ image argue, is the use of percentile pay in‐ setting out a 1960’s pay settlement] creases. While some workers are afforded Some people point to the Gini coef‐ higher pay increases than others, all ficient as evidence that inequality is workers have access to the highest falling, but that measurement – insti‐ point on the pay scale meaning they tuted by such a trustworthy body as will achieve the full wage once they the World Bank – is drastically have obtain sufficient service. flawed. For instance, a worker on €20,000 Cost of living receiving a 2% pay increase will re‐ pay increases ceive €400 per year. A worker on €1 The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is million per year will receive €20,000 often used as the method for calculat‐ for the same 2% pay increase. That’s ing the pay increase necessary to hardly fair. compensate workers for increased That’s why trade unions need to costs of living. The problem with this discuss a new system of pay increases is that, say, a 3% increase in the cost that compensate all workers for cost‐ of any product affects high earners of‐living increases, while ensuring and low earners very differently. the economic inequality gap reduces For instance, the price of a pint and poverty is eradicated. One such does not go up by a percentage of method is flat rate pay increases. your income. It goes up by a set amount. The average price of a pint of History of stout in 2012 was €3.96. Today the pay increases price of a pint is €4.65 – a hike of Since the introduction of the deci‐ €0.69c. mal system into Ireland in 1973, most So whether you are rich or poor, trade unions have used a percentile your cost for a night out has gone up pay increase system. A union will ne‐ by the same amount, but a different gotiate a pay increase worth 2% or percentage of your disposible in‐ 3% and all workers receive the nego‐ come. So why does the worker who is tiated sum. This means drastically already earning a higher wage de‐ different outcomes for different in‐ serve an even larger pay increase? comes of workers. For instance, a 2% Maybe a ham sandwich is a more pay increase for different incomes is appropriate example. Between 2012 listed in Table 1. and 2019 the price of a loaf of bread, for a worker earning €100,000 it’s year €400? It’s not like richer people This wasn’t always the way. Before a tub of butter and a kilo of cooked 0.12%. [See Table 2] eat more ham sandwiches or deserve What sense does it make t the decimal system was introduced, ham increased from €20.37 to What sense does it make to give all to drink more pints than the rest of many trade unions – including Man‐ €22.70 – or 11.5%. give all workers a 2% pay workers a 2% pay increase to com‐ us? As illustrated by Table 3, per‐ date’s predecessor union, IUDWC – So for rich people and for poor peo‐ rise ... meaning a worker on €100 pensate for such a cost‐of‐living in‐ centile pay increases mean a signifi‐ “ would publish new pay scales on an ple the cost is now €2.33 more than annual basis which afforded different it was almost a decade ago. For a crease, meaning a worker on cantly higher proportion of any pay a year gets an extra €2,000 while grades a flat rate pay increase. They worker earning €20,000 per year, €100,000 per year receives an extra increase goes to the higher earners would effectively institute a new that’s 0.6% of their income, whereas €2,000 and a worker on €20,000 per (income gain in red). a worker on €20k a year €400? 22 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 ” D AND BUTTER ISSUE

TABLE 2 Increase cost of ham sandwich as pay percentage Picture: Clayton Doty (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Picture: Clayton Doty (CC BY-NC-ND

The Consumer No small beer... Price Index (CPI) Average price of a pint of stout in 2012 The CPI is not a measurement of was €3.96. Today it;s €4.65 – a hike of cost‐of‐living increases, according to €0.69c... and costs the same whether you the CSO. The Vincentian Partnership earn €20K or €200k a year for Social Justice argues that instead of using the CPI as the measurement TABLE 4 for cost‐of‐living increases, we should Inequality be using the Minimum Essential Liv‐ Pay Increase Pay increase Flat Rate Pay In- % Pay increase based Ireland has among the highest lev‐ ing Standards (MESL) index. Value based on % crease Value on Flat Rate system This system “places an emphasis els of market inequality in the OECD. Only Greece has higher levels of in‐ on ‘needs, not wants’, and produces Shop Assistants €680 3.4% €1,020 5.1% equality in the EU. And the Institute comprehensive, transparent, €20,000 itemised lists (of more than 2,000 for Public Health in Ireland estimates items, goods and services) detailing there are 5,400 preventable deaths what is required to meet minimum Supervisors €40,000 €1,360 3.4% €1,020 2.6% on the island every year due to eco‐ needs and enable an acceptable min‐ nomic inequality. imum standard of living.” On the flip side, evidence shows that more equal countries tend to do The CPI, by contrast, measures the Managers €60,000 €2,550 3.4% €1,020 1.7% better in terms of all of the key social price of 53,000 goods and services. If criteria. the cost of a BMW goes up or down, More equal countries have lower it can skew the results, but it doesn’t Chief Executive € € € 3,400 3.4% 1,020 1.0% crime rates, lower murder rates, im‐ necessarily reflect the real world for 100,000 proved mental health and lower men‐ working people. tal illness levels, lower obesity rates, The CPI increased by approxi‐ TABLE 5 TABLE 6 reduced incarceration rates and lev‐ mately 7% between 2010 and 2019. els of trust are higher. Equality is bet‐ The MESL (including housing and Budget Budget Budget Budget Budget Total Total income increase ter for all. childcare) increased by almost 16% 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Benefit including tax and 2% Trade unions are the key institu‐ during the same period of time. annual increase over 5 years tions for driving the battle against If we use this as a benchmark, it Minimum Wage € € € € € € € 174 116 91 32 0 413 economic inequality, but it has to be means low paid workers need to 18,272 two‐pronged. achieve significantly higher per‐ €20,000 +€2,495 Median Wage We need: centile wage increases in order to €174 €302 €153 €78 €39 €707 €30,000 1. More progressive and less re‐ keep up with real inflation. One way €30,000 +€3,829 gressive taxation; and to do that is through flat rate pay in‐ Ave ind wage € € € € € € 2. We need to update our pay and creases. € 446 452 203 253 214 1,354 40,000 €40,000 +€5,517 benefits strategies. For its part, Mandate has already Flat rate € € € € € € € Salary 70,000 746 902 353 328 289 2,329 € € commenced pay equalisation claims pay increases 70,000 + 9,615 which include flat‐rate pay increases Let’s say the cost of living for es‐ in Tesco Ireland and Dunnes Stores. € € € € € € € sential goods has increased by Salary 100,000 747 902 353 328 290 2,330 €100,000 +€12,738 To achieve this, we need to use our €1,000 per year. A retail company has two strong arms: our industrial arm 50 staff members. There are 35 shop and our political arm. assistants earning €20,000, 10 super‐ Continuing with the same failed to visors earning €40,000, four man‐ ceive €680 each and will be €320 better off in relation to increases in the last five Budgets have dispropor‐ policies that have contributed to agers earning €60,000 and a CEO worse off when they factor in cost‐of‐ essential goods and services. [See tionately benefited high earners. record levels of poverty, homeless‐ earning €100,000. living increases (€1,000 per year), Table 4] [See Table 5] ness and inequality is doomed to not but the CEO will receive €3,400 and 0k If all workers receive a 3.4% pay in‐ The combined effect of tax cuts that only failure, but also societal unrest, crease (as recommended by NERI) it be €2,400 better off after cost‐of liv‐ Tax cuts including increases in racism and vi‐ e will cost the company €51,000 extra ing increases are applied. One other reason the gap between benefit higher income earners and olence. in salary costs. Under the percentile With a flat rate system all workers rich and poor has been increasing in annual 2% pay increases can be seen We need to develop a new pay system, the 35 shop assistants will re‐ receive €1,020 and everyone is €20 real terms is because tax cuts over in Table 6. strategy now. ” December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 23 TRAINING Labour as a force of nature Globalisation, training and environmental activism... THE world of globalisation is chang‐ the non‐conformist churches and Co‐ ing and with that change, a compul‐ operative Holidays Association that sion to adapt, manoeuvre and enable was part of an ‘anti‐industrial, and to the trade union movement to meet a large degree anti‐urban, cultural those challenges on behalf of its trend’. members is also altering. “In the UK, workers and ‘environ‐ Given these developments, emerg‐ mentalists’ joined together on 24th ing ideas about building union capac‐ April 1932 for an act of mass trespass ity are also evolving – with Mandate when they walked across the grouse having been to the fore on this issue moors of Kinder Scout (owned by the for a number of years now. landed gentry and wealthy industri‐ As restructuring processes for alists) to protest at the lack of access work and employment practices to green spaces around the industrial change, our members within the cities of the north of England. commercial services sector will also “The ‘right to roam’ was initiated compete with these changes – many by the British Workers’ Sports Feder‐ of them driven by technology – as I ation, largely made up of members set out in my Skillszone column in the and supporters of the Communist last edition of Shopfloor (August Party, and enjoyed significant work‐ 2019). ing‐class support. Similar examples Engagement in training and Man‐ can be found in the USA during the date’s investment in life‐long learning 19th and early 20th centuries.” – which in some cases are used as As we can see from the above ex‐ springboards for further education – amples the world of environmental are factors that constantly seek to labour activism torrents through level the balance of power in the many connected themes. workplace. Force of nature Showcase skills Stevis, Uzzell and Räthzel also cite A crucial element of Mandate’s Karl Marx’s often‐quoted phrase in continued investment in training was his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Pro- driven by a vision many years ago to gramme: “Labour is not the source of protect workers’ interests, promote all wealth. Nature is just as much the their development and to develop source of use values (and it is surely jobs as decent jobs, giving our mem‐ of such that material wealth con‐ bers platforms to showcase their new sists!) as labour, which itself is only skills. the manifestation of a force of nature, According C. Levesque and G. Mur‐ human labour power.” ray, authors of How do Unions Renew? Marx made the connection be‐ Paths to Union Renewal (Labor Stud‐ Members of one of the socialist-inspired Clarion cycling clubs take a breather during an outing in rural Derbyshire in 1914 tween the natural world and its im‐ ies Journal, 31(3), 1–13): “ …at the ing the future of the traditional pact on labour over a century ago most basic level, access to training labour bargaining agenda – as it has and, as such, these dynamics have and qualifications is important for done in the past. never changed, but have now trav‐ the development of worker employa‐ Academics Dimitris Stevis, David elled through time, and have been bility profiles.” Uzzell and Nora Räthzel made such a propelled to a hierarchical status be‐ Despite the role of the employer – point in their 2018 article The cause of social and political change. even at the most basic socially and Labour–Nature Relationship: Varieties I believe the natural world is a morally‐sound level – to ensure that of Labour Environmentalism, Global- basis for future collective solidarity, workers are given such opportuni‐ izations: “There has been a long his‐ demanding that all streams of corpo‐ ties, it is now the case that unions SkillsZone tory of the labour movement and rate social responsibility are met in (such as Mandate) have moved to fill with Jonathan Hogan trade unions valuing and protecting tandem with sustainable and envi‐ this void. nature as spaces of recreation and ronmental protection initiatives. Personal development pro‐ restoration, as well as a common re‐ And all of these must be aligned grammes are now viewed as a frater‐ The transformation of labour mar‐ global warming below 2ºC – with a source vital for human flourishing with decent work practices and an nal benefit to our members, kets and social systems is now par for target to reduce the level below 1.5 and survival. equal opportunity for all to advance particularly in a climate of significant “For example, the International through the world of work, through the course. One key evolving area of degrees. This historic agreement was change with the introduction of radi‐ Friends of Nature were founded in equal access to education and sup‐ research is the relationship between signed by 195 countries – including cal automated processes. 1895 in Vienna by a group of social‐ ported by a political and social care The retail industry is vulnerable to corporate social responsibility, envi‐ Ireland. These areas of global social ists, coming together through an ad‐ system that provides for people when such restructuring, where the accred‐ ronmentalism and the trade union responsibility for the natural envi‐ vertisement in the Arbeiter Zeitung. they are most vulnerable. A society itation of skills to enhance employa‐ labour movement. ronment should not be viewed as sec‐ “In the UK, rambling clubs in North that moves people beyond achieving bility for our members will be a The Paris Agreement of December ondary to traditional bargaining East Lancashire were firmly estab‐ the most basic physiological and se‐ future benefit of being member of 2015 committed signatory countries agendas. In fact, labour environmen‐ lished by the 19th century, aimed at curity needs to a place of content‐ Mandate. to introduce measures that will keep talism may form the basis for reshap‐ the working classes and organised by ment and self‐fulfilment.

24 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 ASTRAINING I SEE IT... TheFEEDBACK reasons why Mandate training gets my thumbs up By Brian Fogarty ployments. On day two, we had the pleasure of tion about the way we are manipulated by the‐ SuperValu Bray & National Executive Council Member welcoming Mandate’s lead organiser, Bill Abom, press and how the country is run by this Gov‐ I RECENTLY had the pleasure of attending Man‐ who offered us a keen insight into what a decent ernment – about the imbalance between the date’s three‐day Shop Stewards Introductory contract of employment looks like as well as hard working retail worker and the rich who course in Mandate’s state‐of‐the‐art training providing pointers on how workers can fight for just keep getting richer. centre and the experience was so good, I feel better terms and conditions. The role of the shop steward is not just in the obliged to tell the members about it. He also gave advice on how to better recruit workplace, it’s at the rallies and picket lines Most people think of training as compulsory and organise members so that they could par‐ fighting for what’s right! There is no point gain‐ and delivered by their employer in boring class‐ ticipate more actively in union campaigns as ing a pay increase in one hand and it being room environments which has no benefit out‐ well as giving tips for better communication. side of the workplace. However, Mandate’s Stronger taken away in the other through water charges, training methods are nothing like that and par‐ rising house prices, excessive rents and tax in‐ Brian Fogarty signals his approval of Mandate Training Centre ticipants acquire very beneficial life skills. The participants were then asked to set creases. To say it triggered me and instilled fire teaching methods after attending his first course The first thing I noticed was there was a nice yearly targets in order to make their workplaces in the belly would be an understatement! balance of youth and experience in the room stronger. I am confident they all will be very It was a pleasure to attend this course and to with members drawn from a range of different thankful for Bill’s input on the course. meet so many new activists who I have no On day three, Mandate Communications Offi‐ employments – all willing to learn in order to doubt will be trade union activists for years to cer, David Gibney, delivered a fantastic presen‐ grow the union and make it stronger. This was come. The tutor and Mandate staff were all very tation about Mandate’s political and social great to see. campaigns. His presentation receive brilliant helpful, always offering opportunities to speak The tutor was very good at putting course feedback from the group. I could listen to this and giving advice drawn from their own expe‐ participants at their ease and within a few min‐ guy all day ‐ he could read the phone book out rience on the shop floor. utes those involved were speaking passionately and make it sound interesting. If activists keep attending courses like this, I and making contributions on issues they had A lot of eyes were opened after this presenta‐ know the future of our union is in good hands. encountered. If I didn’t know I was in a room with strong trade union activists before, I cer‐ tainly did now! The course had a nice flow to it and began by outlining a brief history of Mandate before fo‐ cusing on the role of the shop steward and their importance to the union. Regardless of where you work, the role of shop steward is always the same. This ‘face’ of the union is a vital cog in workings of the union. Disciplinary and grievance procedures were also covered. This is a vital piece of training for new activists and should give them more confi‐ dence and knowledge to bring back to their em‐ APPOINTMENTS Breandán joins Mandate team

Breandán Ó Conchúir has taken up the role of industrial officer in the Southern Division, where he is working in the Cork office with Lorraine O’Brien. Before working for Mandate, Breandán spent three years working for Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan in the European Parliament where he covered a wide range of policy issues, including employment and social affairs. Prior to this Breandán was employed in call centres and in Dunnes Stores. Breandán’s first introduction to Mandate and the trade union movement was as a teenager when he made use of Mandate scholarships to attend Irish college in the Gaeltacht. He was also active in his stu- dents’ union and took part in various campaigns on a range of issues including, among others, housing, youth unemployment, precarious work, and Right2Water.

December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 25 IN FOCUS... Between two worlds: reflecting on the legacy of the Troubles...

By Seán Byers since April and brought back power‐ Trademark ful memories of the 1920–22 IT IS now 50 years since the north of pogroms for an older generation. Ireland erupted into armed and As in Derry, citizens’ defence com‐ bloody conflict, ushering in the 30‐ mittees emerged and barricades year period known euphemistically were erected to defend the threat‐ as ‘the Troubles’. ened areas, leading to the creation of There is a lack of agreement over several autonomous ‘no‐go’ zones where and at what precise moment and a pirate radio station named the Troubles began. The messy pre‐ Radio Free Belfast. history to 1969 includes the reforma‐ The IRA was poorly armed, ill‐pre‐ tion of the Ulster Volunteer Force pared, and had little control over (UVF) and its killing of two Catholic events. The Belfast leadership of Billy men and a Protestant pensioner in McMillen and Jim Sullivan did re‐ 1966; the rise to prominence of spond, however, by ordering all mem‐ Protestant firebrand Ian Paisley and bers on to defensive duties. his incitement of working‐class One small unit of former and cur‐ Unionist fears; the ‘tricolour riots’ in rent volunteers took up position on 1964; and the preceding decades of the roof of St Comgall’s school, lo‐ inequality, repression, and inter‐com‐ cated at the epicentre of the violence, munal strife which had marked the while others exchanged fire with the character of Northern Ireland from more heavily‐armed B Specials and its foundation. RUC on the ground in an attempt to But in retrospect we can now see prevent further incursions. that tensions had been rising from The IRA was unable to prevent a the emergence of the civil rights cam‐ large‐scale loyalist assault on the paign as a mass movement in 1968, small enclave of Clonard near the which generated a deep crisis of the Shankill Road, during which a young Unionist state and produced a violent member of the Fianna (the IRA’s reaction among the authorities and youth wing), 15‐year‐old Gerard hard‐line loyalists. McAuley, was shot dead and the This pivotal year is remembered whole of Bombay Street — 36 houses above all for the fateful civil rights in all — was razed to the ground. march at Duke Street, Derry, on 5th Recent scholarship by the historian Young nationalists on top of Rossville flats in Derry – a cache of petrol bombs to hand – prepare to defend the area during the Battle of the Bogside October, where the Royal Ulster Con‐ Brian Hanley has determined that stabulary (RUC) baton‐charged 400 cism from hard‐line Unionists and with the state, first aid stations were the month of July. On 13th August, in these events contributed to the disen‐ demonstrators in full view of TV cam‐ UVF bombs, eventually resulting in established to treat casualties and the west of the city, 1,000 people chantment of new and returning IRA eras from across the world. his resignation as Northern Ireland newsletters circulated to report on marched to local police stations, members over what they “perceived Rather than spelling an end to the prime minister. the ongoing battle as well as to in‐ where rioting ensued and the RUC to be a failure caused by a concentra‐ campaign, the impact of the RUC’s ac‐ form citizens of effective tactics for opened fire on young republicans, tion on ‘politics’.” tions was to internationalise the de‐ From civil unrest confronting ‘the enemy’. wounding two. Incidents such as the burning of mands of the civil rights movement, to armed conflict... TV footage broadcast after two What began as a confrontation be‐ Bombay Street would become part of bring thousands more people onto The events of August 1969 can be days of confrontation showed build‐ tween nationalists and the RUC soon the foundational myth of the Provi‐ the streets, and ultimately split the viewed as the point at which North‐ ings ablaze and dishevelled police‐ developed into sectarian rioting sional IRA, in which it was argued governing Unionist Party. ern Ireland slid irreversibly from civil men huddled in alleys and doorways, along the streets that linked the Falls that the old leadership now residing The next year began as the previ‐ unrest into armed conflict. Given the giving the appearance of a violent and Shankill Roads. Events took a in the Marxist‐leaning Official IRA ous one had ended, with an attack on climate, it was widely predicted that struggle that had been lost by the au‐ lethal turn on the night of 14th/15th had shown no interest in defending. a civil rights march organised by the there would be trouble if the loyal thorities. By this time, ‘Free Derry’ August as the RUC and B Specials By the morning of 16th August the People’s Democracy, a left‐wing stu‐ order of Apprentice Boys proceeded had effectively seceded. pushed down the Falls, followed by violence in Belfast had left seven dent grouping that counted with their annual 12th August parade Meanwhile, activists from the civil loyalist mobs who petrol‐bombed dead and more than 400 injured, the Bernadette Devlin and Eamonn Mc‐ along Derry’s city walls and past the rights and republican movements Catholic houses as they proceeded. fatalities including loyalist Herbert Cann among its early members. Bogside, a working‐class nationalist launched protests across the north, A similar pattern emerged in the Roy, shot by the IRA unit at St Com‐ Their intended route from Belfast gall’s, and 9‐year‐old Catholic boy area with a population of around most notably in Belfast where sectar‐ Ardoyne district of north Belfast, to Derry was based on the Selma to Patrick Rooney, who was killed by an 25,000. ian tensions had been building during where street fighting had occurred Montgomery protests organised by RUC tracer bullet as he slept in his These fears were realised when ri‐ Martin Luther King Jr, but the march bedroom at Divis flats. was derailed by an ambush by loyal‐ oting broke out and swiftly developed Judge Scarman’s investigation into ists and B Specials, the notorious and into the ‘Battle of the Bogside’ as the the disturbances found that nearly almost exclusively Protestant police, followed by a crowd of local 2,000 people had been forced out of paramilitary police force, on 4th Jan‐ loyalists, launched a series of baton their homes, the majority of them uary as it passed Burntollet Bridge in charges and attempted to advance Catholics. These events helped to set County Derry. into the area. in train the cycle of forced and violent This led to a spiral of increasingly Over the course of the next 48 displacement of almost 60,000 peo‐ bitter clashes between civil rights hours the RUC, newly equipped with ple in Belfast alone — primarily protesters and sections of the nation‐ CS gas and more than willing to use it, Catholic or Protestant minorities liv‐ alist population, on the one hand, and was successfully repelled by a mass ing in mixed housing estates — be‐ the RUC on the other. Derry in partic‐ resistance of barricades, bricks, and tween 1969 and 1974. ular was radicalised by months of ri‐ petrol bombs hurled by youths British troops were sent to the oting and the death of Samuel strategically positioned on top of a streets of Belfast and Derry for the Devenney, a 42‐year‐old taxi driver, block of high‐rise flats. first time since 1935, deployed by the as a result of internal injuries sus‐ Children tore up paving stones and Labour government at the request of tained from a police beating he had brought them to the front line for am‐ Stormont. The army presence was received in his own home. munition, women made petrol bombs widely welcomed as it provided some At the same time, opposition to from the 43,000 milk bottles that had respite from the violence, facilitating Terence O’Neill’s modest reforms in‐ been appropriated from local dairies. the disarmament of the B Specials tensified in the shape of fierce criti‐ With the community now at war Nationalist youth battle it out with B Specials and RUC riot police on the streets of Derry and RUC’s withdrawal from the af‐ 26 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 had become as much an object of hos‐ tility as the Unionist government had before. Over the next 30 years the Trou‐ bles would cost approximately 3,700 lives, with many more injured or suf‐ fering the trauma of having lost loved ones. The impact of the violence fell heaviest on working‐class communi‐ ties in terms of stunted economic de‐ velopment, widening divisions, and most significantly, human costs. Working‐class districts were the main Troubles battlegrounds, the sites of some of the worst atrocities and the areas where armed groups were most active. One study determined that 90% of those charged with politically‐moti‐ vated offences were unemployed or engaged in semi‐skilled or unskilled labour. For many the 1969 People’s Democracy poster, ‘The Falls Road burns, Malone Road fiddles’, a refer‐ ence to Belfast’s working‐class and affluent districts, still holds as a de‐ scriptor of the immediate and long‐ term effects of the conflict. Troubles legacy... The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) of 1998 succeeded in curtailing the Troubles by removing the main non‐ state armed actors from the theatre of war and instituting a widely en‐ dorsed system of devolution and po‐ litical power‐sharing. Yet the wounds of the conflict re‐ main raw and to a large degree the Belfast mural commemorating the July 1970 Falls Curfew Picture: Marcella (CC BY-NC-SA) sectarian divisions that prefigured the GFA continue to be reflected in fected areas. British officers in £6,737 in donations, mainly from prevent an escalation of tit‐for‐tat Whither organised labour? the segregation of communities and pogroms. charge sometimes acted as advocates The role of labour and class in this British‐based unions, and was dis‐ polarisation of political life. of reform and worked closely with period has been confined to a foot‐ tributed in the form of grants and However, the actions of individual There is an absence of substantive the citizens’ defence committees — in note in general histories of the Trou‐ hampers. trade unionists may have misled ob‐ political agreement on how to ad‐ many cases, the local command of the bles. However, the worst sectarian But, as Matt Collins has noted re‐ servers into believing that they had dress the legacy of the past, while is‐ IRA — to secure the negotiated re‐ violence since the 1930s did prompt cently, “these efforts were never gen‐ more of a moderating influence over sues of identity and cultural moval of barricades. a response among sections of the eralised across the trade union their members and wider communi‐ expression have given rise to political The existing community barricades trade union movement. movement as a whole”. For many on ties than was the case. instability and discontent at a com‐ would, however, be replaced by a new At the Harland & Wolff shipyard, the left of the movement, the ICTU’s By the close of 1971 the situation munity level. type of security infrastructure. Today for instance, trade unionists led by response failed to match the severity had been transformed by a Provi‐ The class question also continues we know these as the ‘peace walls’, senior shop steward Sandy Scott con‐ of the situation. sional IRA offensive, the Ballymurphy to haunt Northern Ireland. There is more than 80 of which still separate vened a mass meeting of the 8,000 In August 1969, the ICTU dis‐ massacre of 10 civilians by the little evidence that the people living working‐class Catholic and Protes‐ strong workforce on 15th August tributed 30,000 copies of its Pro‐ Parachute Regiment, and the intro‐ in socially‐deprived, segregated areas tant communities. 1969, amid reports that Catholic gramme for Peace and Progress, a duction of internment without trial, a that bore the brunt of the Troubles General Ian Freeland, the man in workers had not showed up to work short document that endorsed the decision that came about partly as a have gained substantially from the charge of operations in the North, for fear they would be the target of principle of consent and argued for result of 6,000 shipyard workers peace process. had warned during an early press sectarian attacks. the restoration of order through marching through Belfast to demand Rather the impact of neoliberal conference that “the honeymoon pe‐ The meeting unanimously passed a gradual reforms and economic devel‐ that such a policy be implemented. peace building and austerity have riod between the troops and local resolution for an end to the violence, opment. Far from curbing republican vio‐ combined with the legacy of the con‐ people is likely to be short‐lived”. appealing “to all responsible people This practice of publishing mani‐ lence, internment led to a mass flict to produce a toxic environment This honeymoon was gradually to join with us in giving a lead to festos would become a key feature of round‐up of Catholic civilians and of low educational attainment, unem‐ eroded as the army became embed‐ break the cycle of mutual recrimina‐ ICTU’s cautious approach in the early acted as a recruiting sergeant for the ployment, child and adult poverty, ded in policing and controlling the tion arising from day to day inci‐ phase of the Troubles — an approach IRA. drug and alcohol abuse, high levels of community at a time when national‐ dents”. designed to leave politics at the fac‐ The year that followed, 1972, was crime, and acute mental health prob‐ ist opinion was radicalising and there Stewart was then joined by Jimmy tory gates, discourage loyalist trade one of atrocities: Bloody Sunday, lems caused in part by the transmis‐ seemed no prospect of a political res‐ McFall, shop steward with the Boiler‐ unionism and prevent the type of di‐ Bloody Friday, and 496 fatalities. As sion of trans‐generational trauma. olution. Increasingly, the army be‐ makers’ Union, as he crossed the bar‐ vision on ethnic or religious grounds the death toll mounted the commu‐ The police are struggling to main‐ came involved in heavy‐handed ricades on the Falls and other parts of that was typical in many other Euro‐ nist trade unionist Andy Barr, who tain legitimacy in these areas and operations instigated by the RUC and Belfast to assure Catholic shipwrights pean countries. had been one of many to lose friends ‘dissident’ paramilitaries are moving was drawn into gunfights with both of their safety should they return to Only in later years, after a number over his efforts to maintain working‐ into the vacuum to recruit among the factions of the IRA. work. of hard‐learned lessons, would this class cooperation in August ’69, told marginalised youth, pledging an esca‐ The perception that the newly‐ This “quiet conciliation work of the escalate to campaigns and mass mo‐ delegates at an ICTU conference that lation of violence if the national ques‐ elected Heath government was pro‐ shop stewards who have their hearts bilisation. the north had now descended into tion is not resolved in their favour. Unionist appeared to be confirmed by in the right place”, as it was described When Scarman delivered his final “sectarian war”. These are the rocky foundations the introduction of the Falls Road by Billy Blease, the Irish Congress of report, he praised the work of trade And although the British govern‐ upon which the GFA was established curfew on 3rd–5th July 1970, during Trade Unions’ Northern Ireland Offi‐ unionists in averting a repeat of the ment had prorogued Stormont and and, more than 20 years on, is strug‐ which the army sealed off the whole cer, was repeated in workplaces and 1920–22 workplace expulsions and instituted direct rule from London, by gling to deliver a transformed conflict of the Lower Falls in order to raid communities across the North. the efforts of peace committees to then the British presence in the North and positive peace. Although Brexit houses and round up republicans. Trade unionists and political repre‐ has contributed to the crisis, its roots A deterioration in relations fol‐ sentatives from the labour tradition run far deeper. lowed, and was mirrored on the were also central to the formation of The ancien régime of the Orange Unionist side as the government peace committees in the four corners state is gone, making a return to the sought to introduce the so‐called of Belfast, which acted as mediators violence of 1969 unlikely, but it has Hunt reforms of policing. Local vigi‐ in local conflicts and organised vigi‐ yet to be replaced with a transforma‐ lante groups such as the Shankill De‐ lante patrols to protect minority pop‐ tive economic and political system. fence Association and ‘tartan’ gangs ulations under threat. We are in between worlds. were beginning to assert themselves For its part, the Belfast Trades Seán Byers works for Trademark Belfast, a trade union-based organisation focused on in Protestant areas, and by 1971 had Council launched a distress fund for Alain Rouiller (CC BY-SA) Picture: research, political education and merged into the Ulster Defence Asso‐ working‐class families affected by the post-conflict transformation. ciation (UDA). violence. The appeal raised a total of Belfast peaceline... still in place 20 years after republican and loyalist ceasefires December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 27 VIEWPOINT Plenty of green and not ashamed to show it! Here’s my Swift reply

Tommy McKearney

ACCORDING to Aidan Corkery, writ‐ ing in a recent edition of the Sunday Business Post*, Siobhán Masterson, Head of Corporate Affairs at IBEC, has spoken of Ireland’s reluctance to admit its spectacular wealth and eco‐ nomic growth in recent decades. Ms Masterson made the comments during her address to the Public Re‐ lations Institute of Ireland’s annual conference, at which she referred to the large number of Irish fans who had traveled to the Rugby World Cup in Japan. She highlighted the sheer extrava‐ gance of that travelling support and pointing out that only wealthy na‐ tions could afford that kind of luxury. Ms Masterson continued by men‐ big business makes huge contribu‐ organising People’s forums, one of tioning the number of passengers tions to maintain pro‐establishment which recently attracted input from now passing through Dublin airport. Picture: DAA political machines. There is then the Bernie Sanders. “When you look at the profile of fact that we have a powerful conser‐ Surely it is time to give serious con‐ those passengers, it’s not business vative media in both print and broad‐ sideration to a similar departure in travel,” she joked, “It’s leisure – and cast in this country making it difficult Ireland. At the beginning of this year, they are Irish people taking third, to challenge the received wisdom or Mandate General Secretary John Dou‐ fourth and fifth holidays every year.” promote an alternative economic glas addressed a successful event in Unfortunately, the Sunday Business model to that currently in place. Liberty Hall celebrating the cente‐ Post did not carry a verbatim account Moreover, there is a solid right‐ nary of the First Dáil. of the IBEC woman’s address and left wing cohort that invariably wins be‐ A secondary theme of the event us readers without the inevitable tween 25% and 30% of Dáil seats. was a call for the setting up of local punchline. Consequently, uncritical oppor‐ assemblies or People’s Dálaí. Such However, the thought did occur to tunists can rarely resist the tempta‐ gatherings would not be in competi‐ me that she was possibly drawing in‐ tion to accept grace and favour in tion with organised labour’s struc‐ spiration from the great Irish satirist return for making up a governing tures but would help coordinate the Jonathan Swift... majority. movement’s broader aim of securing Like Dean Swift, Siobhán has an in‐ Grassroots economic democracy and justice for terest in economics although Generally speaking, this situation working people. probably not going so far as to of status quo favouring inertia has The value of having such structures endorse his famous call for a only ever been effectively challenged at a local level would be to afford boycott on buying English An unequal Ireland: Dean Jonathan Swift (left); Ireland fans enjoying the post by grassroots activity culminating in working people an opportunity to coal (“Burn everything game craic in Japan (top); and frequent flyers at Dublin Airport (above) a mass movement. Remember too meet regularly and discuss their that comes from England You’ve got to admit market neoliberalism. that trade unions have always played needs, organise events and provide except their people and it. It was a stroke of a key role in these initiatives. support to progressive campaigns lo‐ their coal”). Any government presiding over a genius, using satire Our most recent experience of this cally and nationally. Nevertheless, any‐ state with Ireland’s resources could to highlight the ab‐ was of course the dramatic campaign This, in turn, allows us to overcome body with even a pass‐ easily legislate for a large emergency surdity of missing against the imposition of water the inevitable loss of momentum at ing acquaintance with house‐building programme to end the gross inequality charges. The clear message here and the end of a single‐issue campaign — the Irish economy would homelessness and rent poverty. Any that exists within our it is that a widespread grassroots or‐ no matter how successful it may have be aware of the vast dis‐ humanely managed state would society while the ruling ganisation is effective in providing been. crepancy in relation to surely make provision for a universal class bleats on about not the necessary countervailing power. Overall, by having such structures, wealth in Ireland – some‐ health service and provide a welfare having Ireland numbered While the trade union movement is working people are empowered. No thing the good Dean alluded to safety net to end the scandal of the alongside such questionable essential for this to develop, it re‐ longer are we quite so dependent on in his brilliant and biting A Modest poor begging for food. regimes as Brunei and Qatar. quires the help of wider sections of a relatively small number of elected Proposal. And it’s not being the least face‐ Unfortunately, no matter how bril‐ working class and progressive soci‐ representatives. The question should Who could fail to be aware of the tious to say that it can all be done liant satire is, it cannot overcome the ety. not be so much why do this as why 10,000 homeless and thousands with the push of a button. difficulties faced by working people. Over the last number of years, left‐ not? more struggling with exorbitant rents Nor, it is obvious, is the current sys‐ In theory, it is possible for the elec‐ leaning people in Britain organised A final thought. Wouldn’t these as‐ or tormented by outrageously expen‐ tem of governance best suited for this torate to appoint a government will‐ the People’s Movement which has semblies provide a perfect arena for sive mortgages? Who could fail to be purpose. The inequalities, poverty ing to make the necessary changes. had a positive impact. It played an the IBEC satirists to come and explain saddened by the image of a small and destitution outlined above are We know, though, that this is more important part in rolling back the to us just how Ireland’s incredible child sitting on a cold pavement eat‐ not natural occurrences – nor are difficult in practice because the sys‐ malign Blairite influence while simul‐ wealth is benefitting the trade union ing supper from a cardboard carton? they accidental. tem of government in place in Ireland taneously promoting a more radical membership and our less well‐off There is then the grave injustices These social evils come about as a facilitates the maintenance of the agenda. A somewhat similar move‐ neighbours? arising from a two‐tiered health ser‐ result of decisions deliberately taken free‐market status quo. Several fac‐ ment is currently gathering momen‐ vice that literally gives life‐saving ad‐ *Spectacular wealth so hordes of by a system that gives priority to free‐ tors help make this possible. tum in the United States where an vantage to those with enough money. Irish rugby fans jet out to Japan… In the first place, money talks and organisation called People’s Action is The Sunday Business Post, 27th October 2019 28 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 PLATFORM INSURANCE CONTRACTS BILL Employment Law

Time to end the This one day Progression Course in Employment Law is for Trade Union Activists who have a desire to improve their knowledge and understanding of employment law. Participants will gain an understanding of the legislative environment within which the employment relationship operates.

Course Content: Contract of employment insurance rip-oﬀ Sources of Irish Law l Distinguish between an independent l Common law, judicial precedent contractor (contract for service) it. We deserve no less. In September, I l Equity and an employee (contract of service) wrote to the Central Bank asking that Pearse l Constitution l The nature of employers defences it be investigated and banned, and I l Redress/remedies in Employment law am pleased that they have agreed to Statute Law l Terms of employment and Information Act Doherty look into the issue. We will hold them l Primary legislation l Organisation of Working Time to account and make sure that unfair l Secondary legislation l Payment of Wages/Remuneration pricing is put to an end. l Role of EU law. Directives l Equality and Discrimination Sinn Féin has introduced an Insur‐ l Unfair Dismissal and Redundancy It is time to end the Insura ance Contracts Bill (which as The role of law in regulating working conditions. l Redress for breaches of EmploymentFéin’s Law Insurance Bill would m Shopfloor goes to print passed its final RIP‐OFF insurance costs are squeez‐ l The role of law in promoting Equality, better deal – Pearse Doherty stage at the Dáil on 14th November ing incomes and closing down busi‐ H&S and best practice in the workplace and is set to go before the Seanad). If nesses. People are wondering how l The rights and duties of both employers it becomes law, every customer their premiums can go up every year and employees in the workplace even though they haven’t even made would be notified of the last three a claim. years of premiums they have paid and any claims they have made. For the past three years, the Gov‐ Certiﬁcation and Progression: ernment has done nothing to reduce It will make it harder for companies insurance costs. At the same time, to wriggle out of paying valid claims Members who successfully complete this training companies are making massive prof‐ and makes sure that customers are course will obtain a Mandate Certificate. its while we are being charged rip‐off told about any claims made against premiums. their policy, allowed to provide evi‐ Places are limited. As there is a high dence and given the cost of any claim Companies tell us they are going up demand for this course please ensure you because of fraud and personal injury settled. awards. But there were 55,000 fewer Any company that cancels your pol‐ contact your Mandate Union Official or the motor claims in 2017 than in 2014. At icy will have to pay you back what it Mandate Training Centre on 01-8369699 or the same time, the average motor pre‐ owes for the premium you paid, and email [email protected] mium has shot up by more than 45%. it will allow you to seek damages if to secure your place. We now know that companies are your insurer refuses to pay you for a targeting vulnerable and renewing valid claim. customers with sky‐high premiums In short, it would increase trans‐ because they are less likely to shop parency and tip the balance in favour around. of us, the customers. Their premiums aren’t being set by This legislation would be a big win Negotiation Skills how likely they are to make a claim or for all of us, and we are urging all par‐ cause an accident, but how likely they ties to support it becoming law. This one day Progression Course in Negotiation Skills is for trade union are to renew. Instead of giving cus‐ Sinn Féin want to take on the insur‐ tomers the best price, they are giving ance industry and end the rip‐off, by activists who have a desire to improve their knowledge and understanding us the worst price possible. This is stamping out fraud, protecting con‐ in conflict resolution and negotiation skills, managing the process and called dual pricing. sumers, banning dual pricing and the psychology of the negotiating environment. It’s illegal in 17 American states bringing down premiums. and in Britain they are looking to ban Pearse Doherty is Sinn Féin TD in Donegal There are three Levels: l Intermediate l Building Skills & Knowledge APPOINTMENTS l Negotiations in Practice

Course Content: Muireann Steps Up into new role l The Psychology of the Negotiating SHOPFLOOR is delighted to report that Environment Mandate activist Muireann Dalton has l recently secured a six-month training and Strategic Approach to Negotiations development position with Mandate as a l Collective Decision Making Step Up Member Organiser. l Identifying Goals to be Achieved l Who takes the notes? Regular readers of Shopfloor will l l recognise Muireann as one of our leading Prioritising Issues Who provokes the other side? union activists on the ‘Decency for Dunnes l Develop Tactical Plans. l Who watches the other side? Campaign’. l Tactics in Negotiations – Both Sides – l Handling problems Muireann also played an influential role without sensation and in our ‘Secure Hours = Better Future’ *Key Learning campaign by helping to organise and l Stone Walling becoming emotional participate in the lobbying of TDs in her l Cooling off Periods l Producing facts to local constituency area. l The Negotiating Team – support arguments These coordinated lobbying actions by l our members resulted in workers winning Formation; Delegation Predicting counter arguments the The Employment (Miscellaneous l An evolving plan – Sitting around the table l Benchmarking – what are Provisions) Act 2018 which came into l Different roles for different people the markers to work towards: effect in March of this year. l This activist-led victory has rightly been Who takes the lead? Top, Middle and Bottom hailed as one of the most significant Certiﬁcation and Progression: pieces of employment legislation in a generation. Welcome sister and best Members who successfully complete this training course wishes from all at Shopfloor on your will obtain a Mandate Certificate. continuing organising journey via the Places are limited. As there is a high demand for this course please ensure you contact your Mandate Union Official Step Up programme. or the Mandate Training Centre on 01-8369699 or email [email protected] to secure your place.

December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 29 OBITUARY MARGARET GRAHAM OBITUARY DES BONASS A stalwart activist True Dublin who put others ﬁrst socialist and

MANDATE would like to extend the sincere condolences of all in the a defender union to the family and friends of Margaret Graham who passed away on Saturday, 28th September, follow‐ ing an illness. Margaret was a stalwart of Man‐ of working date and a member of the House Committee in Boots Jervis Street Shopping Centre where she was ac‐ tively involved in representing mem‐ bers on an individual and collective class people basis. All of those who attended Mar‐ garet’s funeral couldn’t but be struck VETERAN trade unionist and defender of the working by her dedication to her family, her class Des Bonass departed this mortal coil on 26th friends, her local community and her September 2019. work colleagues. Des was a great friend and a true comrade of Mandate This was reflected in the atten‐ Trade Union and of the working class people he repre‐ dance of so many people who Mar‐ sented with great strength and determination through garet had touched in her short life. all his working life. Margaret had a deep commitment Des joined the ATGWU in 1958 and was involved in a to lifelong learning, and in addition to Margaret Graham: passionate & principled Principled: Des carried the teachings of Connolly in his heart range of industrial and political campaigns, including the her third‐level law studies had com‐ “Margaret was an activist who al‐ campaign against the Eighth Amendment in 1983. pleted many Mandate representative ways had your confidence, measured He was also the long‐time Secretary of Unite the courses at the Organising and Train‐ in her ability to exercise her views, Union’s 102 Branch and a past president of the Dublin ing Centre in Distillery Road. while having the capacity to hear all Council of Trade Unions. Jonathan Hogan, National Co‐Ordi‐ sides of a debate and a willingness to Des was a true Dublin working class socialist who not nator for Training, told Shopfloor: “I understand others.” only carried the teachings of James Connolly in his heart met Margaret some time ago now as He added: “She was and will al‐ but also demonstrably through his own actions in de‐ an industrial officer assigned to Boots ways be remembered as a truly great fence of his class. Jervis Street. Margaret was passion‐ person.” Dublin winning a fifth all‐ireland in a row this year ate and principled – always putting Mandate would like to thank Mar‐ meant a lot to Des who never missed a Dublin game others first. garet for her dedication and commit‐ alongside his good friend and comrade Colm Kinsella of “Her involvement within the union ment over many years and again we Unite. was progressive and she was a great extend our sincere condolences to Colm told Shopfloor: “Des was passionate on a wide supporter and advocate for social jus‐ her family, friends and colleagues in range of international issues. He was particularly vocal tice and workers’ rights. Boots Jervis Street. Rest in Peace. on the need for Cuban solidarity, ongoing protection of the 1959 Cuban revolution and he also fought deter‐ minedly for the release of the Cuban Five.” Des will be sorely missed by his grieving family and by all his many friends, comrades and brothers and sisters in the trade union movement not just in Ireland but across the world. Rest in Power, Des Bonass.

His politics were coloured red but Des’ sporting allegiance was distinctly sky blue – Des (above) never missed a Dublin game and pictured (below) with the Sam Maguire cup.

Des with Arthur Scargill on a Mandate picket line

30 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 CONFERENCE REPORT UNI EUROPA YOUTH Shifting the power dynamic between labour and capital

A MANDATE delegate has been elected one of three vice‐presidents at the bi‐ ... while social ennial conference of UNI Europa media platforms Youth, held in Zadar, Croatia, on Octo‐ ber 30th and 31st. are tools to make use of in Eoghan Fox, who will be in post for “ a two‐year period, received nearly a our work, nothing can million votes – 999,428 – to secure the beat the face-to-face position. He told Shopfloor: “As each dele‐ contact with a gate’s vote is weighted to the member‐ potential member ship numbers in their respective unions, this victory would not have and activist... been possible without the support of a number of unions right across the margins, attained on the backs of continent.” ” these often‐precarious, often‐mobile, And Eoghan’s election is testament often‐young workers.” to the hard work carried out by Man‐ During the conference a number of date activists internationally through UNI and reflects the growing reputa‐ workshops focused on social media tion among workers and activists the and in particular making use of the union has built up over the years. various platforms to boost recruit‐ Following the vote it is hoped that ment to trade unions and getting their Eoghan can bring his experience and message across to a wider audience. activism right to the heart of UNI Eu‐ Eoghan pointed out that it was clear ropa Youth. there was a “wide diversity in ap‐ The conference turned out to be a proach” and “differing skill levels” in content production and editing evi‐ lively affair, with a series of debates on Mandate’s Eoghan Fox (third from left) with fellow vice presidents Becca Hufton (CWU UK) Camilla Martinsen (HK - Norway) and President Trond Saele the future world of work as well as dent in the feedback given by the (Nogtia - Norway). Below: panel discussion during the conference. looking at specific solutions to face working groups. down the challenges brought about by He said: “The important point was advances in technology, climate chaos, made that while social media plat‐ precarious work and the so‐called gig forms are tools to make use of in our economy. work, nothing can beat the face‐to‐ Eoghan said: “There was good en‐ face contact with a potential member gagement from all delegates, and – and activist. with 54% female participation – the Uphill battle youth are showing the rest of the movement how it’s done! “It is essential that we use all the “While there was a diversity of opin‐ tools available to us in the uphill battle ions in the room as to the solutions to for a better life, but we were born as the immediate challenges, there was activists on the streets and on the shop consensus on the need for young peo‐ floor and this is still where we need to ple in particular to first of all join their be – on the ground, speaking and union, and become active as the only working with young people on the is‐ real way to challenge an ever globalis‐ sues that are affecting them.” ing capitalist system. The bosses act Eoghan claimed the old trope that globally, so should we!” ‘youth are the future’ was “roundly re‐ There was a general consensus that jected” by conference participants. unions working together across bor‐ He said: “The fact is it is the youth ders can put serious pressure on a sys‐ that are here and now – working these tem that is heavily reliant on the bad jobs, bad contracts and unpaid in‐ precariat and unorganised young ternships. workers to continue to exist as it is. “We’re struggling to find some‐ Eoghan continued: “As was pointed where to live that’s affordable. This is out during the discussion panel on the despite being the most educated gen‐ first day of conference, young people eration we’ve ever seen with qualifica‐ are not joining unions because most of tions falling out of our pockets as we them have never even been asked. roam from one gig to the next.” “If unions are not providing an av‐ One of key takeaways from the con‐ enue to challenge the new reality of ference was that participants were precariousness, young people will find being affected by the same issues no another way to challenge what they matter where they lived. housing, anti‐union employers, sexual “And this was the case even in those same issues exist. Without strong vi‐ see as a direct attack on their capacity “It became more and more obvious harassment and access to healthcare – countries that are often held up to us brant unions, stuffed with young pas‐ to provide for themselves and their that the issues that affect us in one are issues that affect all of us regard‐ in Ireland as examples and compar‐ sionate activists, working together families.” country – such as zero hour contracts, less of country and culture,” said isons of where we as a ‘small open globally, it matters little what country He warned: “If we – the left, the precarious work, lack of affordable Eoghan. economy’ should be heading for. The you live and work in, the power dy‐ labour movement of the world – do namic between labour and capital re‐ not provide that space for young peo‐ mains the same. ple to fight back, the far‐right will. “For the current generation and They will blame it all on the migrant worker, the ‘foreigner’ that lives down those that come after us to have any the street… say in their lives and the direction of “We have seen it happen already, the planet, this reality needs to shift where young left activists from trade radically.” unions are forced to challenge the Eoghan added: “UNI Global Union – right on the streets instead of concen‐ and Mandate’s activity within it – are trating on organising to challenge the part of this fight back. Together we are bosses and their ever‐increasing profit stronger! Workers of the World Unite!” December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 31 SHOP STEWARDS/ACTIVISTS TRAINING PROGRAMME 2020

Course Title Course Dates Duration Location Closing date

1st Quarter Employment Law Course 3 Day Feb 10th - 12th 3 days Dublin OTC Friday 17th Jan

Workplace Union Representative Intro Training Feb 24th - 26th 3 days Dublin OTC Friday 17th Jan

Negotiation Skills 1 Day Workshop Feb 24th 1 day Dublin OTC Friday 17th Jan

Computer Applications Level 4 Feb 25th 14 Wks Dublin OTC Friday 17th Jan

Communications & Personal Development Level 5 Feb 25th 14 Wks Dublin OTC Friday 17th Jan

Word Processing Level 5 Feb 26th 14 Wks Dublin OTC Friday 17th Jan

Workplace Union Representative Advanced Training March 2nd - 4th 3 days Dublin OTC Friday 17th Jan

Political Economics and Inﬂuencing Social Change Workshop March 9th 1 day Dublin OTC Friday 17th Jan

Bullying and Harrassment - Knowing the Law Workshop March 23rd 1 day Dublin OTC Friday 17th Jan

Workplace Union Representative Advanced Training March 30th - April 1st 3 days Cork Friday 14th Feb

Employment Law Course 3 Day March 30th - April 1st 3 days Sligo Friday 14th Feb 2nd Quarter Workplace Union Representative Intro Training April 6th - 8th 3 days Galway Friday 21st Feb

Bullying and Harrassment - Knowing the Law Workshop April 6th 1 day Waterford Friday 21st Feb

Employment Law Course 3 Day May 11th - 13th 3 days Dublin OTC Friday 27th Mar

Workplace Union Representative Intro Training May 11th - 13th 3 days Cork Friday 27th Mar

Workplace Union Reps Introductory Training for non-paid release members May 18th Day 1 of 3 Dublin OTC Friday 27th Mar

May 25th Day 2 of 3 Dublin OTC Friday 27th Mar

June 8th Day 3 of 3 Dublin OTC Friday 27th Mar

Workplace Union Reps Advanced Training for non-paid release members May 18th Day 1 of 3 Dublin OTC Friday 27th Mar`

May 25th Day 2 of 3 Dublin OTC Friday 27th Mar

June 8th Day 3 of 3 Dublin OTC Friday 27th Mar

Presentation & Public Speaking Skills - Part 1 May 20th Part 1 of 2 Dublin OTC Friday 1st May

Presentation & Public Speaking Skills - Part 2 May 27th Part 2 of 2 Dublin OTC Friday 1st May

Communications 3 Day June 8th - 10th 3 days Dublin OTC Friday 1st May

Workplace Union Representative Advanced Training June 15th -17th 3 days Galway Friday 1st May

Negotiation Skills 1 Day Workshop June 15th 1 day Dublin OTC Friday 1st May

Political Economics and Inﬂuencing Social Change Workshop June 15th 1 day Sligo Friday 1st May

Bullying and Harrassment - Knowing the Law Workshop June 16th 1 day Cork Friday 1st May

3rd Quarter Word Processing Level 5 Sept 1st 14 Wks Dublin OTC Friday 24th Jul

Computer Applications ADVANCED Level 6 Sept 2nd 14 Wks Dublin OTC Friday 24th Jul

Workplace Union Representative Intro Training Sept 7th -9th 3 days Dublin OTC Friday 24th Jul

Negotiation Skills 1 Day Workshop Sept 14th 1 day Waterford Friday 24th Jul

Bullying and Harrassment - Knowing the Law Workshop Sept 28th 1 day Waterford Friday 24th Jul

32 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 SHOP STEWARDS/ACTIVISTS TRAINING PROGRAMME 2020

Course Title Course Dates Duration Location Closing date

4th Quarter Employment Law Course 3 Day Oct 5th -7th 3 days Cork Friday Aug 21st

Workplace Union Rep Intro Training for non-paid release members Oct 5th Day 1 of 3 Dublin OTC Friday Aug 21st

Oct 12th Day 2 of 3 Dublin OTC Friday Aug 21st

Oct 19th Day 3 of 3 Dublin OTC Friday Aug 21st

Training & Development - Part 1 Oct 5th/6th/7th Part 1 of 2 Dublin OTC Friday Aug 21st

Training & Development - Part 2 Nov 2nd/3rd/4th Part 2 of 2 Galway Friday Aug 21st

l Dublin courses will take place in Mandate Organising & Training Centre l Please note venue/dates may vary l To secure your place book early to avoid disappointment If you are interested in attending any of these courses, please NOTE: Any of the courses listed above or on the facing page can be tailored to our members’ ncontact your Mandate Union Ofﬁcial or book your place by contacting needs. To schedule courses, we normally require at least 8 members on a course. If you have an Amanda Blake, Mandate Training Centre, by email [email protected] idea for a course programme that’s not listed and you have enough members interested, please or telephone 01-8369699 give us a call in the OTC and we'll make every effort to design something for you and the members.

FEEDBACK National Activists School... Full report p6/7 "In the days spent on the Mandate Ac- activists on the ground would not “The Lusty Beg Mandate Activists tivists School, I learned that we, the have the courage to do bigger and School was a brilliant experience. workers, are the union. Over the three better things. It opened my eyes as to how the trade days we talked about the orientation “Encouraged by all the organisers in union movement has and should of the trade union, to take the fight this, the first of many historic events, continue to influence and hopefully from the shop floor all the way to the we on the shop floor are prepared to change the face of politics. highest points of power. get our union ready for a new phase From our issues on the shop floor to “The discussion allowed us, as the against all the odds. We have been the housing crisis and climate change, workers, to exercise our control over it’s all interlinked and our actions and our union, to create the room needed armed with the knowledge to campaigns will influence political to open up new fronts of the struggle continue this fight. Let us Rise! party policies.” we face and to decide collectively on Up the Workers!” the direction our movement will take. James Rabbitte, Moate, Mandate Muireann Dalton, “In short, without this event, we as the activist, Western Division Step Up What HAVE OUR unions ever done for us? ...ANNUAL LEAVE, PAY INCREASES, SICK LEAVE, LUNCH BREAKS, SMOKE FREE WORKPLACE, BANDED HOUR CONTRACTS, REDUNDANCY PAY, THE WEEKEND, HEALTH & SAFETY LAWS, UNFAIR DISMISSAL LEGISLATION, MATERNITY & PARENTAL LEAVE AND MUCH, MUCH MORE...

Join YOUR union! www.joinmandate.ie

December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 33 TALKING POINT... Training & Development (QQI Level 6)

The Training & Development course is designed to enable learners Picture: Brendan Rankin (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) attain skills, knowledge and confidence to organise and deliver training and development in a range of organisational contexts.

Learning Outcomes: l Learners should be able to recognise best practice in adult learning and development. l Appraise different learning styles l Brexit and the Conduct training needs analysis l Design training to meet identified needs l Prepare training programmes l Develop lesson plans l Identify learning outcomes and put in place relevant methods to access learning l Develop and use a range of teaching materials l Evaluate training and development interventions. borderlands

This course will be delivered in two parts. As Shopfloor goes to print, the UK is in full polls mode for what will be the Each part is of three days duration. biggest general election in a generation as British PM Boris Johnson goes in

Certiﬁcation and Progression: search of that elusive majority. Tommy McKearney, a lifelong socialist Members who successfully complete this course will republican activist, and Trademark’s Mel Corry offer a considered view of obtain a QQI Level 6 Award. Brexit and the Irish question especially as it relates to border communities... Places are limited. As there is a high demand for this course please ensure you contact your Mandate Union Official or the Mandate Training Centre on AS AN organisation dedicated to 01-8369699 or email [email protected] to secure your place. moving this place beyond conflict Trademark has for the last number of years been working in a supporting role with marginalised communities in the border region. These groups have otherwise been described as ‘dissidents’ due to their divergence from Sinn Fein political orthodoxy. This characterisation is often misplaced and a lazy stereo‐ type, evoking images of armed masked men primed to bring about a resumption of Troubles‐era violence at the earliest opportunity. Political and The reality is much more nuanced. Among the republican constituencies that are active in political and com‐ munity life along the border there are Social Studies myriad different views on Brexit, hard borders, soft borders or no bor‐ ders and everything in between, but the likelihood of a violent upsurge is This one day Political and Social Studies course is remote. Local anger: border residents break down a faked-up ‘border wall’ during a protest earlier this year for trade union activists who have a keen interest in the Turmoil Political & Social Economy and who have questions Marginalised republican constituencies along A recent article in the Irish Times regarding the wider social reported retired Irish diplomat Sean the border... have for the most part responded, Course Content Ó hUigínn quoting Edmund Burke’s not with a threat of violence, but by engaging in l The politics of economics remark that the English have only one “ l Understanding the Irish economy ambition in relation to Ireland, which positive discussions and debates around the economy, l The Global Financial Crash and what it means is to hear no more about it. Undoubt‐ workers’ rights, housing, health and education, l The Great Recession and permanent austerity edly, with the Brexit backstop causing turmoil in the House of Commons, se‐ l Democratizing economics and the peaceful transition to a new Ireland l nior members of the Conservative The power of trade unions Party would very likely secretly share l Connecting with communities that view. cally related, calculations when de‐ first instance there is the perennial” l Reflecting community diversity Many in Ireland might well suggest ciding their position on this issue. fixation on changing demographics, that had the English acted on Ed‐ Moreover, London and Dublin are which are indicating the inevitability Certiﬁcation and Progression: mund Burke’s observation and left also playing the Ulster card, yet more within the coming decades of a ma‐ Ireland way back then, they might be Members who successfully complete this training course often than not they both conceal the jority in favour of ending the Union. experiencing fewer problems at the will obtain a Mandate Certificate. entirety of their reasoning for doing This is compounded by the obvious moment. so. failure of the Six Counties (of North‐ Places are limited. As there is a high demand for this course However, we can’t change the past Underlying every political issue in ern Ireland) to function as a normal please ensure you contact your Mandate Union Official or the Man- and the Irish question has returned Northern Ireland is the constitutional political entity. date Training Centre on 01-8369699 or email mandateotc@man- to torment Westminster. date.ie to secure your place. Whatever about history, the Brexit question of whether the area should It is not that people in Northern debate does not follow the same line continue to be governed from London Ireland are unaware or indifferent to of argument in Northern Ireland, as it or have sovereignty transferred to Brexit. It is, however, the case, that for does in Britain. Local protagonists Dublin. Magnifying the importance of the most part, they see it as sec‐ make different, although paradoxi‐ this now are two crucial facts. In the ondary. 34 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 sistance’ and the possibility of vio‐ lence abounded. Others within the community, however, condemned such rhetoric as ‘irresponsible rabble rousing’ and unrepresentative of the wider views of working‐class Union‐ ists – not least those who directly ex‐ perienced the Northern Ireland conflict. Thus while the capacity of armed loyalist factions to draw marginalised young people into orchestrated acts of violence remains, it is doubtful that these actions would attract mass sup‐ port. In a nutshell, the Brexit debate in Ireland, north and south, has largely missed the essential elements of the argument. Northern Ireland is one of the poorest regions of the United Kingdom. Average income is 8.5% less than in Britain and average dis‐ posable income is less than 40% of that in London. The economy is in ongoing decline as evidenced by the difficulties faced by the once‐iconic Harland & Wolff shipyard, Wright Bus and the contin‐ ued decline of the north’s manufac‐ turing sector. Photographers scramble to get shots of pretend ‘Customs officers’ at Carrickcarnon on the South Armagh/North Louth in March. No Hard Border’ protest (below) on the Derry-Donegal border in October The economic situation in the Re‐ a campaign that focuses on the possi‐ public appears to be infinitely better. ble – albeit greatly exaggerated – dif‐ However, this disguises an increas‐ ficulties posed by a hard border. ingly unequal society with tens of Meanwhile the British and Irish thousands of people homeless, a two‐ governments are spinning their own tier health service leaving the less self‐serving tales around Brexit. well‐off at a major disadvantage and British Prime Minister Johnson re‐ increasing number of workers in ei‐ jected the backstop option claiming ther low‐paid or precarious employ‐ Picture: Sinn Fein (CC BY 2.0) this was because of his deep and ment. abiding affection for the union be‐ The answer to these challenges, tween Great Britain and Northern from a socialist republican perspec‐ Ireland. In reality, this love affair was tive, this lies in breaking with free‐ based firmly on Commons arithmetic. market capitalist economies, whether Things have moved on consider‐ controlled by neo‐liberals sitting in ably and we now face a general elec‐ London or in charge of the European tion, with the prospect of a border Union. This in essence is the left‐wing down the Irish Sea, which in the case in relation to Brexit and applies north is shaping up to be a re‐run of to Ireland as much as it does to the referendum with parties moving Britain. into loose pacts to maximise the leave Instead of working people dis‐ or remain position. cussing the necessity of having demo‐ Threat cratic socialist control of the The Irish government is not com‐ economy, the powers that be have di‐ pletely frank either with its state‐ verted attention towards a highly un‐ ments about the impact of Britain likely resumption of armed conflict, leaving the European Union. Dublin export delays and possible traffic has focused greatly on the threat that jams at border crossings. this poses to the Good Friday Agree‐ Marginalised republican con‐ ment in general and to the mainte‐ stituencies along the border naturally nance of peace in particular. have many concerns about the ar‐ Alarmist claims about a return to rangements that may be put in place the pre‐1994 ‘Troubles’ are overdone. post‐Brexit and the level of disrup‐ In spite of the recent death of journal‐ tion they may cause for communities ist Lyra McKee, there is little evidence that were once divided but have grad‐ of any real appetite for a return to the ually become reintegrated. widespread conflict of previous However, they have for the most decades. If anything, the tragedy illus‐ part responded, not with a threat of trated the depth of opposition to violence, but by engaging in positive armed groups in working‐class re‐ discussions and debates around the A contributory factor to this out‐ ers who fear economic disruption. publican communities. economy, workers’ rights, housing, look is the attitude of the British and Nevertheless, the party’s greatest Moreover, it should also be borne health and education, and the peace‐ Irish governments with the former fear is losing its niche as the principal in mind that Britain leaving the Eu‐ ful transition to a new Ireland. speaking of the need to preserve the defender of ‘Protestant Ulster’ and ropean Union will not, in itself, Led by groups such as the Peadar precious union and the latter raising therefore feels obliged to persist with alter the constitutional position O’Donnell Socialist Republican alarm over a hard border. Unsurpris‐ its policy. Having been thrown under of Northern Ireland within the Forum, these types of discussions ingly therefore, the two major local the bus they now find themselves at UK whether there is a with‐ are gaining momentum and prov‐ political parties, the Democratic odds with Boris Johnson, the man drawal deal or not. ing to be infinitely more attrac‐ Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein they once hailed as the only one ca‐ Hundreds of loyalists, tive to border communities have focussed on the constitutional pable of delivering Brexit. including the leaders of than the prospect of a return impact of Brexit. Disappointingly for supporters of a various rival paramili‐ to violence, and we will con‐ tinue working to ensure The DUP favours the hardest of left‐wing exit, Sinn Féin has changed tary groups, recently that this remains the case. withdrawal options in the hope that its long‐time opposition to the EU. In‐ gathered at the Con This article was originally it will result in creating maximum di‐ stead of highlighting the neo‐liberal Club in East Belfast published on the Brexit, Eu- vergence between north and south threat from Brussels it now takes the to discuss the impli‐ rope and the Left blog at and thereby reinforce the partition of 2.0) Picture: Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken (CC BY-SA flawed ‘Remain and Reform’ position. cations of Boris https://www.brexitblog- rosalux.eu Ireland. While this position wins With a 55% majority in the Six Johnson’s ‘Betrayal favour in Unionist heartlands (and Counties in favour of remaining, Sinn Act’ and their potential re‐ among the European Research Féin is making the obvious case that sponse to it. Group), it has caused concern among London disregards the will of the Buoyed by their fruitful relation‐ Sniper at work... but some middle‐class Unionist support‐ PM Boris Johnson: from hero to zero for the DUP Northern Irish. The party has also led ship with the DUP, talk of loyalist ‘re‐ no sign of return to conflict December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 35 REAL MUSIC Meet honky-tonk player Pat Reedy: Colorado born, moulded in the Big Easy, based in East Nashville, touring the world...

FORGET about your Nathan Carters, Pat Reedy ming songs for locals on Lower Decatur and piano/keyboards while Kenny Devenny and Chesnutt, and George Jones — than anything in makes honest honky-tonk music for the modern tourists on Bourbon Street. Nigel Simpson drive the engine room on bass today’s mainstream as he sinks his teeth into his world, mixing twang, blue-collar songwriting, Leaving New Orleans in his rear-view mirror, and drums respectively. Reedy & The One Night own country roots, performing traditional- working-class pride and an unconventional he’s made Nashville his home, graduating to big- Stands deliver a true Nashville sound of pedal minded songs about heartache, travel and long back-story into albums such as 2018’s That's All ger gigs, proper venues and international tours. steel, guitar riffs and booming melodies inspired work days. There Is. Pat returns to Ireland in January 2020 fronting by classic country music. Shopfloor’s Brian Forbes got the unique op- Nashville-based Reedy cut his teeth on the a five-piece band, The One Night Stands, featur- Reedy is the real deal, more influenced by the portunity to talk to the enigmatic Reedy about street corners of New Orleans, quickly becoming ing Patsy Gallagher (Goats Don’t Shave) on lead artists who filled the airwaves during his child- his touring lifestyle prior to his third visit to these one of the city’s busiest street buskers, strum- guitar/pedal steel and Roddy Lynch on hood years — including Dwight Yoakam, Mark shores early in the New Year...

So what’s it like to be Pat Reedy? I’ve spent a good bit of my life ei‐ ther wandering or working various construction and other labour jobs. I’ve crossed the country and Mexico as a hobo, a busker down in New Or‐ leans, been a carpenter, done roofing, stonework, tile, worked in the oilfield and in mine sites, I’ve been a heavy equipment operator, a lion tamer, and done forestry in Oregon, and any labour I could get in between. Mostly I play music now, not much looking back. I also made up that part about There is being a lion tamer.

Your busking days in New Orleans must have been an interesting experience… They were. That’s where I really learned how to play music at all, and how to sing and entertain. I learned a lot from a lot of people, most of them gone now – old buskers who had been doing that for a long time, like Washboard Lisa and Troy. another New Orleans is a rough place, has been for 300 years. A lot people go through it, but it goes through a lot of people. I honestly don't know how to begin to describe New Orleans to y’all. There’s no other place in the USA remotely like it, to the extent that sometimes my friends and I would only half‐jokingly refer to leaving town as “going back to the USA”. Has relocating to East Nashville Country worked out for you musically? Nashville has been very good to me. I’m glad I moved there. As much as I love New Orleans, it just doesn’t offer the same opportunities to coun‐ try musicians. It’s smaller, for one. Nashville is easily, more than any other city on earth, the heart of it right now. Tremendous players who are welcoming to new people in town and don’t give a damn where you’re from as long as you work hard and do your job like everyone else is. maybe the least pretentious per‐ the ocean. I have a new full album and Laurel Run in central Pennsylva‐ I went up to Nashville in 2015 to son I’ve met in this business. being released in the spring, the nia with my friends Rylan & Brooks. record Highway Bound with my New album is also titled Make It Back Then I did a 62‐day run of mainland Orleans band. They all went home af‐ This time around, in Ireland, Home. I’ll be touring on that soon, Europe with a band. The tour man‐ terward. I stayed. I had $20 and a making my rounds. ager pointed out towards the end that semi‐functioning van and was more you’ll be gigging with a band of local musicians calling them- the odometer read 30,000 km. That’s or less homeless. Two years later I three‐quarters the circumference of was being asked to tour Europe. selves The One Night Stands. You married the lovely Sara in What can we expect to hear at Nashville recently. Both of you the Earth. Little bit proud of that. your gigs? surrounded by lots of friends and Then I flew back to Chicago, then You’ve been touring Europe Honky Tonk country music family… Nashville, then a North Carolina run. extensively over the past few years? played by a bunch of gifted Irish I did. Somehow I ended up mar‐ After that I joined my friend Gus Yes sir, I believe this will be my lads and one American singer! ried to a Polish scientist. You Clark (from Seattle) on a tour down sixth time touring overseas. I love couldn't make this shit up. She's to Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Missis‐ being on the road and I especially You’ve a big circle of music friends wonderful to me, and smart in all sippi and Alabama. love being in Ireland. in Nashville and across the world the ways in which I am stupid. After that I did a Missouri run and so are there any plans for releasing now as I write this I’m touring up the You’ve visited Ireland before on a new music in the pipeline soon? How’s life treating an auld west coast from Los Angeles to Seat‐ solo acoustic tour with the “English I’ve just released Make It Back weary road dawg troubadour tle, a few shows in Bozeman, Mon‐ Willie Nelson”, Ags Connolly. How’s Home as a single. Funny thing is I like Pat Reedy? tana, then Chicago and flying to that been? wrote it in Ireland – in Galway by the Well, Forbes, I’ve been on the London! I like being on the road, I Ags is a great singer, songwriter, old lighthouse. I was sitting on a rock, road, other than a few days at a kind of don’t know what to do with and friend. I hope to work with him drinking Paddy and looking west at time in Nashville since 23rd July. myself staying home. This is what I’m in the future more. He’s real as hell – I played Philadelphia, New York, best at. 36 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 Computer Training Course QQI Level 3

Mandate Trade Union in conjunction with Skills for Work is offering funded training. The courses are to encourage members back into learning and training whilst aiming towards a QQI Level 3 Award.

Starting from scratch this course helps you to use a computer and builds conﬁdence for communicating on-line.

Courses are open to members who have not achieved their Leaving Cert or who have an out-of-date Leaving Cert

Evening Courses take place one evening per week for a duration Your fellow country music on. But sometimes people’s home‐ nistic doddering idiot who could do singer/songwriter Luke Bell ex- towns can hold them back in various the world a favour by finding a place of 12 weeks in a venue near your workplace. plained about a moment hanging ways. Everyone should try to get out to go sit down out of the way of ev‐ out in his home state of Wyoming into the world, if there’s something erything. Don't get me wrong, he where he realised there was an en- nagging them about it. didn't come from nowhere. The If you are interested please tirely different world of music out Democrats have been so infiltrated contact Mandate’s Training Centre there he’d never been exposed to. So, Pat, Trump – what in the hell is by conservatives – like the Clintons – He said: ‘I saw my buddy Pat Reedy that all about? that the idea of joining the 21st cen‐ on 01-8369699 or perform at the Buckhorn Bar. It was tury post‐developed world can be I’m glad you asked me about successfully branded as ‘far left’. by email at [email protected] an inspiring show. He pulled Trump. I’m just a musician, with no through in an ’85 Datsun diesel degrees or formal higher education of With stagnant wages, disappearing pickup truck with a homeless any sort. However, he has zero jobs, and ever higher costs of living, Please see Mandate website for many working class people no longer painter and a half wolf dog. It was experience in politics so that further Training courses at www.mandate.ie just a picture of a different part of makes me equally or more felt in the least bit represented by the earth.’ So what sage advice qualified to voice my opin‐ them or anyone anymore. And the would you give a young Pat Reedy ion as he is to hold politi‐ younger voters seemed to be with‐ out hope, so they stayed home Email: [email protected] starting out on the ol’ dusty country cal office. I find him to and didn't vote at all. It’s get‐ music trail today? be, among other things, ting better, there's hope and Don’t. Just kidding – do! I’d say to one of the least con‐ vincing liars I’ve ever there’s a growing Ameri‐ focus on the music part. Pick a spot can left, but there’s a Places are limited and are allocated that you feel at home and where seen speak in my life – a clear Archie Bunker‐ large mess to clean on a ﬁrst come, ﬁrst served basis you’re set up good and build out of style racist and misogy‐ up... that. When you’ve outgrown it, move Picture: European Parliament December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 37 THERE’S A NEW FORUM REPORT WAY TO JOIN OR PAY your dues www.joinmandate.ie OUR new web portal ALSO allows existing members to switch Breandán Ó Conchúir gives their forum rundown on banded hours payment method

Illustration: Daniel Huntley (CC BY-SA 2.0) Combatting the scourge of precarious work

By Breandán Ó Conchúir that examined how One Cork and the Industrial Officer, Southern Division wider union movement could con‐ ON 9th November trade union ac‐ tinue to win improvements for work‐ tivists from across Cork attended the ers. One Cork winter activist forum. ‘Organise!’ was the resounding an‐ Its purpose is to bring together ac‐ swer to this question from partici‐ tivists from the different unions so pants at the discussions. It is clear that they can work together collec‐ mobilising through active and strong tively in our workplaces and commu‐ trade unions is only way workers can nities to improve living and working win improvements in their terms conditions for all. and conditions. The focus of this year’s forum was Arising out of these discussions, a on precarious work that has spread series of priorities for One Cork to Word Processing across all sections of the economy – focus on over the issue of low pay and it’s a problem Mandate members and precarious work for 2020 will be are all too aware of. identified and further events and Level 5 As a union that has been active in campaigns organised. fighting against precarious work and Former Labour Court chair Kevin Duffy It is clear that precarious work is in winning more secure terms of em‐ victory for organised workers in Ire‐ increasingly widespread and needs What you’ll learn... ployment for retail workers, Man‐ land and this was the key message to be recognised as a priority by all date activists have a valuable behind Mandate’s contribution to the trade unions. Mandate members l Word Processing: Document Formatting, Graphics, Mail Merge contribution to make in the fight activist forum. have shown that workers can suc‐ against the scourge of precarious While the banded hours’ legislation cessfully win significant improve‐ l Create documents applying a range of processing features work in all its forms. is an important victory it does not ments in precarious sectors such as l Officials from Mandate and SIPTU end all precarious work. retail. Mandate’s example must now Use prooﬁng uools such as spell-check, thesaurus & spoke about legal efforts to combat The second half of the activist be followed by workers in all sectors search/replace l Learn File Management it, with a focus on the vital role forum involved group discussions of the economy. l l played by Dunnes workers and other Use Windows Explorer Open, edit, and print a document Mandate members in the introduc‐ l Enter, edit and sort data tion of the legislation. This was followed by a detailed l Insert and delete rows and columns in a worksheet presentation about the legislation l Enter formulae l Microsoft Outlook - send and receive emails. from Kevin Duffy, a former chair of the Labour Court. l Excel – create spreadsheets Mandate has actively campaigned l for banded hours for many years – at PowerPoint presentations first through collective agreements If you are interested in taking this course in 2018, contact with various employers and since the 2015 Dunnes workers’ strike Mandate Training Centre on 01-8369699 or email through the introduction of legisla‐ [email protected] to secure your place tion to ensure rogue employers who refuse to engage with their employ‐ Places are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis ees’ unions are also required to pro‐ and are open to Mandate members who are currently unemployed. vide contracts with guaranteed Please see Mandate website for hours. further training courses at www.mandate.ie The introduction of banded hours legislation represents a significant Discussion groups debate what the priorities should be for One Cork in 2020 38 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 OPINION Partnership ideology weakened us, here’s why...

COMING from an occupied six counties wo rking class council es- tate and growing up in an area of historically acute unemployment and really high levels of social deprivation, I always find LET US it a privilege – indeed an honour – to get the opportunity, through my role in Mandate, to raise issues related to much- needed improvements to our inadequate workers’ rights legislation with those TDs elected by the people to govern from ARISE! Leinster House. Those very same elected representatives, of every party and none, must be constantly “encouraged” to deliver wo rkplace Brian Forbes 2.0) Picture: informatique (CC BY-SA improvements on behalf of wo rking class people the length National Co-ordinator and breadth of our unequal and failed Republic. Let no one tell you trade unions shouldn’t be political. Th e Mandate Trade Union Irish union movement’s long-held love affair with social part- productive workforce in the world and nership has had a devastating impact on political union ac- among the most profitable countries tivities and has dampened the development of class in the EU15 for retail and bar employ- co nsciousness in the workplace – and, with it, the development ers. of wo rking-class power – in both the public and private secto r There is a devastating class war Irish unions. being waged, not just here in Ireland from the few in favour of the many. This “partnership ideology” has cre- Ireland should be collectively declar- but globally, and it sure as hell isn’t ated a labour movement that, when An extremely positive development ing and demanding, loud and proud, unions and the working class who are the knives came out, was too weak occurred at a recent meeting of our that all Irish unions must be inher- winning. and apathetic to stop the concerted Mandate National Executive Commit- ently political both in defence of and Unions in Ireland need a radical and coordinated attack on workers’ tee when a sub-committee was set up in advancement of the working class rights led by the cheerleaders for the worker-led campaign to force through to develop ideas around becoming of our country. capitalist class. the Dáil progressive political and leg- much more politically active and influ- In order to not only survive but Ireland has the most restrictive islative change that will enable unions ential in the Dáil, Seanad and perhaps grow strength, unions must politicise trade union rights in the European to build in a more effective manner other representative institutions. workers to demand collective bar- Union: no mandatory collective bar- and to allow workers to collectively This proposal to actively politicise is gaining in every workplace and on gaining; no right of entry to work- bargain with their employers. about building the union movement, every shop floor in order to raise places for trade union officials; highest Unions need to have two strong empowering members and building class consciousness and class power. prevalence of low paid jobs in the EU; arms in the fight against inequality – an alternative socialist Ireland to the Our movement is famous for growing numbers of “working poor”; an industrial arm and a political arm. current neo-liberal country many of knowing the right thing to do five legislation that constrains workers Ireland needs a worker-led campaign our citizens barely survive in on a day- minutes after it’s too late to do it, so from taking industrial action and all of to establish a “Fair Work Act” that will to-day basis. let’s not prevaricate any longer – Let this while being touted as the most help tip the balance of power away All union members on the island of us arise!

FEEDBACK National Activists School... Full report p6/7 “I have only just joined Mandate and this was my first venture into the organisation. I was very happy with the Lusty Beg event in how it was organised, and all the information that was presented. I got an insight into the union’s history, background and how this motivates the union activities now and into the future. I found the course motivational and cannot wait to get more involved in union activity in the very near future having out my name forward for upcoming in-store rep elections. A great course, well done to those involved.” Liam Kelly - Penneys Letterkenny, North & West Division Strengthening the culture of the union By Mel Corry important aspect of this approach is that it Trademark allows the activists to take ownership of THE best way to create and empower the action. An action based plan that is created NEW! Communication Skills activists is to give them a role in forming the from the expertise of those that work at the direction, priorities and activity of the union coal face is hard to counteract. This one day Progression Course in Communication Skills is for trade union activists who going forward. It strengthens the culture of have a desire and need to improve their knowledge and understanding in effective communication The recent national activist school held by the union and through Mandate in Co Fermanagh was a classic exam- building solidarity as a core Course Content: ple of best practice in this regard. Each session value of the union binds shop l Communications skills: Public Speaking Skills, Better Writing Skills l opened up by an experienced person setting stewards to a Mandate Finding the right information that will steer you in the right direction. l the scene for the activists and allowing them in identity. Activists create Further understanding of the environment in which we live and work. l small group work, feeding back to the core a new activists and new The social, political and economic landscape of trade unions. l considered approach to each issue. The most members. Media ownership – who is telling you what and why? l Social Media – What it is all about. l How to write a good CV or application form. “I've been on quite a number of Mandate courses and I have to say any that involve Trademark should be a must for every Course Objective: Mandate activist. This was the same. Great course at a great The objective of this course is to provide you with tools and techniques that will allow you to know more, learn more and develop yourself, your knowledge and your abilities venue. Plenty of information presented in a very simple for your own personal and professional development. manner, and in a way that ensured good strong activist Certiﬁcation & Progression: participation right across all those that attended. Everyone Members who successfully complete this training course will obtain a Mandate certificate. was encourage to have their say and contribute their ideas. Places are limited. As there is a high demand for this course please ensure you contact Well done again, Mandate.” your Mandate Union Official or the Mandate Training Centre on 01-8369699 Tony Meehan - Tesco Carrick-on-Shannon, or email [email protected] to secure your place. North & West Division December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 39 FÉACH Caithféar meas a bheith ar éagsúlacht in éadan taistealaí. Ach mar atá mé ag iarraidh sampla eile a thab‐ Naoise Mac scríofa agam, roimh réidh, is iad hairt de tír inar phléasc achrann idir easpa tuiscine agus eolais ar an phobal agus ina bhfuil easaontas le Cathmhaoil chultúr eile an príomh rud atá ag tab‐ fáil ann go fóill. Sna blianta idir 1992 hairt tacaíochta do na smaointe seo. agus 1995 réab spairn cíocrach i ndi‐ D’aithin rialtas na hÉireann gur aidh na fola amach san Bhoisnia agus mionlach eitneach iad na taistealaí i an Heirseagaivéín inar maraíodh níos Mí Mhárta Dhá Mhíle agus a Seacht mó ná céad míle duine. Thárla each‐ AONTAÍM go huile agus go hiomlan Déag agus bhí sé seo ina chéim leis an ráiteas atá luaite thuas. Is é mo traí uafásacha; ár eitneacha agus éig‐ bharúil féin gurb iad tuiscint agus iúl mhaith ar aghaidh ar son cearta niú mná ina measc. ar chultúir éagsúla an dóigh is fear daonna na dtaistealaithe in Éirinn. Coimhlint a bhí ann idir trí ghrúpa leis an achrann eatarthu a leá agus Léirigh seo cé chomh mór is a eitneacha éagsúla; na Boisniaigh, na chun iad a tharraingt le chéile gan dathraigh dearcadh na nÉireannach Seirbiaigh agus na Crótaigh. Ach ghráin, gan fuath, mar ba chóir don le gairid. anois agus an cúige seo in “ainm chine daonna a bheith. Is ceist Chomh maith le seo, ghlac an rial‐ síochána”, tar éís an sos lámhaigh ollmhór í seo in san am i láthair go tas le straitéis úr darbh ainm “The agus an Comhaontú Dayton a thárla i háirithe le hathbheochan na heite National Traveller and Roma Inclu‐ 1995, rinneadh iarracht na grúpaí seo deise. sion Strategy 2017‐2021”, agus d’fhás a scaradh maidir le cúrsaí oideachais Tá borradh ciníochais, seicteachais, neart torthaí dearfacha aistí. Bhí sé le chun an tír a chur faoi bhannaí agus frithimirce ann ar fud na hEorpa feiceáil san phobal gur thit an t‐idird‐ síochána. I mo thuairim féin is droch agus is léir do dhaoine dalla an healú in éadan na taistealaí maidir le cinneadh é seo amach is amach. Picture: prusakolep (CC BY 2.0) domhain é go bhfuil an faisisteachas seo agus maidir leis an Acht Cé go dtéann na daltaí scoile go dtí ag treisiú arís ar fud na cruinne. Baineadh stangadh iontach uaim mbeadh seans dá laghad aige sa Oideachais 2018 a rinne stair agus an t‐aon scoil amháin ní mheascann Is é mo thuaraim féin go n‐ nuair a chuala mé na droch rudaí a toghachán, mar go mbeadh na daoine cultúr na dtaistealaithe éigeanntacha siad lena chéile sna ranganna nó ag eascraíonn fadhbanna mar bhí le rá ag fear a sheas d’uachtará‐ i bhfád ródhaonnachtúil agus nach in achan bhunscoil agus meánscoil in am lóin agus bíonn curaclam iomlán chiníochas agus a mhacasamhail, as nacht na hÉireann i 2012, agus é á gcuirfeadh Casey dallnamullóg orthu. Eirinn. difriúl acu ina bhfuil an béime ar eagla agus faitíos. Nuair nach dhéanamh stocaireacht roimh Ach, nach orm a bhí an dul amú! De réir go raibh páistí scoile agus gnéithe agus cúspóirí staire s’acu féin. thuigtear cultúr éagsúla bíonn an t‐ toghachán na huachtaránachta. Dúirt Cé go raibh Casey ina shuí ar aon tuismitheoirí s’acu ag foghlaim fan Níl iontas ar bith é go bhfuil na amhras. Tá dearcthaí leithchealacha an fear gnó “Peter Casey” nar ghrúpa faoin chéad den vótáil phoiblí roimh chultúr difriúl seo, thosaigh meath ar scoilteanna seo le feiceáil i mBosnia le fáil anois in achan sraith den eitneach iad na taistealaí, agus nach an toghachán, agus nár bhain se an an mhéid taistealaí a bhí ag fulaingt le go fóill. Muna dtagann na trí ghrúpaí sochaí, agus tá tearc tíortha ann san raibh said ag íoc go leor as a gcá‐ toghachán, thug se leis níos mó na drochíde ó na seadaitheoirí. Ach, mar seo lena chéile arís, ach, go háirithe domhan mór anois, ina bhfuil easpa nacha. Ina measc na tuairiscí seo fiche trí faoin chéad den vótá sa a chonaic muid le Peter Casey agus a san oideachas, agus tuiscint a gcultúr iomláin den teannas seo le fáil, agus dúirt sé rudaí eile a bhí con‐ deireadh thiar thall, mar gheall ar a chuid imchainteanna, ní ghlacann sé s’acu a bhunú arís, sílim féin go bhfe‐ is mór an mhairg é go bhfuill sé seo spóideacha fosta, agus maidir le seo thuairimí idirdhealaitheacha. mórán chun seo uilig a scriosadh, mar icfidh muid an foréigean ceannan ag sleamhnú anuas ar ár n‐oileán féin tharraing sé aird ar féin agus thóg sé Léiríonn seo cé go nimhiúil is atá gurb ábhar iontach sobhriste é seo. céanna ag sleachtadh fríd cheartlár chomh maith. raic ar fud na tíre. Shíl mé féin nach dearcadh ag sciar mhaith den daonra Ag bogadh ar aghaidh ó Éirinn, tá na mBalcán gan mhoill.

Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace This one day workshop is aimed at all Workplace Representatives who wish to improve their knowledge of bullying and harassment Course Content: l Bullying and harassment deﬁned n Types of bullying l Bullying and the law n Relevant legislation pertaining to bullying and harassment n Codes of Practice l Harassment deﬁned l Dignity at work l Rights and duties of employees pertaining to bullying & harassment l Prevention of bullying and harassment in the workplace l Anti-bullying policy l Disciplinary procedures l Constructive dismissal as a result of bullying and harassment l Inappropriate behaviours and keeping a diary l Sexual harassment and stress l Resolution procedures l Vicarious liability

Certiﬁcation and Progression: Members who successfully complete this training course will obtain a Mandate Certificate in Bullying and Harassment.

40 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 NEWS AMAZON Conference hears some workers left with ‘sore & bloodied feet’ after shifts... By Sandra Stapleton Mandate Organiser THE Communications Workers Union (CWU) HQ in Dublin was the venue for the latest Uni‐Global Amazon Al‐ liance Network meeting attended by representatives from more than 20 unions that have members working at online colossus Amazon. ports. Walking out of their offices on public about the gruelling work cul‐ sult of working “like robots” for the order to ascertain if there is a connec‐ The theme of the meeting was ‘Co‐ September 20th in a show of defi‐ ture such workers have to endure company and being pushed to their tion between similar types of injuries determination and Labour Standards ance, members of the new group each day. limits. being reported in Amazon ware‐ in Transnational Corporations – Aspi‐ wanted to ensure that the business Bezos has announced that Amazon The conference was told some houses across the UK. rations and Reality at Amazon’. model followed by Amazon did not would reduce its carbon footprint. workers are left with sore and blood‐ Uni‐Amazon Network delegates As well as reports from each union, contribute to the ongoing climate cri‐ However, these climate activists ied feet at the end of their shifts. were so impressed with this exercise there was a number of several guest sis. within Amazon claim the CEO’s ef‐ Workers suffered both mental and that they requested copies sp that speakers who outlined the harsh re‐ And they have called on Amazon forts have not gone far enough, and physical illness as a result of working they can carry out similar surveys in alities of working for one of the CEO Jeff Bezos to ensure the online are determined to be part of the fight for Amazon. their own countries. world’s largest companies. Plans retailer adopts a zero emissions pol‐ for “liveable future”. To do this, they The BBC Panorama team has pro‐ One source told Shopfloor: “It’s were made for a meeting that will be icy, drops any contracts with fossil have vowed not to stop such actions duced a documentary using footage hard to believe that governments held in Brussels in December with covertly filmed from a site in fuel companies and stops donating to until they work for a zero‐carbon across the globe allow this company MEPs as well as to lay down objec‐ Swansea. It details horrendous condi‐ climate change‐denying politicians. company. to treat workers in such a brutal way. tives for 2020. tions Amazon workers have to en‐ Amazon made contributions to 68 Mick Rix, of the GMB, presented a “Should the workers become too ill Guests included Amazon workers members of US Congress who voted report on health and safety, highlight‐ dure and claims some have to walk to work – they will be replaced with who formed a new group, Amazon against climate change legislation in ing the treatment of Amazon ware‐ up to 11 miles per shift. not a thought for their wellbeing. It Employees for Climate Justice, who 2018. The group also wanted to ex‐ house workers. He informed the The GMB has also produced a ‘body for their own protection did not want press their solidarity with Amazon delegates of the horrific injuries suf‐ mapping’ survey for workers to fill clear Amazon much prefers to use to be photographed or named in re‐ warehouse workers and enlighten the fered by these workers as a direct re‐ out and send back to their union in robots who won’t fight back!” Have you a Mandate-related story or picture you’d like to share with us? Email [email protected] Why we’re always app your service!

Mandate has also launched our UNIONLINK courses such as Interview Skills, Basic First Aid courses on https://unionlink.org where you can and GDPR, at discounted rates of up to 60%. register online for bitesize course programmes, The Mandate Training Academy will also host such as Industrial Relations, Recruitment and links to Mandate’s LOOKUP App and our Man‐ Organising, Stress Management courses etc. date Induction video, all presented now on our In addition to the free training and develop‐ new online Training Academy. ment courses, we are pleased to launch our new In time our course offering will grow, allow‐ online training platform (Academy on the App ing you – the member – improved access to a Store and Google Play Store), in partnership wider range professional course modules. with Olive Media. The cost of purchasing Mandate online This app will allow members the option to courses also qualify for grant support through purchase online professional and development our Education Grant Scheme every November. How to register... How to purchase training...

l Click on the registration link here – REGISTRATION LINK l Click on Purchase Course on the l Fill out details leaving the 'Member ID' and 'Team' field blank. bottom left hand of your page l l This should be done from PC/laptop using a Google Chrome Here you will see a list of courses web browser (where possible) and their prices l l If you already have an existing AcademyHQ account please Choose your course and click ‘Add to Cart’ contact our support team at [email protected] l Proceed to check-out l Following registration above, members can download the 'Academy HQ' app l Make payment from the Google Play store or App Store if you wish to login from your l Return to the dashboard tab smartphone. Alternatively use the following link to login on your PC: and you will see your course https://mandatemembers.academyhq.com/en/auth/login

December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 41 TRAINING Communications & Professional Development (CPD) The objective of this course is to provide you with tools and techniques that will allow you to know more, learn more and develop yourself, your knowledge and your abilities for your own personal and professional development.

Gain a National Qualification with a QQI Level 5 Course and develop your own skills and learn more about your rights and your society. • Communications skills: public speaking skills, • The environment in which we live and work better writing skills • Social, political and economic landscape of unions • Finding the right information that will • Media ownership – who is telling you what and why steer you in the right direction • Social Media – What it is all about?

Evening Courses take place one evening per week for a duration of 12 weeks. RIGHT: Placard reads ‘Brazil - first place in corruption’ If you’re interested, contact Mandate’sPictures: Ben Tavener Training(CC BY 2.0) Centre on 01-836 9699 or email [email protected]

This training course is FREE and designed for YOU!

42 SHOPFLOOR y December 2019 THE LAST WORD West Bank olive harvest volunteer Tom O’Connor (pictured right) witnessed himself the ‘awfulness of the daily cruelty and slow-drip ethnic cleansing’ suffered by Palestinians in the Occupied Territories... Where even the olive branch is used as a weapon of war

“IGNORING the Zionist philosophy when paying witness to the Israeli while criticising Israel for the brutal Army destroying the homes of mistreatment of Palestinians, is like Bedouin Arabs – who live in condi‐ criticising the police in Apartheid tions of near poverty – just because South Africa for attacking school chil‐ settlers have extended their tentacle dren in Soweto, but saying nothing grips nearby in the West Bank. about the racist Apartheid philoso‐ We worked on a remarkable farm, phy,”so said one of the people we met called ‘Tent of Nations’, run by a on a recent olive harvest/study tour Christian family, who have been bat‐ in Palestine. It is 35 years since 12 young tling off the Israeli courts and settlers Dunnes Stores trade unionists went for nearly 30 years because they are on strike against handling products located on a hilltop – the preferred from racist South Africa and eventu‐ locations of the settlers. They do so ally forced the Irish Government to with the help of many Internationals ban imports from the Apartheid state. who volunteer on their mountain top Could something similar come to the throughout the year. support of Palestinians? We visited the Holocaust Museum “How come ‘any Jew in the world in West Jerusalem (Yad Vashem) and has the right to return to Israel’ yet the Arafat Museum in Ramallah. We Palestinians who lived, or whose par‐ met a rabbi from the Reform Syna‐ ents/grandparents lived in the origi‐ gogue. But he had no qualms about nal Palestine, have no right to serving in the army. I got great en‐ return?” couragement meeting an 80‐year‐old We were meeting peace and Gathering in the olive crop (left) with tools of the trade (centre) and a welcome break from the work in the sun as a mid-day meal is handed out (right) human rights activists, both Israelis socialist who grew up on a Kibbutz and Palestinians, and being chal‐ and is still defending the Bedouin. lenged by many awkward questions, ProtestorsA Quaker at Shannon peace maker talked to us to which we had no answers. about her book, ‘Occupied with Non‐ We were a group on a Quaker Vol‐ Violence’. Ecumenical Accompaniers untary Action visit to the West Bank. spoke to us about their programme This tour, of two weeks, is always held of three‐month volunteering on the between mid‐October and mid‐ interface between Palestinians and November, the short four weeks the Israeli Army or settlers. when Palestinians harvest their We met many ordinary and ex‐ olives – but are frequently afraid to traordinary Palestinians who greeted do so. Afraid of attacks from Israeli set‐ us with happy calls of “welcome to tlers who know that in this barren, Palestine”. They feel forgotten by the mountainous land, olives are the one world. But I came away depressed at crop the Palestinians can harvest. So, the awfulness of the daily cruelty and they attack the Palestinians and their Settlers’ neighbourhoods have decent housing, are well-lit and boast good roads (left) while (right) at the site of a demolished Palestinian house slow‐drip ethnic cleansing of the lovely trees. Palestinians, who want something ple branches. Warm sun, no insects plied for permission for their growing We met a representative from the ‘Internationals’ like us are not only and happy company. families – often of seral generations Coalition of Women for Peace in Tel simple, to live on their land. But it is useful for helping with the harvest We met some courageous Israelis. and being refused for years, they go Aviv who frequently hold night‐time land the Zionists argue is ‘their’ land. but more particularly to discourage How to resolve this? Only one per‐ attacks as the settlers carry on their None more so than the representa‐ ahead and build and risk the demoli‐ vigils with lit‐up signs saying ‘Free tives of the Israeli Committee Against tion. Gaza’ – an unpopular act for which son we met supported the ‘two‐state low‐intensity war with the native solution’. Others said that only a sin‐ population, but don’t want the world House Demolitions. They stand in It is ironic that Palestinians pay they are frequently attacked. gle state will work – one land, one to be aware of the attacks. front of bulldozers. Rachel Corrie taxes to these municipalities and yet In the West Bank we met people in state, one democracy where all, Jews, And these trees are lovely. Many died trying to stop a demolition. are refused the right to vote or have Al‐Haq who monitor Israeli state and hundreds even thousands of years Like all of us, Palestinians need liv‐ representatives on the councils. An‐ settler violence and mistreatment of Muslims and Christians and others old. We climbed into the trees, used ing space but Israeli municipalities, other question: why does Israel get Palestinians. They share material have equal rights. ladders or long handled forks to pull such as in East Jerusalem, keep refus‐ away with claims to be “the only with Israel NGOs such as the Human There will be many olive harvests down the ripe fruits from their sup‐ ing permission to build. Having ap‐ democracy in the Middle East”? Rights centre, B’Tselem, especially before we reach this stable outcome. December 2019 y SHOPFLOOR 43