Annual Reports 2015/2016 Biennial National Delegate Conference City Hall, Cork 2Nd - 5Th October, 2017
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Annual Reports 2015/2016 Biennial National Delegate Conference City Hall, Cork 2nd - 5th October, 2017 Contents Foreword by Jack O'Connor 5 Progress on BDC 2015 Resolutions 7 Membership & Organisation 27 Workers Rights Centre 29 SIPTU College 33 IDEAS Institute 37 Information Technology 39 Premises 40 Northern Ireland 41 Economic Developments 43 Wage Developments 47 Social Developments 51 Disputes Sanctioned 2015-2016 54 Changes in Sick Pay Schemes and other Working Conditions 2015-2016 58 Divisional Reports: Health 63 Manufacturing 84 Public Administration and Community 100 Services 119 Transport, Energy, Aviation and Construction 138 Strategic Organising Campaigns 155 Campaigns and Equality 2015-2016 161 Communications Department 169 Retired Members 176 SIPTU Membership Services 178 Appendix 1: Financial Statements 179 Appendix 2: Staff Salaries 202 SIPTU • Annual Report 2015/2016 3 SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor unveils a plaque honouring the ICA at the Dan Shaw Centre, Navan, Co Meath, May 2016. SIPTU General Secretary, Joe O’Flynn (left) with President Michael D Higgins at the 1916 Tapestry launch in Liberty Hall, 4 May 2016. Photo: Derek Speirs This report summarises the property crash of 2008. Much of this recent ongoing struggle for fair- growth is attributable to a strong performance in ness at work and justice in the services sector and a necessary turnaround society as conducted by in the construction industry. However, public the members, activists and sector output recorded a decrease in all but one staff of our trade union, of the eight quarters of 2015 and 2016, reflecting working with others in the the significant impact of cuts in public expendi- wider movement in Ireland, ture. The number of jobs in Northern Ireland in- throughout 2015 and 2016. creased by just over 20,000, but there was a fall of 3% in the number of public sector jobs. Overall, SIPTU General President Our work has been under- Jack O’Connor there was a reduction of almost 1% in the unem- taken against the back- ployment rate for Northern Ireland over the same ground of prolonged, period, and average wages recorded significant austerity driven, economic growth. However, in real terms, wages in North- stagnation and mass unemployment in a number ern Ireland in 2016 were still 1% below where of Eurozone countries. This has served to fuel they were 10 years previously. growing alienation among working people and particularly the young. Unfortunately, it has man- The 2016 General Election in the Republic re- ifested itself in increased support for the radical sulted in the decimation of the Labour Party, Right in countries such as France, the Nether- which was blamed for the austerity agenda, lands and in Northern and Eastern Europe. On the which had actually been drawn up by the previ- other hand, we have also witnessed the emer- ous Government and insisted on by the gence of significant left-wing parties and social- IMF/ECB/EU troika as a condition of funding the movements in some stressed areas, along the country. Whereas some parties and individuals Mediterranean in particular. However, their lead- on the Left won increased electoral support, the ers seem more preoccupied with destroying the outcome did nothing to improve the balance in traditional Social Democratic parties than forging favour of working people. The two great Centre the kind of Left unity that would be essential to Right parties which have dominated our politics win power and pursue a sustainable social and since the civil war, continue to do so in an unspo- economic agenda. Excitingly, the UK Labour ken coalition. Party appears to have bucked this trend under the leadership of the veteran socialist, Jeremy Regrettably, the outcome has also meant that Corbyn. the ambitious expansion of employment rights, envisaged in Labour’s Charter for Workers, which In statistical terms at least, the Republic of Ireland was to build on the gains in terms of strength- continued to experience a degree of ongoing ‘re- ened Collective Bargaining rights achieved in the covery’. GDP grew by an extraordinary 26.3% in Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015, will 2015, driven mainly by massive balance sheet not now be realised. In Northern Ireland, assem- shifting activity by multinational companies. It bly elections took place in May 2016. The 55% grew by 5.2% in 2016. Employment grew by 2.6% turnout resulted in strong showings for the DUP in 2015 and by 2.9% in 2016, with the numbers at and Sinn F in. The region continued to suffer the work surpassing 2 million. However, there is in- effects of Toryé Government austerity, but the ex- creasing anecdotal evidence of growing ex- istence of the devolved administration protected ploitation and the proliferation of precariousness. workers from the savage anti-union legislation This, coupled with a housing crisis and the ab- introduced in Britain. sence of any discernible improvement in the quality of public services due to the ongoing re- As the year wore on the power sharing adminis- strictions on state investment, has rendered ‘the tration was increasingly threatened by a contro- recovery’ very remote from the daily experience versy concerning a bungled green energy of the great majority of people. scheme. This resulted in its collapse earlier this year. Another election followed in March, but In 2014, the Northern Ireland economy began to thus far there has been no restoration of power experience recovery and 2015 provided the first sharing. year of consistent growth since the financial and SIPTU • Annual Report 2015/2016 5 However, the seminal political (and ultimately eco- We have also begun to utilise the provisions of the nomic and social) event in Ireland and in Europe improved legal infrastructure for Collective Bar- was the tragic outcome of the Brexit referendum gaining in the 2015 Act, to win new recognition in the U.K. Millions of mostly older workers were agreements. seduced into embracing the race laden agenda of their deadliest enemies – the eurosceptic Right. Simultaneously, we have continued to work This was followed by the election of Donald Trump through ICTU and other civil society organisations as President of the US, again with the misguided as well as political parties who share our egalitar- support of millions of workers. The Left, riven by ian world view and outlook, to lobby and division and ego politics, failed to offer a vision of campaign for progress. Our perspective remains a socially sustainable future that works. Admit- international and we have continued to do what- tedly, this is a much more difficult task than telling ever we can to extend solidarity to those who are people what they want to hear and scapegoating struggling against oppression, particularly in Pales- minorities, but the end result is that the reac- tine and Colombia, in conjunction with trade tionary Right has been allowed to grab the fran- unionists, socialists and progressive people across chise on hope. the world. As 2016 drew to a close, the spectre of a rampag- In order to best equip ourselves to carry on this ing right wing Tory government in the UK, com- work of organising to win, as the fourth industrial plemented by increasingly influential parallels in revolution – the age of digitalisation – unfolds, we the Netherlands and France, threatened the future embarked on the first of a series of major member- of democracy in Europe. Thankfully, they have suf- ship consultations throughout the latter half of fered significant electoral setbacks in all three 2016. This extended into the spring of this year. It countries this year, most spectacularly in the UK resulted in the adoption of a range of recommen- at the hands of, a for once united Left, under the dations to strengthen the union, at a Special leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, fighting on an un- Delegate Conference on 25th May. All of them are compromisingly traditional social democratic pro- designed to enable us to play our full part in gramme. However, the ogres of the hard Right ensuring that working people will have the indus- haven’t gone away. Unless those in power in the trial leverage and political capacity to influence key countries of Europe abandon the current par- the architecture of the future in Ireland, in accor- simonious fiscal strategy in favour of investment dance with the values of social solidarity, which in- for jobs and growth, they will be back with a formed the heroic people who founded the union. vengeance and very soon. Meanwhile, the reper- cussions of the Brexit referendum and the election Jack O’Connor of Trump will continue to play out to the detriment July 2017 of working people, civil society, democracy and even the future of the ecosystem for a long time to come. Amidst all this, the report shows that we have con- tinued to apply ourselves determinedly to the daily task of painstakingly regaining lost ground in the industrial arena. We have been winning pay in- creases across the private and commercial semi- state sectors. The process of pay restoration in the public service began with the Lansdowne Road Agreement in the middle of 2015 and continued with the proposals for its extension this year. Meanwhile, we are still fighting rear guard battles in companies such as Bus Eireann to maintain jobs and conditions in the face of considerable odds. 6 SIPTU • Annual Report 2015/2016 Progress Report on BDC 2015 Resolutions Composite Motions (i) Standing Orders Report • Ensure that workers are better informed about No. 2 – to replace Motions 1, 2, 3 and 4, Zero the nature of their employment arrangements and Hours Contracts in particular on five core terms of employment within five days of commencing employment.