Report of Proceedings of Biennial Delegate Conference 2017
Belfast 4-6 July 2017
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Tuesday 4 July 2017 Morning Session
Kevin Callinan, Vice-President
A chairde, cuir fáilte roimh Uachtaráin na hEireann, Michael O’Higin, ladies and gentlemen please welcome the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay Conference, thank you very much and thank you for being patient. It’s now my pleasure to introduce and call upon Councillor Nuala McAllister the Lord Mayor of Belfast to give a short welcome to delegates.
Nuala McAllister, Councillor
Good morning delegates and I welcome you all too sunny Belfast this morning. President Higgins, President of ICTU Brian Campfield, ladies and gentlemen I am delighted to welcome the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Conference to the city of Belfast. It is also a great privilege and honour to extend a very special welcome on behalf of the citizens of Belfast to the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins. President Higgins it is notable on your first official visit to Belfast in 2012 you gave an address to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Women’s conference, and so it is a pleasure to welcome you back here today to speak to us all here this morning.
Belfast has a very proud trade union history and we actually have two stained glass windows in City Hall to commemorate that heritage. The first window is of James Larkin, a giant in the Irish Labour Movement and the founding father of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union. The second window unveilled in 2014 is an illustration of Belfast women mill workers and the struggles that women have faced in our history. So if you have not been to City Hall I urge you to come and visit both of the stained glass windows and our new exhibition area.
We have come a long way in Belfast but there is still much to be done. Belfast is on the cusp of change. In my year as Lord Mayor my aim is to promote Belfast on an international stage as an inclusive, welcoming and open city that is open to tourists, citizens and investors alike. That is why Global Belfast is the theme for my year. It develops our status as a global city, building on our rich history as world leaders in ship building, the linen industry, literature and music, telling and selling the Belfast story. But it is not something as a Council can do alone, we need to work in partnership with the people who are crucial to the life and the progress of Belfast. And that is why I was delighted to come and speak to you here today, because we will be working alongside our trade unions, and most importantly to work alongside ICTU as a whole.
I hope that you enjoy the coming days. I see that you have many deliberations and motions. I was particularly delighted to see you have motions in the gender pay gap and reproductive rights for women, and for perinatal mental health because these are issues that are so personal to me.
So I wish you every success and again I thank the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins for joining us today. Thank you very much.
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Brian Campfield, President
Thank you very much Lord Mayor for that address. It is now my pleasure to introduce the next speaker, who we will all know just by of a little back round, President Michael D Higgins began work in non-unionised setting it was a factory in the Shannon Industrial Estate. When he moved to Galway to take up a position as a Grade 8 Clerk in ESB, the ESBOA way was his first union. It had a strong social vision, a social policy for its members, and an interest in international aid. His next union was the Workers’ Union of Ireland, and when he became a lecturer in 1969 he founded the Teaching Section of the Workers’ Union of Ireland and he competed with Kadar Asmal who many of you will remember from his Anti-Apartheid campaigning, he competed with Kadar Asmal who was recruiting for the Irish Federation of University Teachers at that time, so there was a little bit of healthy competition, hopefully which hasn’t gone away.
Michael D has been a trade union member for 50 years now this year, and should also say that Sabina his wife was a member of Equity, and they both began moving from the respective unions until, as a result of mergers both of them have ended up in SIPTU. Now you can decide for yourselves whether that’s a good thing or not but anyway, just to say interestingly President Higgins’ first researched in Sociology involved preparing a report on the rise of the Galway Dockers with whom he spent a year at the docks gathering research, so that’s something most of you won’t have known. I now wish to invite Michael D Higgins, Uachtaráin na hEireann to address this Biennial Delegate Conference.
Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland
Let me say at the outset how pleased I am to be invited to address you here today. As I listened to my introduction I indeed felt that I am among old friends. It is true, I have been a member of a trade union for 49½ years. I would like to thank Brian Campfield of NIPSA, your President, for the invitation to speak here this morning and of course Patricia King, your General Secretary, she and I go back some time together in our previous incarnations, she represented staff in Leinster House, and I was a then as member of another division of the Oireachtas to which I now fill.
Your movement with over 700,000 members in over 40 affiliated unions is Ireland’s largest civic society body. Your contribution to the evolution of politics, economy and society in every part of this Island has been essential, and looking back at history and it has been emancipatory in so many ways.
I am also pleased to be speaking here in Belfast, and indeed I very much agree with your Lord Mayor because I am conscious of the importance of this city, Belfast, to the wider Irish and United Kingdom labour movement. With Manchester, Belfast emerged as one of the very earliest industrial cities of the world, in which a trade union movement would emerge, face obstacles, and succeed in establishing what is yet the unfinished project of the deepending of the rights of workers.
It was in this place that the young James Larkin, the organiser of Unionists and Nationalists on the dockside, received his formal introduction to Irish politics, and the possibly even more complex politics of the Irish Labour Movement. As President, it has been a privilege to be asked to speak of the role of Larkin, Connolly and other trade unionists, and particularly of the brave and neglected women trade unionists and their importance to our history in the late 19th and early 20th Century. These were themes I addressed very early on in my Presidency for example in the Littleton Lecture on the Lockout of 1913, and again when I gave the second Phelan Lecture at the invitation of the International Labour Organisation on the theme of ‘The Future of Work’.
As I was preparing my remarks for our meeting, I was struck by how clearly certain aspects of the trade union movement had retained a special place in my memories. The dominant image I recover
3 is of banners, bands, marches, and speeches in the public space – great speeches – which people would debate upon the way home, and some of the phrases of which they would make their own as they spoke in different places afterwards. That is a proud tradition and one thinks of how it makes its way into the hearts of those who were struggling for freedom in their different ways. There are hundreds of songs on the theme of ‘I’m off to join the union’. ‘Joe Hill’, the song of the Swedish- American organiser of the Industrial Workers of the World, executed after a deplorable trial in 1915, is just one example and the early trade union organisers all realised the importance of culture, of time spent together, of music, of sharing of songs in whose rendering workers competed for excellence. This is true when we look back at the history of the docks, of the mines, and of the factories. It is part of the symbolic life of a collective that shares values. It is the very antithesis of isolated extreme individualism.
What I have been describing is a powerful tradition, one from which the Civil Rights Movements, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, and Equal Rights Movements here and worldwide could call on for support. It is important that on all parts of this Island we acknowledge the role of the trade union movement from its beginnings down to our times in consistently opposing sectarianism.
The trade union movement has also been international, an international movement that correctly sees, as Edward Phelan did in his day, for example in his Harris Lecture with John Maynard Keynes in 1931, that migrating unemployment from one setting to another setting wage levels in competition with each other in a downward cycle could be disastrous for global economics, was simply bad economics.
You give a great example of your internationalism at your Conference these days by organising fringe events, inviting Omar Barghouti who will speak on the challenge continuing to face Palestine, and Huber Ballesteros, of the Colombian Trade Union Movement, whose leaders have been assassinated, and whose members have been decimated, inviting him to your conference is an important act of solidarity.
The trade union movement now faces new challenges and I want to wish it the same courage as those who have handed us such a fine tradition. These challenges can all be faced. It will involve revealing and challenging some powerful myths that have been established, myths without empirical evidence, and that can more easily flourish in an era of concentration of ownership in the media, decline in public service broadcasting, and an anti-intellectualism that always serves those who hold unaccountable power as much as it prevents workers knowing the basis for policy choices that affect their lives.
To sustain and deepen democracy, to encourage a participatory citizenship, to have a deliberative democracy, for that to be achieved all of us as citizens need a new discourse and that discourse must be an inclusive one. We must empower ourselves through a new literacy on matters economic and fiscal, so as to be able not just to criticise, but to expose the basis upon which certain aspects of our global economic life are presented in a curious, I believe a medievalist way at times, as somehow or other inevitable – rather it seems to me at times in the manner of those who insisted that the earth was flat and that the sun orbited the earth.
We need this new literacy to save language itself, to save conceptual life itself. We need it so as to be able to give real meaning to terms like flexibility, globalisation, productivity, innovation, and indeed social protection itself.
At global level - if we are to achieve success in facing challenges that require global agreement, such as the great events of 2015, responding to climate change as we agreed in Paris, or moving to sustainable development as was agreed in New York, we must be free to ask the question, and have
4 the courage to insist on an answer: do those who are drafting policies believe that these projects I have mentioned be achieved within our existing economic and social models? If they do so, what balance do they see between the role of the State, accountable to its citizens, and some new forms of capital that are not accountable except to those looking for the most short-term speculative profit?
If it is the case that they accept different models are necessary, and indeed many scholars, some of the better ones, suggest that little less than a paradigm shift is needed, if necessary are they willing to acknowledge what is failing, or if that term is unacceptable perhaps, what is inadequate? Will they allow the policy, institutional, intellectual changes that are necessary for new forms to emerge – forms that could combine as these documents demand, a combination fo economics, ethics, ande ecological responsibility?
Of course there has always been, and I’m afraid it still survives I a belief in certain elite circles that all of this is too complex for citizens to understand. In present circumstances, this is offered in a a sotto voce form. Many years ago, Friedrich Von Hayek was much more explicit. He stated that only a select few could understand the complexity of the market, and further as he put it that ‘an atavistic solidarity’ among the public as he put it had the capacity to disrupt the achievement of the total free market. Such thinking is not dead, nor has it gone away.
All of the dominating concepts - flexibility, globalisation, productivity, innovation, social protection, decent work – they are capable of being redefined, given moral meaning, and made useful. It is possible to humanise the new technological forms that will emerge, to ensure that science will serve all of the people rather than the few. It is possible to recognise forms of care and voluntary contribution as indeed what they are – some of the most important and finest work in its finest sense. All of the scientific and technological changes are capable of being made citizen-friendly, but this requires an informed public.
Redefining work itself is more than a distribution issue; it is much more than a set of aggregated labour units. It has an importance beyond sustaining the demand curve of the economy which is now concerning some people. Work is how we express the essence of our humanity. I believe the role of the trade union movement, through its membership, its effect on governments, its influence on policies, on governments of different kinds and on the the International Labour Organisation, will have a crucial role in forcing these changes, and I urge the ILO to be more active in seeking the vindication of what has been agreed.
The union movement too will be crucial in restoring a recognition of the role of the entrepreneurial State in partnership with private investment and civil society. The days of making the case in the media for the minimal State are over and its consequences are everwhere to be seen. The idea that the State is a fall-back position for the banking sector or that the State should reduce its intervention to save its citizens, it simply must be recognised by citizens as something they cannot afford in present and future circumstances. Exposing the myth that only the private sector takes risks and that the State cannot ever take, should not take, or does not take risks, is extremely important. It is also inaccurate. It acquires an even greater importance as decisions have to be taken in relation to science, technology, and research and development policy. And what people know is that the State has always been taking long term risks and that is the difference between the risks it takes between long term and short term risks of speculative capital in its new internationalised home. I think this has been brilliantly dealt with by writers such as Professor Mariana Mazzucato in the revised edition of her book The Entrepreneurial State ‘which appeared in 2015.
Let me quote the final paragraph of her book:
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“We live in an era in which the State is being cut back. Public services are being outsourced, State budgets are being slashed and fear rather than courage is determining many national strategies. Much of this change is being done in the name of rendering markets more competitive, more dynamic. This book is an open call to change the way we talk about the State, its role in the economy and the images and ideas we use to describe that role. Only then can we begin to build the kind of society we want to live in, and want our children to live in, in a manner that pushes aside false myths about the State and recognises how it can, when mission driven and organised in a dynamic way, solve problems as complex as putting a man on the moon and solving climate change. And we need the courage to insist – through both vision and specific policy instruments – that the growth that ensues from the underlying investments be not only ‘smart’, but also ‘inclusive’.”
The truth is that it has long been public investment that created the infrastructure for the many corporate entries into the market in so many areas. The State’s role in taking and undergirding long- term risk is in stark contrast with the pressure put on governments to eliminate risk for those who are interested in simply short-term gains. Again, one might ask is it not a noble aspiration that every child, girl or boy, would be able to have access to all such education as is necessary for their human development.
I have often asked myself, and more frequently recent, that if this be so, should the State that provides such opportunity is it not unreasonable to expect that the early tax yield in such employment as is made possible by State-assisted qualification should accrue to the providing State, so as to enable its yield to be recycled and create the capacity of universal education of ever-more high class skills? And if you don’t do it like that are you not speaking of an intellectual subsidy to many of the economies that do not realise the significance of the State investment. That is a speculative opinion of my own.
Of one thing I am certain: the contribution of the trade union movement in facing these challenges is essential for the discourse that I speak of, the discourse that we need for new times.
I have seen your conference agenda, the themes that you are to discuss. I congratulate you on them. They are inclusive. You will debate what is to be done, how work is to be defined and protected, how the State must not be a minimal State confined as I have said to saving the financial sector but rather be enabled to respond to the needs of its citizens.
When I go to meetings over my lifetime and I have done so so often either on global poverty, on climate change, on sustainable development, the audience always includes, and you can always see it there, a significant attendance from trade unions. They engage with these issues. This stems from the inherent generosity of trade union solidarity. And yes, as I was introduced, I remember that early piece of research of mine on the Galway Docks in 1969, where 58 able-bodied Dockers divided their income among the 72 Docker families who needed it, many of whom had been injured at the dockside itself.
I would like to suggest to members of the trade union movement that the Social Pillar which Jean- Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission on which he has announced that he wishes to sign-off on “at the highest level” before the end of the year, will be of immense importance.
This initiative, which it is suggested will deal with issues of cohesion, upskilling, reduction of inequality and related poverty, but would not be all the more effective if it incorporated social, economic and cultural rights, and that that was the dominant perspective. I think that’s a fact and one must deal with facts. Such an influence on the social pillar has been resisted until now by the Council of Ministers of the Euoprean Union and more particularly by those who advise them. It is unfortunate that he chose to describe its putative success as requiring it to have “a triple-A rating”.,
6 which is an unfortunate use of language, which given where that has been used before and the misery it unleashed in the world. That phrase is one that will resonate with all those who remember the dishonesty and the fraud associated with such a phrase and which visited such devastation on so many people in so many countries.
Let me end by considering just one other word that is coming into general usage, the word ‘populism’. If you are to critique the word populism, its rather loose usage at the present time should concern us. We should remember that it is capable of a benign as well as a malign usage. The phrase was used to describe the response to the New Deal in the United States, and to make the case for a national health service, and a national housing scheme in the United Kingdom.
Of course, the malign use of populism must never be forgotten. Drawing on hate, ignorance, fear and genocidal impulses, our European history has a form of populism as its darkest heart. Thankfully, the tide of populism that we are experiencing now has not yet reached either the level or the ferocity of the populism that erupted across Europe in the 1930s. Whatever the short-term appeal of the simple solution, I feel certain that it will not again reach such a level. The people who will resist it always will be the members of the trade union movement working without borders, and I think the people of Europe, know only too well the price that would be paid for such a resurrection.
In any of its forms populism is most often founded in an aggregation of insecurities, are they economic, social or racial. As an economy creates high levels of unemployment, as a quasi- constitutional set of fiscal constraints takes precedence over social cohesion or infrastructural investment, new opportunities for predators of the intellectual life of the young, and the old, take advantage of the devastation caused by mistaken, empirically untested, economic policies.
Each and all of these exclusions are capable of being addressed within a shared prudence, and something I know too within the necessary courtesies of discourse that is the hallmark of trade unions. If flexibility is allowed that emphasises social cohesion as a primary value in the language of politics, we are beginning to make a shift in the right direction. Social cohesion is the primary aim in Europe at the present time.
Dear friends, Trade unions are collective. There is a culture that goes with collectively, a strength that comes from membership, from what is shared as a value beyond the self. We must recognise that while the new technology enables us to transmit information to more people, the collective sense of what is shared is still important, and as we introduce a new campaign for fiscal and economic literacy we are given new opportunities to draw and celebrate and reinvigorate that collective sense.
Your movement of 700,000 members and 40 trade unions is discussing these issues. I am well aware you are doing so in an atmosphere of distorted communication frequently, of the concentration of media ownership I mentioned earlier, of declining extension of public service broadcasting, that is more and more being put under threat, of a culture that is encouraging a dangerous level of aggression in arguments or discussions about economic policy or outcomes.
All this may be true, but let us be positive, the embracing by the young people in England of the opportunity to vote, the rise of indigenous movements with a traditional respect for the earth, the greater involvement of women, and the evidence of not just tolerance for difference but its recognition as a necessary element of justice should give us hope. I often feel like asking some audiences I address what would life have been like without the trade union movement? How extensive would be ‘the precariat’ be then, a precariat that is emerging as a feature of a dualistic economy that can offer huge salaries at one end and total insecurity and a life below frugality at the other?
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Yours dear friends is a great tradition. Yours is a powerful emancipatory, genuinely progressive force capable of engaging all these challenges and bringing what is struggling to be born into being. In all of this, as President of Ireland, I wish you well.
Beir Beannacht d’on todchaí.
Brian Campfield, President
I sincerely thank Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland, for his very detailed inspirational address and his Presidency has been inspirational but has been characterised by promoting the values which are so dear to the trade union movement that’s the values of decency of humanity, of equality and of social solidarity. Thank you very much President.
Kevin Callinan, Vice President
So now the President and the General Secretary will escort President Higgins from the hall so will you show your appreciation for his visit? We are just going to wait a minute for the President and the General Secretary to return.
Okay conference could we settle down please and the Vice President and Treasurer will now escort the Lord Mayor from the hall so could we again thank her for her presence here and her warm welcome.
Brian Campfield, President
Let’s get on with the business; it’s now my pleasure to invite Paddy Mackel, President of Belfast Trades Council to give the customary address from the Trades Council.
Paddy Mackel President, Belfast Trades Council.
President, friends, delegates and comrade’s, I am extremely proud to welcome you to Belfast for the next few days. I bring you fraternal greetings from the Belfast Trades Council and from workers across this wonderful but troubled city.
Belfast is a city with a proud history of manufacturing, ship building and trade unionism and radical thought and enlightenment. As many of you know Belfast is also troubled, with a troubled history. However there are many who work tirelessly to deal with the legacy of our past, to tackle sectarianism and build a united community eventually breaking down generations of suspicion and mistrust. That challenge continues today, and it is a challenge which Congress should be actively involved in, routing the principles of trade unionism in these efforts to build change, setting out a vision for society which embraces everyone regardless of their national identity, their religion or none, their country of origin, their gender, sexual orientation or their skin colour.
In this decade of centenaries it is of course important this year remember those tens of thousands who lost their lives in World War I. People like Francis Ledwege who grew up on the Boyne Valley he
8 worked as a labourer as a union activists and a strike leader, and despite being a strong nationalist went to join the Royal Enniskillen Fusiliers. He survived Gallipoli but then fell in Passchendaele on 31st July 1917. He saw no glory in this war between two imperious power blocks, but he gave his life anyway. He always wrote simply but powerfully about what he saw around him, including the war. ‘It is terrible to be always be home sick’, he wrote in a poem. In another he described those around him then in the lull of midnight, gentle arms lifted him slowly down the slopes to death as he listened to dying moans and painful death. As in all wars it is the worker who pays the ultimate sacrifice. So while it is right, it is proper to respect our dead and remember them, we must continue to fight with passion for the living to make this world a better place for all.
Across this island change is coming and not just because of the EU Referendum result, we must be ready this time for the fight, armed with the tools of industrial muscle, but also as well the political and economic arguments. So when people like economist David MacWilliams they need to be challenged at every opportunity for the charlatans that they are. When they spout their rhetoric like the following ‘we have got to be a nimble cog in a global supply chain so international capital is a little bit like water it flows to the place of least resistance so we have to be that place of least resistance. So in a way Brexit isn’t a threat it’s an opportunity’. So will you stop and listen to that guff it’s worth noting the irony placing water and the phrase ‘least resistance’ in the same sentence, giving the mass movement that the Right2Water Campaign became, it clearly demonstrated that resistance actually does win struggles.
Comrades, we have many challenges facing us across Ireland which will be much debated over the coming days. We can find common causes in many of these issues in both jurisdictions. A tax on our health services, on education, on public housing, and the national disgrace of homeless, the need to provide social protection for the most vulnerable, and giving young people a chance in life demonstrate that what we are actually facing is a class struggle. We can learn from the global growing rise of a credible left. We can take positives from Bernie Saunder’s campaign in the US, the efforts from Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece, the strength of Mélenchon in France, and some of the positives from the Right2Change here in Ireland and of course Corbyn in Britain.
There is a demand for burdening workers and young people in particular for change. The trade union movement needs to position itself in the centre of that thirst for something different. While we join together on this island to fight for workers’ rights and a decent society for all, let us not forget our brothers and sister across the world who struggle on a daily basis against human rights abuses and death squads, such as our comrade Huber Ballesteros and his fellow citizens from Colombia have experienced first-hand.
While the growing and ongoing occupation, killings and oppression experienced by our brother Omar Barghouti and millions of his fellow citizens have endured for decades in Palestine, it is vital that we continue to support the BDS campaign. It is vital that we support that campaign and we send a clear message from this Conference today to those academics who try to make excuses for ignoring that call to support the BDS campaign. Do not cross the Palestinian picket line.
As a movement today we need to ask ourselves some serious questions about where we position outselves both in terms of the labour movement generally, but also our need to be more relevant in the wider community, and how we make our contribution politically to the issues which effect workers everyday lives. Do we actually see ourselves as part of a radical left alternative? Are we capable of uniting behind the common cause to construct a coherent cause for left politics and workers’ control in both jurisdictions? What can we do to encourage the political movement in the Assembly Talks? What more can we do as a movement to support the Trust Women and the Repeal the 8th Campaign to insure that women across Ireland finally secure control over their own reproductive rights. Have we seriously address sectarianism within our movement and in wider
9 society? Can sectarianism be tackled in the context of a partitions movement and Island, and if so, what can we do to contribute to that challenge?
Apart from the trade union movement now, who speaks for working class unionism and what contribution can Congress make to reach out to those workers? Iis there more we can do to positively engage with non-indigenous workers and younger people to encourage them to become activists in our movement? Do we really stand up unequivocally within their membership base for the rights of gay and transgender people, or migrant workers or asylum seekers , or travellers or - how radical - even Irish speakers?
Comrades the trade union movement in Ireland is capable of radically changing people’s lives through union activism, political lobbing, workers solidarity and united campaigns. We can defeat economic terrorism has allowed greed and profit to win over the rights of citizens to live in accommodation which is safe., or to be properly treated in our hospitals, or have children and young people educated to the highest standards, to have employment protection for workers to insure the vulnerable are looked after through generous social security support? As the largest civic society organisation we owe it to the whole community to be that voice for change. Another world is possible. Conference welcome to Belfast. Go raimh mile maith agaibh go lear.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you very much Paddy, I think that was a little bit more than we expected, but anyway, thanks very much.
Could I now come to the election of Tellers and I am proposing election of 5 Tellers. The names are Mark Wynne, IMPACT; Alan Douglas, TEEU; Frances Hourihane, UNITE; Billy Lynn, NISPA; and Paul Mc Sweeney, CPSU.
Wwe will just do the Scrutineers while we are at it as well; John Kelleher, AH CPS; Tommy Kennedy, FSU; Eamon Lawless, SIPTU; Billy Hannigan, PSEU; and Noel Ward, INTO. Is Conference happy enough to endorse the lists of Tellers and Scrutineers? Okay. Could the Tellers maybe not go too far and if some of them aren’t in the room, I see Billy Lynn isn’t in the room, their services maybe required very shortly. So now can I call on Jack McGinley, Chairperson of the Standing Orders Committee to move the Adoption of Standing Orders Reports No. 1 and No. 2.
Jack McGinley Chairperson, standing Orders Committee
Colleagues, Standing Orders Report No. 1 is on pages 42 to 44 of the Agenda. The times of the various Conference sessions will be today from 9.30-5.30pm, tomorrow from 9.30-5.00pm, and on Thursday from 9.30- 1pm, and lunch we will adjourn every day at 1pm and we will come back at 2.30pm.
Standing Orders Committee notes that Congress has received nominations for the Officer positions as follows; Congress has received one for the position as President and Sheila Nunan is therefore deemed elected.
Congress has received three nominations for the two Vice President positions. The persons nominated are Kevin Callinan, Alison Millar, and Jackie Pollack. The Congress Constitution requires at least one of the Vice Presidents must be a woman and therefore Alison Millar is deemed elected.
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An election to select the other Vice President will be held during Conference. Congress has received one nomination for the position of Treasurer and Joe 0’ Flynn is therefore deemed elected as Treasurer.
Standing Orders Committee notes that Congress has received 31 nominations for election to the Ordinary Members of the Executive Council and there are 30 seats to be filled. Ordinarily this would require the holding of an election, however because both persons contesting the election for the remaining Vice President position have also been nominated as Ordinary Members of the Executive Council, the result of that election will mean that there are 30 remaining candidates for 36, therefore, there will be no need to hold an election the names of those elected as Ordinary Members of the Executive Council will be notified to delegates during the Conference.
Standing Orders Committee notes that Congress has received two nominations for the position of Congress Executive Council Reserved for a person to represent Trades Council. An election will be held to fill this position on the Congress Executive Council.
The Standing Orders Committee notes that Congress has received six nominations for Congress Standing Orders Committee there are five seats to be filled an election will be held to fill these positions.
The Standing Orders Committee notes that Congress has received five nominations for the Congress Appels Committee as there are five seats to be filled the following are deemed elected Noel Ward, Aiden Kenny, Tom O’ Driscoll, Matt Staunton, and Billy Hannigan.
Ballot papers - the arrangements for the exchange of Credentials stubbs and the issuing of voting cards and ballot papers is as follows, and that’s detailed there and I will be coming back to that later in the day.
Item 4 Motions and Amendments. The Standing Orders Committee has examined the Motions and the Amendment submitted by affiliated organisation. The Standing Orders Committee rules that Motion – 22 standing in the name of the PSEU ‘Selection of Labour Party Panel candidates to Seanad Eireann’ is not in order, as the view of the Standing Orders Committee will be impossible and impractical for Congress to implement the requirements of the Motion.
The Standing Orders Committee rules that Motion 23 standing in the name of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, Disputes Committee Report 3/2016 regarding the issue of Trade Union Rights in the Dublin City University is not in order as the matter referred to in the Motion are still subject to process under the auspices of the Congress Executive Council. The Amendment to Motion 23 proposed by the Services Industrial Profession and Technical Union will fall on the adoption of this Report by Conference.
Standing Orders Committee rules that Motion 33 standing in the name of Fermanagh Trades Council ‘Retired Members’ is not in order as a facility exists in the Congress Constitution that allows any affiliated organisation propose a Motion to amend the Congress Constitution, and is proper that if an affiliated organisation wishes to propose a Motion seeking to change the Congress Constitution they should avail of this facility specifying the change they wish to see made and a precise amendment required to achieve this change. I gather Fermanagh Trades Council is going to oppose Standing Orders on the basis of this ruling, so they have notified me.
4.5 The Standing Orders Committee rules that all the remaining Motions and Amendments in the final agenda are in order. The Standing Orders Committee wish to a draw to the attention of delegates the rules relating to the speaking time as set out in the Standing Orders of Congress. The proposer of a Motion or Amendment shall be allowed five minutes, and each subsequent speaker
11 three minutes. The Standing Orders Committee may seek the agreement of the Chairperson to further limit speaking time in order that the business of Conference can be concluded.
Suspension of Standing Orders- in the interest of orderly and effective conduct of business the Standing Orders Committee draws the attention of delegates and affiliated organisation to the provisions of paragraph 12 of Standing Orders as follows:
“A motion to suspend Standing Orders must be submitted in writing to the Chairperson by the proposer and seconder who are delegates to Conference. It must specify the Standing Order to be suspended and the period of suspension. It must state reasons of urgency and importance and if the suspension is sought for the purpose of giving consideration to a matter not on the agenda the reason for not submitting such matter by way of a motion in accordance With Standing Orders. A motion to suspend Standing Orders may not be adopted unless a) with the permission of the Chairperson and b) with the consent of two thirds of the delegates voting on the Motion.’
Conference sessions - time periods have been allocated in the agenda for BDC for the consideration of specific topics as detailed in the Executive Council Report. Motions related to these topics will be taken during these time periods. If there is any time left over and the completion of the specified business, Conference will procced with other business as appropriate.
Motions have been grouped and votes on motions will be taken as indicated in the timetable of business. Delegates are asked to especially note that there is a Private Session scheduled for this afternoon. During this session only accredited delegate will be admitted to the Conference hall. The Private Session is scheduled to be held from 4pm until 5.30pm. Conference will break at 3.45pm for 15 minutes to facilitate participation in this session of Conference by accredited delegates only.
Distribution of material at BDC – anyone who wants to distribute material must bring it before Sanding Orders in advance of it being circulated in the hall. tem 8 - Fraternal guests and speakers and at 8.2 - affiliates and delegates to Conference are reminded the guests speakers are attending Conference on the invitation of Congress and therefore should be afforded the same respect as any other speaker at the BDC.
That’s Standing Orders Report No. 1.
Brian Campfield, President
Ok I am going to put Standing Orders Report No. 1. I think this is the Fermanagh Trades Council reference to check something with you.
John Martin, Fermanagh Trades Council
President, delegates. John Martin, Fermanagh Trades Council to challenge the SOC’s Ruling on Motion 33. The Trades Council made be made a mess of the motion by being lazy in the presentation of this motion. The core message is in there in that motion and it is to do with the retired members. If the Conference carriers that ruling basically it will be another four years, two years till the motion comes back again and another two before it is presented. I don’t have that time. I am one of the coffin dodgers, there is a few of them about this hall, and it is imperative that this Conference in generosity carriers or over turns the SOC ruling. Thank you Conference.
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Brian Campfield, President
Jack do you want to respond to that?
Jack McGinley Chairperson, Standing Orders Committee
Delegates Standing Orders Committee doesn’t rule any motion or any amendment out of order except with the greatest amount of scrutiny. The difficulty with this is the Constitution of Congress is set in stone and we have to abide by the Constitution when we bring motions to Conference. If we are to set aside the basic foundation of this movement which is the Constitution then we are in a very difficult position. We had no wriggle room here and it was unanimously decided. I understand nobody ever brings a motion to Conference to have it ruled out of order, but it happens, and it happens to the best of us, and on that basis I have to say on behalf of the Standing Orders Committee that we are asking you to adopt Standing Orders Report No. 1 as is.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay Jack thank you very much. You have heard basically the challenge from Fermanagh Trades Council and you have heard the Chair of the Standing Orders Committee’s response so clearly we do need to move on. I am going to put it to you that there is either a question of suspending Standing Orders or adopting Standing Orders. I am going to put it to you; those in favour of the Adoption of Standing Orders as already explained, okay - those in favour? Those opposed? Well that is clearly carried so Standing Orders Report No. 1 has been adopted.
I will call Jack back to move Standing Orders Report No. 2. Delegates Standing Orders Report No. 2 was circulated this morning. Table 1 lists the speakers, the days and the times. Table 2 lists the people from Congress who will speak during the Conference. Item 3 Disputes Committee Report 17/01 ‘The Organisation and Representation of Workers in the Film Industry’, Standing Committee wishes to draw to the attention of delegates the publication of Disputes Committee Report 17/01 on pages 112 – 114 of the Executive Council Report. In the normal course of events delegates would be asked to approve this Report. However at the June 2017 meeting of the Executive Council it was decided to allow an appeal by the GMB of Disputes Committee Reports 17/01. Therefore Disputes Committee 17/01 does not fall for the consideration of delegates at this BDC.
Motion 51 ‘Sectarianism / Hate Crime and Trade Union Response’, following a request from NIPSA the Standing Orders Committee has agreed to allow the motion to be debated during the Social Policy session of Conference. The motion will now be debated following Motion 43 on Wednesday afternoon.
There is a list of fringe meetings on page 50 of your Conference agenda, delegates I have to say we have scrutinised the list and it is in order. You have notification there of the network for Wi-Fi and the password and a list of displayed stands and we would ask you all to give them some visits. That’s Standing Orders Report No. 2 Chairman.
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Brian Campfield, President
Okay, thank you Jack. I am putting the Standing Orders Report No. 2 to you for adoption, all those in favour? It’s clearly agreed so Standing Orders No. 2 adopted. Thanks very much Jack.
Sheila Nunan, Vice President
Delegates it gives me great pleasure to invite our President Mr. Brian Campfield to deliver his Presidential address.
Brian Campfield, President
President, delegates thanks very much I know it’s a bit of a tall order being the first main speaker after Michael D Higgins, but that’s what you get for inviting him.
You are all very welcome to Belfast and I am sure you will enjoy the Conference and the delights of the City. If you get a chance to walk the streets of the City given the weather, remember you are in a town with a society of United Irishmen where it was founded 1791. In the 18th Century, Belfast like Edinburgh, was known as the Athens of the North, and it wasn’t because of the weather, but on account of the fact that this was an enlightened town, a town whose organised citizenry celebrated the French Revolution on the fall of the Bastille.
The first Roman Catholic Chapel, St. Marys which is a stone’s throw away, I didn’t know whether to use that phrase or not, from here where we are at the moment, was built with subscriptions from the mainly Protestant population. So the concept of citizenry superseded religious affiliation and it is not surprising that the means chosen by the United Irishmen to advance their cause was the unity of Protestant/Catholic at its centre, and I think that is what our model should be this century.
I should say also what Belfast has to its credit is the fact that it was the only port in Ireland in the 18th Century that refused entry to ships that traded in slavery. The Lord Mayor and the President of the Trades Council were supposed to invite you to partake of the joys of Belfast, I am sure if they actually did, but one that I would mention to you is again not far from here the Linen Hall Library which was established in 1788 which is an institution, whose second labourer was Thomas Russell a United Irishman from County Cork, the man from God-knows-where, and he was hanged as many of you know in Downpatrick Jail in 1803 for his participation in Emmet’s Raising of the same year. So that’s well worth a visit.
The top attraction, and what some people have regarded as the top visitor attraction in the world in Belfast is the Titanic Visitor’s Centre. Some of you may have already been there; it celebrates the ship, the great ship itself, and the workers who built it. While the workers who built it were undoubtedly trade union members, the management of this facility have obstructive at every step trade unions trying to organise the employees, so in the early part of the 20th century trade union membership was not the problem when workers where building the Titanic. In the 21st century when you are trying to celebrate the Titanic you won’t have a trade union member about the place.
Can I say that unfortunately Belfast isn’t yet a modern enlightened city? Like all cities one doesn’t have to stray too far from the tourist’s highlights to find communities which still suffer deprivation and inequality, low educational achievement and unacceptable health outcomes. As a city Belfast is characterised by health inequalities and by high suicide rates especially among young people. Until
14 these inequalities are addressed I am afraid Belfast will have to wait before it can once again be regarded as a progressive forward looking city, despite the improved infrastructure and the much heralded foreign direct investment.
By way of illustration a recent report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health claim that 23% of children in Northern Ireland live in poverty compare 19% in the UK, and we have the highest infant mortality rate in the UK as well, which is unacceptable and an utter disgrace.
Belfast, delegates, is still very much a dark city in terms of sectarianism but hopefully the black description of Belfast will eventually relate the names of its hills, Divis and the Black Mountain, rather to the divisions in our community.
We need the political institutions, imperfect as they are back up and running. Some of the issues which divide them such as a Irish language Act and human rights issues should not be regarded as the property of one section of the community of the other. They belong to the whole community and they stand in their own rights and they should not be used as bargaining chips and political negotiations but its measures will benefit everyone. It’s disappointing that no agreement has been reached so far and we must call today from this Conference for renewed effort to resolve these outstanding issues.
It would be helpful if you would clap the odd time so that I get a chance to get a drink, for that reason alone. We need a reversal of public expenditure and social welfare cuts that have been visited on us. The political institutions in Northern Ireland, in my view, cannot deliver for the people here while austerity continues to be the policy of the Westminster Government, I think that’s the long and the short of it. But I think it needs to be said as well we’ve had the recent deal between the DUP and the British Tory Government, I think it is to Northern Ireland’s shame that the Tory Austerity Programme has been given a lifeline by the DUP. It has been given a lifeline to inflict more pain on working people across the UK, and after all it was a DUP that said that they were more concerned about matters throughout the United Kingdom than just Northern Ireland. But this arrangement that they have entered into actually perpetuates the pain and suffering and the austerity of the people of the working class people of the whole of the UK, I think that needs to be said.
We only have to look at the Grenfell Tower tragedy and its terrible human toll, the richest borough in the UK, just to remind ourselves that austerity does cost people’s lives, and it is also a policy that stinks with the contempt and indifference with which working class communities are held by our masters.
Conference the building of a society which has social and economic justice at its heart it a task to us all in the trade union movement. This movement has a proud history of fighting for the rights of workers and their communities, and it is in this recognition members live their lives in communities that has to be a guide to both our policies and our campaigns. The world we live in characterised by increasing inequality and the big issue is how that trend can be reversed.
I was a bit surprised to read a book review the Irish Times on the 20th May this year. It was a book review on a series of critical essays by Thomas Piketty in his book ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’. But the author of the book review was none other than Paschal Donohue, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform at the time, he is now the Minister for Finance as well, and in the review he states ‘I do not believe that inequality is inevitable. Progressive taxation and social interventions make a difference, but such perspective do not receive adequate prominence’. Now you might might be wondering why the Government itself that he is part of doesn’t give it adequate prominence, but you know I thought it was remarkable that a Minister in Government would make
15 that statement. Clearly it is not just a question of just waiting for the Government in the Republic of Ireland to adopt the regime of progressive taxation and redistribution. For instance to tackle the scandalous housing crisis that has been experienced in the Republic of Ireland, and we can add to this a scandal of the low corporation tax take from transnational corporations. And we could also confront the Government, if they are interested in equality, and the Minister if he is interested in equality, we could confront them with the empirical evidence that strong unfettered trade unions make a significant contribution to achieving greater equality. And this at a time when Leo Varadkar, now Taoiseach, had muted the possibility of introducing even more restrictions on trade unions, particularly those organising workers in the service sectors, such as transport and also in the Health sector, attempts to float the idea for restrictions on the ability of trade unions to defend themselves and for workers to defend themselves. They all saying they support a fair and more equal country, but dammed if they are going to make corporations pay more, or seek more power and influence to the trade union movement.
I think we need to put it up to all of the political parties that if they favour greater equality and a fairer society, then let them let them start making a move and move into adequate levels of corporation tax. Let us put them on the spot with the clear evidence that strong trade unions help to deliver greater equality, and let remove the restrictions on collective bargaining. Let them take a serious approach to solving the housing crisis by investing public funding into building local authority houses for rents at reasonable and affordable rates, rather than subsidising property developers via tax breaks and other such incentives.
Delegates since the election of Donald Trump, we have been told we are now living in an era of post- truth, but we all know don’t we, about the distortions, mistruths and lies that the capitalist media has peddle for decades and more. The so- called weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; the Orgreave Scandal that was used to blacken the miners and their union; the Hillsborough tragedy in the lies of the Sun newspaper. Post- truth has, I am afraid, been with us a lot longer than since Trumps election as US President.
The world of work is changing and one of the downsides is that disjuncture between workplaces and communities. We no longer have local industry integrated with local communities and a shared, common community and industrial set of interest. We need to rebuild the cohesion that once existed between workers, trade unions and the communities within which people spend their lives outside of work. We might not be able to rebuild that cohesion in a physical sense, but we can rebuild that community of common interest through our values and our activities, so that when the trade union movement speaks and acts, it speaks and acts on behalf of the broadest section of the population; young and old; employed, self-employed, unemployed, pensioners and students. This is no small task given the commodification of daily life and the commercialisation of culture. We need to reclaim and rebuild the collective, the idea of society and the idea of active solidarity.
Conference it would be remiss of me I suppose me not to make reference to the fact we have wars and we have terrorism stalking the countries of the world. These two evils are closely related and we cannot solve the terrorist threat without ending the many wars that are being waged in the name of civilisation in western values.
We have to condemn without reservation or qualification the brutal indiscriminate terrorist attacks on our close neighbours in Britain and Europe, and we should take the slogan from our Spanish neighbours who in 2004 adopted the slogan ‘No to Terrorism, No to War’ after an attack that killed almost 200 people, and that means saying ‘No’ to US military activity at Shannon Airport. It means defending Ireland’s Neutrality and it means opposing the European Commission’s plans to subsidise the arms industry to develop military technology to the tune of €1.5 billion per annum, not very many people are aware of that.
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We are faced again with a threat to our planet and more immediately to the livelihoods of millions of people as a result of climate change, the bulk of which is being caused by capitalism’s pathological pursuit of profit.
The migrant question and the upsurge in the movement of people from Africa and the Middle East is a direct result of both military interventions by western powers and by climate change. The advanced developed countries are responsible for the fast bulk of the greenhouse emissions that cause climate change and force people to seek safety and livelihood in the very countries that are responsible for the climate change itself.
I want to mention, Conference, some of the work that has been done by Congress in opposing the TTIP and the CETA trade deals, and as you know the TTIP looks like it’s dead ironically because of Donald Trump. But CETA is now operating provisionally, although a European Court Ruling means it will have to be endorsed by national Governments of each country. But the reason I wanted to mention this is Justin Trudeau is in Dublin this week, he is obviously the Canadian end of the Canadian-European Agreement. But there is much wrong with these deals and Congress has issued a statement which you will see on the website as recently as yesterday. The reason I want to focus in on the Investor/State dispute system is to highlight the central problem which is facing us all today and that’s the ISDS. It was designed to enable corporations to sue elected Governments, for decisions taking the interest of their citizens if those decisions affect the profits of the corporations and allows them to sue in special secret courts outside the normal legislative justice mechanisms. So corporations can sue Governments for decisions which might be an interest to the people but which affect our profits.
I will give you an example. Just 30 miles North of Belfast the decisions of two corporations resulted in the loss of almost 2,000 jobs with the potential for causing great social and economic havoc and devastation. JTI Gallagher made a decision to transfer its work from the Ballymena plant to Poland, even the Ballymena plant was still profitable, and Michelin the tyre producer is also closing its operation in Ballymena, a small area just North of Belfast, resulting in the loss of 1,600 jobs. You can imagine the impact that is going to have basically a provincial town and its rural hinterland. But have you ever heard tell of trade unions or communities having the right to sue corporations for the social economics impacts of their board room decisions? Corporations are a protected species and their power diminishes democracy.
The President of the European Trade Union Congress, Rudy de Leeuw in a speech to the midterm Conference of the EUC at the end of May in Rome, made some important observations about the European Union. He said that the ETUC is campaigning for a different Europe and it is promoting policies which are the interest of workers because, and I will use his words, he said, that ‘the EU remains the Europe of the multi- nationals and the rich’ and I think that’s undeniable.
The ETUC is seeking for Europe a broader coherent political project were basic rights, decent jobs and social protection take priority over economic policy, and the President of the ETUC also said ‘rules about government deficits should no longer take precedence over the real economy’. So we cooperation with all the trade unions in Europe to build a real campaign to challenge the fiscal rules that prevent our Governments or restrict our Governments from borrowing or to invest so the crisis in housing, in and health and education, and in other areas of public provision can be addressed.
We need to be more critical of EU laws and directives which put the interest of capital before the interest of workers and communities, and maybe we should be campaigning for a new European Directive which enables Governments to prioritise the interests of its workers and communities over business, especially when the interest of cooperations and the interest of citizens conflict.
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Conference in the wake of the UK decisions to leave the EU, Congress has quite appropriately concentrated its demands on the protection of workers’ rights, on the protection of employment, and on protecting our Peace Agreement in Northern Ireland. It may be that the political arithmetic in Westminster will enable these things to achieved more easily, but things might be a bit more complicated and we will hear from Frances O’Grady TUC later on where the Labour Party and the TUC are on that particular issue.
But leaving that aside we have all been heartened, haven’t we, by their remarkable achievement of the British Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn. It gives us great hope that things can change and can be changed. The advances made under Corbyn were not the result of a single factor, but they were won against the background of a vicious media personal assault on Jeremy Corbyn himself, aided and abetted by many within his own party, so not only was he attacked externally but he was been attacked internally as well. The Right Wing media in the establishment attempted suffocate Corbyan on his policies from the day he was elected Labour Leader. They tried to strangle him and his programme, a programme which 30 years ago would have been regarded as fairly mainstream Labour, nothing overly radical; it shows you how far politics and societies have moved to the right. But the UK election result does contain the message that the centre of political life can be shifted to the left to the benefit of working people, and doesn’t mean pinning our colours to the top of any particular political party’s mast.
Conference we need to considered developing a programme which if implemented will change the political landscape in Ireland. We have been doing this in some ways in our Pre-Budget Ssubmissions and our pre-General Election election interventions. We will be demanded for example that the Irish Constitution be amended to ensure that water remains in public ownership, we have been pressing for action to address the housing crisis and we have been making the case of the housing crisis can only be solved by a comprehensive programme of Public Authority house building for rent and reasonable and affordable rates. We have made it clear the Health Service in the Republic of Ireland should be organised along principles similar to that of the UK National Health Services.
The Right2Water Campaign, and I know there were difference within the movement about this issue, but non the less it highlighted the potential for mobilising masses of people on the streets. The options that we have pursuing with health and housing and in respect of the public ownership of Irish Water are affectively socialists solutions. If we can win these arguments then we are affectively enhancing our democracy, because the more public ownership and the more public space, the more accountably there is, and the more power rest with citizens; whereas the more privatisation, the greater the power of capital, and the grater the damage to democracy.
I’m going to hopefully conclude very shortly, but I did mention to you that we needed to rebuild that community of common interest that once existed between trade unions and working class communities. That means building our strength and power in both workplaces and in the towns and cities across Ireland. It requires active cooperation among unions and that starts with the building of trust, focusing on recruiting unorganised workers and not those of other unions.
The OneCork Project has within it the basis of building this cooperation and the report of Motion 13 from the 2015 Biennial Delegate Conference covering Trades Councils and Congress Centres is an attempted to construct a potential route to enhance our influence in power in every area of the country. You should have that brief summary document of the work of the Review Group on Motion 13. There is a more detailed document which is available on the Congress website.
We need to talk to each other delegates, we need to be honest and we need to discuss whatever differences divide us, and we need to examine how we can overcome that organisational imperative that dictates the way individual unions operate. We need to talk about how we can transform this
18 into a more coherent, united and more effective trade union movement, and if we cannot build the trust and corporation within our own movement then how can we hope to build the trust and cooperation with all those sections of Irish society that would benefit from a fundamentally different society, and with whom we need to corporate if the stark inequality of wealth and power in our society is to be successfully challenged?
I have to say that the support provided by a number of unions to MANDATE in their battle with the giant Tesco Corporation represents the type of solidarity and corporation that is possible on a deeper and broader basis, and we need utilise this practical demonstration of solidarity to move forward together as a united trade union movement.
Conference our priority must be to build a movement the length and breadth of this country which will challenge the status quo. Without the trade union movement this cannot be done, and therefore we must actively commit to such a project. The age of acquiescence is ending. The trade union movement in Ireland, in the UK, in Europe and across the globe must be at the forefront of the struggles for a better life for working people.
Conference a few years after the 1917 Russian Revolution which has its Centenary this year, workers in a number of parts of Ireland and a number of enterprises evicted their owners and proclaimed the establishment of local soviets in areas such as Limerick, Waterford, and the Arigna Mines in Leitrim and other locations. Now I am not proposing anything quite as radical as that, because I would not get away with it for a start, but we do have a responsibility to raise the trade union flag in every locality in the country. We have the presences, we have the resources we can make a difference to the political direction of this country, if we commit to mobilising our members and communities behind demands such as health, housing, and decent work for all, and in doing so challenge the power of the corporations and those political interests which are either not prepared or which are afraid to confront these modern enemies of democracy.
To conclude to paraphrase James Connolly, we need to make the cause of labour the cause of the Irish people North and South, and we need to make the cause of the Irish people the cause of Labour. On that note Conference I wish you all a successful few days in Belfast and enjoy your stay. Thank you very much.
Sheila Nunan, Vice President
Delegates, I would like on your behalf to thank Brian very much for his excellent Presidential address.
Brian Campfield, President
Thanks very much Sheila, and thank you delegates for persevering. We now move into the section on Norther Ireland, I am calling upon Owen Reidy, Assistant General Secretary, to introduce the Northern Ireland debate, and then we are moving on to Motions 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. Just before you do start what I plan to do I plan to take these motions as a group of motions and vote on them at the end, okay?
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Owen Reidy, Assistant General Secretary
Good morning President, Delegates, and Guests. I am delighted to introduce to you this morning the Northern Ireland section of the Report. I took up my role as AGS with responsibility for Northern Ireland in November of last year, I just want to take this opportunity to thank my predecessor Peter Bunting who unfortunately can’t be with us this week, for his generous support during our period of handover. I would like also to put on record my thanks to the Northern Ireland Committee and to the staff here in Northern Ireland who have been very helpful and supportive, and smoothed over the transition from my work in SIPTU to ICTU.
Since I arrived in Norther Ireland seven months ago, I have witnessed the fact that we do have a very vibrant and active trade union movement up here, with 30 unions which organise over 200,000 workers, and right across Northern Ireland we have 16 functioning Committees many of which are very active and indeed strategic. I think it is fair to say, as others have said, we are and we remain the most significant truly cross-community entity here in Northern Ireland, and are the largest civic society group.
Aside from the normal coordination of trade union activity that office does we coordinate and run a very vibrant trade union education programme wereby over 1,200 workers and shop stewards have received progressive good training in the last 2 years, training that assists them in the daily operation of their work, in their work place and in organising and representing their members.
Crucially since 2002 we have been operating and running the State funded Union Learning Fund which is a very important programme, which gives a second chance to workers in education and it gives them much more besides. In the last 2 years we have had the most successful period to- date where over 7,000 workers have gone through this programme.
We also provide an important support for our migrant workers here in Northern Ireland, many of whom, with the uncertainty of Brexit, are feeling incredibly insecure at the moment, and I think on behalf of all of us today, I think it is important we say our migrant workers here are welcome - Brexit or no Brexit - because they make a very important contribution to this society, not just economically but also culturally.
As has been said by the President, Northern Ireland has been devilled by political insatiability in recent times. We haven’t had a devolved Government since January 2017, I think at a time when Northern Ireland society has needed a coherent voice, particularly with the challenges of Brexit now more than ever. It is clear that the people want devolution, they have voted for it time and time again, and it is also clear for some time the political class have let the society down.
You will see from the motions in this section of the report, the work of the movement here and the key challenges that are before us, and they include; building the peace and restoring devolution, seeking mitigation from austerity, but I think more importantly and crucially trying to take that austerity head on and challenge it, defending and advancing both trade union workers rights, seeking improved pay for both public and private sector, and of course the thorny issue of Brexit which will doubt be discussed in some detail over the next few days, It should be remembered - an issue which is not with the consent of the people in Norther Ireland.
The motion and the themes of the motions highlight the challenging nature of our work here and also the critical need to secure a decent future not just for the movement for workers. I think the future is far from certain. It’s clear everything that’s going on we are living in very volatile and unpredictable times, and the future of our movement whilst I would suggest is in our hands is also far from certain. Trade union density here in Northern Ireland has declined gradually, steadily and
20 unfortunately, consistently in the last decade. A decade ago we had 232,000 workers organised in unions here. Today that figure is just under 200,000 at 196,000. Density has fallen from 32% to 26%, and during that period employment levels have raised by 1.5%, but yet we have declined with our membership of 15.3% in 10 years. The fact that this type of trend is broadly similar to many other western democracies should concern us and challenge us even more so, and I believe this is a challenge that we must take head on and be frank in our assessment of what lies ahead.
Organising needs to be an issue that is centre stage for all affiliates here in Norther Ireland to address this issue satisfactorily the approach must be collaborative. I think we all know that, we all say that, but now we need to do something about it. One clear thing we can do here in Northern Ireland is utilise the reach and access of our 250 Union Learning Reps who engage with workers, many of whom are union members, many of whom aren’t, on a daily basis in promoting the Union Learning Scheme. These Union Learning Reps are very strategic and they should play a dual role. We need to tool them up and skill them to be organisers as well as Union Learning Reps. We have already commenced discussing this approach with the Union Learning Rep Committee and indeed with some affiliates and we now need to move to the next stage of that.
I think we also must have greater collaboration between unions that operate in each and in the same sector. Northern Ireland is and remains unfortunately a low wage economy wages, wages have consistently lagged here behind the rest of the UK for over 20 years. It is one of the poorest regions in the UK also. About 30% of our children leave second level education with little or no qualifications and we have a very severe skills deficit. Over 4,000 very good manufacturing jobs have been lost in recent years, many of them good unionised jobs, which are in creditably difficult to replace. Invest NI which is the statutory body responsible for investment and the development of jobs in the economy, boast and market Northern Ireland as a low cost economy whereby they say ‘salary costs are lower than the rest of the UK and are 30% lower than other European locations such as London, Paris, and Dublin’. This is not something to be proud of, it is not something to boast about, and clearly the challenge is to us to ensure that Northern Ireland workers both public and private sector need a decent pay rise and they need it now.
So we find ourselves in this vicious and ever recurring cycle of low pay feeding poor jobs fed by low skills, so clearly the model that we have is not working, it’s not working for society, and it is not working for the economy which is supposed to underpin and support society. But Delegates, workers and unions here are fighting back, the movement here is not accepting status quo as it is inevitable or that it is the best we can hope for. In recent times the movement here has had some important victories. The movement had led a successful campaign to seek mitigations from the worst excesses of Tory welfare reform. The movement has challenged the myth that by cutting corporation tax it will lead to more and better jobs, and this is an issue we must continue to be vigilant on. We have mobilised to insure that the worst excesses of the Tory anti trade union laws have not been imposed here and we have used Devolution in a clever and discreet way to ensure workers’ rights remain protected here and that they are better than the rest of the UK.
On the social agenda we have many challenges, women here do not have full control over their reproductive rights unlike the rest of the UK. There is a commitment in the Belfast Agreement underpinned by various Governments, the EU and two Referendums that we are to have a Bill of Rights. Yet nearly two decades on the, people wait.
Northern Ireland also remains the only part of these Islands were you may be denied the right to marry the person you happen to fall in love with. The Northern Committee of Congress is one of the key collation partners in the Love Equality Collation, and last weekend I think we saw this place at its best, where up to 20,000 people rallied and marched on the streets to demand that the political class here pass important legislation on this. I was particularly proud of our own Clare Moore who
21 played a very important role and spoke with distinction on behalf of the movement. I think on this issue as well this is one were our all Island movement is playing a role because we can learn from the success of the trade union leadership in the role of Marriage Equality in the Republic of Ireland. The momentum is certainly behind us on this issue and I am very confident that when we meet in two years time, this will be another success that we can say we have played a role in pushing society forward.
All of these challenges we face require our movement to develop strategies and campaigns whereby we work more collaboratively and more collectively, whereby the output of the sum of our parts is greater than each union operating alone, or in silence. It is clear Delegates that the mission on which our movement was found has as much purpose today as it ever had given the challenges and circumstances that we face.
To try and deal with the challenges that we face, in recent weeks we have come together in the trade union movement here on the Northern Ireland Committee and we are developing a multi- dimensional campaign which the movement here will lead. We intend to focus on three fundamental issues. The first one, the scourge of low pay and the promotion of the decent work agenda. A number of affiliates, particularly from the Private Sector here have challenged the fact that Northern Ireland does not have a decent and proper manufacturing or industrial strategy that is fit for purpose for workers today. One in three of our workers work in insecure and precarious employment, so we must now come together and promote strategies for better and more decent work , and clear rights for our activist that work which are under threat.
The second area we want to focus on is the lack of adequate investment in our public services. The Block Grant has effectively decreased by 10% in recent times since about 2010 when you take into account inflation, and this has meant that our public servants had to do more with less, the reality is that all of our citizens have suffered when it comes to welfare, housing, education, health and local services. The extra £1 billion secured in recent times nearly restores the Block Grant to where it should be and it is a one off payment anyway.
The third issue which we intend to focus on is the straight jacket that is the 1% Public Sector Pay Cap and I know we have common cause with our colleagues in the TUC, STUC, and the Welsh TUC on that issue. Public servants here have seen their pay declined by 10% in the last 6 – 7 years with this artificial straight jacket placed upon us by the Tory government. It has been counterproductive and it must end now. We believe the political winds are changing, momentum and clearly public opinion on this issue is behind us. We are determined to see it through so we get to a place public servants can bargain freely with their employers as is their right, were we can insure the public services become the best they can be for all our citizens, and by doing this they remain publicly owned and accountable so that all public servants here and across the rest of the UK can get a fair wage increase that they so deserve .
We believe these are three issues that affect Public and Private Sector workers alike, but more importantly I would say they have the potential to bind our movement closer together here. Because this campaign has to be ongoing process it cannot be a one off, or a serious of one off events, so we are looking at coordinating and lobbing politicians at all various layers and levels, looking at worker testimonials pledges, rallies, seminars, and engaging with the communities seeking their support seeking the support of allies also talking to those who are not our natural allies because we have to do all we can to influence the political will, and yes when it is appropriate and when the given workers and when the given union is up for it, but crucially and most importantly, were we can win, have industrial action were it is necessary as well . And I believe if we do this correctly we have the potential to have our 30 unions working more collectively and more collaboratively, and in a better cohesive way.
22
On Saturday 24th June we had a session with over a 120 of our Shop Stewards and the key lay activists from across 17 unions and from some Trades Councils where we discussed this agenda. We now need to move it forward, plan and build for a launch in October 2017.
Now I am sure much will be said about Brexit at this Conference and there are a number of motions before you today on the matter. It is perhaps the most profound and immediate challenge facing people here in Northern Ireland on the Island and across these Islands, and this movement has a very clear policy, one that has been shaped and developed by all affiliates, by the Island Executive and also by input from colleagues on the Northern Ireland Committee. And irrespective of how people voted, because that’s a past debate, the issue is we have to make sure that workers don’t pay the price of Brexit, not just here in Belfast, not just in Dublin, not just in London, but in Madrid, Rome, Warsaw, and right through Europe. But the reality is no matter how good a deal may be negotiated, it will be inferior to the current arrangements and no amount of spin from some will change that unfortunate fact.
Our movement in Northern Ireland has been leading public debate on Brexit, we had a very successful seminar the day Article 50 was triggered whereby we brought six of the eight Assembly Parties together, and despite the difference in rhetoric and despite the difference in language which is very common here, there was a universal element of consensus on a range of issues. Our Northern Ireland Committee and its delegates have taken whatever opportunity we have to articulate the trade union voice on Brexit at whatever forum we can present that. We have engaged bilaterally with political parties, the Secretary of State, the Shadow Secretary of State promoting the workers’ agenda and the Congress position on this issue.
In recent weeks we have initiated and led the building of a coalition, between ourselves the employers, the farmers, and indeed the community and the voluntary sector where they have all signed up to a shared position on Brexit, so we can seek to stand up for the people here in Northern Ireland, because despite the political instability Brexit is way too important to be left to politicians here, in Dublin, London and Brussels as well.
In conclusion Delegates we have done much work in the last two years, I think you will see that from the motions in the Reports, but there is much work to continue to be done on the various agenda I have outlined to you here today.
Finally I would anticipate that all of us in this room are very supportive of power sharing. I am sure that all of us would wish and would want Devolution to work, but for real power sharing to work it cannot simply be horizontal shared between two or five parties in Stormont. It must also be vertical, where real power is shared throughout society with those of us like ourselves in this movement who actually represent large swathes and sections of society. So we must now redouble our efforts and make sure we are better, agile and more fit for purpose, and we must work more collectively and more collaboratively over the coming period so we can maximise and use our real and true power in the interest of all of society here in Northern Ireland so we can make this place a better place to live, to work and to enjoy for all of our people. Thank you very much.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you Owen for that Introduction of the Northern Ireland Debate. We will move on to the motions. Can I just make comment generally in respect of motions and speakers? Standing Orders did explain to you the allocated times and I am asking you to adhered to those, because once you go over the allocated time you are basically taking someone else’s time who has an equal right to
23 speak, so bear in mind that you should try and stay within the times for speakers. I am going to move to Motion 1, this is the Northern Ireland section of the Report and the number of Motions so I am going to ask Maria Morgan on behalf of the Executive Council to move Motion No 1.
Maria Morgan, Northern Ireland Executive Council
Thank you President, Comrades, Brothers and Sisters, Maria Morgan also Chair of the Northern Ireland Committee and I’m very proud to be moving this Motion No 1. As we stand here today it appears that there is still no end in sight for the political talks that dictate our future here in Northern Ireland, and whilst Devolution policies haven’t all been good for communities in Northern Ireland, we do want and need Devolution to work. We don’t want direct Tory rule, but if that does happen it will be because of the local parties and they will have failed us if we end up with direct rule.
The Secretary of State has given another extension with no deadline as the talks aimed at restoring power sharing continue between the two main parties, and we call on them from this Congress to get back into government and to work on our behalf with the mandate we have given them.
Who pays the price for the insatiability that has been created, and how does the trade union movement bring workers and their families comfort moving forward? We must react to the political decisions that are being taken.
The motion highlights all of the challenges that we have and the demands that we make, in terms of the implementations of the Good Friday Agreement, Brexit or Legsit depending on how you voted, an industrial strategy, a strong social system that works for the poor, the sick, and the unemployed, housing as a right, a robust Bill of Rights, employment rights - all of the devolve powers the institutions hold. But there are more than what is mentioned on the agenda. There is the closures of our A&E Departments, there are waiting lists in our health service, there are education cuts and shop closures, and we as a trade union movement demand and have to tackle all of those issues.
These are demands for a decent society in which we all want to contribute and live, and in the past we have been told our demands are too costly, and that there is no money for a fair and equal society in Northern Ireland. But we no longer accept that lie because there is money but it is not sent in the direction of the working class. RHI is an example of this, political decisions were taken costing £500million, so the money is there. The money is there for a reduction in corporation tax, for the capitalist class so the money is there. Theresa May and her weak Tory Government can find £1 billon to ensure they work to oppose the things that are good for the public sector workers, and the disgraceful vote last week that kept the Public Sector Pay Cap meant a pay cut for a large number of people in this room.
Owen has mentioned about the trade union movement working together and we can do that, I just want to reiterate the event that the NICTU held on the 24th June in Governor Hall to discuss a campaign to tackle low pay a fight for decent work, to work together to smash the Public Sector Pay Cap, because in doing that we can deliver a whole lot of the issues that are in this motion. We want to campaign to ensure that there is investment in public services, in social security and trade union rights, and housing, and that will go towards achieving our aims. Whilst we have some differing views in the room there was a consensus that we must do something.
So we will work to strengthen and build our campaign because Comrades we must be relevant to our members on pay, on decent work and jobs. We have to do that we have no choice. All the objectives in this motion must be fought for, particularly in relation to how we choreograph around the Brexit debate. We also must collectively demand that we are part of any of the decisions that
24 will affect our future so we must engage with the political parties in Northern Ireland and insist and demand that we are part and party to those discussions.
Comrades let us rise up and work for our members and their families, linking in to the surge that is happening on class issues in Britain around Corbyn and socialists policies, and we must also link to the good work from our Comrades in the South in the Republic of Ireland who are working to fight austerity. These are our demands please support the motion.
Brian Campfield, President
I call on Jimmy Kelly from the Executive Council to second.
Jimmy Kelly, UNITE
Thank you President, good morning delegates Jimmy Kelly UNITE seconding Motion 1.
Northern Ireland stands at a crossroads and I suppose everybody in the room will say ‘not for the first time’, but I would conclude that the crossroads is not exactly around the narrative we see every morning on the news, every afternoon on the news, and every night on the news. I would say the crossroads is about what direction Northern Ireland will take on the issues of women’s rights for example, the workers’ rights that have been emphasised in Brian’s address, the trade union rights, the employment rights, the human rights, that we need to be concentrating on. The LGBT rights, the investment in jobs, the living wages, the decent jobs, the decent public services, the industrial and manufacturing strategy that we need, and the investment in communities that are struggling against the odds every day in trying to keep community services alive.
Recent examples that we have been campaigning on here around the threatened closure of Daisy Hill hospital, the threat to introduce school transport charges, we are standing up to that and the movement is standing up to that. We face factory closures. Since we last met at our last Conference in Ennis, massive factory closures, real well organised union jobs good decent paid jobs are not going to be easily replaced. Will these issues be addressed in a new Executive? I would say they will only be addressed in a trade union and a community campaign of resistance to what has been foisted on us by certain employers. Among the Northern Executive parties there is unanimity for example on the need for Northern Ireland to seek to imitate the corporate tax haven status of the Republic of Ireland, adopting a 12 .5% corporation tax rate at the cost of hundreds of millions of pounds in further cuts to public services on top of those inflicted already by the Tory Government.
Our society has indeed made huge strides forward in recent years. Today we live in a largely peaceful society, the day to day realty of life is completely different to what it was just a number of decades ago, but despite these gains in certain areas, Northern Ireland in certain areas is still a society ill-at-ease with itself in certain ways. Politics has polarised sharply and as a result of those politics, it is failing, and it is continued to fail for young people feeling disconnected from politics. What are the prospects of power sharing arrangements being re-established as Maria has referred to in the short term or the medium term? Are we facing the prospect of a period of direct rule under the Tory party in Westminster? In all honesty, your guess is as good as mine. The dominance of the DUP and Sin Féin among their respective communities has undoubtedly grown, but yet that is far from allowing both to negotiate confidently on the basis of their own induvial strength. It has resulted in protracted deadlock.
So Northern Ireland faces the challenges that will arise from Brexit without a coherent voice, other than by and true this movement having that voice. There is no vision or ambition for our industries or growing our manufacturing base. The motion calls for the areas that were highlighted by Maria and I will just conclude by saying that this movement has the authority to bring us forward in the
25 way the motion describes, it describes the Bill of Rights, it describes the absences of political leadership. We can now step forward, show leadership in Northern Ireland, and let us ensure that we take that correct path and that we move forward with the power of unity that this movement can demonstrate. Thank you
Brian Campfield, President
I am going to ask NISPA to move Motion 2.
Alison Millar, NISPA
Thanks President, Alison Millar on behalf of NISPA to move Motion 2.
Conference the issue of austerity has dogged all workers North and South for far too long. Since 2009 in work and out of work families have experienced massive attacks on pay, terms and conditions, and cuts to the welfare support system. In Northern Ireland Public Sector workers have borne the brunt of austerity through pay freezes, increases in National insurances contributions through contracting out of State pensions, and increases in contributions in all Public Sector pension schemes.
In real terms members have experienced up to 20% overall reduction in their take home pay. At the same time inflation has increased year on year well in excess of pay increases. It is a reality and a disgrace that some Public Sector workers have to rely on second or even third jobs if they are available just to make ends meet, or on other circumstances Public Sector workers report having to rely on food banks. What is this Government thinking about that the very workers they rely on to provide our public services are having to turn to food banks because their pay does not cover the basics of rent, mortgages, food, utility bills and general living costs?
Conference for years our members have listen to the mantra that we must tighten our belts, that there was no money, and the Public and Private Sector workers must suffer pay restraint and other attacks on our terms and conditions and living standards to ensure the country’s debt came under control. While many of us in the room here today argued strongly against the austerity being imposed, we had to suffer the injustice of the Fresh Start Agreement, which NISPA opposed, which has seen almost 4,000 NISPA members lose their jobs, with many likely to follow if the £700 million contained within the Fresh Start Agreement continues to be spent on getting rid of Public Sectors workers.
Conference what a waste. We have a crisis on our health, housing, and education sectors. Why could the Assembly not have used this money to build social housing, schools and other essential public service infrastructure projects which have stimulated the economy on the construction sector which has been destroyed in this country over the last 10 years? The mantra of no money was an absolute lie Conference, an absolute lie. We have the scandal of the RHI which has wasted millions of pounds and brought down the Assembly, and since then the UK very weak Government has found over £1billion over a 2 year period to prop up Theresa May and her Government and they now in hock to the DUP. Well of course Northern Ireland always welcomes more money, Conference it cannot be at any price. The DUP in my view would be better spent in bringing down the Tory Government and ensuring that another election is called in which workers and citizens would be better served.
So Conference there is money, there always has been money, we must never again accept the lie that there is no money, in the last week we have seen the DUP attack Public Sector workers by
26 voting with this Tory Government to maintain Public Sector Pay Cap. This cannot be tolerated and we must now work harder than ever with the full support of ICTU and all affiliates to bring this unacceptable attack on Public Sector Workers to an end. Conference we must unite with our colleagues in the STUC, Welsh TUC, and TUC, to ensure with get this cap removed and ensure all unions are free to collectively bargain on the issue of pay or false impediment.
Conference we must get the local devolved administration back up and running, so we can engage, lobby, challenge and negotiate to ensure our members’ rights are protected. While the devolved administration has in the past caused workers in Northern Ireland much pain, it is important that we seek to have devolved administration. Conference the time has come for affiliates to unite behind the one and only common purpose of turning the curve against austerity. Conference please support this motion and let all of us get to work to defeat the issue of austerity. Conference I move.
Billy Linn, NIPSA
Brothers and Sisters, Billy Linn, NIPSA to second the motion.
We submitted this motion as you will be aware prior to the recent DUP Tory deal. I think it is disgraceful that the DUP by their actions are propping up a Tory Government and a Tory Government austerity programme. The DUP have done a disservice to people in England, people in Scotland, and people in Wale, but above all to the people of Northern Ireland. But I will tell you, as Alison said to them in with the Tories last week into the lobbies to vote against stopping the Public Sector Pay Cap that is effecting people in Northern Ireland including their own constituents in the pocket. A billion pound is not enough, it isn’t enough, but we need the Assembly up and running. We need public scrutiny by elected representatives, and by us on how that billion pound is spent. Because I do not want to see that by billion pounds go up in flames the same way as they spent £490 million was burnt under the RHI. We need that scrutiny to make sure that money is invested properly in our services.
This is my last Congress and I be leaving this week, full of hope and full of enthusiasm for the future and there is one reason I have that hope and enthusiasm, and that’s because of what happened earlier this year. For the first time we had a Labour Leader in many years arguing for my ideal of Socialism, arguing to end austerity. It put enthusiasm in my heart and hope in our hearts. I think if the election had continued for another 3 or 4 weeks Jeremy Corbyn would have been sitting in number 10 Downing Street today organising to end austerity. I urge you to vote and support the motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay, PCS. Is PCS here? No I have said at the beginning I was going to get the motions moved and then we will have the vote. I want to get all of the motions moved and seconded, and then there is a guest speaker at the end of this session. When the motions are all moved and seconded we will get all the speakers up.
Gail Mathews, PCS
Moving Motion 3. The theme this Conference is as we can see, ‘Organise, Bargain, Progress’, and we all know that organising and bargaining starts in the workplace, and that without that we can’t make any progress, and that Comrade is why the Governments across all jurisdictions are working so hard to cut back on what we can do in the workplace. They are attacking trade union rights in the workplace, the most vicious of them being cuts to facilities time and collective bargaining and making it very difficult to get recognition. If we don’t fight for trade union reps to have time in the
27 workplace to represent workers and to negotiate with management to promote the union and to train and educate our reps then we are becoming irrelevant.
In response to these attacks some unions have moved to hold meetings in the evenings and weekends so that we can conduct our business as we need to. However the downside of doing that is one, capitulation, and two it indirectly effects every single woman in the movement, because women in the movement in particular have the disadvantage of trying to attend meetings in the evenings, trying to leave work at the weekends, it is just not possible for so many women because of their child and elder care commitments. Brothers you can’t organise and bargain and you certainly can’t have progress without your sisters.
So let’s work together and let’s fight back against these attacks. Let’s defend facilitate time for all reps, let’s campaign for labour rights and collective bargaining, let’s stop the abuse of workers in precarious employment, stop the privatisation of our public services and make sure that we are where we are supposed to be in the workplace with our members and winning for our members. Conference I move the motion.
Brian Campfield, President
And seconder, Eamon just go ahead.
Eamon McCann, Derry Trades Council
Seconding the Motion, Comrades, it is a great pleasure to be able to stand here and very uniquely, I mean to say that Mrs Thatcher is being blamed in the wrong for some of the ills that afflict us, afflict the working class in the trade union movement. But Mrs Thatcher is being blamed in the wrong when we refer as we sometimes do to Thatcher’s Anti Union laws. The laws that have just being referred to and which restrict our movement with impossible conditions and the circumstances in which we go on strike which prevents union reps from actively approaching workers, and prevents us from organising - these are not Thatcher’s Anti Union laws. These are the Norther Ireland Executive’s Anti Union laws, and we should face up to that and we should not pretend that we don’t have an issue with the Norther Ireland Executive.
There will be an Executive back in my view before the end of this year and we ought to be prepared for that. I discovered as some of you might know, I had a brief career as a parliamentarian, which may resume sometime soon. But when it comes back, one I the most singular facts that I learnt during that period is this - that in 10 years of the Assembly and the Executive, during which the Anti Union laws were within the remit of the Executive, not one attempt was made to rescind or challenge the anti union laws until very small left wing groups came on the scene and got up in Parliament and moved a Private Members’ Bill to do just that. That Private Members’ Bill will come back again before the Parliament, and it is possible even for a one person party to put a Private Members’ motion through Stormont and make it into law. Steve Agnew of the Green’s did it. Jim Allister of the Traditional Union Voice did it. We can do it to. I hope when that time comes we are going to see unions coming. I spoke before five union Executives here in the North at the time when we were putting this Bill together. They all supported it. Now I hope that is going to continue and I hope the in the movement is made there will not be a meeting between the Northern Committee or anybody else or any other Northern representative group of the trade union movement, which doesn’t – a meeting between them and the Northern Ireland Executive, I which the question of the Executive’s anti-union laws is not raised.
We live, we are told in a rights-based society. We are told all the time, we demand human rights, we demand equality. Well trade union rights are human rights and we should make it clear that when
28 we talk about equal rights that apply to us to. We shouldn’t ever be so modest as to understatement the importance of the trade union movement and the importance of trade union rights. The fact of the matter is the right to strike, the right to walk off the job is the essential difference between the worker and the slave. We have to preserve that right, it is a vital and important right for the future and we should take no nonsenses from any party in the Assembly or anywhere else who tells us the time isn’t right. Certainly not those who tell us that to rescind the anti–union laws will deter investment. It will encourage investment in the trade union movement, make it easier for us to get workers that are involved in the trade union movement, and build a better future not only for ourselves but for all the people of this united place. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Who is going to move Motion 4? Sorry speakers will be after we move the motin. We have a guest speaker at the end of this session. I want to get the motions moved so at least I can have the vote on them okay go ahead.
Michaela Lafferty, USDAW
Michaela Lafferty proposing the motion on behalf of USDAW.
Conference, I am delighted to inform you that following a protest and some hard lobbing from my trade union USDAW, Belfast City Council has now thrown out its plans to designate this city as a holiday resort the purpose of extending Sunday trading hours in retail. Conference, USDAW members are very clear on Sunday trading. The compromise which we currently have here in Northern Ireland suits nearly everyone. It’s a compromise that was hard fought for, where shoppers can shop, workers can work, and traders can trade all for a little while a still keep Sunday special. This compromise on shorter opening hours means that workers also have time to see their families, have a family meal, perhaps make sure the kids have done their homework, and get uninforms ready before it all starts again on a Monday morning. Its a chance to catch their breath. We acknowledge that this is a religious issue for some, but for even those who aren’t religious Sunday is still a special day, and we want to keep it that way.
Conference, we are not suggesting that stores should be closed altogether, far from it. We feel the current compromise is a good one, but what we don’t want to see is an extension of hours, or worse a scrapping of this compromise. Shop workers have families and busy lives just like all of us, and it is only right that we stand up for a system which protects those workers and their right to a proper work life balance.
Conference there are moves to have longer Sunday trading hours in other parts of Northern Ireland; Derry, Newry, Killkee, Portrush, Port Stewart, and Ballycastle, have already all been designated as holiday resorts which opens up the possibility of longer Sunday trading hours on 18 Sundays from March to September. And now there are even moves to designate Strabane as a designated holiday resort, and as a daughter of Strabane I can say that’s a stretch of anyone’s imagination. USDAW is addressing the Council there on Thursday evening in the hope of maintaining the status quo. Conference, the ‘holiday resort’ label is a device, a loophole to try and circumvent and ignore the current Sunday trading hours. It is exploitation for the purposes of greed, pure and simple.
None of these towns need extended opening hours, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that businesses don’t make any more money if they extend their trading hours. If people need to go shopping they already have plenty of time. In Northern Ireland all shops can open on a Sunday from 1pm – 6pm. Extending opening hours just raises overheads with little evidence of increased
29 turnover. Shop workers have told us in our surveys that they want a shorter working day on a Sunday.
I think we can all accept that Sunday is a special day in the week, the one day of the week most people have some free time. So it is often assumed that those who do work on a Sunday will be getting some premium pay as compensation, but more and more this is not the case. In recent years we have seen many, if not most, companies implementing contracts with Sunday considered a normal working day with no premium payments. Again Conference, we believe Sunday is not a normal working day and the pay workers receive should reflect that.
These are battles we are facing day in and day out campaigning alongside our members in the retail sector. Conference, we are here seeking your solidarity and support for our motion. Conference USDAW believes workers should have a right to take time off on a Sunday. We believe working on a Sunday should be voluntary and should be rewarded with premium pay, and we do not believe that Sunday trading hours should be further deregulated. I move the Motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Is there a seconder for that is that formally seconded? Formally seconded okay. Can we have the mover of the next Motion from the CPS Motion 5?
Clare Ronald, CPS
Clare Ronald Chartered Society Physiotherapy proposing Motion 5.
When you write a motion for Conference you don’t expect that issue to become a key in a Westminster election, and while it is excellent to see so much attention already focused on the issue of pay at the NHS, the slight frustration for me is that there are now lots of really good speeches out there on this topic. But sadly for Conference you are stuck with me.
Since we submitted this motion the other thing that has become clear is that however you measured it, inflation is out pacing average earnings which actually seem to be going in reverse. This seems even truer for the Public Sector which has been unduly affected by a draconian pay cap, and even more so in Northern Ireland were two Ministers in a row refused to implement the Pay Review Body recommendations, leaving Health Service staff in Northern Ireland the lowest paid in the United Kingdom. Since many staff are now on the new pension scheme which is a care scheme, not only is their pay the lowest of Health Care staff in the UK but their pensions are also affected.
Ministerial decisions made here are affecting not only the here and now, but also the future for many of our staff. The Government in Westminster has a very set ideology and has been wedded to what, in my opinion, is a miss guided view of economics. They have been concentrating on attempting to drive down the budget deficit and have been using Public Sector Pay restraint as a key plank in this drive. Even though the deficit has not gone down, the ideology has not changed, and you are seeing Public Sector workers bearing the brunt of the financial crisis they did not cause. How can it be the Physiotherapist, Midwives, Porters, and all other NHS staff see the value of their job decreasing?
Staff in the NHS have always gone above and beyond in providing a service. NHS staff survey afeter NHS staff survey have consistently found staff undertaking unpaid overtime. They do this because they have a real sense of obligation to their patients and to the service they provide. However, how can you keep going above and beyond and providing good will to the service when you are worrying about how far the tenner in your purse has to go with payday still a week away? How can you keep going above and beyond when you see on the news the Tory and DUP MPs cheered as they voted
30 down a motion on abolishing the Pay Cap? How can you keep going above and beyond with unpaid overtime, when you are having to take extra hours just to keep a roof over your head and food on the table?
The service is creaking because our elected representatives are letting it fail, not through any fault of the staff. We often hear ‘if it is so bad why are they not out on streets are raising a protest about the issue?’. The honest answer is staffs are too tired to raise their voices or their heads. No one goes in to the NHS to make their fortune. Many staff look around their communities and are so glad to have a job, so why make a noise?
This cut in take home pay has been going on for so long and people have been adjusting and adapting in their lives for so long, it now seems normal. A bit like the theory how to boil frogs. Start with cold water and slowly raise the temperature so they don’t know they are being killed. The Government in Westminster is trying to kill the NHS and we have to fight for it, and fight for the staff who provide the service. It is really easy when pay is discussed to start paying Public Sector employees against Private Sector. That is we wanted to highlight that this about the staff who provide the health care. Most union members and their families will access health care at some point so this is an issue for all of us.
I want to end on this, the day before the NHS’s birthday by quoting from Bevin ‘society becomes more wholesome, more serene and spiritually healthier if it knows that its citizens have at the back of their coconsciousness the knowledge that not only themselves but all their fellows have access when ill to the best that medical skills can provide, and if that job has to be done the State must accept financial responsibility’. Please support the NHS, please support this motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Is there a seconder?
Anne Speed, UNISON
Formally seconding this Motion. In this motion all of you are reminded that the denial of decent pay for one health worker is a concern for all of us, and you are urged to get on board with the fight to break the Tory 1% Pay Cap. This has been in place now for 5 years, and before that we had 2 years of pay freezes. Here across the North we didn’t even get the full value of the 1% in 2 of these 5 years, and as a result we have fallen behind and pay parity has been broken. For example the lowest pay rates in the NHS in Scotland stand at £8.33 per hour, in England £7.88,in Wales £7.53, and in Northern Ireland £7.33. We haven’t even yet got the minimum uplift by the Osbourne Living Wages as we call it. The value of our members pay has in fact decreased by 17% over the last 8 years.
We are profoundly disappointed and we are angry that any Northern Ireland MPS would think it right to vote to support this Cap and impose further austerity on workers on these two Islands. How dare they? Philip Hammond, Tory Finance Minister, I was listening to him last night on the news, called on MPS to hold their nerve and hang on to the strategy of supporting the pay cap. Now his party is at sixes and sevens on this issue. Well we are going to do the same. We are going to hold our nerve with our plans to bust this Tory Pay Cap.
All our unions are up for the fight. This issue is an actual fact an issue for all Public Services workers, and do you know there are 5million of us? Unions are mobilising with the call ‘pay us what you owe us’ and we know that Public Sector workers in the South are fighting the same battle, and we wish you colleagues every success.
31
I will finish on this, our unions recently met as Owen has said, and set out plans for a campaign and a fight back, and busting that Pay Cap is on that agenda. Please support this Motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay, I call on UNISON to move Motion 6.
Patricia McKeown, UNISON
Thank you President, Conference, Patricia McKeown moving Motion 6, which arguably could also be in the section on the main debate on an EU Exit. We have our own identity crisis to sort out sometimes in the movement, but it is here and why is it important?
It’s not exclusively confined to the North, the Peace Agreement belongs to the whole Island, it belongs to the world. It is an International Peace Agreement. Its guarantors are two Governments; the UK Government and the Irish Government, and to-date it has not had an easy ride. The implications for us leaving Europe are profound for that Agreement. We know what is wrong with Europe. We are the trade union movement, we have rehearsed it well over the decades. We know the ills and we know the things that should be put right, but there is an element of Social Europe that has still accorded rights to people like us that if we were waiting for our own Governments to accord we would be dead before we got for example, equal pay.
But those of us who campaigned for the Peace Agreement were very clear about the centrality of equality and human rights to that Agreement, and very clear about the fact that was underpinned by the two guarantors of our Agreement being Member States of Europe; Ireland and the UK. And that made it somewhat easier to do things like accept changes to the Irish Constitution. It made it easier to believe that when the Agreement said we could be British or Irish or both, that would really happen. These are issues that are thrown into jeopardy. Why was it so important to us that we would have Government on a power-sharing basis in the context of a human rights and equality framework. Important because we did not believe that that power-sharing Government would any time soon agree on the fundamental issues of equality and human rights.
Well let’s start with the 1998 one major party here walked away from the Peace Agreement. We had a very precarious system of Government and Direct Rule and suspension for nearly seven years. In 2007 there was another addendum to the Peace Agreement called the St. Andrews Agreement, and we believed, genuinely, that we would came to some kind of resolution finally we would have power-sharing. Some of us naively believed that from 2007 to the latest collapse it was going to be something that would work, but I must say most sceptically, over the last 3 or 4 years when the trade union movement in the North had to take to the streets to say where is this power- sharing, where is the deal, where is the equality and human rights, we became highly suspicious that it wasn’t really happing, and then it happened upon the 2009 DUP European Manifesto for the EU Elections of that year. In it, it said categorially here’s what the St. Andrews Agreement means to us. It means that Unionists now have a veto, and there is a Unionist majority on the Executive. Of course Nationalists have veto too, but it is the Republicans who want change, that has to be blocked because status quo is best for the Unionist people. Now status quo is not best for the Unionists members of my union, or anybody else’s, who are suffering from austerity, who are being denied their fundamental rights, who are living in poverty in a place where we have the highest incident of child health inequality in Europe, in a place where workers are the lowest paid on these Islands, in a place where housing destress and homelessness is costing lives, in a place where education under- achievement is becoming the norm in working class poor areas. So when they said that, they also said ‘here’s what would have happened if we hadn’t signed up to the St. Andrews Agreement’, and this is the myth right? ‘If we hadn’t, then Direct Rule would have introduced an Irish Language Act -
32 that was one of the provisions of the St. Andrews Agreement we thought - and it would also have introduced a damaging single Equality Bill.
Now we have kept our tempers and we have kept our patience in this movement for the last 10 years, and we have watched regression on equality and human rights, and of course we know workers’ rights are human rights. We were on strike when Thatcher changed the laws and we have never stopped campaigning since, but we were attempting to bolster up something that was not real, was a myth, wouldn’t work, and it was about time somebody walked away and called time on it. I think the thing we have to be very clear about is that there can be no endorsed return to something that isn’t about the Good Friday Agreement, isn’t about peace, isn’t about equality and human rights, and is not based on the those European frameworks that are contained in the Good Friday Agreement.
One final thing I will say, in the last number of months our movement, our supporters and our friends and allies have done extraordinary work on trying to figure out what the implications of EU Exit will mean for our Peace Agreement and in particular human rights, equality, and dealing with the legacy of the past. That is an extraordinary body of work which needs to come together now, and we need to mount the challenge because we are not prepared to have our views in the Referendum ignored or the views of the people of this entire Island ignored. I move.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you Patricia, I was going to suggest you can come up on to this section of the reporting I think it is your contribution. Seconder?
John Patrick Clayton, UNISION
President, Delegates, John Patrick Clayton UNISON, formally seconding Motion 6.
Conference regardless of where we stood on the Referendum campaign we all have to recognise the hard exit from the EU the Tories are perusing will cause serious problems across this Island, including for our Peace Process. As Patricia has already said, our Peace Agreement was made with both the UK and Ireland sharing membership of the EU, an assumption of continued membership of the EU is something that permeates through the Good Friday Agreement, and anything that alters the Agreement has to be a major concern. A hard exit led by the Tories is a threat to the Agreement we have, and is reckless of the UK Government to undermine the Agreement in this way.
Human rights protections in the Northern Ireland will suffer with an exit from the EU. The Tories have already stated that they will bin the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, workers rights and equality standards that grounded in EU law will be vulnerable to being weakened, and pressure will undoubtable come on to scrap the Human Rights Act, which will breach the Good Friday Agreement and be a disaster for our peace process. A Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland now needs to be delivered more than ever. We should be extremely wary of any great repeal Bill at Westminster that could lead to changes in our rights without full scrutiny, or which does not allow local devolved Government, if it returns, to properly protect our rights in the future.
Conference, our members do not want a border on this Island that will interfere with their work, study or family lives. They do not want to see the all Island economy strangled by exits from the EU, Customs Union, and Single Market. They do not want to see their colleagues who come from other EU countries live in uncertainty and fear, or be forced to leave a place they call home. Given the vacuum that exists in our politics in Northern Ireland with no common agreement between our parties on how to deal with these challenges, a strong ICTU campaign to protect the peace process
33 and workers North and South is now more important than ever. As President Higgins reminded us today, our strength lies in the collective. I urge support for this motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay, that is the six motions in the Northern Ireland Section moved and seconded. Obviously there is a section of the Annual Report, so I want an indication as to the speakers on the Northern Ireland Report. Can you come up a sit here at the front? I just want to get an idea as I am trying to work out the time we have here. And you’re getting back up Patricia aren’t you?
In terms of the motion, its 5 minutes but there is not an prevent you getting up and speaking on the motions on the Report okay?
Patricia McKeown, UNISON
Well you see President, in order to save time I tried to speak on Motion 1 and move Motion 6 at the same time. So I think my bits done.
Brian Campfield, President
That’s okay. We have about 20 minutes. Yourself, and no Lansdowne Road Agreement references this year every time you get up okay? You have to be a bit more creatively, go ahead.
Mark Walsh, ASTI
Mark Walsh, ASTI, Secondary Teachers Association in the Republic.
I just want to refer to Motion 3 in particular because it refers to trade union organising rights, and I note that the Pay Cap has been talked a lot about here in terms of restricting increases in Public Sector wages, and we have the same kind of thing as people know down South, we have the FEMPI Legislation. Although there has been restoration negotiated recently, it is still effectively a pay cap because we are still not rising back above what we were in 2008. So there is a commonality between the Pay Cap here and the FEMPI Legislation in the South. I think it really is the elephant in the room when we are all gathered here, we don’t live in normal times. A right to free collective bargaining is being restricted by the Pay Cap in the Public Sector here, and by the FEMPI Legislation down South.
The second thing I want to refer to is there was a reference to commending unions that have taken action, who have flexed their industrial muscle over the course of the past year, and in particular I suppose the unions that stand out around the Luas strike, Dublin Bus, and Bus Eireann. But I also what to mention the ASTI action that has taken place over the past year. I just want to thank in particular all of the support we got from all of the other trade unions when we were locked out from our schools, when we were being vilified in the media, when we were taking strike action, and to thank particularly when there was a strike on the 27th October, that we were given a platform to speak outside the Dáil by the other trade unions. I really want to welcome all of the support that we got, and to emphases how important it is that we have solidarity from all of the other trade unions, particularly when one union is taking action. We weren’t left isolated, we were supported all the way, and it is great to see so many unions speaking out for us.
So I just like to look forward to the same sense of solidarity now hopefully, when we have a united campaign with the three teacher unions together trying to fight for equal pay for equal work. Thank very much.
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Thomas McKillop, NIPSA
In support of Motion 3, to say we fully support the motion and the need to repeal anti -trade union laws, and stop attacks on our unions and our reps. My union NISPA is under specific, an attack from the Northern Ireland Civil Service Management where they are using the political vacuum that exists at the minute to attack the facility time for our reps, but also to attack the autonomy of the union.
The management are seeking to prevent our reps from using facility time to carry out functions that would be seen as supporting the whole community. The other functions that we do, they are basically saying the only thing you will get to do is have representative rights. So the likes of coming here today would be something that we would not be able to do. But not only that, it goes deeper than that, they are also seeking to dictate to the union who gets to represent the members. One of the departments within the union has taken a decision to remove seconded officers who are selected by the union and say that they will not be able to take up post for the union. They are reneging on central agreements to do that, and it just so happens that the two people that they have chosen to remove are two of the most high profile activists. I am going to name them; Carmel Gates is our President - they are seeking to remove Carmel from office, and Maria Morgan who is the Chair of the Northern Ireland Committee. They are seeking to remove them from office, going against central agreement, without discussion and operating in a political vacuum, and they are using this to fundamentally undermine NIPSA. If they can do this to NIPSA, and do this to two of the most high profiled activists within NISPA, they can do it to anybody. They will use this as a platform to say ‘we have got a green light go ahead and attack everybody else’. ICTU must take a stance on this. ICTU should be asking to meet with the NICS Management and get them to stop this attack on our reps. What hope is there that we can get improved laws, if employers are allowed to renege on existing agreements? We have no chance going forward for that and if we are going to fight in the struggle ahead we need to make sure there is a level playing field. So please support this motion and support NIPSA in this action.
Brian Campfield, President
The next speaker after that is Breda Hughes, then Michael Robertson and I hope to get the other to in.
Denis Keating, UNISON
Thanks Brian. President, delegates, Denis Keating, UNISON, Joint Convener and member of the Irish Congress Northern Ireland Health Service Committee, and also the Standing Orders Committee, speaking in support of Motion 2.
Conference, another year, another call for our politicians to work together for the people. We appear to be trapped in a ‘Groundhog Day’. For the last several years UNISON has consistently lobbied Government and parties, and our members have taken to the streets in public protest, over the failure of elected politicians to work collaboratively in the best interest of the people.
We have grown increasingly concerned by the clear resistance to power-sharing and have repeatedly asked for a stable government to implement the unfinished Peace Agreement. Instead we have bet consistently by a failure of our elected politicians to work collaboratively with the shared power within the framework of equality and human rights.
Conference, we need to seek change from our politicians. In short we need to put the people first and serve them, not the party. People, I urge you to support this motion.
Brian Campfield,President
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Okay the next speaker is Breda Hughes from the Royal College of Midwives who are, I think the newest affiliate, you are very welcome.
Breda Hughes,RCM
I am Breda Hughes, I am from the Royal College of Midwives, and I am going to speak in support of Motion 5.
Having attended Congress for many years as an Observer, it is a real pleasure and a privilege to be here as a delegate. And as far as I know we are the first and the only Royal College to have affiliated to the trade union Congress anywhere in the UK and Ireland, so maybe others will follow.
Anyway, in November 2016 the UK Health Service trade union wrote to Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, warning of an impending recruitment crisis with the heavy reliance on recruiting health care staff from overseas, and an even heavier reliance on the use of agency staff to prop up the Health Service in the UK. They asked for the 1% Pay Cap to be lifted. Their plea was ignored, however our fears about recruiting from overseas and using agency staff have now proven to be well founded.
Earlier this week the Nursing and Midwifery Council announced that for the first time in 10 years the number of nurses and midwives leaving the professional register in the UK exceeded the number of those joining. Last month the RCM, along with the other trade unions working in the Health Service wrote to the Prime Minister. She obviously has other thing to think about, because she hasn’t replied yet.
During the last six years the average Band 6 Midwife has seen her pay fall in Northern Ireland by £6,000 a year, with a growing differential between Scotland and the rest of the UK. Midwifes in Northern Ireland currently are almost £70 a month less than their colleagues in Scotland.
In 2015 for the first time in our 134 years history, members of the Royal College of Midwives walked out on strike in Northern Ireland. We had balloted our members, 95% of them supported this action. Unfortunately Government paid no attention. So now our members are voting with their feet. They are leaving both the profession and the Health Service. Congress I urge you to support this motion.
Brian Campfield, President
I am taking them fairly much in the order they have arrived at the front seats.
Michael Roberson, NIPSA
Michael Roberson from NIPSA giving qualified support to the motion of the Peace Process. The qualification is that NIPSA are not against peace, we are of course for peace, and we didn’t even have to move to a vote on it, but we find the motion has some problematic language for us, and some problematic concepts. It talks about the precarious Peace Process and calls it the Good Friday Agreement, and our view in our union is that that sort of sanctifies the political arrangements that have been made for Northern Ireland’s governance. We do, of course, have an Assembly, but it is a confessional assembly where each party that wants to stand to it has to designate itself as either Unionist, Nationalists, or Other. The natural consequence of that in the process of time is that those parties have consolidated and we now have two great blocks, and it squeezes out the ‘Others’ and many of us in this room have always been ‘Others’. The union movement is not built in to those arrangements, but we do have some influences on it. As a civil servant we understand Barnett and the Barnett consequentials of the money we receive from Westminster, and it has been in the news
36 because apparently they have found the magic money tree, keep shaking those leaves. The thing is after Barnett is applied to Northern Ireland the system of D’Hondt is then applied that is how the money that is given is then spread across our economy. That depends on what Ministers is in what department under the confessional nature of the system.
So our criticism is that the language in the Motion to some extent can have those things persevered in aspect. We think the Assembly arrangements and the political arrangements have not been acceptable, and I fully support that UNISON have said that in moving the Motion, and I would work with them in the interventions which we have made here. So we are in favour of Devolution, because we know with Devolution here there is a more progressive conscious, notwithstanding what I have just said than there has been in Westminster for quite a while. So we don’t have individual household water charges, largely because the union movement carried that argument to the politicians. We have things to be proud of, we have a nationalised transport system in Northern Ireland, still here, still subsidising routes that are less economic, in all of the things about social inclusion that people in Britain can only remember before their real system was privatised and the public transport system privatised. So we do support that, but with the qualification that we shouldn’t reserve an aspect of arrangements in the Assembly that have not functioned at all, not even well in the last period.
We do need to look at the third last paragraph in the motion; we are fully in favour because it is looking at what we do with Brexit and what our economy looks like, and again as a Public Sector union we are critical of the notion of cutting corporation tax because of the consequential cut in infrastructure spending, and public expenditure in Northern Ireland that will lead to. So we do need to look, and the union movement should be at the core of designing the new economy, whatever happens post Brexit, so please support the motion thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Hopefully we have time so yourself Pat and then Derek if we can manage it.
Stephanie Greenwood, UNISON
Stephanie Greenwood, UNISON supporting Motion 5.
President, delegates, I have worked in the pharmacy department of a large area hospital in Northern Ireland for about 17 years. I am a health worker, a mum of two, nana of three, a sister, a carer to a disabled brother, but I can be often be found on trust reports and Government briefings as I am commonly known and referred to on these documents as a statistic.
As a Public Sector health worker in Northern Ireland I stand before you, one of the lowest paid workers in the UK by virtue of my post code. The differential in pay that exists between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK must be addressed. Any Government or implementing Executive which forces children, the disabled, and health workers into poverty in order to cut taxes for the ultra-rich and provide subsidies for their corporations is morally questionable to say the least.
Jeremy Corbyn has begun the mobilisation of the ordinary worker in the UK. We now need organise, step-up our demands, and step up our campaigns here in Ireland. We need not to be the voice of the people, we need to be roar of the people. Life has changed for many, it’s much harder. We need to be much stronger. We need to mobilise and ensure pay inequality is resigned to the history books, that the true value of the health worker is recognised. A pay packet that actually allows a family to live, not just survive, not to shrimp, but to flourish.
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Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. We should all unite today in making another decision. No sneering, jeering, smug Tory will dictate our fate or the health outcomes of our families and our country. Our country is not struggling from feeding the poor, caring for the elderly, the disabled, or the unemployed, nor is it struggling or will it suffer if it pays Public Servants a decent wage.
Tory back benchers have started whisper about a better pay deal for weary health workers. I smell fear - fear for their own jobs maybe, but fear nontheless. Let us capitalise on this. I demand Theresa May checks her money tree a little harder. If the magic leaves can deliver a £1 billion bribe, surely it can deliver a lift on the Pay Cap, pay parity across devolved nations. I refused to be crushed by continuing austerity measures. Theresa May has been quoted, and her Westminster government is saying, in tough times everyone has to share the pain. Well it’s your time for the pain Mrs May. It is our time now, our day, our chance for change. I call on Congress to use all means available to support health unions in their battle across health service. Conference I support.
Brian Campfield, President
If the next two speakers are very brief you will all get another voice.
Pat Lawlor, NIPSA
Pat Lawlor NIPSA speaking in support of Motion 5 as well.
People are very well aware what’s been impacted on Public Sector workers and the pay cuts. As a Staff Nurse I would agree with Breda Hughes that I have lost almost up to £7,000 in the last 5 – 6 years, and it has had a direct impact on my family and the provision that I can give to my family and my children.
The real issue when I was looking at this motion I had a wee look at our Assembly, because obviously they have been giving themselves pay awards year on year, and it is interesting and I found it completely disgusting that the reality of the average wage and expenses for your average MLA is in and around £120,000 per year. Now these are the same people who are imposing the 1% pay cut on us, year on year. The reality is also pay capping is an issue that affects all services and all sectors, Private and Public, and we fully support of our Private and Public workers across all those areas.
What we should continue to do, and Congress is absolutely correct, we need now to oppose the Pay Cap by any means necessary, including industrial action as required. A motion by our sister union last year at the TUC, the PCS, got overwhelming support for a coordinated strike action across the trade union movement against the Pay Cap. We should be fully endorsed in that motion here today.
I would also endorse the campaign that ICTU is putting forward. I think it is a very important campaign to assist affiliates and non-affiliates alike to coordinate a campaign of action against the Pay Cap. I think it is really important now to recognise where we are in society, there is a mood, a mood has risen, of resistance and fight back. We see it in Corbyn, we have seen what happened across the UK with the elections.
I also want to make a comment, we see it also in the South, with the action of the ‘Jobstowns Not Guilty’, who fought and won against the might of the State who tried to demonise them. I think with resolve and determined leadership we can win. There is a weak Tory Government, there is weak leadership and we can defeat them. Just the last point, I wanted to send solidarity greetings to two important strikes in London this week; one the BA Cabin Crew and the other the Domestics, Porters and Security in St. Barts NHS hospital, who are also on strike for low pay. Thank you very much.
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Brian Campfield, President
This is going to be the last speaker, sorry Gerry.
Derek Mullen, CPSU
Derek Mullen, CPSU supporting Motion No. 3 from PCS.
President and delegates, this is a motion for the times we face and it is a very important motion for this Congress. The issue contained within the motion, represent some of the worst excesses of Government and employers, and also outline some of the key challenges facing the trade union movement. These are issues for all unions, and complacency will only bring these issues to all of our doors, that is if they haven’t arrived already.
There comes a time Delegates to circle the wagons and show Government and employers what we are really capable of as a Congress and that time is now. We are here to improve organising, to fight for free collective bargaining, and to turn the clock back on the vicious cycle of austerity and anti – trade unionism that all our members have suffered over the economic crisis.
Delegates, Derek Mullen, supporting Motion No. 3 3 on behalf of CPSU and standing shoulder to shoulder with our colleagues in PCS in their struggle. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Ok Conference I am going to move to the voting on the Motions. So I’m going to put Motion 1 to you all, all those in favour, against? That’s carried.
Motion No. 2, in favour, against? That’s carried.
Motion No. 3 , all in favour, against? That’s carried.
Motion No. 4, all in favour, against? That’s carried.
Motion No. 5, all in favour, against? That’s carried.
Motion No. 6, all in favour, against? That was carried.
And can I put the Section 2 of the Report on Northern Ireland to the Conference for endorsement ok? Is that section agreed? Agreed. Okay thank you.
It now is my opportunity to and my pleasure to call on our guest speaker, second guest speaker, Frances O’Grady the General Secretary of the TUC. Frances has been the General Secretary of the TUC from 2013, and she is the first women to ever hold the post. I thought that might be her daughter because her daughter lives in Belfast and she was hoping to see her here last night, but unfortunately she is in London so she is.
Frances has been active trade unionists and campaigner all her working life. She worked for the Transport and General Workers Union. She worked on successful campaigns to stop the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board, and for the introduction of the National Minimum Wage, Equal Pay for Women, and on a range of industrial pay claims. So I am now inviting Frances to address Conference.
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Frances O’Grady,TUC
Thanks very much Brian, Patricia, Sisters and Brothers, I recognise I am the only thing now between you and your lunch, and I have also learned that the shorter I am the more popular I get, so I will try not to detain you too long.
It is great to be here today and to bring solidarity from the TUC and our 6 million members. I also just want to put on record our thanks to your former AGS Peter Bunting, and too wish all the best to Owen for stepping into his shoes.
But first thing first, I want to pay tribute to Patricia for the brilliant job that she is doing. Under her leadership the ICTU has gone from strength to strength, campaigning for the right of asylum seekers to work, building a political consensus, for progressive health care and for social housing too, and fighting for new agreements and new laws to win a better deal for thousands and thousands especially low paid workers. Conference you should be proud of the ICTU and your collective achievements.
Now I became General Secretary of the TUC a couple of years before Patricia became General Secretary here, and since then in Britain we have had one Referendum - that went well, two General Elections, and two Prime Ministers, although any minute now it could be three. You may have noticed that Britain is in a somewhat volatile state. Nobody knows when we are going to face another General Election; some say a couple of years some say it could be a matter of months. I certainly believe that when the likes of Boris Johnston and Michael Gove are professing their undying loyalty, the Prime Minister is right to feel insecure. In fact the only thing we know for sure is that Theresa May has finally found out what it feels like to be on a zero hours contract.
Delegates, I want to say something about the shared challenges that we face in both our movements, but first I do want to just say a few words about the political situation in the UK. We are now just over three weeks on from what was the most extraordinary election campaign that I can remember. The Conservative Party wanted that campaign to be all about Brexit, but voters it seems had other ideas. They wanted to talk about cuts to our local schools and hospitals, the rise of insecurity at work with zero hours, and full self-employment, and why it is that workers in both the Public and the Private sector are facing yet another year of real pay cuts.
Now we had been told that this was going to be a Conservative landslide but it was anything but. It is true, of course, that Labour did not win, but I can tell you the Tories did not win either. Instead the result delivered a minority Conservative Government, so much for strong and stable. The Prime Minister was obviously faced with a dilemma, or as some have said she found herself between the devil and the DUP. Now much has been said about that DUP deal and the £1 billion price tag, or what I suspect some might more accurately describe as a £1 billion down payment. Some have describe it in Britain as ‘cash for votes’. At the very least it is clear that contrary to that Troy mantra throughout the election campaign, it seems that the Government does have a magic money tree after all. For the TUC’s part we have welcomed more money for Northern Ireland, after all unions here have long argued that big investment is needed, not only to reverse austerity, but to fund a proper industrial strategy for decent jobs for all. So of course Belfast needs new money. But there is a growing sense of unfairness in Britain, because so does Bradford and many other cities. So does Cardiff and the Welsh Valleys, and so does industrial Scotland too. We want an end to austerity everywhere.
Now our concerns about this deal go deeper still, we would acknowledge that the DUP base includes working class support, and that it is good for example that they say they are in favour of keeping that triple lock on pensions, but trade unionists are worried about money other policies; like LGBT rights, equal marriage rights, and a women’s right to choose. In Britain there is deep unease about
40 what all this means for the Good Friday Agreement; a concern echoed not only by the TUC, but even by the likes of the former Conservative Prime Minister, John Major too.
Now Conference, let’s be clear, that Peace Process is too precious to be put at risk for the short term political convenience of the Conservative Party. The union movements in Britain and Ireland were at the heart of securing and sustaining that Agreement, and we have worked hard to show that workers will always have more in common with each other, than with those who try to divide them.
We understand more than anyone that peace and stability must be built on mutual respect, good jobs human rights, including of course union rights, equal rights and shared power. We stand up for all working people in Britain and Ireland, regardless of faith or national origin, for men and for women, white and black, local and migrant, and we won’t stand by and see those commitments trashed to keep an increasingly shambolic Government in Westminster.
Our values will be important as we tackle what I see is our first shared priority, and that is Brexit. Now you know that the TUC campaigned for ‘Remain’ but we respect the democratic decision of the British people to leave the EU, but we don’t be believe anybody voted to lose their job, or to have their rights cut, or to see pay fall. The good news is that the election result has delivered a hammer blow to a hard Brexit, and exposed the lie that no deal is better than a bad deal. I am deeply grateful to the ICTU for all your support, and that of the ETUC in arriving at our common position for the whole trade union movement across Europe. Together we are clear that any deal must deliver a level playing field on workers’ rights and put jobs first, so that employers in Britain cant unfairly compete against those in Europe by under cutting workers’ rights. Because workers whether in Britain or the rest of the EU must not pay the price of Brexit. With the huge damage already caused by neo–liberal policies right across Europe, they simply can’t afford to.
We have also campaigned hard for the right to remain for EU citizens in the UK. EU citizens should be treated as human beings, not bargaining chips, and we all have continued to work ever more closely with you to stop a hard border. It would be bad for jobs, for thousands of people who cross that border every day for work, bad for the economy and bad for the politics of peace.
Conference, with the clock ticking on Brexit, our second priority is our agenda for great jobs for all and we have learned from your campaign for fair work and that charter. Now our demands are simple, everyone needs the kind of job that you can build a life on, steady skilled job, on guaranteed hours, that pay not just the living wage but a fair wage, and that give workers a voice and a real say in how their companies are run.
We want new rights for workers so that they can organise and be resented by a union that can collectively bargain on their behalf, and that must include repealing that UK draconian trade union Act, an undemocratic nasty piece of legislation that through an unpresented and a united UK union campaign we were able to damage, to dilute, and to delay. But I want to be clear delegates, we will not rest until that Act and all anti–trade union legislation everywhere is defeated.
I see that the new Taoiseach has also spoken about attacking the right to strike in essential services. When will politicians ever learn that strikes are just the symptoms of the problems that people face, and not their cause? That whatever new laws they inflict on us when people face injustice at work or in society, people will always find new ways to fight it. Instead of supressing what is a democratic human right to withdraw your labour, Government should get tough on those employers who will not negotiate, will not compromise, and will not listen. The truth is, without our brilliant union organisers in Britain, the world wouldn’t even know about what our digital sweatshops like Sports Direct, Uber, Asos, and Deliveroo. Of course going on strike is a last resort, but without it bad businesses would have even more power to exploit and abuse labour.
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Delegates, our third priority is to end destructive austerity. As you know better than me, Irish workers is still recovering from devastating IMF imposed cuts, cuts that sucked billions of Euros out of the economy, that saw huge job losses in the Public Sector, that have led to years of stagnating living standards. In the UK it is a similar story - Midwives, Nurses, Council Workers and those brave Firefighters who risked their lives to save others in Grenfell Tower are still worse off in real terms than they were before the financial crash. A million Public Sector jobs have gone since 2010 leaving services cut to the bone, and benefits for the poor, the vulnerable, and the disabled have been slashed. And for why? Ministers told us austerity would clear the deficits by 2015 but they failed. Now they tell us it will be 2025! Fat chance. We are stepping up our campaign to scrap that Public Sector Pay Cap, and it’s beginning to look like the Conservatives are beginning to crack, because more and more people recognise that we need fundamental change. We need real investment in Public Services, a pay rise to help families and boost demand and growth, and we need a new deal for our young people, young workers who have been on the front line of austerity. And that is why we are testing out new models of trade unionism co-created with hundreds and hundreds of unorganised workers, young workers in the industries and the jobs that need trade unionism most. So we can fight back with new blood, because Delegates, ultimately our destiny lies in our own hands.
Now during our election campaign we uncovered a real hunger for change. A manifesto for the many not the few, that won huge popular support, and it galvanised millions of young people who overwhelming voted for hope. Our job as trade unionists is to give all working people of every age the collective confidence, not just to demand change, but to win it. People are rightly angry from tax avoidance to Grenfell, they see a system that has failed them, and a political and corporate elite that just doesn’t seem to care, and it is only through collective organisation and collective action that we can win justice.
Now we all have a saying in our movement that we are ‘stronger together’ and on both sides of the Irish sea that’s what we must be - stronger together for peace, stronger together for fair shares, and stronger together for equality. Then together we as workers, we will win. Thank you very much.
Brian Campfield, President
Don’t be leaving the room yet. Thank you very much Frances for that fine speech. I think people enjoyed it but it hit all the right nerves as well and struck a resonance with people.
It remains for me to make a presentation to you which is a recently published historical directory of trade unions in Ireland by Frances Devine and the late John B Smithers, so you are very welcome and thank you. Hold on we are noting paying for the extra luggage costs on the plane so we are not.
There is a Global Solidarity Fringe Meeting taking place at lunch time now in the Minor hall on the ground floor, and the NERI Fringe Meeting will take place in the Boardroom on the first floor. It is probably an easy way to get your lunch if you attend. That’s us adjourned now until 2.30pm okay, thanks.
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Tuesday 4th JULY Afternoon Session
Brian Campfield, President
Its 2.30pm, so I will be starting in a minute or so, will you settle down and take your seats? Jack Mc Ginley, Chair of Standing Orders. Just before Jack says a few words, a mobile phone has been lost if it is in the hall, it is on silent, if anyone finds it can they hand it down to the AV desk at the back there. I presume that’s the audio visual desk. Could I also say our host today the owners of the building have contacted us because, firstly people aren’t going out of the hallway to smoke, and therefore there are people smoking in the hallway, but it was also reported that somebody was smoking in the Minor Hall. Let us have a bit of wit, outside for smoking and try a keep a distance from the building.
Jack McGinley, Standing Orders Committee
Colleagues, page 42, Item 3 Ballot Papers, you all have a lanyard with your blue tag on it and on the reverse side you should have a perforated stub. Now that stub is the key to you getting a ballot paper for the elections. So the arrangements for the exchange of credential stubs and the issuing of voting cards and ballot papers will be as follows.
Credential stubs will be exchanged for voting cards commencing from now until 11.00am tomorrow morning each delegate must personally exchange his or her credential stub for a voting card, and you do that by handing it to Liam Berney.
Ballot papers for the election for the person to represent Trades Councils and the Congress Executive Council and for the Standing Orders Committee will be issued tomorrow from 11.00am until 3pm. Each union will be asked to nominate a Principal Delegate, who in exchange for the voting cards, will collect the ballot papers from a polling station situated away from the main Conference Hall. On completion ballot papers should be returned to the sealed ballot boxes in the polling station by the individual delegates or by the Principal Delegate in accordance with union practice, before 3pm sharp on Wednesday 5th July 2017. The results of the election will be announced during the Conference proceedings, during the morning of Thursday 6th July.
Now delegates I also want to advise you that Jackie Pollack has withdrawn from the competition for Vice President, so Conference can now deem Kevin Callinan to be elected to the second Vice President position.
As a result of that election I can now say that the following constitute the incoming Executive Council Ordinary Panel; Ciaran Rohan, Kieran Christie, Eoin Ronayane, Steve Fitzpatrick, Fionnuala Ní Bhrógáin, David Kennedy, Larry Brodick, Denise Walker, Shay Cody, Marie Levis, Dave Hughes, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, Deirdre O Connor, Noel Ward, John Douglas, Justine McCamphill , Maria Morgan, Seamus Dooley, Tom Geraghty, Ethel Buckley, Joe Cunningham, Jack O’Connor, Sean Heading, Paddy Kavanagh, John MacGabhann, Patricia McKeown, Anne Speed, Ritchie Browne, Jackie Pollack, and Jacquie White.
Now delegates, Standing Orders Committee has received thus far two Emergency Motions. No. 1 is on Climate Change and the Paris Accord in the name of the ESU, and No. 2 is from the Derry Trades Council in relation to the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Standing Orders in a verbal Third Report is advising that it proposes to take this two Emergency Motions at 5pm tomorrow evening and that both motions will be proposed with the speaker for 5 minutes, will be formally seconded and then
43 will be put to the vote by the Chair, and we hope to complete that business at 5.15pm, so those who want to go to the Fringe meeting at 5.30pm can do so. If there are any other Emergency Motions in gestation the Standing Orders Committee are meeting tomorrow morning at 9.00am and that would be an appropriate time to have them submitted. I move Chair.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay Thanks Jack is that agreed? Agreed, okay. Just to say that the mobile phone has been handed over to its rightful owner. We are moving on to Section 2 of the Principle Report on the work of Congress, Industrial Legislation, and Strategic Organising, I am asking Patricia King, General Secretary to address Conference.
Patricia King, General Secretary Congress
Thank you President, and I want to join with others in welcoming you all to this Conference. Fraternal delegates, Officers of Congress, Observers, and indeed all of you as delegates to the Conference and our guests. So I also want to record my thanks to Uachtaráin Na Éireann for his inspiring contribution this morning and to the Lord Mayor of Belfast for her welcome, and for her attendance here at our Conference.
So in introducing the Industrial Report I would like to take the opportunity as well, to thank all of you for the work which you have done over the last number of years, and you are the collective leadership of the trade union movement, and it is a leadership that will be confronted by challenges in the coming years, unprecedented in magnitude and consequence for workers across this island.
Delegates the Executive Council Report seeks to reflect the work we have engaged in over the past two years. We have endeavoured to provide a coherence between the structure of the agenda, the motions and the individual sections of the Report. Following the recent appointment of our new Taoiseach, Dr Leo Varadkar, and indeed acknowledging and reiterating what we heard this morning about the need and the hope, that parties here in Northern Ireland will form a devolved Government, I think it is timely once again to set out the fundamental principles on which Ireland needs to rebuild its fractured society. Consequent on years austerity the Island of Ireland has suffered an unnecessarily severe and imbalanced fiscal adjustment, where workers have, in the main, paid the price. The crisis and the insufficient responses to it have deepened divergences, and have most particularly affected those on modest incomes. It has ruptured our society and many of us now fear for future generations and the quality of life and opportunity that they make be denied.
We in the trade union movement consistently urge the adoption of sustainable policies which will provide decent jobs, quality public services and the opportunity to enhance skills and capabilities, and we want our young people to be in a position to acquire a home, establish their family and have a reasonable prospect of living a full free and happy life. Fundamentally, we want workers and their families and communities to haven hope for a better tomorrow. However, as our economy continues to grow, it is increasing clear that it is an economy thriving for a few and not the many. Through recent public utterances I have detected a sense of irritation on behalf of the establishment that we continue to advocate these policies, as their preferred narrative seems to suggest the crisis is over Ireland is thriving, move on.
It is well accepted that decent work and wages are a key device to ensuring a fairer distribution of wealth, but it is also a reason why it is so strongly resisted. You only have to study the submissions to the Low Pay Commission to get a sense of the vigour of the opposition of the other side. Alongside this, the employers make the highly ambiguous argument that the State should further intervene through increase social transfers, while their profits rise and they continue to seek reduced taxation for those at the top.
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When we look at the labour market and consider the latest CSO figures, we discover the 35.1% of workers, the majority of whom are women, in the Republic of Ireland earn less than €400 per week. This morning we listened to the debate in the Norther Ireland Section which illustrated very succinctly in relation to pay in Northern Ireland and even the comparison with the rest of the UK. When we delve deeper, and we look at particular sectors, we find for instances that three quarters of all those working in accommodation and food services, all those workers earn less than €400 per week. The same sector has seen consistence strong profit performances over recent years, and since 2011 has enjoyed a reduced VAT rate, denying the State of at least €660 million per annum in tax foregone. Contrast this to their belligerent refusal to engage in a joint Labour Committee where workers terms and conditions could be enhanced. Delegates, this is completely untenable and they must not continue to afford this favourable tax subsidise to this sector.
At the other end of the Labour market our own Congress Report, ‘Because We Are Worth It’ pinned by Eileen Sweeney and Dr Peter Rigney, published earlier this year by Congress, underscores the fact that high pay has become more and more disconnected from the reality of decent pay, average earnings, living costs, and appropriate rewards. The report sets out in graphic detail the huge inequity between the earnings of those at the top at the very top and those at the bottom rung. Overall the work of Congress on the Private sector Committee, which was re-established in the last two years, has been to endeavour to provide a platform for the coordination of decentralised pattern pay bargaining across sectors, and has by and large succeed in doing this.
In the Public Sector the main focus has been to agree a mechanism to unwind the FEMPI Legislation and restore pay over a reasonable period of time. Affiliates are currently considering proposals arising from recent negotiations with the employer the Government, and let me just say that I am committed to working with the Public Services Committee to ensure that through a process the current provisions are maximised to secure the eradication of the imposed inequalities within current pay sutures, particular relating to new entrants, together with recruitment and retention.
In the Public Sector and in Public Transport, Congress has over these last number of years continued to work with affiliates to support their campaign for a fairer deal. Delegates, the trade union movement is the most important key influencer in wage setting. We are the only civil society actor who can affectively and robustly pursue and campaign for a policy aimed at addressing and re- shaping Ireland’s income distribution. Collective wage bargaining is the most effective mechanism to achieve wage-led growth, which in turn promotes economic uplift, a fact recognised recently in an ILO Study.
As trade union representatives, all of us, we constantly engage in such wage bargaining often utilising the industrial dispute lever, often in companies all across this island, and we systematically seek and more often or not we do succeed, to achieve an improved and fairer share for those workers we represent. We also progress pay and condition improvements through the JLC and the Sector Employment Order processes, and we have a significant role in pay determination. It is also why we act so strongly on the Low Pay Commission. But much more importantly, it is because of our role in pay determination that we will trenchantly resist any proposed anti–strike, anti–worker legislation as recently muted. That’s not radical that’s regressive, and every trade unionists across this country will vehemently oppose it.
Over the last two years industrial disputes such as those engaged in by MANDATE and SIPTU in the Dunne’s Stores dispute for instance, clearly highlighted the absolute necessity to deal with the issue of low hour contracts. We have worked intensively through political lobbying and direct departmental discussion to develop and progress legislative amendments, and in line with the University of Limerick report we seek to eradicate once and for all zero hour contracts, together with the introduction of mandatory banded hour contracts, reflecting actual hours worked where
45 requested. Our work will continue until the necessary legislative amendments are approved by the Oireachtas.
Delegates, Congress has also been an actively engaged through the good offices of our friends and colleagues; Michael Halpenny BL, and Kevin Duffy BL, to seek modifications to company law following the appalling debacle that happened at Cleary’s. And after twelve long years of campaigning by Congress, SIPTU, NUJ, and the Musicians Union of Ireland we can report that legislative amendment to afford collective bargaining rights to Voice Over actors, freelance Musicians and Journalists has been achieved following the passage of legislation very recently through the Oireacthas, sponsored by Professor Ivana Bacik, who worked with us tirelessly over those twelve years. We believe that legislation will also provide an opportunity to work to include other categories of workers during of the next number of years.
Delegates, as our President mentioned in his address, the future of work while a broad subject matter, is a continuous evolving phenomenal; robotics, automation, artificial intelligences are transforming everything from retail to banking, to the provision of medical care. We encounter examples everyday as we go about our normal lives. Many of these developments have caused job displacement, and some of the predications for the future are bleak. Very often within the so called ‘gig economy’ the companies involved operate a business model which avoids adherence to employment rights and regulation.
Bogus self–employment, rampant in the Construction Industry is another good example of this type of employment model. It is surely shameful that current Revenue policy permits this. We sought and got a review of this taxation policy two and a half years ago, and guess what? We are still awaiting the outcome of their deliberations. I wonder why? There is nothing futuristic about this at all, because actually what’s happening on the ground with what they call ‘flexible working’ is actually the very same as what happened in 1913 on the Docks in Belfast and on the Docks in Dublin. We will pick you when we want you, we will pay you what we want to, how we want to, and we will be in control. It is the very same fight as was fought in 1913.
So Delegates, it is vital that all steps are taken to ensure that this technology transition is managed in a just and equal manner, and not to be allowed to be used as tool for exploitation. This movement needs to communicate with these workers and assist them to make their response. In our view, the employment challenges pose by Climate Change also will have to be addressed via a Just Transition and this stagey should ensure quality job creation, compensating for job destruction.
Delegates, across the Island we need a level of social infrastructural investment which will equip our country to respond adequately to the needs of our citizens. Social repair requires greater investment in both public and social infrastructure currently at a historically low level. Such spending should not be seen as a cost but as an investment, an investment in people, and if we continue on our current path, Ireland will have the lowest public spending ratio in the European Union by 2021.
If we focus for a moment on the housing emergency which was and has been shamefully ongoing in the Republic of Ireland for the last eight years at least, it is no exaggeration to say that the lack of access to affordable, quality homes for workers, their families and communities, constitutes one of the biggest social failures by the political system since the foundation of the State. Delegates, policy makers need to take responsibility for this. It has occurred for a number of reasons. It has occurred as a direct response and consequence of under-investment over many years, and a withdrawal by the Local Authorities sector from virtually any direct social housing provision. A failure on the part of a market and property developer-led model of housing to deliver enough houses to meet the demands of a growing population. It has failed because of an increasing reliance on the private sector to provide social housing which has been going on since the late Eighties. The private housing market is broken and completely dysfunctional.
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In Norther Ireland a similar pattern emerges were public housing provision is at its lowest level in 40 years. The facts are stark. Successive Government policy initiatives have failed to reach their own targets, including the most recent one named ‘Rebuilding Ireland’. Consequently we find 1,300 families are now living in totally unsuitable temporary accommodation. The number of homeless children has risen by 240% to 2,277 in just three years. 90,000 households are on social housing lists. Rents have raised by 50% since 2011. Homelessness has reached its highest ever levels.
We believe that the right to have a home is a human right, and must take precedence over wealth creation and profiteering. We need the State to intervene immediately. Local Authorities should be directed and funded to provide tens of thousands of well-planned, high quality social and affordable homes. State owned land, which is now available, should be used for this purpose only, and not made available to private developers or vulture funds, who by Nama’s own admission are hording the land and awaiting further price hikes. The Local Authorities should begin this construction immediately and these new homes could be made available within months. The State should also acquire voids and refurbish them for immediate use, and at the last Census count in 2016 in the Republic of Ireland there were 200,000 of such voids. Compulsory purchase is within the gift of the Government, and they should utilise it in the common good, and there is absolutely no reason Constitutional or otherwise, as why they shouldn’t do that, despite the rhetoric about property rights. Our reckoning is that the provisions of 10,000 housing units per annum will cost €1.8 billion, and while we acknowledge the issue of national debt, in the circumstances of this crisis, it is unconscionable to contemplate using the AIB share sale return money to write down debt. Ireland’s social needs must not be sacrificed for financial Europe. The State’s first responsibility is to those children and thousands of young workers who deserve better.
The Congress campaign on the housing crisis already begun in Cork through the One Project, involves a systematic lobbing of all political spokespersons from all parties. We intend to meet, as we with the Charter on fundamental Workers Rights, we intend to meet every Local Authority and demand that they lead an emergency response to the housing crisis, and we will also work collegiately with likeminded advocate groups to strengthen our core message.
In the last number of weeks we have seen the appointment of another new Minister for Housing. The workers of this country and their families demand that he makes the required policy shift away from treating housing as a market commodity, where incentives to the Private Sector do nothing more than increase the price of a house. The provision of social housing is the direct responsibility of the State. He urgently needs to prioritise the needs of citizens over the developers or global equity funds. Shelter over profits - ideologically this may prove difficult for him, but he needs to get on with it and he needs to do it without any further delay.
Our Health Service will only be fixed by moving to an adequately funded, publicly controlled, and universally accessible single tier National Health Service, and the Congress endorses the findings of the Sláinte Oireacthas Committee Report, and we support the fact that the Government should invest adequately to implement the recommendations.
Education spending falls short of what is needed to equip children, students and workers, with the skills to work and live in a fast changing world. Investment in an accessible, inclusive education system is a prerequisite for an equal society in a thriving economy. In its paper on Childcare entitled Who Cares?, Congress points out that the policy failure in this sector can only be remedied by raising investment to European levels. The very high cost of childcare is a major barrier to labour market entry, particularly for women, and significantly contributes to the loss of high quality skills, experience and knowledge within our workforce. NERI highlights that the average family spends 34% of all their household income on childcare, which is double the European average. Despite some recent progress we need to see far more intervention. Employers who would benefit from higher labour force participation should contribute more.
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On the issue of Pensions, and particularly pensions in the Private Sector, you will see in the Report that our Pensions Sub Committee strongly advocated in favour of a second tier pension scheme for all workers. And we also lobbied to achieve appropriate amendments to current legislation of employer debt, and to improve from a worker prospective the rules and regulations in relation to minimum funding standards currently applying in defined Pension schemes and benefit schemes.
Congress, it is not an exaggeration to say and to suggest that we are at a crucial juncture for the future evolution of Europe. The challenges it faces are probably the most profound since its inspection shortly after the conclusion of the Second World War. We shouldn’t forget that the origin of that European Union lies in the aftermath of that horrendous world conflict. It has been described as the most advanced political project ever undertaken, the only one to embody a social welfare dimension with the development of public provision of Health and Education services. In fact it has also been referred to as the most effective peace process in our history, guaranteeing peace and stability across a continent spanning 70 years.
While Europe’s role as a global force is essential, its place in the world is shrinking while other parts grow. It is predicted that by 2060 the Union will account for less than 5% of the world population. Its economic power will also decrease when it is expected that its percentage of GDP will be less than 20 in 2030, while the influence of the economies such as China and India will rapidly increase.
In these circumstances and in the context of Brexit, a major question for Europe is its ability to maintain its influence and values on the revised global stage. For a considerable number of years now European policy makers have abandoned the core values of social Europe, and instead have opted for unbridle free market globalisation. Indeed if these same policy makers continue in this vein the future of the European project itself surely must be in doubt. The diminution of the European social model we believe has undermined the progress of European integration, and given rise to a level of mistrust between the institutions of the EU and its citizens. Let’s us remember that overall almost a quarter of the EU’s population is a risk of poverty. One fifth of young people are unemployed in the Eurozone, and the salary difference between men and women is still at 16%. Economic prosperity and social progress are pronounced European goals, but over the last decade it has delivered neither. European integration was meant to afford some protection against globalisation and the creative destruction of markets. It is not at all obvious that it has done so, in fact there is reason to claim that it has actually exacerbated it. The evidence is that there is a growing disconnect between citizens, national Governments, and technocratic elites in Brussels and Frankfurt. Repulsive political forces are at work across Europe even in traditionally stable and moderate political cultures.
History shows that there will be eventually be a counter movement by workers against economic conditions which oppress them. We know that Brexit arose as a result of the alienation of millions of working people in the UK whose lives have been dogged by low incomes, precarious work, discrimination, and little viable prospect of personal advancement. Instead these workers embrace the agenda of the Far Right whose simplistic, nationalistic philosophy offered them a false dawn.
The experience in the US is similar where Trump protectionism had their endorsement. Demagogues and others will continue to take advantage of this popular discontent within Europe and the EU as along as the direction of social Europe and their economic, trade and fiscal policies ignore social rights and do not reinforce the inclusion rather than the exclusion of many. It is imperative therefore that confidence in social Europe is rebuilt. The European Trade Union Confederation recently proposed a new pact for the future of Europe based on prosperity, social justice, and democracy. Reshaping Europe requires different policy choices, different rules and a greater participation by citizens working people and their trade unions. The EU can only once again be cherished by workers and citizens if it provides concreate solutions to their problems, through quality jobs, full employment, social protection, personal security, and wellbeing. It must abandon
48 its rigid fiscal rules and produce much stronger investment in public services and social infrastructure. It must also adopt a proactive, progressive stagey on emigration which is essential for the sustainability of our populations given demography trends in Europe.
EU leaders must discard the main tools of adjustment to-date, such as wage depression, the dismantlement of collective bargaining, labour market flexibility and the generation of precarious work models, cuts in public spending, unacceptable of unemployment and social exclusion. The European social model which was once the benchmark for the rest of the world, now weakened and jeopardised, and in some countries dismantled, must be reinforced. We must change the mainstream narrative which considers it an obstacle to economic growth. It must be recognised that countries with the highest wages, strongest social dialog, strongest collective bargaining, sound social protection system, are the best economic performers. The social dimension of the European Union must achieve the same relevance as economic governance, and we must make sure that the Pillar of Social Rights is not yet another set of empty promises. Workers and citizens need concrete measures that can make a difference to their daily lives, improving their living and working conditions.
Much has been written to-date about Brexit. The exit of a major EU Member State with a population just over 65 million or 13% of the overall EU total of 510 million, will be a major shock. The UK which accounts for 16% of total EU GDP is embedded in a complex network of trade flows, manufacturing supply chains, together with a myriad of regulatory and legal instruments, governing trade in products and services. Aside from a unique set of Constitutional arrangements, the Island of Ireland and the UK are inextricably linked by the scale and intensity of the trading relationship between them. Ireland is its sixth largest trading partner.
Congress has published, and will launched it at this Conference, its second policy paper on the subject, and we hope this will be a fulsome debate when the document is launched. It is not my intention to outline in detail the various policy pieces in that document, but maybe I will just highlight a few. Any agreement reached on Brexit must recognise the human rights and protections that underpin the Constitutional settlement on the Island of Ireland. Brexit must not be used as a pretext to dismantle hard won workers’ rights and protections, or to drive down employment standards. In fact where employment rights are more advanced in Northern Ireland than those applying in the Republic of Ireland, we will argue and advocate that the principle of equivalence. On trade we believe that the best outcome would be that the UK as a whole remains at least in the Customs Union, if not the Single Market. The EU should ensure that a Zero Tariff Agreement is reached between the UK and the EU. The implications for employment and the labour market generally will hinge on the form of trading relationship finally agreed, however it is essential that the parties agree sufficient funds to support and safeguard jobs and employment. Both governments should support and continue free movement of people on the Island and a hard border can be avoided if the UK maintains the right to travel for all EU citizens. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is ready to work with others to ensure that the greatest extent possible, the negative impact of Brexit is contained.
So finally Delegates, there is no denying the extent of the challenges we face as we confront profound structural change in the political economy of contemporary capitalism, yet the fundamentals of our trade union purpose in terms of the defence of decent work and workers’ rights, together with the advancement of their economic and social wellbeing through collective bargaining, remain evermore important in all contexts. We should clearly be mindful that the only effective answer to organised capitalism and greed is organised labour; the common bond of worker solidarity, unique to this great movement creates an indestructible synergy between workers, not only on this island, but across the globe. it is through the consolidation of these forces and the industrial leverage it affords us that we have created a union premium for workers and we have succeeded in positioning ourselves as a key influencer in society.
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As the current leaders of this movement, we have an absolute responsibility and obligation to ensure that every strategic decision we make, we retreat from short-term thinking and we act in the overall future best interest of the movement and workers. We are not entitled to dilute or weaken this solidarity. Our opponents, as we know, are always in the wings all too willing to exploit any such opportunity.
Delegates, the future of this movement lies in all our hands. Our predecessors fought and worked tirelessly to preserve its effectiveness. It behoves us all therefore to build and expand our organisation in workplace across the Island, to re-engineer our organisational structures where appropriate and necessary to enhance that strength. Going away from this Conference let us be crystal clear on our mission, every step we take should enhance and not diminish the prospects of advancing the interests of workers, and we do so in a spirit of solidarity and cohesion. Our moto should always be ‘organise, unify, and consolidate’. Our predecessors and the workers of the future deserve no less from us. Thank you for listening to me.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you Patricia for that. We have about thirty minutes left here for 10 motions. I am going to take the first two motions together, and then the following three motions together because they are on related issues. Can I say firstly that we might not be taking any motions because there are people using e-cigarettes in the vicinity or in the building, and it can trigger the alarm, and we have been warned by the owners of the building, that there is a big danger of this Conference exiting into the worse weather we have seen in a few weeks. So outside for smokers and e-cigarettes. Could I call on MDNATE to move Motion 7? Bear in mind that there are 10 motions here and we have 30 minutes.
John O’Donnell, Mandate
John O’Donnell, President of Mandate moving Motion 7, the Right of Trade Union Access .
Brothers and Sisters the trade union movement is in its biggest crisis since the foundation of the State. In the 1970’s trade union decency was at 57% of all employees, now we are on half that level. In particular density levels in the Private Sector are now at their lowest point in decades, so we must put plans in place to rebuild our movement. The key to this is the right for trade union members to have access to their trade union official, and for trade unions to be able to have discussions with their members in the workplace.
In Australia and New Zealand, among other countries with 24 hours’ notice trade unions can legally enter our work place to do inspections on workplace rights, inspections for Health and Safety purposes and for consultations with their members. Contrast this with Ireland, MANDATE Organisers have been physically removed from the carparks of companies like IKEA. Are Irish workers not entitled to representation as workers in Australia or New Zealand are?
The recent high profile dispute between our union and Tesco Ireland has exposed how weak our representational rights in Ireland are. At the drop of a hat Tesco’s were able to stop our union from using union notice boards, we could not hold meetings or ballot members in Tesco Stores, and instead we had to organise meetings in hotels, community centres and other public places. This is nothing other than an obstruction on workers having a right to their trade union. If I join a golf club I expect to be able to play golf. If I join a trade union I expect to be represented by my trade union.
The Tesco dispute has become so bitter that the company is now refusing to put new members into our union and has stopped contributions from the 22 stores were workers voted in favour of industrial action. The National Employment Rights Authority’s most recent report for 2015 showed that there were 275 inspectors in the Wholesale and Retail Sector. Out of those inspections there
50 was a compliance rate of 48%. This means there were more employers in breach of legislation than were compliant with it. The unpaid wages recovered as a result of those inspections was €255,000, that’s €930 per inspection, and its 275 inspections in an industry that employs 280,000 workers. If trade unions had access to the workers in the workplace, those abuses would be significantly lowered, which would not only benefit workers, but also decent employers who are being undercut by rouge ones.
If we are serious about rebuilding our trade union movement, trade unions must be able to access the workplace to talk to workers about their issue, at a time when low pay lower contracts are more prevalent in this country than almost any other developed country in the world when many employers are flagrantly breaking employment legislation with impunity, at time inequality is higher than at almost any time in our history. The fightback has to start with something as simple as the right to trade union access. I ask you to support this motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Is there a seconder?
Catherine Mc Loughlin, MANDATE
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, my name is Catherine Mc Loughlin I am with MANDTE and I am seconding this proposal.
I work in retail, and I have been an employee for a company for 12 years that, like a lot a lot of employers, does not recognise a trade union. This means that as a shop Stewart I cannot hang up any union paraphernalia. I have to issue union forms to my colleagues outside of my working hours, and I have to attend training courses on my own time. Even as I sit in on disciplinary action, my input is restricted and I cannot access any support from my union official.
These kinds of employers they have an monopoly on any information that’s issued to the staff. For example any concessions that the unions win us like a 3% pay increase, your employers are going to take full responsibility for it. As well as that, the need for a union is diminished as the employers lead the staff to believe that all their needs will be met within the company, but as we all know, your employers may only be ever working in the best interest of the company, and not necessarily in the best interest of the staff. Having the employer in complete control over the workforce it leads to a very biased and distorted relationship between both employer and employee. Let’s face it the employers aren’t going to go out of their way to tell you what your benefits are, or what you are entitled to. That’s why I believe that the right to trade union access is so important. It allows trade union officials to enter any business premises and conduct business without fear of being removed or harassment. There would be more of an input with disciplinary hearings and our employers will not be our sole font of information anymore. We made be given a wider variety of options and more control over our own lives within our respective employments. I think it was Dostoyevsky that said the best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he doesn’t know he is in prison. I just think it’s time we need to take the chains off, let the unions in and find out exactly what we are entitled to, and to be able to meet them on an even footing. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Can we have USDAW to move Motion 8?
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Michaela Lafferty, USDAW
Michela Lafferty moving the Motion on Trade Union Access and Statutory Recognition of behalf of USDAW.
Conference I shouldn’t have to standing here in front of you here today. Companies should realise the positive impact that entering in to a trade union agreement will have, both on the wellbeing of their staff and also on the business itself, in terms of staff satisfaction and employee retention. here are plenty of examples that we can point to from within our union movement to evidence this. But the sad truth is the opposite is happening. Now more than ever, unions are struggling to gain recognition with companies and struggling to get proper access to educate, recruit and organise workers into the movement.
Good agreements make for a meaningful and productive industrial relationship, but too many employers are resisting us. Too many are refusing us access. Too many are threating their staff against joining a union. The tide is moving in the wrong direction Conference, and we need to act now. We are all feeling the pressure after seven years of Tory austerity. People are looking to reduce their costs, but at what cost to workers?
In Retail shoppers are turning in droves to discount food stores. The staff there often suffer poor treatment from managers, bullying even intimidation. Companies are actually proud to pay a minimum wage. Low budget retailers paying the lowest pay possible. It is up to us to make sure people now their rights and are not been taken advantage of, but to do this effectively we must be recognised. We must get agreements and we must use them.
Conference, the right to form and join trade unions to collective bargain and to strike are universal human rights, yet employment law currently makes it all most impossible for us to gain our statutory rights. The system is stacked against achieving statutory recognition for workers. Currently to get a ballot on statutory recognition in Northern Ireland at least 10% of the workforce must be trade union members, and the union must produce evidence to show that the majority of that workforce is likely to support the union’s claim for recognition. How can we do either effectively if we can’t even get in the door? And that Conference is just to get the ballot. To win the ballot, the trade union must first of all get a turnout of a least 40% of the total workforce, as well as the support of a majority of the votes cast, making this threshold so high, far higher than any political election stacking the cards against them. Companies like Lidl, Dunne’s and Marks and Spencer’s are doing all they can to stop us organising there workforce. Often they won’t even let us through the door, threating staff if they even take an information leaflet from us it is absolutely disgraceful.
Conference, we need our rights of access to workforces to be strengthened. Achieving this would allow our movement to thrive and we would become a stronger voice for workers and their families that we strived to be now. Trade unions should have rights of access to workplaces to speak to, advice and represent member. We need the rules for recognition ballots to be reasonable. All we are asking for is fairness - a fair chance to connect to a worker and organise them into our movement, so that if there is a will from the workforce to get recognition we can reasonably expect those workers to achieve their aim. Where people are antagonised by anti–union management, bullied, threatened, and in some cases threatened with dismissal, all for wanting to organise their workplace we need a legal framework that will protect those workers. We urge Conference to support our motion and start a campaign to make sure trade unions have a statutory right of access to workplaces, and to improve statutory recognition rules in Northern Ireland so that a simple majority of those voting in a ballot will be sufficient to grant statutory recognition. Conference I move the motion.
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Brian Campfield, President
Is that formally seconded? It is. Look we have 8 Motions left and 15 minutes left so there is no disagreement on these 2 motions , with your indulgence I am going to put Motion 7 and Motion 8 to Conference. Are you happy enough? I don’t have time, I have get through these motions, well make it brief.
Willie Hamilton, MANDATE
Thanks Chair for your indulgence. I’m speaking in favour of the MANDATE motion on access. Can I just share with you delegates, news I just got an hour ago from my shop Steward in Tesco in Navan.
Following the recent industrial dispute that MANDATE had with Tesco, two of our members have been on suspension for a period of three months facing dismissal. They have only been told today that they are going to fall short of dismissal but they are being suspended without pay for the period of two and three weeks respectively.
Now the heinous crime that these people were guilty of was no more than engaging in industrial action against Tesco. If you think this is a conspiracy theory I have a shop Steward in Tesco in Monaghan who is out three months on suspension, awaiting an outcome meeting for the heinous crime of engaging in industrial action against that company. Apparently she was one of three picketers on the store in Monaghan when a SIPTU member who was a cash in transit driver refused to pass the picket to deliver money. Because that cash in transit driver refused to pass the picket those 3 people were suspended, two of them have taken Redundancy, my Shop Steward remains out there suspended still, and is facing dismissal.
Fifty of their colleagues have been put on final written warnings for such heinous acts as smirking at a customer, making a child cry because she saw picketers. This is the level that we are at, so when we are talking delegates about access and we are talking about rights. Rights are useless if you can’t vindicate those rights. What I am asking now, I am imploring the new National Executive and I now I’m really pushing it out here, when you talk about access I want to about more than just access in to a company. Chair I am asking that you would look at specific legislation that will do away with corporate bulling, victimisation, anti–trade unionism. I am asking that the Unfair Dismissal Act be looked at now and reformed so it can look for punitive damages to stop this horrendous attack on our members. Thanks for your patience.
Brian Campfield, President
I am going to put Motion 7 all those in favour? It was formally seconded, both motions were formally seconded. So all those in favour of Motion 7? Okay its carried. Those in favour of Motion 8? It’s carried. TEEU to move the next motion.
Brian Nolan, TEEU
Good afternoon Brian Nolan TEEU, moving Motion 9 on Precarious Employment.
This motion is calling for a count on ability, calling those employers who engage in precarious employment activates to be held accountable through a number of proposals there. Every trade union here is well aware and has been affected by precarious employment. These precarious employments were highlighted at the previous Conferences and we have discussed them and even used them as a platform to organise workers. Redress is something that doesn’t come easy for workers, to put it is simple terms we need to make them employers accountable. It’s not enough just to get the money that wasn’t paid, or get a contract that should have always been fit for purpose after the fact. We think these measures should be pushed as precarious employment is
53 effectively the hammer that’s used to dismantle trade union organisation and promote the non– labour agenda. So I would ask you all to consider the motion and consider from this point forward we actively seek to make the unscrupulous employers accountable for their actions, and remind them if they do attack our members they will have to pay a price, thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Are you seconding this, I will second and move. Go ahead if it saves time. Just stand up and start again then you are seconding Motion 9, yes seconding Motion 9 because they are all around the same thing.
Billy Wall, TEEU
Good afternoon everyone, we brought this up before at the last Conference about bogus self – employment precarious employment practises in the Construction sector, and it doesn’t just involve Plasters by the way I am Billy Wall, The Plasters’ Union.
It is interesting to note both ourselves, Congress and TASC have brought out a Report and it has identified that in 2015 that €80 million has gone missing because of bogus self–employment. In the Construction Sector, alone if you equate that there is about 27% of the workers working in the industry, and if you equate that to 2016 figures that would equate to around €88 million, so the figure is rising. The CIF give figures for 2021 of around 213,000 workers in Construction, which then would equate to about €=€137 million - how many hospitals could we build? Our General Secretary has mentioned housing - how many houses could we build? The list goes on and on.
It has other effects for other members in the room Conference. Teachers - those who provide teaching in terms of apprenticeships, the TUI have members that provide apprenticeship training. That is getting less and less, because people who are bogus self–employed they actually can’t provide training. So we urge members to support the motion.
The last thing I will say is that coming from the Report, we have asked for legislation. I know the Competition Amendment Act has been introduced, but what we would seek is well as part of it would be that the idea of when a worker is classified as bogus self–employed worker, taking it out of the scope of the Department of Social Protection and moving it into the WRC, and let the WRC deal with all issues in relation to employment. I move the Motion.
Brian Campfield, President
So Billy, just don’t go away, so you have seconded Motion 9 and you have proposed Motion 10? Yes. Is there a seconder for Motion 10?
Mike Jennings, IFUT
Delegates, President, General Secretary seconding Motion 10, Delegates we have a quality apprenticeship system, we have quality assured apprenticeship curriculum. We have quality apprentices. We have quality trainers and teachers, and we have national qualification for apprentices. However, when they qualify with their National Certificate at Level 6 of the Irish Framework Qualifications, at level 5 of the European Qualifications Frame work, and when they go into employment with a legitimate expectation of secure employment, of good employment, instead they get offered these bogus self-employed contracts, particularly for plastering apprentices.
Delegates, I urge you to support this motion, and I urge you to stop this practice. We should be looking for quality career paths for our apprentices that have national qualifications and qualifications that are recognised, and a European qualification frame work at Level 5. So its quality
54 apprenticeships, quality career paths for our young people and quality jobs for our young people. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Sorry Mike I am taking three motions together moved and seconded. I said I was taking the next three, so I am looking for the CWU to move the Bogus Self–Employment Motion 11, I am taking three motions , movers and seconders first. Go ahead if you are CWU.
Fionnula Ní Brógháin, CWU
Thank you President. I will be very brief, as my colleagues have a lot of this already. Moving motion 11.
Conference in submitting our motion it is to be welcomed that for the first time in the sector there is a statutory definition of what constitute false or fully dependent self–employed workers in the recent Competition Amendment Act. It is notable that employers are not specifically referred to in the Act so it remains to be seen what role, if any, those employers will play in the consultation process, and we will have to see how this develops overtime.
As my colleagues have noted bogus self–employment is part of a general direction of employment in Ireland towards precarious working, about pay, uncertainty of working hours, it depresses overall income and therefore general living standards. It undermines solidarity, peruses an aggressive anti– union policy and seriously undermines pay conditions and union strength across all industries and sectors. All of this poses an obvious challenge to a union looking to organise those workers, and I say that as an organiser myself.
To take an example from my own union’s industry, the Postal Courier Sector, in one particular courier company we have an organising campaign in at the moment; Nightline of approximately 800 staff they claim 600 of those are actually self–employed. Those 600 self-employed drivers are working on a piece-rate, thye pay for the privilege of delivery on their vans, they pay for their uniforms, they work 48 hours a week exposing the nonsense of the idea that they have choice and flexibility of working elsewhere if they chose, and the scenario replicates across all sectors in Ireland North and South. For this reason we ask the incoming Executive to produce a research paper similar to the excellent report in the Construction Industry to facilitate this important work. Conference I move the Motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Just hold - seconding the Motion? Sorry, if you are seconding the Motion you need to confine that the Motion 11. I am speaking on 9 which is Bogus Employment the same issues, so if our delegates are happy for me to speak on that Motion. Go ahead, go ahead continue.
Antoinette McMillan, NIPSA
This Motion is extremely important as it highlights in Northern Ireland especially Tory cuts and were the economic policies are going; zero hour contracts, agency and bogus self–employment. This motion rightly asks for penalties, and for such employers however, as the motion states , we need to take this further and we need to stamp out these practices altogether. These aren’t flexible working policies, these are an abuse of flexible working. The Citizens Advice Bureau has done a lot of work on such workers and estimate any bogus employers are failing to pay workers an estimated £1,200 per year in holiday pay alone. This is before you even look at sick pay, maternity and other rights many of us enjoy.
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Many workers are coerced, threatened, bullied and pressurised into agreements that are unfair unequitable and as Eamon McCann stated we are treated as slave labour. This applies to many structured areas including construction, transport, private social car hire, hairdressing, cleaning, pilots, but also in the Public Sector, and our colleagues in the NASUWT have done a lot of work on this, and have estimated that a third of their Teachers work for umbrella companies, and instead of receiving a £120 a day are receiving a £140 per day, which covers both their and the bogus employers national insurance contributions, their holiday pay and their pensions. This is scandalous and disgraceful.
Tax and national insurance contribution avoidance by these companies is estimated at £430 million in the UK and €650 million in the Republic’s Construction Industry alone. Half of the jobs created in the EU since 2010 have been temporary. Conference, precarious work, in particular bogus employment, threatens the very Welfare State. If we were all in this situation, contributions and taxes, and if they weren’t paid, the Welfare State would collapse.
Conference this is not acceptable and should never be acceptable to the trade union movement, and needs to be dealt with. NISPA has taken some issues along with the Law Society in relation to agency treatment using the Swedish derogation, and we have managed to get the Northern Civil Service to agree not to not use agency contracts that use Swedish derogation models.
The President Michael D Higgins this morning talked about Jean Paul Juncker and the EU Commission social policy on the Pillar of Social Rights published in April of this year. These are 20 key principles and rights to support labour markets and welfare systems. These rights seek much needed legislation such as the right to the presumption of an employment relationship, a better definition of the term ‘worker’, protection for labour provided by self–employed people, and the right to protection against insecurity of employment, dignity at work , collective bargaining, health and safety, and regulation of online platforms to name a few.
Economic success, even when it was the Celtic Tiger, failed to deal with the issues of poverty and housing. They were not dealt with. Successive Governments North and South have failed to recognise that economic success cannot exist without good progressive social policies and social rights. In successful economic models social policies and rights are not neglected.
We heard a lot about the position of the trade union movement or where we should be positioned, well Conference I don’t know but I thought we knew our position. I thought we were here to promote policies to protect workers and their rights, promote equality and social responsibility. As a movement, we have motions, papers and documents etc. that the rain forest could supply on all these issues. The Pillar of Social Rights could be pursued by us directly in every union workplace, politicians and parties and the long overdue rights enshrined in the Good Friday agreement that could have been used in the Bill of Rights. The one I would say before I go and this is my last point, if we are going to learn anything from Jeremy Corbyn, it’s the fact that he isn’t putting out papers or talking about stuff, he is out engaging with young workers and that is what this movement is not doing and what we need to do. Get out on the ground, engage with young workers before we lose them, and they have nowhere to go in the future for our children and our grandchildren. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
This is the last speaker because we have guest speaker, we have a speaker from the Youth Committee, we are due to finish 3.45pm, you can see the clock we have 2 minutes, so the last speaker in this section and I am putting the motions, and then it’s the Youth Committee speaker. We will be in breach of Standing Orders anyway because we are on beyond 3.45pm.
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Mike Jennings, IFUT
Mike Jennings from IFUT I just want to make two points; the motions on precarious employment seem to give the impression this is a Private Sector problem, I just want to say it’s an equal problem in the Public Sector, and particular in my sector higher education. It is a fact that most students in universities in Ireland today will be taught by lectures on casual hourly paid contract rather than permanent work, and that is a disgrace. The second point I want to make, don’t applaud because I haven’t got the time for you to applaud, I will pretend that you wanted to give me a standing ovation as well, but I can dream about that tonight. The other point I want to make is the role that we the trade unions must pay and play and in my own union we are prepared to subsidise the membership of precarious workers. We off precarious workers membership of our union for less than €1 a week because we realise they don’t have the funds. We can’t afford to do that, but we it on the basis that we can’t afford not to do. It’s a struggle we must win. If I had one minute to say, we are hoping that the new Minister for Higher Education in the Republic of Ireland, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, will be on our side a) because she is a teacher b) because she has recent experience of precarious employment and c)because she understands gender discrimination. Thank you Chairs.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay I am going to put Motion 9, those in favour of Motion 9? That’s carried.
Those in favour of Motion 10? Carried.
Those in favour of Motion 11? Carried.
If we have time at the end of the private session if we finish our business in time we will take the rest of the motions in this section which haven’t been dealt with. Could I ask Adam Murray from the Youth Committee if he is there, here he is you have about 5 minutes so you have. Settle down folks.
Adam Murray, Youth Committee
Comrades thank you for this opportunity to address the Conference today on behalf of the ICTU Youth Committee. My name is Adam Murray by the way. It’s an honour to speak to you all here today after what is truly been a tumultuous year for the labour movement in Ireland, both North and South, and for young people in particular.
The political situation in Norther Ireland and in the Republic, the situation in Great Britain, in Europe, and my goodness in America, so much has changed in a space of time. As a wise man once said there are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen. Well there have been a fair few years where it certainly felt like nothing has been happening, but after the year that we have just had you couldn’t call it uneventful.
In the year we have just seen an election for our currently inactive Stormont Assembly, and our course the General Election, and what a General Election it was. I was personally greatly encouraged by Labour’s result in Britain, a Labour led by Jeremy Corbyn, that we were told time and time again would lead to the utter ruination of the Labour Party, and the greatest loss that party has seen in decades. Well I think it is safe to say that thanks partly to young people the naysayers were proven wrong. His proposals have resonated young people. We have seen the huge crowds he is drawing and the support the young people are giving to him.
In the South we have a new Taoiseach. There was some celebrating that Ireland now has its first openly gay Taoiseach, and speaking personally here as a gay man I can’t personally celebrate that milestone too much, I am much more interested in his policies, and his policies are quite the
57 opposite to Jeremy Corbyn’s. They are clearly anti–worker and anti–union. Young workers will continue to suffer under his leadership, and we can’t be distracted from that.
In Assembly election we have just seen in Northern Ireland the DUP won 10 seats, and as we are all aware they have now made a pact with the wretched Tory Party and they are propping a Tory minority Government. Their first joint action was of course to vote to maintain the Public Sector Pay Cap, and as they successfully insured that Public Sector workers would continue to face stifled wage increases, they cheered, they actually cheered! There was nothing to cheer about, and now even some of their own seem to be lining up to throw Thatcher, sorry a slip of the tongue, to throw Theresa May under the bus over the Public Sector Pay Cap.
The issues facing young workers in particular remain the same as they have for a really long time; precarious work, unemployment, low wages, a lack of decent jobs. We all suffer the gruelling assault-course that is this neo–liberal system. I am really pleased to see some of the motions that just passed there. But am I alone in thinking, and I hope that other young people are seeing it the same, that the light at the end of the tunnel might just about becoming into our vision? Young people increasingly realise that it is just not ‘this party’ or ‘that party’, ‘this leader’ or ‘that leader’, it is the system and it is the system that they are starting to question. An increasing number of young people are looking to change that system; neo–liberalism, it’s crumbling. The capital seems to have run out of cards up its sleeve, you know lures to tell people that thing are getting better. People don’t believe it, young people don’t believe that things are getting better because they see in front of them that their lives are not getting better. There is this policy of transforming private debt into public debt. With the Governments we have North and South, it’s going to continue unabated, but people are seeing through it, and increasing they are finding their voice, and they are roaring that this austerity programme is a con. People are looking for those alternatives, in some cases its very positive. People are looking at the likes of Jeremy Corbyn or Bernie Saunders. They are looking for this return of social democracy. Some young people however, are putting their faith in the likes of Macron or Justin Trudeau, these snake oil salesmen who promised that if neo–liberalism is simply ramped up and pushed through, it will all be better coming out the other side of it. I would warn all young people that that’s definitely not the solution.
We need the trade union movement now to provide a vision and plot a path forward for a better tomorrow. We need to see the movement acting in our communities, we need to see it actively trying to organise in the difficult and hard to reach workplaces where young people increasing find themselves exploited. So I encourage this Conference to keep debating these alternatives, keep organising young people in your workplaces, and in the communities that you hail from. Keep the pressure on, keep up the momentum. Whichever union you are in, whichever party you might be in, wherever you are going home after this Conference. Keep up the fight if you personally, every single one of you I am talking to, if you feel you could assist the Youth Committee, you might know some young people who might be interested in the Youth Committee, contact us and help us to fight for a better world. It is a long slog and we have had ups and downs. I may not be a shark, but I can smell blood in the water. It is plain to see the Tories and the DUP have no real credibility in this election, this pact that they have made. So it’s not ‘if’, it’s ‘when’ we are the future and they are soon to be history. Thank you very much.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay Adam thank you for that, it’s now 3.50pm so the next secession is for delegates only, so anyone that is not a delegate will obviously have to upset themselves, it is a Private Secession. Try and be back at 4.00pm if you can okay, thank you.
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Brian Campfield, President
Take your seats please before I call Joe O’ Flynn, Treasurer, sorry can you settle down. Two things there will be a photo opportunity at the end of this secession at 5.30pm up at the stage in solidarity with NISPA in respect of the attack on their trade union facilities, and there will be placards here, and in the midst of all this I don’t know how UNITE manage it, but they have asked me to say one of their delegates Paul Guttery it’s his birthday today and he is a first time delegate, so happy birthday and you are very welcome. Can I call on Joe O’ Flynn?
Joe O’ Flynn, Treasurer of Congress
President, Delegates I want to present the financial overview and the adoption of the Audited Accounts for 2015 and 2016. In doing so, Chair, I am very conscious the fact that we ran out of time in the last secession for some really important motions, so I will try and keep it as brief as I possibly can. Obviously while it is not the highlight of the Conference, it is a critically important area of our business, because it is the resources, the structures, supports and indeed the financial position to do much of the aspirational stuff that we talk about.
So the first thing I just want to refer to is the affiliation numbers, and I just took it back a little bit there to 2011, because at that stage we were almost at 800,000 members affiliated on the Island, and as you can see as a result of the devastating impact on many workers and their families losing their jobs in both the Public and Private Sector, there was a collapse in the affiliation to Congress by the various affiliates. Now during that period we did ask affiliates if they could continue to try to financially support Congress in the same vein and many of them did for quite a long time, and as you can see the reduction was quite gradual, until at 2015 we had a slight increase, and then 2016 and 2017 you would see that we have had some serious reductions. All in all we have gone from 779,399 members affiliated on the Island, down to 724,926 a fall of over 72,000, and that clearly has done quite a bit of damage in terms of the financial position of Congress.
You look here at the position for 2015, first of all our income was €4,700,000 and our expenditure was €4,755,000, and we ran a small deficit of €46,671. However the income in 2016 was very severely reduced, primarily as a result of the dramatic cut in project income, particularly in the Republic of Ireland, but also some reduction here in North of Ireland.
Over a half of million of that reduction relates to project income being reduced. As you can see there was a very sizeable reduction in expenditure just to over €4 million, and it left us in a deficit position of a €116,757 which I will touch on a little bit further.
So from the point of view of the ongoing challenges, obviously we are concerned that affiliation income has continued to fall. Notwithstanding the fact that we have had some very severe reductions, the economy has started to turn, and I am aware, and we are aware in Congress that a number of unions have stabilised their membership position, and indeed in some cases some unions have started to grow and rebuild again, albeit slowly and modesty. But it is a very welcome change in the direction obviously, and we would hope that the organising initiatives that have been undertaken will continue to show a positive trend in terms of growing membership on the Island and indeed growing affiliation to Congress itself.
I referred to the project income already, and the other issue obviously contributing to the reduction in expenditure is the reduction in Congress staff, and we have gone from a considerable number of years back, to now having, including NERI, at just over 30 staff in Congress, and that’s a big fall. It has meant the staff in Congress themselves have can come under considerable pressure, obviously to try and continue with the supports, and they have had to prioritise the work that they are doing in relation to Congress, and indeed the supports to the affiliates. I want to very sincerely thank each
59 and every one of them for the wonderful job that they do for us as affiliates. It isn’t getting any easier on them and I want to acknowledge that.
The item Chair, in relation to the Belfast premises, that’s an exceptional item in relation to the 2016 Accounts, and effectively we took a decision to sell the Belfast premises and in doing so we suffered a loss of about £130,000, a paper loss in relation to disposal of fixed assets, and it is an accounting issue primarily. If we didn’t have that paper loss we actually would have run a very slight surplus actually in 2016. So I just wanted to explain that to you.
So the last thing then Chair, I just want to acknowledge that notwithstanding what I have said about the impact in relation to the resourcing of Congress itself, continues to support the campaigns and there are various campaigns, and I know Patricia’s as General Secretary outlined some of them in her speech earlier, and so I will avoid repeating those. Obviously the Social Policy documents continue to be developed, and that gives us a lot of valuable information to continue the work in supporting our membership throughout the Island.
The Youth Connect Project continues again to be developed and is a very important part of the work of Congress, and I know one of the previous speakers referred to the fact the youth were the future and potentially that we weren’t doing enough. Well, I want to say to you that the Youth Connect Project is one that is highly commendable in the context of connecting with young people and identifying with the issues that are relevant to young people from the trade union prospective.
Obviously we have had a number of new in initiatives in relation to training on industrial relations procedures, and a new media training studio which has been incorporated to Parnell Square itself, and the feedback on a number of training secessions that have been done has been really positive, and it has been very helpful I believe, and it is going to grow I think in demand given its success.
The last thing Chair, just to refer to is the Workers’ College we haven’t preceded with that, simply because there wasn’t enough of take up by affiliates in relation to the establishment of the Workers’ College as an entity in its own right. There is a legal entity there, but it is only for QQI and Congress and five other unions are contributing just to keep the entity alive for the time being, but there is nothing more really I can say is happening on that front just right now.
So Chair, I said I would try to keep it brief and I’m conscious of the fact that valuable time should be available at the end of the secession here to try and revisit those motions if we possibly can, so I want to commend the Financial Report and I want to commend the Audited Accounts for 2015 and 2016 to Conference for approval. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Ok thanks Joe, happy enough for a show of hands for the Adoption of the Financial Statement? Agreed? Thank you very much.
Joe you are going to do a Presentation on the One Cork Project?
Joe O’Flynn, Treasurer
Thanks Chair. So some of you who were at the 2015 Biennial Delegate Conference, and indeed on the Executive, will be quite familiar with the ‘One Project’, but just to reflect very briefly on it, this was a project that become a pilot in Cork about three years ago, and initially when the 20 or so affiliated unions were gathered together in the one room - Cork is not that big of place - you would have thought all of the personnel involved would be familiar with one another, but in fact the opposite was the case. Many people operating in the Cork area within the trade union circle didn’t
60 even know each other and certainly didn’t have much contact, or weren’t familiar with one another. So it took quite a while I suppose for the Project to develop, where people could engage in a trustworthy fashion and become comfortable with each other. Significant progress I want to say, has been made since 2015 on the One Project which arose out of the recommendations of the Commission on Trade Unions.
The One Project pilot primarily focused on engaging unions operating in the Cork area, who went on to organise collaboratively, share good practice experiences, develop sustainable relations and built trust and solidarity with each other, and 20 unions are now firmly involved. It involves full time representatives, but many lay activists in involved in rebuilding the movement from the ground up in the Cork area under the project. Five specific groups were established by agreement with the Initiative; one in Health, one in Construction and Public Procurement, one covering Retail and Associated Trades, Education and the contract services in both Public and Private area.
A similar approach adopted across all of the groups with the relevant unions invited to engage first of all, then agree terms of reference and scope, and cross-union workplace reps were asked to identify the key priority issues for the project. Local multi-union networks were established such as an inter-union group in the Cork University Hospital, and they went on to get involved in campaigns and progress the issues that were identified by themselves. The process helps to engage and empower local members, providing a central point of union engagement and action, much more so than the local Trades Council itself.
Access to Education and Training has been provided to the participants through the Educate to Organise Programme, with reps from various different unions involved throughout 2015 and last year 2016. Although the project is the key forum for information flow and oversites, prioritising communications and developing a strategy was deemed vital. An immediate communications group was thus established. This group is responsible for building broad support across diverse groups, fostering links with local communities, and establishing relations with local media.
Another group identified as key to the successful long-term strategy of growth for the movement, is engagement with the Youth population. A youth and student working group representing several unions work collaboratively to organise information and awareness raising activities, build solid relations with the students unions, and engage unions on a sectorial basis in an Education Programme. Additional to that activists forums have taken place which have been attended by up to 170 local activists to provide engagement opportunities, online project progress, and garner support for the campaigns.
I want to highlight in particular President, the progress of the Construction and Public Procurement Group in highlighting the need for direct labour including the creation of apprenticeship programmes in the Local Authority and third level sector. On that one in particular, this group engaged with community associations, who are operating in disadvantaged areas of Cork City, and they identified a key problem of youth unemployment, very high levels of youth unemployment, and one of the answers to that is obviously an apprenticeship programme, and they have driven demands within the Local Authority and within the third level education sector for apprenticeship programmes be created, and has been a very positive response to that, and we want to take it further obviously.
I also want highlight the Housing Campaign, again Patricia mentioned this in her speech. That was identified that the private housing response has been a dismal failure in relation to the provision of public housing, and for a long that group Chaired by Barry Murphy from OPTASI has been developing a trade union response to the issue of public housing and social housing. I want to say a document that was agreed by the Cork affiliates, subsequently was endorsed by the Congress Executive, and it has been worked on now for a significant period of time as part of the solution to
61 the housing crisis that we face. At its core is a call for a massive public housing programme to be overseen by the Local Authorities and publically funded, and I think we have got some traction at political level, and we have got a lot of by-in from the local affiliates in relation to that issue. Not alone does it affect people who are homeless, it also affects many trade unionists that are caught in that gap, being caught out in terms of being able to afford to buy their own house and being caught in a very high rent sector as well, so it is a key issue for us.
On the outcomes Chair, and I conclude on this, outcomes of the One Project can be measured first of all by increased density in locations of concentrated activity under the One Project, such as in the Cork University Hospital. There has been a higher level of engagement, participation and activism by union members in the area, and new sustainable structures have been established. Deeper involvement of cross-union support and sharing of knowledge and experiences, and has been a far greater synergy between the unions locally, resulting in more dynamic and cohesive relations. For example, and I think it is an important example, a number of unions have now visited in Mahon Shopping Centre in Cork which is quite a sizeable shopping centre, giving out information leaflets and trying to organise new members there. Unions who are involved in that initiative, included unions who have no direct involvement in retail, and they went along to support their colleagues in trying to organise that shopping centre. The initiative is a cross-union collaboration, and it would not have happened without the One Initiative.
A Living Wage for Cork Campaign has been initiated, and it will include local research in relation to wages in the Cork area, and a launch of that campaign in the immediate future is scheduled. Such is the success of the pilot, President, that we have recently launched a One Galway Project and I think that has been very well received, and I know that there are expressions of interest from other areas of the country, from various Trades Councils who actually want to see this development progress in their area, and we want to support that.
A recent review of the Cork Project, there was one comment that was particularly worth mentioning, it was one of the delegates said ‘I want to make sure that we are are still here next year involved in this project’, and that got enormous support from the other participants in the review. So it just goes to show that there is an enthusiasm and an appetite for engagement at local level, to rebuild our movement from the ground up, and I think that’s were our future strength is going to be.
I want to finish Chair by thanking in particular Fiona Dunne, who has been the Congress Coordinator for the Project she has done absolutely Trojan work in supporting the group over the last couple of years. I want to thank Sharon Creegan who is the President of the Cork Council of Trade Unions, and I want to thank all of the Chairs of the give working groups; the Media group, Youth and Education group for the tremendous leadership they have given way beyond anything we could have wished for. I want to thank Congress for the opportunity of giving an update in relation to, what I think is a wonderful project, continuously worth supporting. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Thanks very much Joe for that Report. That takes us to Motion 17 on behalf of the Executive Council, Ethel Buckley to move.
Ethel Buckley, Executive Council
Ethel Buckley moving Motion 17 on behalf of the Executive Council.
Delegates I am very honoured to propose the Organising our Future motion. There are very many important motions before us at this Congress over the next three days, but I would argue that there is none more important actually than this motion because it deals with the issues which will decide whether or not there will be a trade union movement for workers in the future. And, President of
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Ireland Michael D Higgins told us this morning that he sometimes poses the question ‘what would society be like, if there weren’t trade unions?’. You know just because there has been a trade union movement for this generation of workers, and for our fore Mothers and Fathers does not mean that our movement will exist in the future, or that our movement have any natural or divine right to exist. In fact if we continue on the downward membership trajectory that we are currently on, it is definitely not a given that there will be a Congress BDC in 30, 40 or 50 years’ time.
In response to the very rapid decline in the union density on the Island, particularly among young workers, Motion 17 calls on us to recourse new organising campaigns, education programmes and networks, aimed specifically at young workers, and it also sets the challenge of fostering a new leadership role for young workers through the Irish Congress of trade Unions Youth Committee. If we adopt this motion Delegates, and if we act on the initiatives that the motion proposes, we will as a Congress begin to prepare our movement to rise to the challenge of facilitating younger generations of workers to organise themselves into the trade union movement, the only movement that has the industrial power to win a better future than that which currently confronts young people on this island.
Delegates, if trade unions are not delivering for young workers and not seen to be delivering for young workers, then there is no future for our movement, and I suspect that even the most optimistic, most bullish person in the hall today, would have to acknowledge that we are not at all where we need to be in terms of young worker participation in our movement, and even if we look at the Delegates to Conference and the demographic of the Delegates, I think we have to have a bit of self-reflection and acknowledge that point.
So while there may be different approaches within unions and between unions to the industrial and political of the day, the challenge of reversing the decline in trade union density and in particular that of the active engagement in our struggle by young people, is the most profound challenge facing all of our unions. We need to accept Delegates, that some of those traditional pathways into our movement for example, through the Civil and Public Service, through entering into steady employment in workplaces with stable unionised workforces, or as a rite of passage during an apprenticeship, or due to family or community tradition, these are declining for many, and there gone for most workers. In fact most young workers are entering into working life in a gig economy, characterised by movement between very precarious jobs, less stable workplaces and increasing electronic communication, rather than direct communication with colleagues.
When the industrial conditions in which we operate change, then we too must change. If we can see clear evidence, and I think we can, that the old pathways and traditional forms of trade union organisation are declining, then we must begin to imagine and to create new forms of organisation, new ways to foster bonds of loyalty between workers. We must build confidence among young workers, that together they can organise to improve their workplaces, and, that while they may feel powerless as individuals or as small groups, in a union they can grasp the leavers of economic power and take control over their working destinies.
In order to do this Colleagues, Delegates, our movement must be unafraid to promote new role models, new heroes who can speak of the victories that can be achieved through collective action. For union heroes of this day, of our day, and inspirational union role models for young people, we need look no further than the victory we had in my own union this year, when the young women who are members of the Republic of Ireland Women’s International Football Team decided to unionise to fight for respect and proper working conditions. It was to our movement that they turned and their fight, and I am going to finish on this President, because I know you will be knocking your thing, their fight led by extraordinary women role models, like the squad captain Emma Byrne and striker Stephanie Roach, these women inspired kids, they inspired young women and young men, and they inspired not so young men and women across the island, and they made people
63 believe that if a group of workers stand with the backing of a strong and campaigning union, no matter how careful and how connected the opponent that we can win. Delegates, I move.
Brian Campfield, President
Ethel, I will let you away with that because John Douglas has agreed to formally second that, okay so formally seconded. Go ahead.
Teresa Walsh, INTO
Teresa Walsh, INTO. As Chair of Congress Youth, I welcome this motion and for the Executive in making it a priority. This motion is about the core business of trade unionism; organising, collective solidarity, safeguarding our future as a movement.
Young people are the future of this movement and we need to get real about organising young workers and specifically focus on them. We need young people to become informed and engaged. We need to champion youth issues, fight for young people, and make our vision of prosperity for young workers a reality. A trade union activism survey, which we the Youth Committee with your assistance, conducted over the past 18 months, to which 429 young members responded, found that only 54% considered the movement was something which mattered to them. Imagine one every two young trade union members feel that the trade union movement does not matter for them. We cannot ignore this. Do we believe that the trade union movement does not matter for young people today? More importantly do we believe we could do better at making ourselves matter for young people and wider society today?
If we want to answer this question than we as a movement need to ask ourselves some searching questions. Are we progressive? Are we moving with the times? Are we as a movement perceived as being striking and appealing as other cutting-edge organisations today? Do we listen to young people’s ideas and consider implementing them, or are we adverse to risk taking and thinking best? As a movement we need to become creative energised and youth-focused in every way.
The future of work is a phrase which we hear a lot about, and thus as a movement we need to respond to. The growth of the gig economy and the tech sector has the potential to impact negatively on young workers in the next decade. Low wages and insecurity - this should sign post us to identify the new sectors in which we should organise. When we do that we need to be clear about the issues on which we are going advocate. That is why it is crucial for us to speak with, listen to, and engage with young workers and take their ideas on board. We need to engage online now more than ever before, using tools such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Social Media networks, and chat worms. We need to go where the young people are, empower them and convince them of our cause. We need an inter-union coordinated campaign and an organising programme targeted at organising young workers. This needs to be informed by research and adequately funded. To-date my colleagues in Congress, both North and South, are doing what we can to progress the issue. We want the next Youth Committee to be as successful and continue the work and organising our future to ensure the trade union movement meets the needs and expectations of young workers today. I see the red light, thank you.
Ciara Kinsella, ASTI
Ciara Kinsella ASTI and Secretary of the ICTU Committee. So each one of us only has to look within our own unions today and realise that our most vulnerable workers, our most vulnerable members are not becoming active in trade unions. We also recognise that union density is falling, it is a common perception, yet the statistics and facts around this issue are blurry inadequate also non- existent. The lack of activism and efficiency of union membership is a growing concern. These challenges need to be met by each individual union here today. We need to look access and reflect
64 as to how we are maximising active participation. For instance do our own rules and structures within our unions restrict young workers from getting involved in the trade union movement? Do we have properly resourced Youth Advisory Groups? Do we and how are we actively seeking young workers to become active on these committees?
Workers should be included in all the different campaigns in our trade unions, and not be seeing as a separate disconnected identity. We don’t have a profile of workers under the age of 35, but yet we can all paint this profile of workers. But many are here today and one of the reasons they are not here today is because a lot of them are wearing Observer badges and they are sitting outside this door.
It is vital that we establish and create a well-resourced and supported Youth Advisory Group within each union, ensure that they work closely and actively engage with ICTU Youth to provide them with a platform for a real voice, as well as affording the ICTU Youth Committee a more effective influence on decision making. ICTU Youth has thought me that the deficiency of activism and the recruitment amongst young workers is facilitated by what I call an absence of an early intervention. The process of normalising the trade union movement should begin early on. It should be nourished throughout the entire school and experience and become a societal norm. There are multiple reasons as to why young people don’t get involved in trade unions and we honestly haven’t got the time necessary to talk about this today, but that’s why we need to have this research done. Many do not know how to get involved in the trade union movement, and they often perceive the trade union movement as a protest belonging to the past, and they don’t see it as progressive, social movement of today.
Change in the cultural and attitude towards a trade union movement lies in education. We need to be innovative in educating our young people about trade unions. We should work with educational bodies to create a stronger representation of the trade union movement on the primary and secondary curricula, or creating trade union summer schools similar to youth summer camps. We must also build on the work of the Youth Connect Programme and use it as a model to develop a strategy that will create a more dynamic organising campaign, to bring young workers into the trade union psyche. It is a matter for all of us here today, it is an urgent matter for all of us in this room. It is a collective matter that requires a collective response if we are ever to expect a future in the trade union movement. Thank you.
Joe O Connor, IMPACT
Joe O Connor from IMPACT trade union speaking in support of this motion.
First of all I want to acknowledge that this motion only seeks to build on the number of great initiatives that have been undertaken by Congress, though Youth Connect and other initiatives, and also by affiliate unions, which I think would benefit from greater resources and coordination. I think that it is important in this motion, we recognise that organising young people should be taken as a separate strand. Communications platforms that work in reaching today’s young people have changed radically. I am 28 and the platforms used by today’s students and how they use them have moved on, have moved on beyond when I was in college.
I am glad that this is an ICTU led initiative and think it needs to be supported and resourced by all unions. I think this is the only way it can work. Confusing, mixed messages from multiple unions to people who have yet to choose a career and do not know what trade unions are, much less what they do, is in effective.
Before joining IMPACT staff team, I was a student representative, both locally and nationally, and the on campus situation was this; recruitment agencies and corporate firms held an on campus monopoly on student’s careers days and graduate fairs. Trade unions were nowhere to be seen. My
65 direct predecessors in USI saw themselves closer aligned to IBEC than they did to ICTU. Colleagues, we must recognise that we took our eye off the ball, and continue to work feverishly to rectify this.
Many people view young people as being apathetic, however the Marriage Equality Referendum here and the General Election campaign in the UK showed that young people are motivated by a message of equality, justice and fairness. That is our message, our vision, and we have the capacity to be the vehicle for that change.
We must also recognise a fundamental challenge that we have, those representing the interest of capital will at the altar of productivity, efficiency, and flexibility, cut every corner to achieve their interest. Those of us seeking to advance the interest of labour can find change at times to be slow and restrained by bureaucracy. In the digital age this will leave us behind. While respecting our democratic structures we must find ways to be more fluid and more nimble in responding to the dynamic changes that this is bringing about, to get about the business of organising emerging generations of workers and securing the future of our movement.
We should not discount young people who may be driven more currently by individualism than collectivism. We must meet then where they are, enhance our services and benefits to meet their needs, and then teach them the value and the power of collective strength. If you examine the trends and trade union membership amongst the cohort of workers under 35, it becomes clear that simply doing what we have always done is not an option. Therefore I would appreciate if you would support the motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Just on this Motion there are two more speakers and Stephen.
Stephen Harvey, NISPA
Stephen Harvey on behalf of NISPA asking you to support the motion.
Conference I stood in this hall four years ago and made a statement saying if we don’t take action as a movement soon we will flourishing Retired Members Committees and non-existent Youth Committees. That was meant as a warning and has turned out to be more of a premonition. So what’s the problem today? It was clearly outlined in the motion itself - we are not young members in through the door. We are not getting their forms in. We need to dig deeper and ask why?
There was a time a young person finished school or college and went into a job in the Civil Service or manufacturing, well paid unionised industries. On the first day they were spoken to by a Shop Steward or a Union Rep, told what the union have done for them, what they could do for them, and what they would do for them, and they were given a form. More often than not they signed it. Not anymore. The principles of good work, fair terms and a decent days pay for a decent days work, have been replaced by those of precariousness, cost saving and the minimum wage.
In Northern Ireland the Public Sector had has rolling recruitment freezes for seven years, manufacturing work is all but gone. Young people are now working in call centres, fast food chains and recruitment agencies, all of whom won’t let us through the door. By way of example of these difficulties; I work in the Civil Service and our branch has recruited about 60 new members since the start of this year. Of those 60 about 50 of them are under the age of 35, and of those 50 a good few are engaged with us, interested in their work, and I believe would be interested in getting more involved. But our hands are tied and their hands are tied. Why? Because they are employed by the Premier People Recruitment Agency. If they decide to get active in their union they don’t get time off for their duties, we struggle to get time off to attend branch meetings, and if they are willing to work in their own time some people in the Civil Service have in the past, they risk getting shifted
66 from £19,000 or £20,000 pound a year admin job to a call centre, hawking phone insurance and contracts for £7.50 an hour. That’s not an active prospect for any potential trade union activist.
I think we have to be clear, young people haven’t changed. If the recent General Election results showing us anything, it is young people is as forward thinking and radical as ever. They still care for the principles of equality, social justice and fair play which everyone in this room holds dear. The players haven’t changed the game pass.
So where do we look? Where do young people learn about our movement? Where do we forge those bonds which should be creating the next generation of activists? Well the Youth Connect scheme and others like it have answered that. In schools we utilise one of the most highly unionised industries we work in, teaching. Career classes in high schools cover all aspects of world of work, choosing a career, exceling in that career even entrepreneurship and retirement planning. Where are we? Not where we should be.
ICTU, individual unions and in the entire movement is constantly saying ‘if it impacts our members, our society, our communities then we have to have a seat at the table no matter what it is’. This is one table that we need to have a seat at, and we are not there at the minute, or we are not there enough. But the initiative needs investment in order to be successful. It needs financial support, dedicated resources, and needs to be an all Island basis.
I see a red light shown. We are not investing in our youth, we are investing in the sustainability of our movement. The Treasurer said in his speech we are the future of the trade union movement. We are not, we are the now trade union movement. If we are not here now, we are not getting young members, there won’t be a future to the trade union movement, we are gone. So if we don’t get them through the door, in 30 years’ time we won’t be able to fill this Conference hall, we won’t be able to fill a meeting room. Conference support the motion.
Paddy Cole, SIPTU
Delegates, across the developed world trade union membership is more common in the generations that came before me. There are a number of obvious reasons for that reality; one, it’s the deliberate and concentratedhostility towards trade unionists and the denial of Collective Bargaining Rights which has characterised the approach in newer employments established since the 1990s. But it also reflects the sad reality and the deeper truth that precarious work and insecure contracts tend to be more common amongst people of my generation, and the generation coming behind me.
However, there is still hope out there, and I agree with a lot of what people said previously, but in our own union in SIPTU, when we are talking about organising young workers, we have got some very encouraging statistics. Of the new members who have joined my union in 2016, 41% of them were under the age of 35. The real challenge though is not just signing someone up to the union, it is also try and develop them as a workplace leader. This can only be done by investing in young workers and educating these workers to organise in their workplace.
Organising young workers and encouraging them to become active in the union is a key priority for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and I am very heartened by the spirit and the substance of this motion. Younger workers can only be won over to our side if we are effective on the issues that make a difference in their lives, in the concrete conditions in their workplace, in wider civil society and the political arena. As trade unionists we must make a sincere effort to improve a lot of the generation that are coming behind us. Rather than speaking for young workers we must place an emphasis on listening to their voices, listening to their concerns and acting out on their solutions. We must also place ourselves more centrally in the networks and the media that they operate in and engage with, and how they interpret the world. In this regard my own union as well as other unions here in this room, have made significant progress in recent years in developing and encouraging
67 social media strategies and capacity, with up to speed content accessible to young people, rooted in modern messaging.
All unions must commit to resourcing the significant effort needed to show young workers that our movement is their movement too. Delegates, we all know young people have been hit hard. Unemployment, though lower than a number of years ago, is still higher for young people than it is for older generations. Precarious work is rife in industries where young people often find themselves. Ireland is in the midst of a housing crisis and seeing young people being priced out of the ability to have a decent place to call home in order to live a decent life.
Comrades, young people are not the trade unionists of the future, they are here and now, and we need their support in solidarity, it is a two-way street. Only when the trade union movement harnesses the energy and enthusiasm of a new generation of members will we be truly ready to create an Ireland fit for purpose for all working people. I urge you to support this motion.
Emma Cunningham, USDAW
Conference, Emma Cunningham from USDAW, speaking in support of the motion.
It is clear today that we don’t have enough young workers in the trade union movement in Ireland. Recruiting new members can be a huge challenge, some unions did better than others, but we all need to rethink and improve what we are doing. There are a lot of different reasons why young workers might not come forward to join the workplace union. Perhaps young workers sometimes look at what we do and think it’s not for them. Some may not see their jobs as a serious vocation and don’t care if they are treated as expendable. Some may genuinely struggle to pay their subs. We know that one of the main reasons young workers don’t join a union is that they are simply never asked.
The ICTU and trade union movement need to recognise that young workers are the future of this movement. We need to open up trade unionism to our young workers to may it more accessible, to future prove it. Getting properly organised and go out recruiting young members and promoting the benefits of being part of a trade union has to be a key focus for us. Let’s be dynamic, we need to do things differently. We as activists, both young and old, within the ICTU, need to build a campaign to change our approach and engage young workers. We need to raise the profile and recruit young members to our unions. Let’s get on social media. Let’s think about our memberships and our meeting structures. It’s not about wheeling out this same tired leaflets, we need something new. We also need more young reps and more visibility across the trade union movement, because the more visible young people are within the ICTU, the more relevant are unions will be to our young workers. Let’s be ambitious and let’s get organised, and build a campaign that is right for us and speaks to other young workers. Let’s talk about it now and then go out and consult other young workers. What issues do they have and what can we do to encourage them to join the union? Then let’s build on our campaign and get it out there into the workplaces with a positive new message for our young workers.
I thank you Executive Council for bringing the motion forward and I urge you all to support this motion, thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay, thank you all the young people who spoke on that motion and you too Ethel. We are going to come back to the vote on these motions, but we are going to move on to the Youth Organising motion in the name of the CPSU.
Eoin Ronayne, CPSU
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Colleagues, Eoin Ronayne CPSU. This motion is the result of relatively recent return by my union to the recruitment of new members after seven years of the Government’s imposed moratorium in the Republic of Ireland on new entrant Clerical Officers in the Civil Service.
Over 37,000 people have applied in the last number of years, and over 2,500 have been employed, although several hundred of those are replacements for the early entrants, who have either left despairing of the conditions, or have secured promotion to higher grades. Our recruitment experience has been depressing in large part. While we no doubt lost our edge over the years of non-recruitment caused by the moratorium, even where we have well-run, well-organised recruitment drives, the take up is not what we would have experienced in the years before the crash. Younger potential members do not seem to understand the link between unions and pay and conditions. In the Public Service context they believe pay improvements and changes in conditions flow from the employer, regardless of union organisation and membership levels. In the case of the more experienced recruits, who may or may not be members of trade unions, in other workplaces, there is an anger at the imposition of the new entrants pay points, and a strongly held view that these are a specially unfair, given the work experience of older recruits at Clerical Officer levels.
This unwillingness to join a union is no doubt partly caused by a belief amongst them that we are not able to deliver better pay and conditions, although at the time to be fair colleagues we were in realty preoccupied with trying to stop the collapse of centralised pay bargaining as a result of the crash. Our experience suggests that those applying for work in the Civil Service do not have trade union membership experience, some actively distrust trade unions, and others fail to understand that unions do fight for members’ rights and entitlements.
The CPSU commends the work being done by SIPTU, IMPACT, UNITE, and other large unions to your organising and recruiting initiatives, but smaller unions like ours cannot allocate such resources. We do not necessarily have the range of skills required. Work is being done on building those resources by ICTU and this motion calls for a stepping up that activity. We must reach beyond our traditional organisational structures to build a new bridge to workers entering our workplaces. Committed members of our movement rightly place great emphasis on our history, our politics and traditions, but on their own these will not build a bridge to the workers of today and tomorrow.
There is something to be learned from the broad consensus approach taken by the YES Equality Campaign. The social media generation response to tightly-focused, one off campaigns, targeting a specific target. It is critical that the work doesn’t stop with the launch of such a campaign, rather the success of such a campaign should lead those connecting with it down the road to trade union membership and to trade union activism.
We salute the concept of the One Movement and in particular the One Cork Project. The work of Fiona Dunne in Congress with a host of Cork activists, too many to mention, is hugely promising. We wish a continued success, and also the fledgling One Galway Project. The One Movement is a practical response to the Trade Union Commission Report. The building of a leaner, more focused industrial or sectoral union suture may be a distant dream, but the One Movement creates the potential for that breakthrough within geographic locations, where individual unions can learn to work together without feeling threatened. One of the encouraging developments in Cork was a decision to build on another very positive ICTU Project; Youth Connect, by taking its second level education programme into third level for the first time. Third level graduates now feature highly, in their thousands who apply for CEO jobs in the Civil Service, and prior contact with the trade union movement in college would be a distinct help to us, and indeed to other trade unions in recruiting them in to membership when they take up their jobs.
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Maybe it is time unions of Congress to consider the concept of a universal form of trade union membership, a union card, a member of the One Movement, who on taking up a job then joins the union representing workers in that workplace. We need to encourage people to join our movement.
We commend the work done by the General Secretary, Patricia King and the Executive in lobbing hundreds of Politicians at all levels under the Charter for Fair Conditions at Work. This has at its nucleus our demand for the Living Wage for all workers. This one issue has the potential to be our Yes Equality Campaign. The lower points of the CEO scale fail on the Living Wage test. So too do many other good Public Service jobs so derided by sections of the media in the Private Sector. The Living Wage is a campaign that can unite Private and Public sector workers.
Colleagues, I urge the incoming Executive to revitalise efforts to build on the Trade Union Commission Report we adopted here four years ago. Let us find the confidence in the words of the singer song-writer Paul Brady to move beyond the faded flags of yesterday and to explore new opportunities to build a better movement for tomorrow. Let us dig deep into our individual union pockets, to provide the resources for the One Movement, for the Youth Connect, and let us drive the Living Wage Campaign to every smartphone and tablet in the country .
If we do not build this new bridge to younger non-unionised workers and to those workers who are distanced from our movement because they do see the point of being in a union, we risk putting our proud and historic movement in a situation where it will lose its place at the vanguard for the fight for workers’ rights. I urge you to support the motion.
Anne Magee, CPSU
Anne Magee President of the CPSU, formally seconding Motion 18 Youth Organising from CPSU.
Colleagues, President, General Secretary and fellow colleagues, recruitment for us all and particular in the Civil and Public Services Union is a challenge, particularly were the Government of the Republic of Ireland is failing to pay new Civil Servants a Living Wage, where the Government is discriminating against new recruits by paying them lower starting pay, a gross inequality that unfortunately the current pay proposals does not redress. For the Clerical Officer grade that the CPSU represents in the Civil Service, the first four points of the pay scale are below the Living Wage. That is currently calculated at €11.50 per hour. A Dublin-based new member told me recently that his parents pay his rent because he cannot make ends meet in his permeant pensionable Civil Service job. He is not alone. There are young Civil Servants working second and third jobs to pay the bills. The average rent a one bedroom apartment in Dublin is between €1,100 and €1,300 per month and rising, in both the capital and in other cities and towns and villages across the Republic.
A new Clerical Officer who is single, takes home an average less than €1,500 per month. Clerical Officers and other newly recruited employees across the country may soon face the appalling reality that their rents are higher than their take home pay. Some potential members have said they cannot afford to join because of their low wages and high cost of living. We have to make the case that young workers simply cannot afford not to be in union membership.
It is in this environment that we have launched our recruitment campaign since the lifting of the moratorium on recruitment. The CPSU, headed up by Denis and Paul in Head Office, has established a Recruitment Officer Network across our branches, and we wish to acknowledge the assistance of SIPTU, particularly Dave Curran in providing training on their experience in organising and recruiting new members. There is no doubt that recruitment will be difficult as long as pay equality for new Public Servants is not achieved, and the Living Wage for all workers is not adapted by Government.
The development of a cross union organising programme to help resource membership recruitment and build a strong campaigning profile for the Irish Congress of Trade Union and its affiliates will
70 encourage young people to join and play their part in building a better fair society through active union membership. Colleagues I ask you to support this motion, thank you.
Theresa Walsh, INTO
Theresa Walsh, INTO. A phrase that we often here is that education is the answer to societies’ ills, for example if there is a societal issue relation to farming accidents, or the dangers of smoking, the Government acts and an education program is developed aimed at educating young people about the dangers of such, and teachers incorporate that into the classroom. Whether we like it or not, such a programme of intervention works. Young people become informed.
We have such an issue which is a lot closer to home, something which goes to the very heart of our movement. We as a collective organisation have reducing numbers. Young people from an early age need to become aware of trade unions. The Youth Connect Programme is excellent educating secondary school pupils about the trade union movement. Our movement would benefit if this programme was expanded to include more schools at secondary level, a programme developed for schools at primary level, and third level institutions and further education colleagues.
A quote by Malcom X ‘education is the passport to the future for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today’. For the stability and continued strength and relevance of our movement we a concerted, coordinated effort to raise awareness; educate and organise young people now. We need to educate young people about our challenges and successes and create opportunities for young people to actively engage. We need to bring young workers together. We need to think about how we talk to and engage young people through the establishment of youth representatives, youth groups, and youth conferences. We need to modernise an adapt our structures to be more inclusive of young members. We need to become visible in society, no one will hand us this space. We need to get in there and make ourselves visible. We need to ensure that when the new secondary school subjects Politics and Society is being reviewed that the content related to trade unions is included, and that trade unions are rightly considered part of civil society.
We need to start investing in our own future and we need bump up educating young people about trade unions, and establishing strategies and structures within our own unions, and outside to encourage and enable more active engagement of younger workers. This engagement needs to convince young people of our relevance to them, but also to demonstrate that as a movement are flexible in responding to their needs. We want young workers to join, to become active members in building a fruitful and prosperous society. Robert Kennedy once said ‘this world demands the qualities of youth, not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, and predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease, the will to succeed, imagination, courage and adventure’. Now is the time for young people, and I ask you to support this motion. Thank you.
Linda Kelly, IMPACT
Linda Kelly, IMPACT Trade union speaking to motion 18. I just want to commend the CPSU for moving the motion and as the person who is responsible, until very recently, for leading the One Cork Youth and Student Organising Section, I felt it would be remiss not to talk about some of the positive news story we have had as part of that project. I would share the concerns that were put forward so articulately by my colleagues in this motion and in previous motions, but there also some reall learning and positives that we can take as a movement from what we have done. So just to talk about a pilot initiative where we used the Youth Connect resources that have been develop by Fiona Dunne and her team to a revised audience in further education. So further education is where people go maybe as a feeder course into an Institute of Technology, or before they go out to the workplace. They typically tend to be from working class communities, who are also working part-
71 time in order to fund themselves. What we had was, we had a training day within ICTU that was supported by other unions, so for example SIPTU came in to talk to us about Sectoral Employment Orders in areas where future education colleges have a lot of courses around security, around hairdressing, and different things where trade unions have membership.
Then my colleague Donal McElligott of the TUI arranged for me to come in and talk to colleagues of that union within the College of Commerce, which I think is one of the largest further education colleges in the country, and we talked through what we wanted to talk to students about as part of their work experience module. We wanted to talk about rights that work, we wanted to talk about the trade union movement, legislation, contracts, the Living Wage, and they were really interested and so supportive. Over the next 3 months we were absolutely inundated with appointments and offers to come to talk to students across a wide range of professions, and we did that. I suppose when you are going into these talks there is always bit of hesitation because the rhetoric is that young people don’t care, they are apathetic to politics, they are not interested in our movement, and I was really just blown away to be honest by some of the responses that we got in those lecture halls. It was one of the most enjoyable things I have done in the last five years working for this movement, and when you are in a lecture hall, a bit smaller than this, and the lads have come in to sit up the back with the absolute expressed intention of ignoring everything you have to say, and then suddenly you start talking about a Sectorial Employment Order in security, and what means in terms of their sick leave, in terms of their uniforms, in terms of their pay and conditions, and they start engaging and they start asking you questions. Then you know, they are absolutely interested in what we do. They are absolutely interested in what we have to offer, they are just not interested maybe how we do it as a movement. That is my absolutely my observation from going out with colleagues in the TEEU and MANDATE. I would think there are positive new stories. What we have to say is of interest to young people, and is of interest to young workers. It is how we are saying it, and it is how we are doing it that is the challenge we have to overcome, thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Go ahead John we are moving on now to Motion 19.
John Douglas, MANDATE
John Douglas Mandate Trade Union proposing Motion 19.
Firstly let me clarify what this Motion is not about. It is not about forced amalgamations, it not about bigger is best, it is not about curbing different opinions; but it is about the pairing and planning for the future victories. It is about a positive future, about building a united trade union movement for change.
The trade union movement has one thing in abundance - its reliance. For over 100 years now the combined forces of capital and right wing politics have attempted to wipe us out. They have not succeed, they will never succeed, because the workers united will never be defeated.
In the next decade our members and our movement will face enormous challenges from anti-union, anti-worker legislation, from new technologies which will change the world of work as we know it. Our phone is now our bank, it’s our shop, it’s our post, it’s our entertainment, it’s our newspaper. Jobs, and decent union jobs, in all of these sectors are vanishing, and I believe that work and jobs as we know it today will change dramatically over the next decade. We must be prepared for this challenge. We must be structured and resourced to fight back for decent jobs.
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While the Commission on Trade Unions had many faults, at least it got us talking to each other about the future, our future the future for our children and our grandchildren. As the custodians of this movement we have a duty to plan and prepare, to give the next generation of trade unionists a fighting chance. I urge you to support this motion, thank you.
Gerry Light, MANDATE
President, Delegates, Gerry Light Mandate Trade Union.
Delegates, in seconding Motion 19, I think my colleague has out a compelling case for the radical reform of our movement if we are to effectively combat the aggressive, hostile anti-union agenda pursued by employers such as Tesco in recent times.
The first effective way to mount a resistance is, when occasions demand, for us to stand in solidarity with each other. Delegates, it would be wrong of me if I did not use this opportunity to thank you and other union members not present here today for answering the call in such numbers to support the cause of our members in Tesco Ireland during their dispute earlier this year. I also want to thank the individual unions who provide significant financial support to enable us to take the fight to this employer who we all know has very deep pockets indeed. It has already been demonstrated here today, contrary to the generally held perception, our fight with Tesco is far from over. In fact, since our dispute in February, the relation has rapidly deteriorated with each passing day. Tesco has engaged in an ongoing, deliberate campaign of penalisation and victimisation against our members and our union, and in this knowledge the Labour Court, as late of last week, offered the parties another opportunity to engage under its auspices, in an effort to bring industrial relations in Tesco to a better place. Before the ink was dry on the letter from the Court, the company responded by clearly stating that they were not interested in exploring such an approach. In fact they went so far to say and express a view that the unions should not be allowed reject Labour Court Recommendations either now or in the future. Now delegates, make no mistake about it in the face of such a blatant attack on the union movement, the call will go out once again in the very near future for all of us in this room and elsewhere to stand in solidarity with our Tesco members. If one of the biggest Private Sector employers achieves their objectives the ensuing damage to this movement could be irreparable, and for us to stand by and do nothing would truly be a case of managing our own demise. Acting in unity, our objective should be to ensure that they, or others like them, will never win, and together we will use disputes such as the one in Tesco to leverage and build a stronger and more relevant movement for generations to come.
Let the call go out from this Conference delegates that the Tesco Workers Together Campaign and others like it are well and truly alive, and as union members we are all proud to play an active role to driving them to ultimate victory. Thank you delegates, support the motion.
Susanna Griffin, SIPTU
Susanna Griffin from SIPTU, speaking in support of this motion.
Delegates, it could be very easy to right of the last eight years as worst in recent history in the workforce. In the world of work there has been both progress and setbacks, but with constant ongoing issues, for example the hostilities of union membership, the pay gap difference, workers’ rights and Brexit to name but a few, it is easy to see that we can expect even more turbulent times in the workforce going forward. The gig economy, hugely heralded as an easy access, no lose way of improving income, has now become the greatest disappointment and malicious trap for workers. Frances O’Grady spoke this morning about digital sweatshops, the online, on demand services that
73 we all expect on an hourly basis, but to the absolute detriment of those who work and service that industry.
What is interesting and important about this is that it shines a light on how people are now employed, and asks the real question about what the world of work looks like, and why it seems that workers have less and less rights. We welcome this motion regarding the serious challenges facing the trade union movement, and the adaption of a plan to respond appropriately, and we also commend those who have work already on this and have gone before us. Please support the motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Can we move onto the mover of Motion 20?
Pat Bolger, DCTU
President, Delegates, Pat Bolger, DCTU, and I want to say before I finish my remarks, this proposal was based on our enthusiasm for the One Cork Project. We saw it as a great development. It is very good to hear people from the Executive talking about One Galway, maybe One Belfast extra, so this motion is based on enthusiasm for the Project and for putting trade union movement in place locally and in towns and cities based around the activities of Trades Councils.
The end of Motion 17 refers to Trades Council work around Youth work etc, and it seems to us a very big platform for the future. We met Congress, again in our enthusiasm, to say we will do more, we will try a pilot of a One Cork, we will try a lesser version. We know Dublin is big and complicated, but we will try to do something useful. But it seems that people have interpreted the motion as being a levy, maybe a forced levy or a recurring levy. I want to make it clear that was never our intention. Our intention was simply to say that this work was so important, money should be voted to it, and money should be made available.
In our own Council we have been treated very generously by the major unions, and around that we have built our profile. The President very thankfully came to our May Day Rally, the biggest one we have had for years. The secret of that was we got involved with people in community groups and people involved in housing and homelessness action. We got an a award from the Dublin Lord Mayor, the first ever. We are increasing our profile, so look it is enthusiasm, but I think people think maybe we are trying to put our hands in the collective pocket. Well you will always try to do it to generate activity, that wasn’t our intention, it was pure and simple enthusiasm for the general project. Thank you very much. I move the motion.
John Douglas, Mandate
Thanks Pat and there is no one doubting the motives behind the motion. I just wonder Pat would it be acceptable to the DCTU if we referred back the motions to in incoming Executive just for further clarity. Would that be agreeable?
Brian Campfield, President
Thanks John so that’s been proposed that motion be remitted and Dublin Trades Council are agreeable to that. Do you still want to….you are opposing it? Well you can still oppose if you want but it’s, remission is likely to take place, and it probably takes into account your concerns. Go ahead.
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Carmel Gates, NISPA
I don’t disagree with any of the points made by the mover of the motion, and we all recognise the really good work the Trades Councils do, we want to ensure they are properly funded and we want to encourage everybody to affiliate to them so they are properly funded, but I did interpret this as just suggested that it was like a levy. Now I probably all of you in the same boat as NISPA at the minute, where we are seeing a fall in our membership because of the Public Service cuts. We are also seeing a fall in the amount we get in subscriptions from individuals because of the Public Sector Pay Cap, and because of the increase in pension contributions.
We are concerned that the money we need to do the valuable work that we do will be comprised. We do believe that Congress should fund the Trades Councils properly. We do agree that we should increase our affiliation, but I don’t think that the motion as it suggested is the right way to do it, and we want to make sure we have the funds available within in our own union to the campaigns that we believe are valuable. So for example, we were very proud to do, which was to support the Jobstown Not Guilty Campaign and we have made a donation to that to ensure that the innocent people who are the victims of fighting for their community did not go to jail. Thank you.
Paddy Mackel, NISPA
Apologies, President, if referring it back means that you won’t do anything with it ie you are opposing it, that’s fair enough. But if it means anything other than that I think I need to make this contribution ok?
It is with reluctance that we are opposing the Dublin Council of Trade Unions motion because we have very good relationship with them over the last number of years, but we think that what they intend to do is not what it says in black and white, what we will be voting on, that’s why we have to oppose it.
Firstly, Belfast Trades Council view a motion such as this which purports to be about developing and expanding the role of Trades Councils, should in the first instance been the subject of a discussion with Trades Councils, so we could debate the matter and then reach an agreement collectively, which the Trades Councils think is the best way to develop the Trades Council across Ireland.
Secondly, the motion instructs a special fund to be set up, that’s what the motion says. It is to be controlled by the Executive Council. Given that we have two jurisdictions with the Northern Ireland Committee, the motion is strangely silent on how resources from trade union affiliates in the South will be split, and what proportion, if any, will be sent North. There is currently no mechanism to split affiliation fees from affiliates North or South, so I assume the idea of splitting funds will be equally problematic. The motion is silent on who pays, how much will be paid, when it will we pay it, what would happen if you didn’t pay, would you control where your money would go if you did pay, so all of those things are not clear in this Motion. It also, I would respectfully suggest to you, the wording of the motion which makes reference to cultural and community work, that can mean a totally different thing in the North to be honest with you. So I would be very worried about saying something like that in the motion.
More important than all of that however, I think is this point; that the Trades Council in the North certainly has very good relationships with other unions. The relationships have been built up over many years through engagement in particular projects, events training and campaigns. This goes beyond affiliation fees. We have to engage with the unions and local branches. We have to explain why we are looking for support, what money we are asking for, what responsibilities are placed on us if we receive that funding. This approach also enables the Trade Council to tackle and to talk with union affiliates about how we can encourage better participation from branches in that union. It also enables us to learn at first-hand about campaigns which the unions are running, and which they
75 may ask us to become involved in as well. In Belfast Trades Council opinion, this current arrangement works well, and it is imminently more beneficial to Trades Councils than a cumbersome bureaucratic mechanism to collect and distribute non-specific funds by the Executive Committee. Please oppose the Motion.
Brian Campfield, President
There is another motion to be taken, the ASTI motion, but when it is fresh in your minds, the arguments, I am going to put this motion to you, but I am going to put remission to you, that this motion to be remitted, as proposed by John Douglas, and seconded by Dublin Trades Council. So I am putting to you that the motion be remitted. Those in favour? I think that is very clearly carried. So that motion is remitted. So could I ask you to come and move Motion 21?
Miriam Duggan, ASTI
President, Congress, Miriam Duggan ASTI.
Historically worker health and safety issues weren’t huge concerns. Back in the day workers were sent down the mines, they were sent up the chimneys, and little concern was taken of the impact on them of their work. It is hardly surprising then, to coin a phrase, that their lives were nasty, brutal and short, and thankfully in a large measure due to the work of the trade union, that has changed. Everybody now understands how important health and safety is. We are all used to auditing our workplaces, and I am very glad to say that welfare seems to becoming more and more important, and that is what we are here to talk to you about today, and that is what this motion is about. It’s about welfare.
You may wonder ‘what is promoting working welfare?’. Promoting working welfare means seeking to identify to prevent or to manage prolonged exposure to work- related stress, and developing work practises that are conducive to worker wellbeing.
Now prolong exposure to work-related stress is quite different from the short term pressures that we are used to, you know the kind of pressures when you’re trying to meet a deadline. That kind of presser is good for us, it makes work, it makes us get things done, and we can learn how to do things differently. However, prolonged stress is an entirely different matter. This leads to inefficiencies, it leads to absenteeism, it leads to presenteeism, and while not a disease in itself, worker related stress is link to the following; cardiovascular disease, muscular skeletal episodes such as back, shoulder, neck pain, and that’s just to mention a few. Do you know for example Congress that 25% of workers throughout the EU suffer from a stress-related illness, and that is the believe under reported?
Now according to European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the main risk factors in work-related stress are heavy workload, long working hours, lack of control and autonomy at work, poor supported work, and the impact of organisational change. The recognition of these factors as risks is growing and my colleague Deirdre MacDonald is going to speak to you more about the European context of this growth and recognition.
Is it generally accepted, that promoting worker wellbeing is a win-win strategy, everybody gains. The employer gains, the employee gains, everybody benefits. The essence of the motion that we have before you today is that collective agreements be scrutinised under six areas to access their implications for working conditions and then for the welfare of workers. Three of those areas refer to change; I better remind you all, you know this car ad on at the moment that tells us change is good? Every time I see this I want to throw something at the television set, because change is neither good nor bad. Some change is good, some change is bad. But I tell you something for
76 nothing, when change is poorly explained, when change is poorly understood, and where it is poorly embedded, it is nothing more than a source of stress for workers.
Three of the things that we talked about in that template that we presented in the motion refer to change. The first thing is that there should be a clear breakdown, a clear exposition of the change in question, where each union spells out how the practices for their members will change. The second is a clear rationale for the change in work practices, none of us can do what we don’t understand, and if we don’t understand why a change is necessary, if we don’t understand what the benefits of a change in our work practice is, then it becomes very frustrating to try and do something you don’t fully understand.
Pace of change is another issue that we want to see analysed as well. Recent years have seen a huge amount of change in our work practices. Now a constantly changing working environment is an obvious stressor and can even be counter-productive, if one set of changes isn’t given the time to be embedded before another set of changes is introduced to the system. A review of resources is really important, being asked to do work which is inadequately resourced has long been a stressor. Any analysis of resources or to review the physical resources required for the job, the training to be provided, and the allocation of that most precious of all resources, our time. The impact of proposed changes on our professional autonomy, again the growth of managerialism and the decline of professional autonomy, both of those are linked with causing stress, they are well recognised stressors.
The final area we would recommend for scrutiny is equity, the balance between what is been asked of us, and what is been given to us in return. Any five year old will tell you if something isn’t fair, it’s not possible to implement. And lack of fairness in an agreement can lead to frustration, disengagement, and ultimately unrest. This motion does not make clear that it was our intention that each union ought to be responsible for its own analysis. As such the motion as it currently written cannot be implemented, and we except its remission to the Executive. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen.
Deirdre Mc Donald, ASTI
President, Colleagues, a trade union movement that is fit for purpose in the 21st Century must meet head-on the issue of worker welfare. Our motion sets out a template an audit tool, to bring this issue to the fore in all of our individual unions. The bean-counter approach that has been taken by Governments North and South, they live in fantasy land. If they believe that you can load more and more work on workers in detreating conditions for longer and longer, up to 68 years of age in 20-28, fantasy. If people are to maintain their ability to work in a fruitful and fulfilling fashion, their welfare must be taken in to consideration in any negotiation with their employers.
Last week I spoke at a round table meeting in Dublin of the European Federation for Employers in Education and the European Trade Union Committee for Education. The theme was ‘Relaunching Social Dialog, A Decent Place to Work’, and with great interest that I noted President Higgins echoing this sentiment this morning - a decent place to work. He also said in his statement that policy decisions affect people lives, hence it affects their health and wellbeing. These EU bodies that I have mention have recommended that social dialog systems, collective bargaining prioritise worker welfare, and be part of all pay agreements and national agreements.
Congress we propose that ICTU similarly put welfare of workers to the fore. President Higgins spoke this morning of a paradigm shift, one that addresses effectively workers’ individual needs. This is a long term approach and this was also advocated by the ICTU General Secretary, Patricia King this afternoon. It is with interest that I notice there were four motions directly relating to mental health
77 on our agenda, and I have no doubt there is a great number of the other motions have their genesis in that same issue.
We have heard many laudable statements the aspirations today, but when do good words become mere rhetoric. I suggest when they are not followed up with effective action. So I ask you please follow this action, follow this up, with taking on board our template and recommending it to your individual unions. It is our rights we are looking after and employers’ responsibility. Thank you very much.
Brian Campfield, President
I am going to work back a little bit here, so it is proposed that motion is remitted that its accepted by the ASTI, so I am putting it that Motion 21 be remitted. All those in favour? That’s agreed.
We just go back to Motion 17, all those in favour Motion 17? That’s agreed.
All those in favour of Motion 18? That’s agreed.
Motion 19? All those in favour? That’s agreed.
I could put to you for adoption the Principle EC Report Reference Section 2 The Work of Congress, Sub-Section 4 Education and Training, Sub-Section 5 Public Engagement Campaigns and Communication, and Appendices 1 – 7. I put that to you for endorsement, agreed? That’s agreed.
Could I just go back just in case I know we have some motions from this morning which Standing Orders will look at with a view to coming up with proposals about when they might be taken. In the meantime I am going to put to you the Executive Committee Report Reference Section 2- I industrial Legislation and Strategic Organising which was part of that section, so we only have the Motions to deal with then. Is that agreed? Agreed.
Okay, I think that’s it, just to remind you that there is a photo shoot here with the NISPA delegation in relation to the attack on their facilities, so if delegates are available to come to the front and I will see you all in the morning sharp at 9.30am.
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Wednesday 5th July 2017 Morning Session
Brian Campfield, President
Good morning conference, I’m going to call Jack McGinley, Standing Orders, but before I do can I just congratulate Margaret McKee who is in the UNISON delegate, she has just been elected as President of UNISON in the whole of the UK. Margaret works in the Royal Victoria Hospital and is from North Belfast. Congratulations Margaret, we all wish you well.
Jack McGinley, Standing Orders Committee
Delegates there are still about 50 people who haven’t exchanged their voting card for a ballot paper. Liam Berney will be available until about 11am and after that the Principle Delegate for each delegation should go to Room 1 upstairs and collect the ballot papers for the two elections that are being held. I advise that those ballot papers should be returned no later than 3pm this afternoon to the same venue.
Standing Orders met this morning and considered the situation in relation to the fact that we have fallen behind and have decided to take no action at the moment, but will review the situation at 2pm. I have to advise Conference that a significant number of delegates went way beyond their time and this may result in a significant cut to speaking time, unless people keep to the times that are allotted. If there is any further fall back in relation to speeches this morning, then it is inevitable that the ‘snip’ will come in the afternoon, and tomorrow.
Brian Campfield, President
You might not be allowed back up Jack. Okay before I ask Tom Healy to present the report on the Economy, two things, we have had delegates complaining that because of the amount of talking in the hall, it’s very difficult to hear. So if you want to talk in a serious way, could you exit the room please.
Also for the attention of members of the Executive Council, and the Northern Ireland Committee, you have been asked to participate in a photo call just after conference at lunchtime and to make your way to outside the Europa Hotel, it’s part of the Marriage Equality Campaign and it’s for a photo call. There is a fringe meeting also in the Europa at lunchtime. I should also remind people about the fringe meeting at lunchtime in this building, Justice for Columbia, where Huber Ballesteros will be attending, recently released from prison in Columbia.
Can I move on and ask Tom Healy to move the section of the Report on The Economy please?
Tom Healy, NERI
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Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the Economy, and to provide some context for the discussion this morning in particular motions 24 and 25 and later my colleague Paul Mc Flynn will speak briefly about Brexit to provide a context there.
As a starting point I would like to refer to the idea of a good society because if we aim for a good society that works for all people, then inevitably we must talk about democracy in the economy, democracy in the workplace, and democracy in the way that political institutions govern and regulate the market economy. In the next few moments I want to focus primarily on two things; first of all the central importance, as I see it, of housing as an issue for the trade union movement North and South, and secondly, the importance of an enterprise strategy which the trade union movement needs to take ownership of and to drive forward a part of a vision for transforming bought the economy and society.
Let me begin by referring to housing because housing is a fundamental human right, the right to shelter as a basic human need is fundamental to the quality of life for workers, their families and communities, and we have seen in a very graphical way in there Republic of Ireland how housing has operated in a very dysfunctional way - huge amount of land and property have been seeded to vulture funds, mostly paying very little tax on their income and operating in a way that is ruthless and that is disrespectful to thousands of people in situations of rented accommodation, but also personal indebtedness and mortgage.
I think it is important that we learn the lessons from the past because it strikes me that successive Governments have applied essentially the same model; a model that I would describe as a property- led model, in which the market is seen as the main or almost exclusive provider of new housing output, but also where a property-led, property-dominated approach to housing effectually neglects the wider prospective of Public Services, of special planning and integration of where people live into the context of community life.
It’s also apparent that housing accounts for a very large proportion of weekly income and weekly expenditure, whether people are renting or paying mortgages on their homes, and this therefor points to the key role of housing as an aspect of the social wage, in other words it’s important that we are concerned about the quality of work and wages, but also those aspects of collective good, including housing are really important from the point of view of workers. Now it would be misleading to suggest that the Republic of Ireland is the only place where there is a housing crisis, and I have been very struck by the research undertaken by NIPSA, for example, in Northern Ireland in relation to the crisis here. It maybe that housing is not in as acute crisis as is the case in the Republic, but nonetheless it is a huge problem, and it’s reflected also in the way in the incidence of homelessness is greatly in excess here in Northern Ireland, compared to what it is in great Britain, and the rate of homelessness has slowly but steadily increased since around the year 2005.
For that reason, I think the central role of the State, Local Government, or commercial public enterprises, as the case may be, is crucial to actually begin to solve the housing supply crisis, and I note further discussion on housing later today in more than one resolution. But I think it is also important to realise that in a discussion on housing and the role of public expenditure, particularly also in the Republic of Ireland, the way in which EU Fiscal rules evidently are now hampering in a very major way public investment, this matter has to be tackled head on, because not only is it crippling public capital expenditure, but also the provision of a fundamental human right. When I hear people saying that we can’t bring in, in a timely way, an effective vacant site levy in the Republic because of legal constitutional impediments, including the right to private property, we have to ask the question ‘is there such a thing as a right to a home, and should that be reflected in the Irish Constitution?’.
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But easy as it is to critique the situation in relation to housing North and South, it is very important that we think through a solution or solutions, and a contribution has been made to that debate in a working paper recently by the NERI, and we called it the European Cost Rental Model. The Cost Rental Model idea is essentialy not new it’s done in other countries, Austria, Demark, and to an extent in Netherlands. The idea of a Cost Rental Model is to enable people to rent long term at below market rental levels, but at a level that is sufficient to cover the economic costs of building, delivering and maintaining property. If this approach was taken, which in the medium term would fund itself, because it would be by definition a cost rental model, it could be possible to exert real change in the property market, particularly the rental market, but indirectly as well on owner occupied sectors because it would put downward pressure, or at least it would contain increases in rent, it would free up new supply, and that in turn would have an impact ultimately on average house prices.
I think there is a lesson and a point here to be grasped as well here in relation to Northern Ireland, because the Housing Executive has been greatly curtailed. It needs to have new powers of borrowing and it needs to expand its activity, and it maybe that what we are looking at in the Republic by way of a Cost Rental Model could actually lend itself very effectively to application through an agency such as the Housing Executive in Northern Ireland.
So we need to approach this debate, because it is a debate that is raging across Ireland, but especially in the Republic, about accommodation and homelessness, and the crisis especially as it impacts on young workers and young families and individuals, we need to approach that the debate with vigour, with ideas, with well-crafted analysis, and even more importantly solutions, proposals, policies, that show there is an alternative, and I was struck by what you said President, yesterday that the solutions we have been pursuing in health in housing and in the ownership of Irish Water are effectively socialist solutions.
Now I want to deal finally with the aspect industrial strategy or enterprise strategy, and this can be a challenging area because sometimes you may feel ‘well what does that have got to with us? What’s that got to do with the trade union movement?’ and I think that an effective industrial strategy, as the trade union movement might shape it and lead it, is about empowering workers and communities, and let me spell out what that means in three examples. First of all, I think there is scope for a community third force banking system to offer real choice and service to households, as well small and medium size enterprises, and we will be coming back to the topic of banking and financial services in Motion 25 in a short while.
A second example is investment in cooperative enterprises to provide energy from renewable sources. A third example is to empower frontline health services workers in delivering better community health with budgets prioritised towards prevention and frontline community care, where the Republic of Ireland again is way behind other European countries in the extent to which investment takes place in community health services.
So essentially the economy that we are talking about in enterprise strategy is one that is based on high productivity, high skills and wages that match productivity and decency of living standards. It is rarely acknowledge by people who us the terms ‘competiveness, innovation, productivity, enterprise’, that agenda does not necessarily have to be owned by the business community or by people who are hostile to the interest of organised labour. I was amused to hear the new Minister for Finance in the Republic saying that on any measure of social progress the Republic of Ireland is not in a socialist paradise, neither is it in neoliberal hell. Well if we actually look at those countries at the top in terms social progress indicators, Scandinavian countries manage to combine a dynamic enterprise culture and social equality, and also happen to have very high levels trade union membership and density - there is a link I suggest. We are not entirely at the mercy of global forces
81 and international pressures, we do have the capacity to make a difference at national level, even if very often as a small open economy or a small open economic region, we are very often at the mercy of global forces. There are ways in which pressure and change can happen, if we are clever and organised and smart enough to actually think about, and housing I give as one example.
Brexit, I will not dwell on, my colleague Paul will talk about that but there are choices there in terms of the long-term vision for the EU and the European union, and I think we have to be careful about what direction we are going in there. Is it towards more and more European integration, with the coordination of monitory fiscal, military and other policy? Or is it towards a looser association based on trade and the four freedoms as they are called? The jury is still out, but I suspect that we will not be able to continue muddling through with the existing arrange in the European Union, it is just simply not sustainable.
Finally I am delighted that there is a growing awareness in the trade union movement about the importance of the zero carbon economy and the Just Transition Project on the part of colleagues in Congress, and many of the affiliates as well. It’s vital that we rethink, and this is very much at the heart of an industrial policy, that we rethink the approach to productivity and industry, and that in fact we create a whole new layer of economic activities that feed into a sustainable development agenda, because the movement represents those not only currently in work, but even those not yet born, who will be future trade union members in 50 or 100 years time, and we really have a moral reasonability and under an intergenerational ethic, we have a reasonability to look out for that. Go raimh maith agat.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay, thanks very much Tom for that introduction. Moving on now to Motion No. 24 on The Economy, and I’m calling on Kevin Callinan to move the motion on behalf of the Executive Council.
Kevin Callinan, Executive Council
Conference, a strong, outward looking, high productivity, indigenous enterprise sector; that’s Belfast’s story, this in a city built on linen and ships. At one point Belfast was home to the world’s largest shipyard, and to its biggest linen mill. This history, this experience of the first industrial revolution is instructive as we enter the fourth.
The new industrial strategy for the Island of Ireland is being drafted in the context of the contrary gale that is Brexit. The first lesson of Belfast’s industrial past is that tension is potential energy. There is no doubt but that these are tense times. Belfast is no stranger to tension, in fact it’s proof of the productive energy of that tension. To weave linen you need tension on the loom, to sail a ship you need tension on the rig, storms happen, Brexit looms. We need to follow Belfast’s example and harness the tension, adjust the sails and spot the opportunity.
The wind always blows in favour of the best navigators; take for example Samson and Goliath, the twin gantry cranes at Harland and Wolff. They are now listed as historical monuments, they no longer build ships there, instead today Harland and Wolff build offshore wind farms. They retuned the loom, adjusted the sails, they found a new way to harness the wind, to weather the storm, to spot the opportunity.
The history of industry in Belfast is as much about partnership building as it is about ship building. In a city famous about its divisions, the history of Belfast industry is a history of cooperation, of famous
82 and lasting partnerships, Harland and Wolff, Samson and Goliath, Mulholland and Hind, warp and weft. In responding to Brexit the new industrial strategy must take its cue from this legacy of lasting partnership, and it must forge new ones too; worker and employer, North and South, EU and UK, we cannot follow the emergent isolationist trend, now is not a time to batten down the hatches nor to abandon ship, we need all hands on deck, and now is a time to point the bow face on into the wind and sale forth.
Belfast’s industrial past provides warnings too; the fruits of Belfast’s first industrial revolution were not evenly spread. The linen mills and ship yards were hostile places to many. The fourth industrial revolution must be different. The Year of Enterprise 2018 will focus on ensuring that the new industrial strategy forms one strong thread in a tightly woven social fabric, and as we set a new course and take a new tack we must ensure that nobody falls overboard. The world has lurched to the right; Brexit and Trump were shots across our bow, it’s time to stem that tide, to stop the unravelling, and keeping an even keel in these rough seas won’t be easy. But workers need a port in this storm and a steady hand on the tiller, and that’s the work of this movement. We must act as an anchor and as a beacon. As an anchor to stop rightwards drift, and as a beacon to provide a guide to those at sea. We must embark on this voyage with ambition and confidence , ambitious for the type of industrial strategy we want to see, and confident that we can provide the necessary leadership to achieve it. We cannot leave it to employers alone, enterprise is always joint enterprise. The Year of Enterprise 2018 must be about workers first. I move.
Eoin Ronayne, CPSU
Eoin Ronayne, seconding the motion, Colleagues, President Higgins’ comments yesterday have a particular resonance in relation to this motion. He noted the central and vital role the State plays in industrial strategy, and in particular as a source of long term capital investment. Congress has long called on bought British and Irish Governments to provide significant funding for investment and state infrastructure and service provision. The lie in the centre of the neoliberal economic policy so favoured by Regan and Thatcher, in many ways they were the birth parents of that troubled child call austerity, is that to create growth all the Governments had to do, and small Governments preferably, is to step aside and allow the markets to function. Well we know that failed, in fact neoliberalism failed utterly, and we as workers suffered the consequences, and paid a hefty price.
This motion demands of the Governments of both sides of the boarder and of the Irish Sea to abandon neoliberalism and to recognise, as the President of Ireland did yesterday, that the State can and must act as a long term investor in growth through enterprise and innovation. We believe workers have always understood their part in building our economic future. It must be blindingly obviously that the success of an enterprise is in the interest of the workers first. We have as much a right to participate in the planning and management of enterprises as those to own and direct. As workers our lively hoods are intrinsically linked to the successful growth and development of our places in work, our sources of income.
The neoliberal philosophy of curtailing planning and decision making in enterprises and innovation to the select few with short term investment programs, has failed. Across the globe citizens are realising that it is time to reverse that failed philosophy. Recognise that the central and right of the citizen, and the tax payer particularly, is through the State to play their part as the investor of first instance, to set up the terms of that investment that is our right. With the State at the centre and core of enterprise innovation, companies without the State at the core of enterprise and innovation, companies cannot flourish.
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We as trade unions representing workers who have a direct and central stake holding in those enterprises must take our part and defend our right to be at the centre of economic decisions and economic decisions making. Colleagues, I ask you to support the motion.
Thomas Mahaffy, UNISON
President, Delegates. Thomas Muhaffy, UNISON in support of motion 24.
Conference, in supporting this motion I want the independence between a vibrant economy and the strong social and economic rights we will be debating in our Social Policy session this afternoon. I also want to commend the excellent work being under taken on these issues by Tom Healy and the Nevin institute, and the real transformative potential of a new Northern Ireland Committee Pay on Public Service Campaign due to launch this Autumn.
We all know that unequal societies are bad for everyone, rich and poor. As well as impacting on our health and education outcomes it also impacts on our potential for economic growth, and with inflation set to reach 3% plus in the coming year it will be our health workers, education workers, local community workers or our care workers, mostly woman, who will continue to bear the brunt of austerity, and will scramble for recovery whenever that might be.
Tackling inequality and discrimination and promoting equality and social economic rights for the most deprived remains the key for building police and growing our economy across this Island. Instead Northern Ireland remains the most unequal society in the UK and figures from the Nevin Institute show just how exploited our members and our public service workers have become. The continued scape goats for ongoing financial miss-management, denied pay rises and the forced into precarious exploitative employment, betrayed by privatisation and greed, and a discriminatory Living Wage not worthy of the name.
Conference, we are staring into economic uncertainty whilst the format of EU exit remains unclear, however we know that Sterling will continue to be devalued , and inflation will continue to rise, and more presser will be put onto the household budgets of our members and the increasing number living in poverty. It’s a nonsense to think that cutting and privatising our Public Services will contribute to economic growth. Even the OECD accepts the Public Sector drives the Private Sector through procuring goods and services and through consumer spending.
Conference, our members have made it clear that they need a movement that stands united to defend them and there communities. They need the self-defeating policy of austerity ended. They need direct public investment and high quality jobs and infrastructure, not crazy PFIs and the privatisation of our Public Services. They want a strong and inclusive Bill of Rights, and they want corporations and the wealthiest to pay their fair share. We need a strong and proper anti-poverty strategy with resources allocated based on objective need.
Conference, now is the time for Governments to make up for the wasted years, at a time when our All Island economy is threatened by EU exit we need an new economic approach, North and South that delivers an economy that works for all. The people need to know that a more equal, just and prosperous society is possible and it is up to all of us in this room to ensure that their voices are heard in any debate about our economic and political future. Please support the motion.
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Carmel Gates, NIPSA
Sisters and Brothers, Carmel Gates, NIPSA.
When we read this motion at our Council the decision that we took was to oppose the motion. Now from what I’ve heard from Tom and the mover and seconders, it has slightly changed how we read this motion. I will explain why we were intending to oppose it.
In the opening paragraph it talks about welcoming the contributions of multi-nationals, and I don’t believe that it’s critical enough of the roll of multi-nationals, and we are talking about those multi- nationals who don’t pay their taxes; Apple, Google, Tesco, and not only not paying their taxes but also the shameful way that they have treated workers in Ireland, right through the Celtic Tiger right through to today. So we believe that it should be more critical.
The motion goes on then to talk about an industrial strategy and I do agree with what Tom has said and how he would build it, but this is almost suggestive of that if you have productivity and profits, that somehow that equals higher wages, now we know that is not the case and we know that workers have to fight very hard for a very meagre share of what companies build, and them having profits and a profitable industry does not equal high wages.
As we come further down the motion it talks about innovation and employee participation. Now employee participation, as far as I’m concerned, is through the industrial relations process, employee participation is in their unions, and I feel that there isn’t enough of a balance in that as to how we want to balance in the economy. I do believe that we need to be saying it’s not jobs at any price, we don’t just want there to be a vibrant industrial society on this Island, we want a society that is fair and equal, we want balance, we need an industrial strategy that builds a social fabric, that builds houses, that builds community centres, and as Tom said renewable energy and so on.
In reading this motion I have to say we felt that it was a bit wrong-headed and balanced the wrong way. We want to see it more balanced towards - what Tom used the word socialism - we don’t use it often enough. My union supports socialist economic policy, and I would like to see us build that into what we were saying we are going to build. We are not just building jobs at any price, we are not just building a healthy industry, and hope that if it is profitable that they will give us our fair share. We want a social wage and we want a new model. We were opposed to the motion in the form that it is written but what Tom has said and what others have said has given it a different slant, but I think we have to say that unless we can balance the economy and the workers get their share, we can’t rely on the Tesco and the Googles and the Apples to trickle down their wealth to us, because we know that’s just not going to happen. So I say that we need to build a socialist economic model, and that should be at the forefront at everything we do. We are very happy to second this motion. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay I’m going to put Motion 24 to Conference. All those in favour? Against? That’s clearly carried. The next motion is Motion 25, on behalf of the FSU.
Larry Broderick, FSU
Colleagues, Larry Broderick FSU, moving motion 25.
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The motion really has three principles underpinning this motion. First of all the need for a strategic financial strategy on the Island of Ireland in the interest of staff, customers, communities and the Irish society. Secondly, the need to in that strategy to ensure at local level financial institutions are available for local communities, particularly in rural Ireland. Thirdly, as other speakers have talked about, the need to engage with workers and trade unions as part of a strategic vision for the future.
History will show us the banking industry caused the collapse of the financial services in this country, and caused the collapse of the Republic of Ireland economy, and also many aspects of Northern Ireland economy. Why did that happen colleagues? Because of greed, short term interests, maximising profit, at the expense of staff and customers. What impact had it on workers, thousands of workers in an industry that had been made redundant? We have seen financial institutions close and merge. We have seen Irish society put billions of pounds into the banks, and everything we hear out there today in terms of economic comment is ‘have we learned the mistakes of the past?’. Well I’ll tell you what the strategy for financial services, North and South, is. It’s very simple like this; first of all let’s lift the cap on Senior Executives salaries at the same time as capping salaries on ordinary workers. That’s not acceptable colleagues. It’s about a strategy of closing branches in rural Ireland, maximising profit at the expense of customers and this society. It’s about a practice that focus on the Government selling off the assets of State owned banks, to do what? To reduce debt at a time we need investment in our economy. This revolution has to say ‘no, no, no, no’. Can I say this in conclusion to this motion, here we are today talking at a Conference where up the road in South Belfast RBS is closing down a section of our members jobs, to repatriate to India, for what reason? For costs and we all in this economy in Northern Ireland what repatriation and what outsourcing means for customers in the Ulster Bank. They have no access to capital, they had no access to funds for five weeks. So let’s support the campaign for our colleagues in Ulster Bank and support this revolution. Thank you very much indeed colleagues.
Colm Quinlan, UNITE
Supporting this motion, and touching upon some of the points raised by Tom Healy earlier, where we called upon for a third banking force that might have some State involvement.
You may recall we had such organisation ICC, who were sold and privatised, and sold on to Bank Of Scotland Ireland, and at the height of the crash Bank of Scotland Ireland disappeared out of the country leaving a huge amount of turmoil in their wake for staff and for borrowers. They created what they called a special purpose vehicle called Certus to manage and wind down their loans. They were extremely vindictive towards those who had borrowed, they had no banking relationship with those people, and extremely vindictive to their staff. At the height we had 500 members in Certus, at one point there was potential for that to grow 1,000, today we have none. However, contrast fate of the customers and the workers of ICC with what I read in the Sunday Times on Sunday about the Directors of ICC. There was six Directors in Certus, most whom were at the forefront of the banking collapse in Ireland, and as a consequence of their loan, through very tough and detailed negotiations to look after our staff and members, we managed to do it, we managed to get them out with dignity and severance. Customers suffered very badly. The six Directors, it was announced last Sunday shared £45million for the role they played in it. So let there be little doubt, it’s time for us to start seriously looking at these organisations, and removing the caps on liabilities. So we are very happy to second this motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay I’m going to put Motion 25 to you. Those in favour? That’s carried. Can I put Section I of the Principle Report on The Economy to you? Are you happy to endorse that? Okay.
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They say that there are still about 30 delegates haven’t picked up their voting cards from Liam Berney so you need to move quickly on that. Is Brendan Macken there?
Brendan Macken, Chairperson Congress Centres Network
Congress, President, good morning. I’m currently the Chairperson of the Congress Centres Network. The Network is over 30 years in existence and has over 20 active Centres throughout the Island of Ireland. The genesis of the Centres was linked to the Trade Councils and it was this role and the location of Trade Councils that determined the location, structure, policy, and services provided by each Centre.
Primarily the rationale which underpinned the Trades Council role and the ethos of each Centre was to address the growing impact of increasing unemployment on trade union members, families, and local communities. The urban and rural location of the Centres has created a symbiotic link between the ICTU, Trade Councils, Congress Centres, and Communities. Over the past 20 years the focus on the support for the unemployed continues.
However, other factors have emerged that determine the current role response in supporting the services of each respective Centre. Currently each Centre has common core activities such as advice and training. In addition location, poverty, deprivation, democratic changes, and community needs have demanded flexible responses to meet local and sometimes lifestyle needs.
The following are some examples of services, courses, and campaigns that the Network has engage in which is the biggest Community Employment Scheme on the Island. The Centres at the forefront of working with the trade unions in tandem to look at the rights and continued rights of CES workers.
Job training and for example, the Centres through Congress got to work with SOLAS to deliver a programme called Momentum and that programme was the most successful of all, which included working against private companies etc.
The Centres delivered in tandem, Disability and IT training and Technology to the Disabled community, and again was an award winning programme. EURES pre-employment courses, working with people who have skills, no education and little or no work experience, and certainly have no idea what the role and needs of trade unions are. Cross boarder programmes about the mobility of workers and again dealing with the long-term unemployed, looking at the whole basis of working on both sides of the boarder.
The other thing about the EURES programme is not only are we dealing with the issue of mobility in employment, but we are also dealing with the issues of people who are working bought sides of the boarder, around taxation, housing, benefits for women, maternity rights and the rest. So in many respects this also gives an introduction to EURES Network which allows mobility through the whole of Europe.
In 2006 the Congress Centres Network achieved and established FETAC Quality Assurance status. FETAC in itself in 2012 was incorporated into Quality Qualifications Ireland (QQI) as a new Integrated Agency covering further education and training awards. Each certified course offered through the Centres have been designed and develop with the adult learner in mind, and have gone, in conjunction with the ICTU, through a validation process with QQI. QQI is responsible for the external quality insurance of further and higher education in training, and validates programmes and makes awards to certain providers in specific sectors.
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The Congress Centres Network, with the ICTU, is represented on the Advisory Board of the QQI Community and Voluntary Sector. The Congress Centres Network, in conjunction with the ICTU, are validated to deliver approximately 60 courses ranging from Level 3, to Level 6 Accreditation. Each minor and major awards to lead to certification and all are mapped into a European Qualifications Framework. The advantage to this status means that learners can engage in pursuing education and gain international recognition for their certification.
The Congress Centre Network has been active in supporting trade union and community campaigns, for example in supporting campaigns such as ‘Facing Up to Racism’. When look at the TV what we can see throughout the world is populist and Right Wing parties using racism as an mechanism to gain political power. One of the other things that people forget when you are facing up to racism is that we don’t have to welcome someone into our community. What we need to do is go through the process of helping people to integrate, not only into the workplace, with which the trade unions are playing a major roll, but also to integrate people into the communities, and it is important that communities are engaged with the whole thing of integration. Too often in the pass we have to learn a lesson where migrants were brought in and put into communities and communities are not engaged in the process. We have got to make sure we start first, and one of the roles that the Centres are doing is making sure that communities are engaged in the whole thing of the integration process.
In support for the peace process, Belfast Unemployment Resource Centre and the ICTU were directly involved in the Peace Process and also the Decommission Process and the ICTU itself was also one of the organisations that came to the forefront when the whole place was confronting, not only sectarianism and the violence that was happening emanating basically within the working class communities, but also has the courage to confront and meet the people who were responsible for those things, and in some respects the ICTU I doubt ever got the praise and the recognition for the work that’s been done, because believe you me, there was very little support coming from private employers and indeed to some extend from Government agencies. The unemployed Centres were also against the whole thing of privatisation, were against the whole thing of taxing public services. They have been active in campaigns against the cuts in health and education.
The campaign about Marriage Equality, all the Centres throughout Ireland played a role and came out to the front to campaign on the whole issue of Marriage Equality. Lesbian and gay rights is another factor where the Centres have played a major role. In fact the Unemployed Centre in Belfast received an award for their role in working with Transgender people. But not only were national campaigns important, the role of the Centres is a link to the trade union movement into local communities. I also meant to say that the Centres themselves along with local trade unions and trades councils were involved in locals campaigns against the likes of hospital closures, education cuts, infrastructural impact, and afflictions of people and of course housing.
We as a Network welcome, and looking through the programme, the work of the Nevin Research Institute, the work they are doing on the whole issue of housing, and we also welcome the NIPSA research. We also welcome the fact that housing is going to be debated as a major concern at this Congress.
One of the biggest problems whenever you are giving advice to people in communities, both in rural and urban areas, is that housing is one of the major things. We need to take into consideration, you have 20 Centres throughout Ireland who have got an advice role. For example here in Belfast our advice centre dealt with over 11,000 enquires last year, of which housing played a major role. If you take that through 20 Centres, you could look at the number of people who we are dealing with on the basis of day-to-day problems, but also on the fact of the lack of housing, and housing at the present time is one of the biggest problems facing our society - the lack of it, the cost of it, the
88 design of it, its availability, it’s affordability, its location - are all factors, but the biggest factor is it’s all in the hands of the policy that’s being driven, purely and simply by the private sector.
Unless we actually look at what affordability is supposed to mean, who determines affordability? Affordability means different things for different people in different areas. Unless there is a return to a clear public housing policy, driven by the public sector, the supply of houses will never be delivered and will become market led again in the future. We need a public housing policy, we need a public housing body, and we need public housing to break the supply problem that is in place today.
One of the other areas we are looking at is the rights of migrants again and I would like to say that the outreach services provided in the Centres is one of the primary things it is doing. Congress, I could go on telling you all the good things. I could finish up by congratulating or thanking the ICTU, Patricia King, Frank Vaughan, Fiona Dunne, Joanne Brown, for the work and the role that they have played. I’d like to that Trades Councils who done the work, but I would to like to finish up by saying that’s the Trades Councils are the ones who set up, in conjunction with ICTU, these Centres. Unfortunately with the decline of the Trades Councils there has been a disconnect between the management of the Congress Centres Network and the Trades Councils. We need to ensure that the Centres stay under the control of a trade union movement, a normal trade union movement working in conjunction with them, but more especially, controlled by the trade union movement. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President Okay, thanks Brendan for that report. We’re moving on now to the next section on Brexit, the Principle Executive Council Report Reference Section 1, The Economy; Section 2 The Work of Congress, and Paul McFlynn from NERI is going to introduce this section of the Report.
Paul Mc Flynn, NERI
In terms of the Brexit section today, obviously there are quite a lot of motions, I’m going to outline as much as possible the ICTU Brexit document that should be there before you. The NERI obviously has been carrying out a programme of research with Brexit for almost a year and a half now, since before the Referendum Campaign we have obviously been working with colleagues in Congress and with affiliate unions to try and inform the debate and policy formulation in response to Brexit.
Brexit is obviously multifaceted and has many dimensions. In terms of the research we have been carrying out, our concern is focused on how Brexit will effect workers in terms of employment, in terms of security, and in terms of incomes. The main areas of concerns for us in terms of workers’ rights, in terms of trade, jobs, employment, I’m just going to briefly go through these point just to explain a bit around the position. In terms of workers’ rights, this is obviously a key concern for Northern Ireland in terms of the UK’s exit from the European Union and the possibility of a significant deterioration in workers’ rights and provisions as the UK is no longer subject to the rules of the EU Single Market. This is where the lack of a Northern Ireland Executive or Assembly comes into sharp focus. Northern Ireland does through Executive have the power over industrial relations, not only to preserve what has been in existence in terms of existing protections, but as has been said already in other debates, to go further than what is there. The danger is in the political vacuum that currently exists that there is nobody taking reasonability for these issues at Stormont.
There is a knock-on concern for the Republic of Ireland because if there is a significant reduction in workers’ rights and protections at UK level very quickly it would become the case that there would be voices within the Republic of Ireland to talk about the need of competitiveness with the UK economy, and why shouldn’t the Republic of Ireland begin to match the more flexible arrangements in terms of the rest of the UK.
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In terms of the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, and in terms of the political context of Brexit and this is very much the Congress position, that a lot of people have talk about the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement as being a problem in terms of Brexit, if anything, the Agreement is the solution, it should be an asset in terms of how Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland’s relationship moves forward as the UK leaves the EU. In particular Strand II and the All Island, North South bodies and Government and Parliamentary institutions created under the Agreement should be utilised in order to manage whatever scenario is going to face the Island in a post-Brexit situation.
In terms of trade, I don’t want to get too boring when I talk about this, but it is very important if not terribly exciting. There are a huge range of possibilities, I would actually say a frightening range of possibilities in terms of what is going to be the trade position of the UK outside the EU, and the Single Market and the Customs Union are talked about a lot in the media, disappointingly somewhat interchangeably, but they are two quite different institutions.
The Single Market, manly and in the main, covers services, it guarantees that if you are operating in one EU country and providing services to another, that you are operating under the same rules and regulations so that nobody can be disadvantaged by the actions of one Member State over another.
The Customs Union is much older and it’s probably what most people think when they think of the EU. It means that all the tariffs and all trade barriers between EU countries were removed, but very importantly it meant that all EU countries apply the same trading rules to goods coming in from outside the EU. This is very important for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland because it is likely that whatever happens with the single market, whatever happens with freedom of movement in terms of people, the decision on the Customs Union is most likely to affect what kind of boarder is on the Island of Ireland, for the very simple fact, even in the UK and the EU manage to sign a trade deal with no tariffs applying on trade in between the two, because of the common external tariff, because we have to everyone in the Customs Union has to apply the same rules to goods coming from outside, there would have to be some kind of border fortification between Northern Ireland and then the Republic of Ireland. For the very simple reason that you can’t import something into Northern Ireland from the US under lower tariffs and be able to ship that down South without any checks. This is the reason that Norway and Sweden, who are both members of the Single Market have to have a border between the two countries, because Norway is not in the Customs Union. When people talk about frictionless borders and things that we are going to be able to do with drones, its frankly ridiculous. And I would ask you to look at the pictures of the boarder fortifications that exist between Norway and Sweden, or between Switzerland and Italy or Germany. But not only do the border fortifications matter, in terms of the extra costs for businesses, in terms of smaller suppliers, particularly firms that operate on the border or firms that operate with inputs that flow across the border, the extra costs involved in these for a lot of small business may push a lot of them beyond operating costs, and the knock on effects of that, particularly in border areas, particularly for the manufacturing industry could be quite severe.
In terms of the NERI research in the future, we are looking in debt at the Customs Union and trying to scope out arrangements, either within the Customs Union or without the Customs Union that can preserve the trading relationship as much as it is, to avoid that disruption.
In terms of jobs and employment, and in terms of how the State should be reacting to Brexit for the Republic of Ireland Government we have outlined provision for a retraining fund and an Income Protection Fund. This would be focused at areas and sectors of the economy that are going to be most badly hit by Brexit; agri food is one and I attended the IMPACT event earlier this year, looking at that and looking at the impacts for IMPACT members and that sector as well. In terms of support that is required in the Republic of Ireland Government, in terms of the income protection fund or
90 the retraining fund, the EU has an obligation to look again at the fiscal rules and in many cases State Aid Rules and restrictions that is placed on Members and that exemptions should be sought for the Republic of Ireland in that regard because of the unique circumstances of Brexit.
In terms of Northern Ireland, we would be looking for direct assistance from the UK Government in terms of adjustment, but also once again looking for an Executive to be established in order to safeguard workers’ rights.
For both the single electricity market, also possibly not a very exciting thing to mention, but it is incredibly important, particularly for manufacturing in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The idea of having one electricity market means that people who are investing either in renewables or infrastructure for electricity, having a market the size of the Island of Ireland is very significant, and unless there is substantial side agreement made, the single electricity market will go with the s Single Market. It is worthwhile, as Tom was mentioning earlier, the enterprise project we are working on in the NERI, we see that as the more longer term response to Brexit. Theses are looking at issues and sectors which are going to arise immediately with Brexit, but looking to build more sustainable, more long-term business development would be the response to that.
In terms of free movement and movement to people, the 20,000 figures, and I suspect it’s quite an old figure, it’s the latest we have, and I suspect it’s actually a bit higher now in terms of those who cross the border every day, either for work or education. That obviously it is a key concern for Ireland and an immediate concern for Ireland. In terms of the border while Northern Ireland citizens, people born in Northern Ireland automatically through their right to citizenship of the Republic of Ireland retain a right to citizenship of the European Union. There is no similar arrangement for the Irish in Britain or vice versa.
The point I want to emphasize is the role of inward European migration into Northern Ireland, and the extremely positive impact that has had on the labour market here in Northern Ireland. That isn’t anecdotal, in terms of the two biggest structural weakness of the Northern Ireland labour market, we have lower levels of economic activity and we have a deficit of skills in Northern Ireland. On both those metrics, people who were born in the European Union and live in Northern Ireland preform significantly better on both of those outcomes, particularly the skills one, because we can break it down by people who came from the Pre 2004 15 EU Member States, and those that came from the Central and Eastern European States post 2004. They have made a significantly positive contribution to Northern Ireland labour market, and not only would it be a concern if the inward migration from those areas stopped, if would be significantly detrimental to the Northern Ireland labour market if many of those people, as anecdotally has been said start returning home after Brexit. That’s a significant threat to the Northern Ireland labour market.
In terms of EU funding you can see it outlined there in the document, there has been no guarantee. There has been a lot of talk about particular funds and farm supports in particular just being guaranteed by the UK Government, there has been no guarantee made, and as long as there is no viable Northern Ireland Executive it will be a UK Government making those decisions, and a UK Government within Great Britain with a significantly smaller agriculture sector, but also significantly for the funding streams, such as the European Social Fund and the Rural Development Programme.
In terms of the role of trade unions in responding to Brexit, the title of the recent NICICTU Seminar was Workers Must Not Pay the Price of Brexit, and we talk about political vacuums whether it in Northern Ireland, or whether it’s at UK Government level because of the minority Government. There is a danger that the Brexit process we all think it’s going to take years and years to happen and there is going to plenty of time for input, there isn’t, there is a danger that this thing concludes very, very, quickly and the people who are in who are lobbying in Government, people who wouldn’t
91 necessarily be friends of the trade union movement are going to get the kind of Brexit that favours them. But more broadly, and this is outlined on the document as well, there is a onus on the trade union movement as well to look at the future of Europe and accept that in many of the cases in Great Britain, the people voting for Brexit are workers, people who the trade union movement seeks to represent, and that there are obviously key concerns about the direction in which Europe is going, and that needs to be addressed as well as Brexit. Thank you for listening.
Brian Campfield, President Can I just welcome Grahame Smith, the General Secretary of the Scottish TUC, and I think also I can see his Deputy Dave Moxham. You’ve very welcome.
Conference we were due to the General Secretary of the ETUC, Lucca Vissantini, but much better we have our own Esther Lynch, who previously worked for Congress and moved on to the ETUC. So Esther is going to say a few words, but before she does I just want to explain to you in respect of the motions, because all of the motions are on Brexit and related issues, I’m going to take the mover and seconder of every motion and then have a discussion, because I don’t want any motions falling off this section. We have a bit of time, but that’s the plan. Esther, you are very welcome.
Esther Lynch, ETUC
Thank you President, Delegates, Colleagues, Friends, and Luca Visentini our General Secretary is sorry that he cannot be here, he is not well, but I am very sorry he is not here because I would have liked you to meet him, and I would have liked him to meet all of you, because very high on our agenda at the moment is the situation of workers in the UK and Ireland and in Europe in relation to Brexit.
There is no doubt that these times of big change are always a dangerous moment for all of us workers, and there are many who are trying to dial up the competition who want to have workers put against each other. They want to get rid of all their rights, the want to let it rip, and that is why trade unions in the ETUC, no matter where they are in Europe, have one core demand and that is for a level playing field. The outcome of the negotiations, whatever they are, have to make sure that the concluding agreements ensure that there isn’t unfair competition, that there isn’t advantage sort by having social, environmental and fiscal dumping.
We are also very clear, mostly because of the strong role played by Patricia King and Owen Reidy at the ETUC in making sure that the unique situation of Ireland is properly protected in the outcome of the agreements, in particular by funding being made available in a way that Paul very clearly outlined.
The EU Referendum really should have been a wake-up call for the European Union Institutions, The question is - has it been it’s a good question and it’s difficult to answer, in fact I would say it’s too soon to answer it. What I would say is that there is some hope on the horizon, and the hope that’s on the horizon was already identified by President Higgins yesterday - The European Pillar of Social Rights. He said that it is immensely important and it is, and the reason its immensely important to us is because it’s the first nervous step being taken by the Commission to counteract the deregulation agenda, the austerity policies, but my goodness has it met with some fight back from the employers. You can’t go to the European Parliament or you trip over 100 lobbyist all against the development of social rights in Europe.
I would really like to tell you an awful lot what’s in the European Charter of Social Rights but I promised the President I would only take three minutes, so I can’t tell you very much about the plans to make public procurement rules privileged employers who collectively bargain or about the
92 new suite of employment rights to make rights real, that were trying to make sure include the right to be represented by your union, so that the type of abuse highlighted by MANDATE yesterday is no longer possible in Europe. But more importantly that we can stop the European Union itself restricting employment rights which they are busy starting to do now for Air Traffic Control.
But what I really want to focus on is one fundamental building block, and the reason I want to focus on that is because we are going to be asking all of you to come to Sweden in November for a Day of Action. The fundamental building block were asking for is a change to the European Union Treaty. We need a change to the text to make sure that the objects to the union are as focussed on achieving the type of social outcomes that we want as they are on the economic outcomes. We are calling it a Social Progress Protocol but really that’s far too complicated language for workers. We want to make sure that Europe gets back on track so that it delivers the type of work, the type outcomes that unions want and workers need.
We will need your help to get that over the line in November, so I’ll give the final word to Gramsci. Gramsci said that the challenge of modernity is to live without illusion but without becoming disillusioned, and I say that as my moto in dealing with Europe, to be very aware of what’s wrong, to identify what’s wrong, but not to give up on the whole idea of Europe, not to give up on the European Project, but rather to try make sure to fix it so that it does what we need it to do. Thank you, Delegates.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you Esther for that, we are going to move on now to the first motion in this Section.
Sheila Nunan, INTO, Motion 26
Good morning Delegates, Thank you President, time is really the essential issue in this debate. The Brexit landscape has changed dramatically since we last gathered in Ennis and in fact even prior to that when we were here the last time in 2013. When we were here in 2013 Brexit was a low rumble, its soon became a Tory roar, it lead to a Referendum and then a shocking result which we are now reeling, and we are still dealing with the aftershock of the Referendum while the British recent General Election has injected even more uncertainty into the future for workers and their families in Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Republic.
Much has been said this morning, earlier this week, and will be said later about the huge potentially destructive consequences for the 700,000 workers North and South in this country. History can teach us, but sadly tends to repeat its self. In a very good book called ‘The Sleepwalkers - How Europe Went to War’ historian Christopher Clarke offers an interpretation about the interlinked events that led to the First World War. Rather than simply ascribe blame, the book focuses on the missteps and the misrepresentations that the author claims led to sleep walking into that war, and he talks about the fact that they went watchful but unseeing, blind to the realty of the horror that they were about to bring to the world, a horror which plunged Europe into one, but two World Wars, and out of which grew the EC, EEC, and the EU. The worry now colleagues is that we are going to sleepwalk again, albeit not deliberately, into Brexit and face a new potential European catastrophe with unseen consequence for workers in the UK, the wider European Community and in the North and South of Ireland.
We don’t want to create or inherit an outcome that might have been otherwise influenced, so our challenge today is to ensure that decision to leave the EU to Brexit and the commencement of negotiations does not lead to those worsening of those conditions. As Esther said it’s not just a battle about Brexit, it’s a battle about the future of Europe. We are just emerging from one
93 recession that could have been mitigated by different social and economic strategy, but which has left us scarred and with deep inequalities, and while the Republic of Ireland is not consulted on the decision to leave, and the majority of our colleagues in Northern Ireland voted to reject to leaving the EU, we must now have our presence felt and our voices heard. To echo Patricia King yesterday, the best response to Brexit is to rebuild the European Social Project. ICTU is ahead on this because we campaigned against Brexit, and ironically the then Irish Government was very happy to welcome ICTU and our work in this regard, and the principles underpinning that campaign are central to the current policy which has been circulated to you this morning.
Time, Delegates is absolutely not on our side. When we next meet, the negotiations will have been very far advanced, if not concluded. Decisions made by 65 million people, 13% of the EU population whose exit will cost a major shock. Decisions about huge amounts of money, 1.6 billion goods that the Republic export to Northern Ireland, about the three billion goods that the North export to the Republic, about the CAP funding, about mutual qualifications, about the right to travel across the 500 kilometres line boarder between North and South. 58 border crossings in Donegal alone, 25,000 workers making a daily journey, decisions that may undermine political stability in the North, decisions about human rights, big decisions and the first phase of it has already kick of last month with the deal of the so called Divorce Bill, and by the time Christmas has come the trading negotiations will begin.
The current position of the Tory Government is deeply worrying. Michael Gove, the recently and rapidly rehabilitated Tory Minster for the Environment and Cheer Leader for the Brexit camp, jumped the Brexit negotiations gun with his pre-emptive strike on fishing rights. He gleefully declared Trump-style that he would build the equivalent to a wall in the middle of the sea surrounding Britain, and it sent shock waves through the Irish fishing industry with a clear signal of intent from the hard Brexit, and then he had the cheek to say we recognise that leaving the European Union is going to help the environment - follow that logic.
The Congress position on Brexit is clear, it’s in the book with all of the details set out in relation to the support that we need. But we have grounds to be confident colleagues, you have heard from Esther and she is doing tremendous work in the ETUC on our behalf. Patricia King has already forged a strong path with Government, and indeed again unlikely bed fellows with employers who are delighted to see a cheer leader looking for streams of funding from Europe. Jack O Connor and Peter Rigney are our representatives in ETUC and Jack has already gone there today and he couldn’t be here in relation to that. The dedicated European Regional Adjustment Fund is critical.
Colleagues we have three things to do; we have to build a consensus with our members. Paul MacFlynn is right - Brexit can be a very ‘switch of’ topic for our colleagues, so we are going to have to learn the script, and tell them the script, and own the script. We have to work with our colleagues and we are confident we can do that across Europe in the Council of the Isles, and thirdly, we have to continue with a strong lobbying campaign, and you will all have to be part of it, and we have to get our members a part of it as well. It is hugely and potentially the most catastrophic thing that can happen to our workers, but we in ICTU will play our part to make sure that’s not the case. Thank You.
Larry Broderick FSU, Motion 26
Larry Broderick, Financial Services Union, seconding the motion. Our union in the recent Referendum here in Northern Ireland, came out very strongly against Brexit. The reasons we did that, unusually for our union, was because of the huge implications that it has, not just our members, but the Northern Ireland economy, the Irish economy, and the European union. My colleagues yesterday in the form of General Secretary Patricia King set out broadly the strategy,
94 today Paul has done it and so has Sheila. Just a few points I think we need to make. The first point as Government tries to sit around the table with employers talking about Brexit, the message we have to give back to them is treat us with respect, address our issues in relation to collective bargaining, address our issues in relation to the rights for workers on the ground to organise, address our issues and we can help them in addressing their problems.
The second issue we must listen and learn what Michael D Higgins said yesterday. If we are going to salvage this issue, Europe at centre must be conscious of the social responsibility of the citizens of Europe, and the message we have to give ETUC, the message we have to give to Politicians is that Europe has forgotten about the citizen. Europe needs now to take heed of the needs of citizens as part of these conversations.
The final issue in relation to the issue of employment, colleagues there will be no such thing as a hard or soft Brexit. The reality for our members no matter what happens, thousands of jobs are going to be undermined, thousands of practises are going to be undermined, and we must now support the campaign to be proactive, and ensure that as part of that strategy there is substantial funding at the hand of the trade union movement to actually allow or members to look to a better future as part of Europe. Support the resolution. Thank you.
Tony Roche, Wexford Council of Trade Unions
Delegates I’m speaking on Motion 27, Brexit and the Irish Shipping Policy. Mr President, Fellow Delegates, in talking on this motion we know there will be a lot uncertainty ahead. However what we can be sure of is we as delegates have the influence and power to engage in putting policies in place in support the Island of Ireland in moving forward in the enactment of clear policies with the start of the transitional period of Brexit. Some of the road blocks we know are inadequate frayed structure. Ireland has been falling behind our European neighbours in terms of investment, yet the Central Statistics Office show huge increases in volumes of traffic moving through our ports.
The current planned Capital spend in the period to 2022 will not even be significant to maintain our transport network. The Capital Investment from 2016 to 2021 has yet to make any real progress. I believe the allocation is around €27 billion, that figure is subject to current changes in Government policy. An urgent increase in Government Capital spending is now required to facilitate the upgrades need in shipping, inclusive of efficient access and egress through our ports to support the economy this of this island nation of ours.
Onto some of the real issues that will impact on the maritime transport industries in the post Brexit economy. An insight in this question can be found in a report from the Martine Brexit Workshop organised by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport under the heading Brexit Exit From UK. The Workshop was held in Department headquarters in Dublin on the 4 April last. The outcomes of this Workshop were summarised in a report to be forward to the Department of the Taoiseach. Fellow delegates, now is the time for action, as transition itself in the context of time slips by very quickly. Fellow delegates, I urge you to pass this motion. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay is there a seconder for the motion? But just before you do, the Polling Station is now open. It’s in Room 1 on the first floor for those who want to cast their ballots in the election.
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Aidan Seary, IFUT
Speaking in favour of motion 27 on the Irish Shipping Policy. It is I think abundantly clear that the economies of both Northern Ireland and of Republic of Ireland are particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of economic changes, and this vulnerability becomes clearly focus in the dependence of our industries on shipping and transport and the policies associated with these. The movement of goods on the seas is a crucial element of being able to continue to trade effectively in a post Brexit climate. Delegates I ask you to support this motion. Thank you.
Jimmy Kelly, UNITE
Good morning delegates Jimmy Kelly UNITE moving motion 28. June 23rd last year voters across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland voted in probably the most significant Referendum since that of the Good Friday Agreement. It’s a vote which will change our future irrevocably as former speakers have said, and nowhere does Brexit pose more critical challenges than in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and in the Republic of Ireland.
UNITE campaigned for a remain vote in that Referendum. We argued that the best course open to us was to seek to reform the EU from within. emphasizing a lot of the points that Esther has made earlier. This wasn’t just an unqualified endorsement of the EU, indeed we were well aware that reform would be difficult and we were well aware of the challenges associated with the corporate dominance of those EU structures.
Notwithstanding those concerns, our assessments was that Brexit could result in severe economic dislocation, not least in Northern Ireland. Right across the Agri-food sector for example thousands of our members in places like Moypark are worried about the consequences. We also feared that Brexit could potentially initiate and of course accelerate the race to the bottom on wages and corporate taxes, opening the door to a rampant Tory Party intent on tearing asunder workers’ rights. We all understand that a Tory Government can never be trusted to negotiate Brexit our any other trade deals in the interest of working people.
We further recognise that Brexit would strengthen those who seek to divide rather than unite. We warned that narrow backward-looking nationalism offers no hope in a globalised economy where collaboration and connectivity are vital. Those who stand for more borders, stronger borders, blame immigrants for everything, we rejected those sort of issues; issues such as threats to the environment or the global poverty can only dealt with through collective bargaining and international action.
Unfortunately nothing since June last year has made us change or review our analysis. But there is no going back. With the moving of Article 50 by the UK Government, the UK will leave the EU by March 2019, and the question is now what type of Brexit we will have, and Congress is really to the fore in outlining exactly what is defended in this Motion 28; guarantees on jobs providing the free market access necessary to attract investment and sustain the growth of our industries, ensuring that there is no race to the bottom on corporate taxes, whether by Westminster or a Stormont Executive, providing full access to international research, imposing the curbs on those bosses who seek to exploit the threat of Brexit in order to supress wages.
Brexit, as we know, is more than just about the economy. It is about daily lives of working people and communities on this Island. I am old enough to remember the days of coming to the border, seeing those posts there - military police, customs, taking all that time in queues a mile long to try to get up over the border, and have seen what’s been happing over a number of years now with that freedom of movement on both side of the border. Nobody wants a hard border, but maybe that’s
96 what we’re facing. Does Westminster really cares about what happens with the border here in this country? We must be unyielding in our demand for terror-free access between the UK and the EU. It has to be a priority for both Westminster and the Irish Governments. We don’t want a hard border; North, South, East or West. It’s vital that the human and workers’ rights guaranteed under EU directives are protected with a two thirds Parliamentary lock to prevent the Torys using Brexit to ditch the rights fought for by working people, and not least in the area of pension protecting rights, which we availed of in terms of places like Waterford Crystal, places here in Northern Ireland, across the economy in a number of work places.
The Good Friday Agreement imposes grave responsibilities on all parties to these negotiations. It was agreed at a time when bought the UK and Ireland were members of the EU. Indeed the Agreement commits the UK Government to introduce the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law. There should be no derogation from that position. Furthermore the agreement promised the introduction of a Bill of Rights specific to Northern Ireland. This long standing and unfulfilled commitment, must now be fully delivered.
Brexit could enable a step change in Government intervention and deficit finance investment, allowing State aid or equity stakes in key industries, and even the renationalisation of critical sectors. In Northern Ireland it requires the robust industrial strategy that’s been outlined by previous speakers and by Congress generally. We ask Conference to support this motion, get involved in securing the best outcome for workers in all parts of these Islands. I move Motion 28.
Liam Gallagher, Unite
President, Delegates, Liam Gallagher of Unite, seconding Motion 28. Since June 16th the Brexit Referendum has dominated politics in UK and Ireland, and all sorts of predictions have been made. To be honest, since the actual announcement the major effect has been the drop in Sterling which actually did no harm to the UK Balance of Trade. However, one year on the reality of what Brexit will mean has created uncertainty for both employers and employees, and that is the main problem, the uncertainty about what’s going to happen.
The current negotiations going on are crucial for Ireland and for the South, both in terms of our future prospect, our future growth and in terms of future employment. A hard acrimonious Brexit will impact on both of our economies and the prospects for our future. Europe represents one of our biggest trading partners. The North has been a nett beneficiary of European funding and the EU subsidy, apart from the 35 years of under-investment during the conflict in the North, we currently get a £9 bn subsisdy under Barnett formula over and above our tax base in Northern Ireland.
The fact is that we currently need Europe. Europe has supplied money into the North both in terms of farm subsidies, in terms of development along the border, developing skills and education agendas. We also had the massive support in terms of Peace I, Peace II, and Peace III. However, this is only guaranteed until 2020 and anyone who seriously believes that a Tory Government will honour that type of subsidy after 2020 needs their head examined.
This is why this motion is vitally important and it’s important that everyone who has any sphere of influence in any capacity, both in the trade union movement and communities, our Politicians must now seriously get engaged in the negotiations, because If we leave in an acrimonious way, believe me the current poor economic problems that we have in the North, and the poor economic outlook will be multiplied tenfold. I urge you to support this Motion, Thank you.
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Brian Campfield, President
Okay, Prospect are going to move Motion 29.
Philip O´Rawe, Prospect
President, Delegates, Philip O´Rawe from Prospect on the subject of Brexit and cross border working. As we all know cross border working is an integral part of the economy on this Island. There are many different types of working pattern, and these arrangements generally work reasonably well for the workers and the employers, and you only need to drive through Derry or around Dundalk in the rush hour to see how many cars are going across, when most of those people are going across for work or in some cases education. In the excellent presentation from Paul MacFlynn earlier we had an estimated 20,000 people commuting a day. There are other estimates out there which are even higher at sometimes 30,000. It depends really how you count it, there is no fully scientific method, but there are an awful lot of people there who are depending on being able to get across the border easily every day in both directions.
At the moment crossing the border in your car, and the only thing different is the speed limit might be slightly different, and the colour of the tarmac might slightly change when you cross it if you really, really go slowly and look at that. Otherwise it’s really a smooth process. That will all change with Brexit, we don’t know exactly how. Queues at the border, searches of vehicles, detours because the roads are closed and only certain roads are allowed to be open, because that’s the one where you will get checked. All these things are quite possible and indeed likely. This all depends on what, if any, settlement of course is reached between the UK and the European Union, and as we heard earlier that whole subject is a complete nightmare. It’s very unclear, but there doesn’t seem to be any good outcomes at all, only bad outcomes there.
So it’s hard to see how cross country border working will not be seriously damaged by Brexit, causing disruption to workers and indeed their employers., and that’s even before thinking about the wider economic impacts of those people not being able to do that work anymore.
So cross boarder workers do need our support, both through individual unions and also through Congress, so we need to be campaigning and lobbing on their behalf. These people’s employment and livelihoods in many cases is now at risk because of the likely difficulties in crossing the border to do their jobs because of Brexit. So I ask you to please support this motion. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Is there a seconder for that motion?
Christine Bond, Prospect
Christine Bond, Prospect, I have work most of my life in the film and television industries in various areas and that clearly is something that is so needed, that cross border corporation we have been doing it for years. We faced into it in the early days where it was really troublesome but now life is a lot simpler, and we are very concerned about how the finances on the Island of Ireland will be worked, and we ask you to support this motion. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay, can we have Equity to move Motion 30?
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Alan McKee, Equity
President, Delegates, My name is Alan McKee from the Northern Ireland Committee of Equity moving Motion 30, All Ireland Agreement in Respect of Movement and the Right to Work.
I am not going to take up too much of your time. Equity, as you know, represents workers in the creative arts so please allow me to be the first and perhaps only delegated today to quote a Mexican film maker. Academy Award winning Director Alejandro González Iñárritu has said that ‘cinema is universal, beyond flags and borders and passports’. It is Equity’s belief that the freedom to create, not just cinema, but TV and theatre as well, should remain beyond flags, borders and passports on this Island.
Currently there is no restriction on actors, directors, stage managers, designers, dancers, choreographers, opera singers, circus and variety performers - just some of the people that Equity represent - no restriction on them in terms of which side of the border they chose to live and work. However, there is no assurance from Westminster that these freedoms will continue to exist after the UK has formally left the EU. Therefore the Northern Ireland Equity Committee urges ICTU to campaign for Northern Ireland to continue to have an All Island Agreement in respect of the freedom of movement and the right to work.
Furthermore, we believe the EU investment in television and film should ring-fenced and paid through either European or Westminster Government or indeed through the Northern Ireland Executive, should such a thing ever exist again.
I began with a quote from a Mexican film maker so seems only right it should end with one from an Italian Playwrite; Nobel Laureate and trade unionist Dario Fo ‘it is extremely dangerous to talk about limits or borders, it is vital instead that we remain completely open, that we are always involved and that we aim to contribute personally’. I commend the motion. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Do we have a seconder for Motion 30?
Padraig Murray, SIPTU
Padraig Murray SIPTU Delegate and President of Irish Equity, and we all know at this stage the impact that a hard border would have on all workers passing back and forth across the border. Actors are no different, they are crossing North to South, and South to North on a daily basis. In the Republic of Ireland, down South we have actors from all over Europe living and working in Dublin and the same thing applies here in Belfast. The large production in the world currently is being shot here; Game of Thrones, it provides great work for actors down South that move up North for days or for weeks to work on that production, and down South we have Vikings been shot, amongst others. So a hard border would have a huge impact on that sort of thing. Support the motion, Thank you.
Alan Malcolm, GMB
President, Congress, I am proposing Motion 31. I am going to keep this short because 1) we are all trade unionist and I’m confident that we are all for the same mindset when it comes to workers’ rights and equality and 2) all I would be doing is repeating the many things that other people have said up here, much more eloquently.
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Congress Theresa May and her Conservative Government have outlined plans for Brexit, one in which the UK leaves the EU Single Market and Customs Union. The EU prevented any UK Government overriding workers’ rights. Brexit means that protection will no longer be there. It means the workers’ rights of employees in Northern Ireland will no longer be protected by EU law like or members in the Republic, and hard fought protections could potentially be abolished at any point with just a simple vote of Parliament or the local Assembly.
Congress Theresa May and her party have historically voted against workers’ rights and tried to destroy trade unions. I see no reasons why that won’t continue after Brexit. Congress, just a few workers’ rights that could be under threat are things such as; limits on working hours, EU Working Time Regulations, help stop bosses from forcing employees to work unhealthy hours. It also prevents against the exploitation of all workers, including our young people.
The UK Government actively resisted the Working Time laws during EU negotiations, and a future Government could amend them. Equal pay, an issue many of the trade unions, particularly the GMB have championed, maternity rates, anti-discriminations laws. EU laws have made it easier for people claiming discrimination to get justice, by placing the burden of prove in discrimination cases on the alleged perpetrator, rather than the alleged victim, and ensuring there is no cap on the amount an employee found guilty of discrimination can be ordered to pay in compensation.
Agency workers and health and safety is this particularly vital in my own sector, with manufacturing. The EU Health and Safety Framework Directive forces employees to assess and act to reduce workplace risks. Other rules cover issues such as disability, noise, and specific regulations for staff working with chemicals, asbestos, or other potential hazards. In 41 of the 65 new Health and Safety Regulations introduced in the UK between 1997 and 2009 came directly from EU law. Congress it would be a disgrace if our members in Northern Ireland had less or substandard rights to our members in the Republic and did not benefit from any future legislation. Congress, I move.
Brian Campfield, President
Is there a seconder? Okay fair enough. So the motions are open for discussion.
Annette Mc Millan, NISPA
Supporting Motion 29, on Cross Border Workers. Basically the Centre for Cross Border Studies suggest there is 23,000 to 30,000 people who are cross border workers, including agriculture, and we have heard from some speakers from Equity and BECTU, but there are a whole load of things that people have already said, so I am not going to speak about those. There was a report done by GQ law firm which found in the UK that the majority (70%) of finance firms and other firms wanted to tear up the rules allowing staff long term sick leave, or rule over their holiday pay. 65% want to change the Discrimination Law, and 1 in 3 wanted a cap on Employment Tribunal awards for discrimination and equal pay, and 56% wanted to scrap the regular remuneration payments and overtime on holiday pay and to be reversed arising out of Brexit, and this is just one survey that had been carried out.
Obviously other speakers said Theresa May can’t be trusted, and indeed that is true because she was the very person who spoke about Labour’s decision as a sign of weakness, given into trade unions in relation to the European Social Charter. But one of the things I think is very important and needs to be look at is the transposition of law. Across Europe universities are now running courses for solicitors on the transposition of laws, which is extremely difficult, and it is something that obviously needs to be look at in the trade union movement, because the transposition of laws, and we are
100 talking about making sure all these Directives apply to our workers, that pension rights are ensured for cross border workers, that their social security rights, welfare, child benefit, all those things that they can rely on now as part of the EU are secured, but that can only be done if the law is transposed in a proper way. The Bank of England for example have come out telling Theresa May she cannot transpose financial law because it would not work in a state that is not part of the EU, and therefore we as the trade union I believe need to look at the transposition in law, need to get some expertise on it because transposition of law means interpretation of law, and we have big business and pressure coming on in a Tory Government. It is very clear that those interpretation will guarded very loosely, so we as a movement need to get some specialisation on this, we need to look at what that means, we need to look at the legislation, and we need to be coming back with very strong and very serious arguments to ensure that all the work that we as trades unionist have fought for to give rights to those workers, remain for those workers, especially in cross border areas where workers are really worried about how their own financial systems are going to work out. Thank you.
Mark Walsh, ASTI
Mark Walsh, speaking to Motion 28, the UNITE motion, and obviously a lot of the motions try to address the practical implications of Brexit and what it’s going to mean and try to soften the blow of Brexit, but I do think it’s an opportunity to talk about where the EU is going and how we have ended up here in particular. I think it was Esther that said this should be a wake up call for the EU itself, because some of the things that have happen there is a supreme irony in the fact that the trade union movement backed the Lisbon Treaty the second in the South in the Referendum. That Lisbon Treaty brought in Article 50 which is now the mechanism by which the UK is leaving the EU. So it wasn’t that it wasn’t possible to leave before, but the UK is now availing of the mechanism of Article 50 which was introduced with the Lisbon Treaty, which some people campaigned against, but generally the trade union supported. I think there is an irony there in that and something to learn maybe.
Second thing is we know the Fiscal Treaty, now it is true that the trade union movement didn’t support the Fiscal Treaty back in 2012 in the Referendum, but we didn’t actually campaign against it. And now the Fiscal Treaty is restricting our rights in the South to invest, so the €3 billion windfall from AIB can’t be used to invest in the economy, it has to be used to pay down debt because of the very strict EU Fiscal Rules. So again, there is another problem there that is quite serious I think, and there is talk now of the Social Pillar being the solution to this, and great if it is, but there are many people who have been arguing for a long time as the Unite motion says, the EU is now increasingly seen as a neoliberal project of wealth inequality and division, as opposed to a social project of economic, equality, liberty, justice, social justice and peace. We see with the support of things like TTIP although it’s kind of gone away for the moment and for CETA where the EU is going, and there are big threats in CATA and TTIP in terms of public services, apparently they are not on the protected list, I am told by people who are campaigning on CATA, the public services like education are not on the CATA protected list, and the Fíanna Gael Government seems quite happy to go ahead with CETA, and it will bring loads of jobs and so on. Really I welcome the fact that what we’re seeing now in the trade union movement is a much more critical approach to the EU Project as a whole because it’s my belief that a lot of the problems that led to Brexit are because of the way the EU is now, and because it has become a neoliberal project. To quote the words of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, he said in reference to EU ‘either you reform it or you leave it’. It has to be seriously reformed or it would even be better to Irexit than actually stay with the current situation. There needs to be radical change in terms of the EU for all of the reasons that I have cited so I encourage people to support the motion. Thank you.
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Gerry Malone, NIPSA
Gerry Malone NIPSA, to move remission on Motion 28. It’s a likely motion but essentially it’s full of regret and nostalgia for a Europe that I barely recognise. It greatly highlights the future uncertainties arising from Brexit, and it greatly emphasises the need for a strong trade union voice in the Brexit negotiations. But its concluding instruction is telling, the last sentence is ‘we also call on the EU to set in train a process to evaluate what has created an environment – evidenced by the Brexit vote – wherein Britain, Ireland and elsewhere the EU is now increasingly seen as a neoliberal project of wealth inequality and division as opposed to a social project of economic equality, liberty, social justice, and peace.’ So what the trade union movement in Ireland is asking is that EU examine its own conscience and evaluate itself, and such a call only makes sense if you believe that the perception of the neoliberal nature of the EU is somehow mistaken, that EU has inadvertently and without intention lost its way, and can be put back on the right track if walk up behind it and tap it on its shoulder and explain. The neoliberal nature of U project has been demonstrated and confirmed by a decade of brutal austerity. Its nature has been proclaimed and protested by millions of workers all over the EU time and time again, and they continue to struggle against the multiple burdens of austerity across EU now today. There is indeed for example a direct causal link between the European neoliberal project and the clumsy, malicious attempt to criminalise peaceful anti- water protesters, and demonise the working class community of Jobstown.
Here is the proper response to the EU Project and the challenges of leaving it - resistant and struggle against the evils of austerity. But the specific reason that NISPA is calling for the remission of this particular motion relates to a call in the middle of the motion which you will find on top of page 26 of your agenda, for a super majority a two-thirds majority to applied in the Westminster Parliament for any changes to social provision. Now understandably I suppose, this was probably drafted before the General Election, before the magnificent performance of Corbyn’s Labour, but we can’t ignore the fact that there is a real chance that there could be a Labour Government in the near future, and we do not want saddle a Labour Government, which has declared its intention to roll back austerity, has declared its intention to improve all social provision, has declared its intention to strengthen employment law, and indeed to roll back Tory trade union legislation; we cannot saddle that possible Government with a two-thirds requirement in its own Parliament, so I urge you to support remission. Thank you.
Michael Weed, INTO
President and fellow Delegates, I’ll be very brief. I would agree with earlier estimates that I’m addressing cross boarder workers mainly between 23,000 to 30,000, the Centre for Cross Border Studies would estimate cross the border daily, among them several hundred teachers, and the employment rates under the Lisbon Treaty for EU citizens must be protected, but that will require cooperation with the UK and Northern Ireland Assembly when it gets up and running again, in ways that we can only guess at present, and rights that need to be protected and are there right now is travel across an open border with minimal passport control, fuss, delay extra, recognition of professional qualification in both jurisdictions, the right to take up employment without any restrictions being placed on the worker, equal treatment without discrimination regardless of nationality, access to healthcare both where they work and where they live, and access and being able to export necessary social welfare payments based on their EU record of Social Welfare Insurance contributions. There are many differences between employment laws in Northern Island, UK and the South. Our unions will need to play a central role in protecting workers’ rights in ways that were never envisaged before this Brexit vote was taken, and finally Patricia King whom you may know, in the Irish Times yesterday (July 4th) in relation to Brexit, she said ‘we have no room for error’, and our own document here says ‘Brexit is a disaster for Irish workers, just as it is for workers in Britain and elsewhere across Europe’. Thank you.
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Lisa Steward, USDAW
Lisa Steward, speaking in support of GMB’s Motion 31. Congress the UK vote to leave European Union has put a whole range of workers’ rights under threat. As a result the EU legislation of workers across Europe are entitled to minimum standards on working time, equal rights to protection and against discrimination, and guarantees on health and safety protection. As Theresa May continues to negotiate a chaotic deal to leave the EU, workers will see all those protections come under threat.
In the EU Referendum no-one voted in favour of losing paid holidays or other workplace entailments. The truth is a confidence continues to evaporate from the badly managed UK economy, the Conservatives will return to idyllic dogma of cutting red tape and making working people pay for their incompetence.
We have already seen seven years of cuts that has led to underfunded Public Services, and massive falls in leaving standards. Congress we need a campaign that protects workers’ rights during Brexit; a campaign that recognises the role of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the devolved powers of employment laws and workers’ rights. A campaign that ensures that working people in Northern Island do not become second class citizens when comparing the rights of those enjoyed in the Irish Republic. Furthermore we need to ensure that there is absolutely no return to the hard border between North and South. Whilst we may have heard some empathy around the issue they have continued with their senseless believe that the UK will consider walking away from negotiations without a deal. Without a deal the soft open border will become a hard border, despite decades of working on the Peace Process, the Tories in Westminster will have made it clear that they will happily throw away all positive steps to ensure that they can leave the EU.
Congress we need to ensure that the views of working people across Northern Ireland and Ireland are heard as part of the negotiations. On behalf of USDAW I am asking you to support the motion. Thank you.
Billy Lynn, NIPSA
Billy Lynn, speaking on Motion 29 and Motion 30. Quite rightly these motions concerned with the freedom of movement, the right to work, and the right to live. But there has always been the right of freedom of movement, the right to live, right across these five jurisdictions between the Republic, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales. That right was not just enshrined in the Treaty of Lisbon but actually it is predated by the EU Treaty of Amsterdam which was negotiated between Britain and the Republic after partition in the 1920s. The law is commonly known as the Common Travel Law of the Treaty of Amsterdam. So you are quite right to say that the dangers of Brexit could mean a reduction in people’s ability to work, live, and travel, right across the five jurisdictions. There are laws which have predated it which actually give people that right. We just want to make that clarification. Thank you.
John Patrick Clayton, UNISON
Conference, speaking in support of Motion 26. I intend to keep my intervention very short here and focused on one particular point. Yesterday as part of the debate on Northern Ireland we carried the UNSION Motion 6 on the EU Exit and Protecting the Peace Process. I would urge you all to be mindful on that motion and the particular impacts the exit of the EU will have on Northern Ireland and on our Peace Process specifically during this debate. I won’t reopen the debate again, others have already alluded to the impacts that are there. The previous speaker talked about the transportation of laws, our motion yesterday highlighted the immediate challenge of the great
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Repeal Bill and the real risk that our rights could be eroded through that if we don’t keep a very careful and watchful eye on that process. In short Conference, workers, their families and their communities in Northern Ireland are now vulnerable, there now exposed to Brexit against their democratically expressed wishes. Please remember that, and I urge support for the motion and I ask the Executive Council to focus on Northern Ireland and the protection of the Peace Process. Thank you.
Emma Cunningham, USDAW
Conference, Emma Cunningham speaking on support of motion 29. Conference, the details of Brexit have yet to unfold but on the Island of Ireland one thing is clear, with the border between North and South, Brexit will be felt more greatly here than in Britain. The border is open, invisible, a beacon of peace that we have achieved. Conference we are all thankful that the check points are no more, but as well as the political reasons for an open border, there are also huge practical and economic arguments for an open or a soft border.
Conference, USDAW has many members in the meat and dairy trades; these industries could be hit incredibly hard, even made unviable iif we end up with a hard border for trade. Imagine the prospect of happen to pay EU import and export tax to move products just a few miles from a processing to a packaging plant.
Conference, when the Tories talk about no deal been better than a bad deal, that’s a scenario we need to consider. For us in Ireland, no deal could really mean going back to a hard border, people’s livelihoods at stake, and their families and their peace and freedom. Some businesses are already forming cross border partnerships to protect themselves from any new taxes and costs that might come about. This will help to shore up businesses and protect jobs, but it won’t protect workers who potentially live one side of the border and work on the other side.
USDAW believe that the only option for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is to maintain a soft border. Conference this is a mess. We didn’t want Brexit and we have so much at stake to lose. Conference on behalf of USDAW I urge you to support Prospect’s Motion, and urge the ICTU to keep lobbing the Government on this crucial issue, and support members at this worrying and unstable time. Thank you.
Alison Millar, NIPSA
Alison Millar, to offer qualified support to Motion 26. Conference as other speakers have already stated, the issue of the outworkings of the EU Referendum decision has far-reaching consequence. It is clear that the outcome was a surprise to most, and in my engagement with the various central Government departments on this issue, they would confirm that Whitehall had not really thought out a Plan B, nor was outcome expected. However, how any of us voted, the issue now before us is to ensure workers are protected and that must be our primary focus. Conference, for the qualification, I would refer you to Paragraph 2 of Motion 26, and halfway down it says ‘In Northern Ireland the important concept of consent is being flagrantly set aside, which has the potential to undermined the Good Friday Agreement and add further political instability’.
We need to be careful Conference, of using this argument as trade unionist we are wedded to the issue of democracy, therefore we cannot use this argument, depending on the issue, would that our position be different, if people in Northern Ireland had voted to leave. We need to be careful and NIPSA would therefore ask the incoming Executive Committee take this issue on board in consideration of how we take this motion forward. Conference, thank you.
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Patricia Mc Keown, UNISON
Patricia Mc Keown, UNISON. Conference, President, taking a slightly different interpretation from the one I have just heard from Alison, we had a Referendum, the entire Island voted on it – 94 in the Republic, 71.29% in the North in favour of our Peace Process, our Peace Agreement, and it enshrined European equality and human rights laws and mechanism in it.
We have just had another Referendum by the UK Government. I don’t know about everybody else, in my Union if you want change the rules, you put down a rule change amendment, it is scrutinised for consequences, the consequences are reported to everybody before a vote takes place, and the vote requires a two thirds majority. No such consideration was given to this enormous decision by the UK Government, and let us not forget the two entire jurisdictions, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain.
So this is not yet a settled matter, and in terms of Motion 26, I think the Executive Council is setting out a very clear programme of continued engagement inside our own movement, with other trade unions on the Islands and further afield, also that continued lobbying with Governments. That includes the UK Government and that includes a future UK Government, should there be a change. I don’t put a great deal of store in ‘it will be alright on the night’ if the Governments changes in Britain, because to be perfectly honest throughout this entire Peace Process it didn’t really matter what party was in power, we tend to get shafted, and we certainly got shafted by one Government that was Labour, one Government that was Tory, and one Government that was a Lib-Dem/Tory coalition in terms of their commitment to bring forward our Bill of Rights. Our Bill of Rights becomes all the more important in respect of us leaving the European Union, because we have got to find ways of protecting the very core of a Peace Agreement we used to convince the members of this movement to vote Yes for that Peace Agreement in the first place. This is really serious stuff. I think the Executive has already done extraordinary work; both ICTU, NERI, and our allies in analysing what the real implications of this are for us.
We know about the rich man’s club, but we also know that we do have rights enshrined in Europe that we would not otherwise have, and we know that there are profound implications for jobs, for people, for lives on this Island, the only real land border with the UK, with Europe not a second thought given to us in any of this process, and the only people I saw really campaign and try to consider what the consequences would be was the Irish trade union movement. I support the Motion.
Eamon McCann, Derry Trade Union Council
Our Trades Council, as with all others, has a broad range of views, both on the so-called Brexit, but more importantly a broad range of views on what our reaction should be, if there is a Brexit, as the Tories understand it.
I want to support Motion 21, which refers to the fact that we have to defend that workers must not pay the price from the GMB, and in doing that I want to point out the rights that we have, its very important to remember this if we are going to defend them in the future, by and large we won them ourselves. We didn’t win trade union rights, we didn’t win equal pay for women, we didn’t win any of the things that are confidently trotted out as having being handed to us by some benevolent force in Brussels. The trade union movement won it themselves. Let me give you the most obvious example, I have heard in this hall this morning reference made to the fact that we have got equal pay put on the list of things that we got from Europe. No we did not! We damage our own history, we damage our own sense of ourselves when we say things like that. Equal pay was won following a dispute at the Dagenham Ford Factory in England. It was won by women trade who fought a heroic
105 fight, and they marched to Westminster week after week, treated was distain and let’s be honest, treated with disdain by many leaders of our own trade unions movement, and others who said these were uppity women trying to disrupt things. They fought through and they won and finally in a confrontation with the then Minster Barbara Cashel extracted from her an agreement to bring a law to Westminster, and that agreement was brought to Westminster and was passed. Equal pay was enshrined in English law before the UK was ever in the European Union, and what I am simply saying to you, can we please stop damaging our own history and our own reputation. We are not known to be such modest people as to thank somebody else for doing something that our own movement fought very hard to win. It was our achievement. Generally speaking in politics we never get anything unless we fight for it ourselves, and it seems to me the lesson from that for the future is this; what is going to happen along the border, is it going to be a hard border, is it going to be a soft border, what are they going to do to us, who can we get to lobby for us to stop these things happening? Why just say no? Why not just tell Brussels, tell London, tell anybody else that is interested, hard border, soft border, forget it we are not having it! What are they going to do, put Customs post along the border? Who are they actually going to get to staff the Customs post, to stand there between Derry and Buncrana, or between Newry and Dundalk with their wee Customs cap on them? Do you really think that’s going to happen? For a start they are not going to recruit a single person from Northern Ireland or from the republic to do that. That simply wouldn’t be sociably acceptably, and what is more, do you really think that the estimated 5,000-7,000 officials are going to be recruited in England, brought over here and put along the border? We should just say no, we should begin to assert our community, our people, our movement, our class should be telling them what we will have, not listening to them to find out what they are going to do to us.
Brian Campfield
Okay, before I move on to take the vote, is RMT in the room? So we can take Motion 12 if they are happy with that. Just so we can do some voting here, and them come up and take Motion 12. Just in case, is NUJ here?
Okay so let me put Motion 26. All those in favour? Okay that’s agreed. Motion 27, those in favour? Agreed. Motion 28 Remission was proposed, and seconded, so I’m putting Remission of motion 28 to conference first. Those in favour of remitting this motion? That’s clearly lost. For the record, those against remission? Okay so I’m going to put Motion 28 as it stands to Conference. Those in favour? That’s clearly carried. Motion 29, those in favour? Okay that’s carried. Motion 30, those in favour? That’s carried. Motion 31, those in favour? That’s carried also.
We’ll now take Motion 12 which was guillotined previously, that’s on the Exploitation of Seafarers.
Alex Thompson, RMT
Alex Thompson, RMT Belfast Shipping Branch Representative, I’m a Belfast Docker employed by Stena Line. I’m speaking on Motion 12, on behalf of the Seafaring members of our Branch. We the RMT wish to raise awareness, and voice our concerns regarding of the continued exploitation of Seafarers from EU countries on the Irish Sea, and the impact it’s having on our own domestic Seafarers.
It’s not necessary to remind all here gathered here today of the proud maritime history born of the Irish Sea, it’s been mentioned several times already, especially by President Higgins. Our ship building, dock working and sea faring skills are world renowned, however are skills are in danger of becoming just that – history. We have seen the decline of our ship building industries, our docks our now worked mostly by agency, casual or zero hour workers. Us Stena line dockers are the last line of unionised, directly employed port workers. Now I talk to domestic seafarers who in danger of
106 becoming a defunct occupation thanks to the ferry operators sourcing and utilisation of foreign labour who work outside the Minimum Wage. For example Polish seafarers employed by Seatruck being paid £3.78 per hour to work on routes in the Irish sea. This exploitative practice of certain Irish Sea ferry companies is having an adverse effect on the largest employer of Irish seafarers. Stena Line who have had to compete constantly with under cutting from these other ferry operators and their low cost crewing practices, if these ferry operators succeed in eradicating the domestic seafarers, it forces Stena line to adopt the same practises, no doubt they will focus on us dock workers next.
We are dismayed that this pay discrimination against seafarers from other EU and non-EU countries is a consequence of political failure to enforce employment law, particularly national Minimum Wage legislation, but also due to the exclusion of seafarers, whatever their nationality from the full protection of Minimum Wage and equality legislation. We welcome and appreciate the support of the Conference to help enforce, and if necessary, amend legislation in support of domestic seafaring skills, and again we urge the Governments of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to formulate a joint approach eliminate the exploitation of seafarers in the Irish Sea.
The primary concern of the RMT is that if such nationality-based exploitation is permitted to continue unchecked then the Irish Sea will lose their domestic seafarers by the beginning of the next decade, with damaging consequences for the economic, social and strategic future of these Islands, given that 95% of all imported and exported goods in these Islands are transported by ship.
In April of this year RMT launched it Save Our Seafarers Campaign SOS 2020. The initiative for this is simple. We are demanding jobs, training and an end to the race to the bottom on pay and working conditions, thus guaranteeing the future of our domestic shipping industries. In particular we have emphasis on two aims; 1) Equal rights in employment, equality and emigration law for domestic seafarers, and 2) cabotage protections for domestic crew. We look forward to having your continued support. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Do we have a seconder for that motion? That’s formally seconded.
I will put Motion 12 to the conference. All those in favour? That motion is clearly carried. Moving on to Motion 13, the NUJ.
Seamus Dooley, NUJ,
President, Delegates, you will be glad to know that this is my last single transferable speech on the Competition Amendment Act. It’s a great pleasure to present this motion and to so with celebration, because we as a trade union movement don’t often get to congratulate ourselves.
I going to begin with a short story. It’s not often that Ethel Buckley and myself are asked by a Minster of Government; ‘Ethel, Seamus, could I borrow a knife?’ That request came Mary Mitchel O’ Connor and that was before she was shafted. Prophetically I suggested that she look in the Fine Gael Party Rooms. I didn’t know that was a useful suggestion, but to the credit to Mary Mitchel O’ Connor she attended a Labour Party reception at which we trade union movement had a cake to celebrate a significant achievement. The Competition Amendment Bill was a long time coming, but it is a significant Bill. The motion before you was drafted with great optimising before the Bill was passed. It was passed with full support of all the political parties, and I want to pay tribute to parties across the board for their support in this Bill. Mary Mitchel O Connor has been the subject of criticism, much of justified, and some of it of an extreme sexist nature. The fact of the matter is
107 that in our experience she was the first Minster since Towards 2016 who was prepared to engage on this issue with the trade union movement, and for that I would actually like to do that I have ever done on from this platform - to acknowledge the cooperation of the BlSe shirts.
Could I also say to you that the lessons from this campaign include using elected members in Seanad Éireann, and that’s a lesson that we need to learn as members of the trade union movement. There is power in a union. There is power in unions like SIPTU and the NUJ and Congress working together, but we all so need to recognise that we have allies in Parliament and that we need a Parliamentary strategy which stretches from our colleagues in Sinn Féin, and Solidarity, but also through Finn Gael and Labour. We nominate these guys to the Seanad, we should force them work for their pay, and I think that was a subject of a motion which was ruled out of order, but that was the thinking behind a motion.
Finally could I acknowledge the great support of Congress, through Patricia King and also Ethel Buckley. This is a significant piece of legislation, far too detailed to go into it here, you know its potential, but also presents great challenges because we as a trade union movement now need to get up of our arse and start organising freelance workers, and we know that freelance workers are increasing cohort, and we must embrace them. There are huge organisational challenges involved but there are also opportunities.
Finally, can I say that the passing of this Bill also a significant achievement for the trade union movement in facing down the might of the Competition Authority, the last vestige of the Progress Democrats, because in reality the Competition Authority was creation of the PDs. Do you remember the PDs - Eamon Dunphy used to support them before he found Solidarity like St. Paul having a conversion on the way to the Tivoli Theatre. The ideology that Competition Law takes precedence over workers’ rights has now been dead and buried, having won the victory let us build on it. Delegates, Thank you for supporting this campaign.
Padraig Murray, SIPTU & Irish Equity President
Padraig Murray, SIPTU Delegate, and Irish equity President, I’m a voice-over actor, I have worked in that area and all areas of acting all my life, this has been a long road and we have gotten to the end of it I don’t know how many conferences and how many meetings I have stood up at and spoke about the problems that we are having with the Competition Authority. We were told ‘you won’t overturn the Competition Authority’. The effect that it had on actors and on freelance musicians, and freelance journalists, but the effect that it had on voice-over actors was incredible, and not only was the rates been paid for voice-over commercials, the 30 second ads you hear on the radio, the actors doing that and the rate they got paid for it, or else the visual commercials as well that you see on TV, I mean the rates and the terms and conditions went through the floor. Actors who had made a living - we know how precarious the industry is - you work in theatre if you’re lucky two or three times a year you will get a theatre gig. You might get a telly or a film gig here and there, and helps to subsidises your livelihood as an actor. To lose that was a big lose for lots of actors.
Anyway, we came to the end of the road, we can now start to celebrate the fact that we had this victory. It shows that there is strength in unions, there is strength in unity, where we had the NUJ, SIPTU, Patricia King before in her previous incarnation as Vice President of SIPTU, was tirelessly working on this issue with us as well, and I want to say a big thank you to all of those, and I want to include international stuff. It was a European issue not just an Irish issue, it still is a European issue. There are a lot of countries across Europe that are feeling the effects of this, and through our affiliations with the International Federations of Actors and the EuroFIA group particularly, we had huge support from them and from Senator Ivana Bacik and Jed Nash, Āodhán Ó Ríordáin, and all of those who helped us out. So it’s a good luck story but as the motion actually says ‘all workers
108 deserve to be treated equally regardless of employment status. Conference deplores the use of Competition Law at national and European level to deprive categories of workers the right to trade union representation’. We need to now to start fighting very hard for freelance workers and precarious workers who deserve our protection. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
I’m putting Motion 13 to Conference. Those in favour? Okay that’s clearly carried.
We will now move on to the next section which Sheila Nunan is going to Chair.
Sheila Nunan, INTO,
Thanks President, we have an hour for this session colleagues, it’s the Social Policy Section, it will be introduced by Peter Rigney from Congress, and followed by motions, and depending on how we are doing in time, helpfully Brian has made up on some good time this morning on motions that weren’t taking before, but we made be able to take on some additional motions. But I will call on Peter Rigney now colleagues to introduce this section of the Report.
Peter Rigney, Industrial Officer, Congress
President, Delegates, I want to briefly outline and introduce this section of the Report which deals with Social Policy, Equality, and the Labour Market. My colleague David Joyce will major on the Equality Section in the afternoon, and I will deal with Social Policy and the Labour Market.
What is Social Policy? Social policy, I suppose the best definition is the areas that we don’t bargain collectively on, but which are very important to us. They constitute the social wage. What we try to do is project the force that we have in collective bargaining into the political sphere. You will see in this section of the Report, issues dealt with from childcare to pensions, and everything in between.
But there is an essential linkage to the work we do in collective bargaining, because of what is there in social policy is about the quality of work. If you look at the latest figures of unemployment in the Republic yesterday, you will see that there is a fall and a very sustained rate of fall. What you don’t see when you delve into the statistics is the much slower rate of fall of involuntary under employment; that’s people who are on part-time contracts who would work more hours if they got them. And that in turn feeds into the perplexed nature of people when they look at Exchequer Returns and find that income taxes are lower than projected, and I suspect that one of the reasons for that is that things are happening in the Irish Labour Market that seem to excessively favour under-employment.
Employers are quite happy to use the Social Welfare system to support this under-employment and they seem all of a sudden to cease to become free marketeers and to favour State intervention, when things like Family Income Supplement, Jobs Seekers Benefit, Jobs Seekers Allowance, support their failure to give hours certainty and certainty of hours work to workers.
We use the tools that available to us. For two decades between 1987 and 2009 we bargained on these issues in the national partnership structure. That fell away, we now use whatever tools that are available to us. We use the membership of Committees, Expert Groups, we use the European Semester Process when we can, and we liaise with the Oireachtas. I suppose as a history nerd I should draw to your attention the fact that when this Congress was set up in 1894, it didn’t have
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Executive Council, it had a Parliamentary Committee, to liaise with the legislature, because the legislature is where laws get past that benefit us, and the previous motion is a demonstration of that.
Of course we will be told in promoting social progress that we have the problems of fiscal space. Well it’s our job to counter those arguments, and let’s for a start talk about the fiscal space that could be created by terminating the VAT exemption for the hotels and hospitality industry. How about €660 million per annum for that for starters? Then let’s go to bogus self-employment which in construction alone would yield €65 million, and a similar extension to that approach into other industries would yield more. So that, by my accountancy, is €720 million per annum. You could do an awful lot with €720 million per annum. Then there is an issue of a tax on high nett worth individuals, and would be countered with the statement ‘well there not really a great deal of these individuals and it won’t raise all that much’, but it is important as to what that statement says about equality in society, and those who have most should give more. That is a fundamental article of equality and we are the largest Civil Society organisation, North or South, promoting the idea of equality and combating the neoliberal myths.
One of the things we have to do is to engage with the process of the European Pillar of Social Rights, and I think our colleague Esther Lynch put it very well in Brussels when she said, ‘we should have ambition but we should have no illusions’, because the potential to come out of this Pillar is to try and rekindle and respark the Social Europe which was lost after the end of Jacques Delor´s Presidency. Colleagues, Delegates, having introduced this section of the Report I will leave time for debate. Thank you.
Sheila Nunan, Vice-President
Colleagues I’m now calling on Margaret Browne, and Margaret Galloway from the Congress Retired Workers’ Committee to address Conference, and I think Margaret Browne is going to be the first speaker.
Margaret Browne, Retired workers committee
Thank you Vice President, General Secretary, Delegates, Colleagues, Friends, I thank you for this opportunity to address Conference. The Report on the Status of Retired Members in the Trade Union Movement was unanimously supported at the Biennial Conference in Ennis in 2015. The recommendations contained in the Report have been implemented by the Retired Workers’ Committees, North and South, over the last two years.
For the first time, we now have a position on the Executive Council which is a major achievement, and Margaret Galloway will advise the Delegates on the progress in the North. We have had two seminars; one in the South and one in North which were held over the last two years with excellent presentations. It is the intention of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Retired Workers Officers, and this was only decided in the last week, to have a further seminar in 2018. In 2015/2016 the Committee forwarded a budget to the Department of Social Protection entitled ‘Justice and Equality for Older People’ and in 2016/2017 the submission was ‘Intergenerational Solidarity, Dignity and Respect for Older People’. We are now in the process on preparing on Budget Submission for this year, and it’s entitled ‘Narrowing the Gap’, and believe it or not we have to have it in with the Department of Social Protection by Friday, so I’m looking at Peter Rigney.
These submissions outline the powerless financial situation that older people have been subjected to, through a series of levies, cuts, changes in income tax allowances, reduction in household benefits, health and property tax, to name but a few.
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I also attended an international conference in Budapest and at this Conference a Manifesto for the Charter for the Rights of the Retired and Elderly People was passed covering the right to dignity, the right to wellbeing, and the right safety.
The European Federation of Retired and Older People is a strong and dynamic organisation capable of representing former workers who are now retired and leave the continuity of trade union activism, and to continue to work towards a model of society based of equity, wellbeing, equality and justice for all citizens, and that applies for both young and old, men and women. This is the organisation that represents us. The Fifth EU Social Partners Work Programme 2015/2017 was formally adopted in June by the ETUC Executive Committee. In that programme the European Social Partners committed to negotiate an agreement on active ageing and intergenerational approach, and thanks to the General Secretary who nominated me, I represented Ireland as part of the composition of the ETUC delegation.
The European Social Partners accepted that measures needed to be implemented at national, sectoral and company levels to make it easier for older workers to actively participate and to stay in the labour market until the legal retirement age. The ETUC Executive Committee accepted the framework of the European Social Partners on Active Ageing and Intergenerational Aproach. As I have stated preciously, there is a long-standing but outmoded notion that workers should retain their union membership only until the end of their working lives. When they retire from their place of work, their trade union activity should cease. This should not be the case, and anybody that knows me, I will fight that through thick and thin.
It is possible for unions to effectually represent the interest of the retired members long after they cease employment, so on behalf of the Committees North and South, I commend the Executive Council for their efforts and support. We need your backing and request that you lend your support to create organisational structures, to strengthen representation and advocacy in the absence of collective and social bargaining.
Finally Vice President, I want to acknowledge and to thank all of those people in the trade union movement who mentored and helped me throughout my time as a trade union representative, and just in case anybody feels I am going somewhere, I am going nowhere. I am deeply indebted to you all and can say without fear of contradiction, that without your encouragement and help I would not have been able to sustain my involvement, and I would like to thank you all very much. As Patricia King our General Secretary, and Frances O Grady have already said, ’together we are stronger’, and thank you all for making me stronger.
Margaret Galloway, Congress Retired Workers’ Committee
Vice President, Comrades, Delegates, and guests, my name is Margaret Galloway and I am delighted to be allowed as Chair of the Retired Workers Committee in Northern Ireland to speak to this Conference. I don’t think there is any doubt that retired members, and indeed all pensioners, have earned the right to a decent standard of living in older age.
As a lifetime trade unionist I have always believed in equality, but that is what is been denied to us now. The demise of final salary, defined benefit and indeed in some cases, any private pensions leave pensioners more and more dependent on the State pension which continues to be eroded. Indeed until an about-turn by the British Government last week, it looked as if the protection of the Triple Lock for pensioners on this side of the border was going to be taken away. This would not only be a blow for today’s pensioners but those most affected in the long-term would be workers who are between 40 and 50 years old now. Another myth is that pensioners avoided the worse of
111 the austerity cuts. It must be remembered that the move from RPI to CPI as a means of upgrading pensions was one of the first moves in that programme. As a UK pension is already the third lowest in the EU, every erosion spells more poverty for those who depend on it as their sole income.
In Northern Ireland the much trumpeted new single tier pension, which was supposed to be a panacea for all was introduced last year, however not only did it not benefit existing pensioners, but not all new pensioners got the full amount which they were expecting, with women being the most disadvantaged, another case of smoke and mirrors. I am tired of the media and public commentators continually referring to the cost of funding pensions and pensioners. Mention is seldom made of £4.6 billion which older people contribute to the economy. Put in simple terms, for every pound spent on pensioners the Government gets a return of £1.50. Is it any wonder given the adverse publicity perpetrated in the press that the younger people may begin to believe that older people are their enemies taking an unfair slice of the ever-diminishing cake. However, it serves no purpose to compare one section of the community with the other. All generations need to realise we are all suffering under the heel of Governments on both sides of the border, be it a hard or a soft one, acting in the name of austerity. The truth is that the only people who have escaped austerity are those with the most money.
Young and old, and all ages in between, must stand together to defend public services and health and social care. If we chose not to work together we might find ourselves in a situation described by Pastor Niemöller when he said ‘when they came from me there was no one left to speak out’. Please support Motion 32 and in doing so lend weight to your union’s retired members.
Sheila Nunan, Vice-President Thank you very much to both Margaret Browne and Margaret Galloway for those presentations. Moving on to the motions, there will be Motion 32 first in the name of the Executive Council so can I call on John MacGabhann please to propose the motion?
John MacGabhann, TUI and Executive Council
John McGowan TUI and Executive Council. I am proposing Motion 32 which you will find on page 27. I suppose a true measure of society is how it treats retired workers and older members of society we are not doing very well, and I like you to regard this motion as not simply encompassing retired workers, but also more generally those who perhaps never had the opportunity to enter the paid workforce, dominantly women, dominantly carers, because it’s a matter of culture or the absents of the requisite culture, and I think this is true North and South.
In the discourse about age and about the demographic which will have a greater proportion of our population in the older category, there is an inflection in the tone of public discourse. It’s a tone that casually, disrespectfully dismisses the retired worker and the older person. It regards that person as a draw on resources, not a resource, an inconvenience, a burden, somebody who should show greater patriotism, who is unpatriotic by virtue of the fact that he or she is not dead. I don’t say that flippantly. There is the suggestion that you should apologise for the act of drawing breath if you are aged.
There is a short sharp agricultural answer, which as a union movement we need to give to this suggestion. Eamon McCann previously said that we should you the word ‘no’ I might add a couple of words that are borrowed from the farmyard to discuss precisely what view we should take of the view that disrespects those who have the temerity actually to live. There is also in cultural discourse a sort of mawkish sentimentally, the unctuous old mister Brennan tone, now that goes with the effort, the view that in order to make the aged or the elderly, or the retired useful you have got to
112 commoditise their needs, you have got to monetise their needs, and you have got to hand the provision that is to made for those needs over to the private sector which will play them for profit.
In public policy there is clearly, if not coherently, an agenda to isolate the retired worker or the elderly person. Housing policy, and in particular leaving housing policy to private sector, has resulted in the dispersal of communities. It has resulted in the breakup of that intergenerational support system which was an intrinsic part of, and could again be an intrinsic part of community.
There has also been the isolation through the withdrawn of services, perhaps most acutely felt and expressed in rural areas where the withdrawal of postal services, of policing services and of other services has left the retired worker, the elderly person, entirely and completely without the sort of social supports that are intrinsically their right. And then there are the pauperisation of those who have had the temerity as I say to draw breath longer than the Darwinian and Malthusian theorists would have them do. It’s creating force-dependency. There are issues that are not addressed in this motion for example, such as raising the age for State Contributory Pensions. There are other measures, that together force dependency where there should be a facilitation of independence, of self-reliance, of dignity. Logically State policy should do precisely what State policy is not doing.
This motion asks for three action points; 1) that FEMPI be not just reversed, but repealed, and that restoration of people’s capacity for financial independence be affected; secondly that the cynical policy of collapsing, particularly Defined Benefit Pensions Schemes in the Private Sector be challenged, challenged as a matter of routine, challenged as a matter of right, of doing the right thing, because there is clear evidence that viable pension schemes, the viability of pensions schemes is hugely important, otherwise we have a race to the bottom, and the last thing, and the two Margarets have expressed this with eloquence so I won’t say any more about it, there is an absolute need for the unions to represent that cohort of our community because if we don’t, who will? Thank You.
Sheila Nunan, Vice-President
Thank you John. A seconder for the motion please? I’m going to draw attention to the people who wish to speak to the motion, I will be moving directly for the Proposer and Seconder for Motion 34 immediately after this, and then having the debate, you can speak to the motions after that. Thanks.
Noel Ward, INTO
Noel Ward INTO, seconding Motion 32. We know our members are living longer and healthier lives compared those who went before. The census of population in the Republic of Ireland last year showed an increase of almost 20% in the population of people aged over 65, to 640,000 and you can add to that a quarter of a million people in Northern Ireland aged over 65, a substantial number of people and a larger number thankfully all the time. The Census in the Republic also showed with an increase in those aged over 60 and also those aged over 80 reporting good health or very good health. But in the health statistics we could see there were social class differences showing that inequality persists into older age.
This motion recognised the contribution of older workers to society and to their families as carers and helpers, yet to spite the importance of these and other contributions age-related insecurities continue in terms of both income adequacy and in services for older people. This motion focuses on giving a stronger voice to retired workers and as Margaret Browne said, this is trade union business. Its trade union business in the context of our equality and our anti-discrimination policies and in terms of valuing the people who built and maintained this movement over many years .
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We all need to develop structures for our retired members. There are organisational issues for every union in doing this, such as certain decisions within the union which affect only those directly affected, including those who are only directly affected, but all these issues can be overcome by consensus and by debate and by common sense within unions.
The motion also emphasises that both for serving and retired Public Servants South of the border, rolling back and wiping out the FEMPI legislation is a necessity, and that process is under way. This motion links strongly, as John MacGabhann said, with Motion 34 on Pensions due to the serious risk of pension poverty for retired workers. There is no issue more fundamental than tackling the pensions crises facing all workers, but especially those in the Private Sector where Occupational Pension Contribution appears to be on the way to being wiped out.
Finally the Citizen’s Assembly South of the border in this month of July is addressing policy and planning in areas such as health, caring, independence and inclusion for older people. This representative workers’ assembly too needs to focus on our roll in representing retired members especially in the areas of income adequacy. Each union is obliged to address these issues, as must also collectively as a Trades Union Congress. Please support the motion. Thank you.
Joe O ´Flynn, SIPTU and Executive Council
Vice President Joe o’ Flynn, Treasurer and SIPTU proposing Motion 34 on behalf of the Executive Council.
First of all, a little bit of good news, as most people will be aware, people in Ireland are thankfully living longer lives, and when the Old Age Contributed Pension was introduced in 1961 life expectancy at birth was 68 years for men, and 72 for women. Now that figure is 79 years for men and 83 years for women. The increase in life expectancy means that the number of people age 65 or over is rising all the time. Last year’s Census indicates that the proportion of the population in this age cohort rose by one fifth between the years 2011 and 2016, while the most recent CSO population projections forecast the number people age 65 over to increase by nearly two thirds in years out to 2026. Thankfully people are also living healthier lives, notwithstanding Noel ‘s reference to it being uneven particularly in relation to people who are marginalised or disadvantaged. The average man is in good health until the age of 66, four years above the European average, while the average women is in good health until the age of 68, six years above the European average.
So if we are living longer and healthier lives, we need to ensure that we can also live in dignity and in some comfort in our later years. While people age 65 or over are less at risk than children living in one parent households, or people who are unemployed, one in eight of all retirees was at risk of poverty in 2015. This means they had a total annual income of no more than €12,000 and the risk for older people living alone, most of whom were women was one in seven. A major pensions crises has been unfolding in Ireland for the last number of years. CSA surveys indicate that pension coverage, either an Occupational Pension, a personal pension or both, has fallen over the last decade from 56% in 2005, to 47% in 2015. Coverage among young workers in the age to 20 to 29 has fallen from 39% to 22% over this time, an alarming statistic. Just 35% of Private Sector workers have a pension according to the Department of Social Welfare in the Republic, and I suggest colleagues it’s no coincidence that the fall in pension coverage has travelled in the same the direction in union density, because occupational pensions has always been a core condition of employment which unions have fought hard for trade union members over many years.
Many perfectly viable Defined Benefits Schemes have been forced to close due to current minimum funding standards. This requires schemes that have sufficient assets at any one time to purchase
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Annuities for all their members if the scheme was to be wound up at that point. This greatly over values and exaggerates liabilities, and it encourages rogue employers as we have seen to renege on their commitments leaving the workers as the losers. 677 Defined Benefit Schemes with just 112,000 members was subject to this onerous standard at the end 2016. Down from 1,500 schemes with 269,000 members ten years previously. Of those 677 schemes 446 were in compliance, with all but 8 of the remaining 231 schemes having agreed funding proposals with the Pension Authority to bring them into compliance.
The Government has asked the Pension Authority to review the feasibility of changing the Minimum Funding Standard and of establishing a Pension Protection Scheme. We in Congress believe these steps do not go far enough, and if we are to truly tackle the Defined Benefit Pensions crises we need to do a number of things. Firstly, we need to make DB Schemes Deficit a legally enforceable debt on the employer in the event of a wind up. Secondly, we need to establish an Expert Commission involving all of the stakeholders to devise a plan to fully protect DB Schemes. Thirdly, we need to do what almost every other OECD country has done and introduce a Universal Occupational Pension Scheme for those not already making second pillar contributions. This would involve contributions by employers, the State and workers. Fourthly, we should defer the increase in the qualifying age for the State Pension from 66 to 67 in 2021, and abandon the increase to 68 in 2028 until that becomes the norm across Europe. The pension crises has undermined confidence in funded pensions among workers in Ireland and we in Congress have to vigorously pursue this strategy to protect the future incomes of those of senior age. I ask you to support the motion.
Sheila Nunan, Vice President
Thank you Joe. Do I have a seconder for the Motion please? Formally seconded by the INMO. Thank you.
Now I’m going to invite speakers to the Motions please.
Hugh Rafferty, Unite
Chair, Delegates, I speak in support of this motion from the ICTU Executive Council. My name is Hugh Rafferty and I am a member of the UNITE Retired Members Section, and I am also the Vice Chair of Northern Ireland ICTU Retired Workers’ Committee.
Being in a union helped to make me the worker I was. When I worked for Translink here in Belfast and still being involved in my union helps me to fight for decency for older people in my community. We trade unionists understand that Living Wage is an essential part of Decent Work that follows in old age. Workers when they retire deserve a living pension because a pension is not a handout or a gift, it is a deferred income from the time we were working. In my case its meant getting people to work and making sure the trams, trains and buses ran on time, even in the darkest years of our lovely city and they were dark years.
Now is the time for a just settlement for older. There is a time a living pension as a goal for older people on both sides of the border. What is a living pension? It is when people in retirement can expect a decent standard of living, a better quality of life, all the more essential now with occupational pensions being phased out, with zero hour contracts and minimum wage. A low wage economy like in Northern Ireland, the sole income of workers in retirement will be the State Pension. Pensioners in the United Kingdom receive the third lowest pension in the European Union. With an increase in fuel poverty this will increase the number of deaths in older people because they can’t afford to both eat and heat. This is in the 21st century, it’s a disgrace.
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We often read that pensioners have never had it so good, that we are a liability on the economy, that we take everything out and put nothing in. This is using an argument to drive a wedge between the old and the young, thinking that we are depriving young people of better jobs and better benefits. This is completely untrue. £30 billion is taken out of the economy to pay for pensions and benefits. Pensioners put £40 billion back into the economy, so what is happening to our young people is a fault of this Government and their policies. We are asking the Chair and Delegates to support us and to work with your retired sections, because remember Brothers and Sisters, our todays are your tomorrow’s. Remember our slogan, you retire to live, not to die. So please support this motion.
Mark Walsh, ASTI
Mark Walsh, Association of Secretary Teachers of Ireland, and I am speaking to Motions 32 and Motion 34, and the first thing I want to say is just in reference to the Private Sector. I know personally of people who are involved in Irish Life for example and you have got this type of approach in the Private Sector were its ‘Me Too’. All the other other Private Sector companies are getting rid of their Defined Benefit Schemes so we are going to as well , and that seems to be what’s driving, despite the fact that Irish Life is quite profitable, that seems to be what’s driving them - we can do it too, now is the time to do it. But the best way to protect Defined Benefit Schemes in the Private Sector I think is to make sure to maintain standards in the Public Sector, and we need to bear that in mind. Now the motion refers to Retired Workers but pensions also apply to existing workers and to new workers coming into the system. For example, since 2013 in the South we have had this new single scheme which is an inferior pension scheme linked to the Consumer Price Index rather than a real Defined Benefit Scheme, that say I would be on for example. So we have got three categories now, we have got retired workers, we have got people like me in the midland and we have got the new people coming in, and pensions affect us all across the board so think we need to bare that in mind.
Motion 32 refers to FEMPI, and calls for the repeal of FEMPI. I’m tired hearing that because in 2013 here in Belfast there motion for a robust campaign against FEMPI, nothing happen. In 2015 the ASTI put forward a motion to repeal FEMPI here, nothing happened. This motion now in 2017 four years on is calling for the repeal of FEMPI. What seems to be suggested is that FEMBI is now being presented as a gateway out of pay cuts in the recent talks in Lansdown Road 2. FEMPI is now seen as an unwinding as a gateway out of pay cuts. I think that’s shocking because if you look at what’s happening is the Sunday Business Post refered to this and it says that ‘the existing FEMPI legislation still has provisions to move 250,000 existing Public Service workers like me into the new inferior 2013 Scheme. So the Government has the power, if they want, to move me to a Defined Benefit Scheme into the new inferior pension scheme since 2013. That’s a serious consequence of FEMPI, and you have to ask how this happen, how did the new pension scheme get in? There didn’t seem to be any campaign against it at all, and just to quote to former Minster to Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin. He said ‘in January 2013’ and I’m quoting BreakingNews.ie, he said of the scheme, ‘ I can’t say they have been supported’, in other words the unions weren’t supporting the 2013 scheme coming in, he said ‘but they haven’t been resisted by the Public Sector Unions’. So Brendan Howlin was saying in 2013 that the Public Sector unions didn’t resist the introduction of 2013 Scheme.
So I am coming to the end there, and I think in the light of what’s been negotiated in Lansdown Road 2, making the pension levy permanent, after all we are talking about pensions, and now we find that what we thought was temporary is now to become permanent, an additional contribution to pensions, how can we stand up here and talk about pensions when we have just agreed to worsen our pension contributions even further? I just don’t understand it. Support the motion.
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Bumper Graham, NIPSA
Bumper Graham, on behalf of NISPA to support Motion 34, but with the slight reservation in relation to the introduction of the Universal Occupational Pension Scheme.
In the UK in the past five years we have the most those radical changes to pensions since 1947 and unfortunately members have not cottoned on to this, because members failed to say that next to their pay, pensions are the most important part of their terms and conditions. In the presentation from Margaret from the Northern Ireland Retired Workers’ group she touched upon the single flat rate state pension. This is one of the greatest cons by the British Government in many years., because it will be 2050 for anybody can be guaranteed that they are going to get the new flat rate State Pension. For Public Servants and those on the Defined Benefit Schemes, they immediately from last year lost an additional 1.5% off-setting National Insurance Contributions, and employers 3.4% - all this went to the British Treasury. It did not do anything for pensioners who were in receipt or expecting to get receipt of pensions.
We also have the threat of rising the State Pension Age to 68 in the next number of years, but in a report that came out recently from a guy called Crudden to increase it to 70 by 2036. There was reservations in relation to a proposal on the Universal Occupational Pension Scheme, and that is based on what has happened in Britain. In 2014 everybody welcomed the introduction of Auto Enrolment for those that weren’t already in company pension schemes or Public Services schemes. But the actual scheme itself is highly deficient. The contribution rates from both employees and employers are too low to provide a decent adequate pension. It is also based on a Defined contribution scheme, but the warning is that a number of employers, mainly in the Private Sector, but reluctantly I have to say, some also in the Public Sector are no longer enrolling their employees into their occupational pension scheme, but enrolling them into the much lesser scheme known as NEST which would be the equivalent of the Universal Occupational Pension Scheme. So as we need to have that safety net for people who aren’t employers’ schemes there has to be a very stringent set of rules and regulations that we put in place in order to protect the continuation of occupational pension schemes.
At the end of the day the British Government and British Treasury changes are aimed at one thing, and that is to reduce the cost of the British Exchequer of paying pensions. By 2050 the aim of these reforms is to reduce the amount of GDP spent on pension from 8.6% to 8.1%. Let’s get away from that and let’s try to improve pensions for all. Conference, I urge your support.
Dave Hughes, INMO
Dave Hughes INMO, supporting Motion 34. Motion 34 uses the words ‘catastrophic’ and describes the situation on pensions as ‘a calamity’. It could probably also use the word ‘criminality’. A tycoon slipped off a yacht a couple of years ago and drowned, and brought down with him the pensions of his workforce. Little did we know at that stage that, that particular piece of criminality would lead to the halving of the numbers of Defined Benefit Schemes that we have, because of, ironically a regulatory requirement which was brought in, originality to protect workers’ pensions, then having a minimum funding standards imposed which was impossible to meet for many pension schemes which broke them. it is a ridiculously high minimum standard, it is now been reviewed, but far too late, because a lot of damage has been done already. I think the motion correctly identifies that.
So what we have had on that is Government indifference in the face of what was a calamity which was defiantly always going to happen, but in additional to that we had Government action that saw the retirement age in the Republic of Ireland on a phased basis going up to 68, and that’s effectively
117 a theft of people who paid into their occupational pension or their State Pension throughout their working life of three years of what they paid for, and what they always believed they were entitled to. So €36,000 or three years of the State Pension has been stolen from most of the people in this room.
Additionally the Government changed the PRSI rules which now make it ridiculously the situation where people who contributed to PRSI throughout their working life, but had broken service, mainly women, are now entitled to a lesser Contributory Old Age Pension than the Non Contributory Old Age Pension, completely ridiculous, completely unfair, and it has to change.
We also had the propaganda war against the Public Sector Schemes which appears to have succeeded to a fair extent, and just finally I would like to say that my former colleague and friend Fergus Whelan who retired just recently crusaded on this matter over the last number of years, highlighted it and has laid a very strong foundation for the requirements for Motion 34 to be progressed further. So I’d like to acknowledge Fergus’s contribution through the years, but particularly on this issue, he was very vocal and very effective. Thank you very much.
Sheila Nunan, Vice President
Thank you Dave for reminding us about Fergus, that was very timely to acknowledge the role of Fergus Whelan in the role of all of this. Thank you next speaker.
Shay Cody, IMPACT
Chair, very briefly I just come to the rostrum to make a point of information, to correct a statement that was made by the speaker the ASTI. I find it extraordinary the way people read things in the newspapers and believe them, quoting an article from the Sunday Business Post about Public Services Pensions. What was in the article and what was said by the speakers was totally incorrect. There is no provision in either the FEMPI legislation or the pensions legislation to transfer pre- existing pre-2013 Public Servants into the new single scheme. The Department of Public Expenditure has confirmed to the Public Services Committee that that is incorrect, and I just stand here to correct the point. Let’s not leave here having views formed around various agreements based on an erroneous press report. Thank you.
Jimmy Whelan, UNITE
Jimmy Whelan UNITE. During all the presentations one thing was glaringly absent is to say that pensions are deferred earnings right? You pay in for this, whether you are a Public Servant or Private Sector, you pay for this. If there is a cut in your pension, it’s a cut in your earnings, and I’m part of what is supposed to be a good pension scheme of Cadburys Ireland, but because of the Pension Levy we haven’t got an increase since 2008. We are being robbed and that is basically it. Thank you.
Sheila Noonan, Vice President
Thank you speaker. Okay delegates, I’m putting to you for your endorsement the two motions. First Motion 32, all in favour? That’s widely supported, thank you.
Motion 34 all in favour? That’s is also carried. Now that we have made some time, we are moving ahead into the second part of the Social Policy, and I’m going to ask the Mover on the motion on Housing, that’s Shay Cody, and the Seconder is Allison Millar, and also we have an Amendment to that so would the speakers be ready please. Thank you.
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Shay Cody, Executive Council
Shay Cody, IMPACT, moving Motion 35 on behalf of the Executive Council. There are almost 15, 000 homeless families and more than 2,500 children in emergency accommodation, in the fastest growing economy in Europe. As a people we have achieved a remarkable turnaround in employment and economic performance and yet over 77,000 households, many of them trade unionists and their families, are in mortgage arrears. A short time after a catastrophic collapse our exchequer finances are in recovery and our debt is close to the EU average, and yet homeless families queue for food and emergency accommodation.
Nearly 30% of AIB is back in private hands, boosting the exchequer finances less than a decade after the citizens funded bailout, and yet those same citizens desperately compete for the tiny stock of affordable private rented accommodation, or enter bidding wars to buy overpriced homes. More than 80% of the many available properties are too expensive for those on State housing benefits, as landlords take advantage of excess demand. And the landlord’s right to evict in order to sell or to house family members, makes security of tenure in the Private Sector a fantasy.
IMPACT, SIPTU, and other trade unions have been at the forefront of the housing and homeless campaigns working with NGO´S and campaign groups for the right of an affordable and secure home. Motion 35 acknowledges and develops that work by demanding a national plan to implement the largest housing programme in the history of the State, sufficient capital investment to deliver 10,000 social and affordable units a year, a commercial funding agency to underpin this vital initiative, and a municipal housing authority with powers to compulsorily purchase land and derelict stock, underpin housing standards and hold Local Authorities to account. These, delegates, are not fanciful aspirations. We have done as much and more in more difficult times, a large scale Local Authority housing programme in the 1970´s provided over 60,000 homes, peaking at 9,000 in 1975 under Labour Minster Jimmy Tully. On top of this 180,000 private houses in the same decade, and if it can be done in the 1970´s, it can be done in the current era.
By the early 2000s social housing was contracted to an unregulated Private Sector and Local Authority house building had effectively ceased. This approach has manifestly failed by relying almost entirely on the market, successive Governments have created today´s monsterous housing crises. Think about this in the long term, on present policy trends we will enter into a new and frightening phase of the housing crises as a generation of workers, many of them depending solely on the State Pension that we just spoke about, for the lack of Occupational Pensions, will enter into retirement paying full and inflationary market rents for their basic housing needs. The old system the effective system in effect meant that people had their mortgages paid off by the time they came into retirement, or if they were in Local Authority or social housing the rent was income-related and as you moved into retirement your rent went down. The solution to this problem is actually very simple. Build social housing on the scale we achieved in the 1970´s.
Delegates, this motion also addresses the situation in Northern Ireland. We must defend the Housing Executive, we must advocate for public housing and stop the voluntary transfer programme, and we must empower the Housing Executive to borrow, so it too can build on a sufficient scale to deal with the crises. We need housing, North and South. I move. Thank you.
Allison Millar, Executive Council
Allison Millar Executive Council, to second the Motion 35. Conference the issue of homeless and the lack of affordable social housing straddles all parts of this Island. It is an indictment of Governments both North and South, there are thousands of families waiting for social housing, many for years, but
119 thousands also in housing stress. I heard recently of one family who have been on the housing waiting list over 10 years, they have no chance of getting a social house.
In Northern Ireland the Housing Executive has been the body which has the experience and capacity to impartially deliver housing policy based on objective needs in a deeply divided society. The Housing Executive rose on the Civil Rights Movement and over the 45 years since its inception it has, in the majority of cases, been successful, because it has been able to allocated housing on the basis of need as opposed to any other means.
However, since the inception of the UK Government ‘s policy decision to sell off public housing, to the Right to Buy Scheme, and stopping the Housing Executive from building new homes, there been a decline in social homes provide by the Housing Executive from 220,000 at its height to 88,000 today. No wonder there are thousands on the housing waiting list, with little or no hope of getting a social home with an affordable rent, instead thousands of families and single people are forced into the Private Sector with the high rents and in some circumstances unscrupulous landlords.
Conference in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy we must ensure that no one ever again is placed in a situation that they die because they are poor. Never again should families have to live in homeless hostels which mean that children have a poor start in life, with poor life chances and outcomes. We must campaign vigorously for everyone as a human right to have a place to call home, which is safe, clean, and affordable.
The key objective to this campaign in Northern Ireland means that ICTU must prioritise the issue of housing to be on a par with education and health. Secondly it is those who most strongly oppose the issue of the voluntary stock transfer, which if the Assembly is allowed to get away with it, will mean the death of the Housing Executive by a thousand cuts.
Conference my union NISPA has published two pieces of academic research by Steward Smith. One of them is a small leaflet of on your seats which is called ‘Our Homes Our Future Protecting Public Housing’ and the second was a publication about keeping our housing public and I commend you to read both of those documents.
Conference the issue for us is that it is an indictment on this society to have people, families living in poor accommodation or to be homeless, bed hopping, couch surfing. Everyone deserves as a human right to have a place to call home. Please support the motion.
Shelia Nunan, Vice President
Thank you very much Alison. We are going to have a proposer for the Amendment in just a second, and there are four speakers indicating. I have about six minutes left, so if you could do that in two minutes, and then each of the speakers will just get one minute each. We’ll see how we’re doing after that.
Paddy Mackel, Belfast Trade Councils
Supporting motion 35, and the Amendment. It is welcomed that the Executive motion covers both parts of Ireland, because the housing emergency does not recognise this border. In the North 13,000 people are officially recognised by the Housing Executive has been homeless. The waiting list totals almost 40,000. You might think that this create a sense of urgency to tackle the issue. Don’t be daft. There are important things like flags to talk about. The Housing Executive has a legal statuary duty to provide public housing to citizens. That legislation has been in place for more than 40 years, however on accounting mechanism linked to how the Housing Executive is designated as a
120 public body has resulted in Government not allowing the Executive to borrow the finances to build homes. This is an absolute disgrace possibility worth testing legally. So house building is left to private developers or housing associations who are actually in the process of taking houses away from the Housing Executive.
The recent programme for Government which of course is currently sitting on a shelf somewhere in Stormont waiting for a Minster to appear sometime before Christmas to open it, but that programme for Government actually talks about an ambitious target of 9,600 homes to built over 5 years, less than 2,000 every year. 2,000 homes to tackle a 40,000 waiting list and 13,000 homeless, that’s nothing short of pathetic.
In 1975 at the height of our recent conflict 10,000 homes were built in that one year, 6,000 by the Housing Executive. It clearly demonstrates the lack of urgency from politicians, they don’t see this as an emergency.
Congress we believe the best way to tackle these demands outlined in the motion in both jurisdictions is for an immediate campaign to be launched by Congress. We can’t leave it to one our two unions, we need to link directly housing with health needs, with educational under- achievement and community cohesion. The provision of public housing is s most basic human right, we need to treat it as such, and we need to build a strong campaign which links Congress, Affiliate Unions in housing, health, education and welfare, and we need to reach out into the community to Resident Associations and community groups and force the Oireachtas and Stormont to get of their arse and tackle this housing emergency now. Thank you.
Niall McCarroll, UNISON
Niall McCarroll, UNISON Community Branch Secretary, Vice Chair of Derry Trade Council, and in tandem with these roles I also work supporting homeless people in our communities. Speaking in support of motion 35.
Conference it is a sad fact that many people North and South struggle to have a roof over their heads, they struggle to get social housing, they struggle with the cost of rent, or to get and then pay a mortgage. In the North over 37,000 people are waiting for social housing, of which a record number are in housing distress, this is a scandal.
Conference in this speech I want to make two brief points in relation to housing in the North. Religious inequality in the provision of social housing remains a serious issue in areas like North Belfast. UNISON supports the work of PPR founded by Angus McCormack and exposing and challenging the extent of religious inequality, including securing the recommendations from international human rights bodies such as a UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to adequate housing that measures need to be taken to address religious inequality in the provision of housing.
Achieving real equality in the North means addressing objective needs in the provision of social housing and this remains a major issue. Secondly, I want to talk about the impact that cuts to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive supporting people’s funding stream and austerity in general are having on a provision of housing for the most vulnerable in society.
UNSION is extremely concerned and are raising urgent concerns about the future of supporting people funded accommodation based projects. With no increase for inflation in 11 years and the 6.5% cut this year existing funding available to secure services provision has been stretched to a point where services are suffering and more jobs will be lost. I have a lot more to say about workers, austerity and addiction, but I urge you to back the motion. Thank you.
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Eimear Allen, INTO
Eimear Allen, INTO speaking in support of the Motion. I am speaking today as a young worker trying to enter the housing market. I am currently working and living in Dublin and like many young people am finding it increasingly difficult to pay the exorbitant rents being set by landlords. It has become near impossible to pay the current level of rent and save for a deposit for a house at the same time. Rent has now surpassed the 2008 levels that were clearly unsustainable at that time. Nothing has changed to make these rent sustainable now. Legislation to control rent increases resulted in many landlords driving rents up to extortionate levels before it was enforced.
A two bed apartment, which I have rented in the suburb of Dublin, has jumped from €1,000 to €1,600 a month in barely four years, and by current standards that price is considered a good deal. Add bills to that cost and the figure is over half my nett pay to cover basic accommodation costs. I am currently trying to find a new property to rent and this is proving to be extremely challenging. I am attending viewing of rental properties with over 50 other prospective tenants, bringing along a large sum of cash, a copy of your passport, and even a payslip has become the norm to merely get your hat in the ring. Please support the motion.
Teresa Walsh, INTO
Teresa Walsh INTO. I want to speak on a particular aspect and that is the impact of homeless on the education of children. Many parents are under relentless stress and tension all of which children experience, and as a teacher children are coming to school with strain etched on their faces and personalities. They come without food, hungry, without breakfast, relying on convince food purchased en route. Many families do not have cooking facilities. Children experiencing homelessness come to school tired because it’s hard to get a good night sleep if there’s a whole family in one room. They come to school in tracks suits or not in the correct uniform because they don’t have washing facilities. They are not completing their homework because there is nowhere quiet to do it. They have no space to play, or allow their friends to come over. Their behaviour changes when children become disruptive or withdrawn, lacking in attention. Homeless has the potential to fundamentally limit the life chances of those children. Parents spend up to two hours each morning ensuring that their children attend the same school they did prior to becoming homeless. I will leave it at that. Thank you.
Sheila Nunan INTO,
Thanks Teresa, and thanks for your cooperation.
Firstly can I just put the the Amendment of that motion, which I don’t think there’s any difficulty? All in favour please? And now I’m going to put the motion with the amendment to it, all in favour? Thank you very much.
Now I have to two important notices just before we conclude for lunch. There will be a Love Equality Fringe meeting taking place just across the road in the Europa Hotel, in the Dublin Suite and also the Justice for Columbia Fringe meeting will take place in the Minor Hall here in the Conference centre and we will resume at 2.30pm delegates. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
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Wednesday 4th July Afternoon Session
Brian Campfield, President
I’m going to ask Jack McGinley, Chair of Standing Orders to address you.
Jack McGinley, Chair Standing Orders
Delegates, just to advise you that there is left that 30 minutes left for those of you who haven’t already exercised your franchise in the vote. The Polling Station is in Room 1 upstairs and will close at 3pm sharp. Secondly, Standing Orders met at 2pm to consider the progress that was made this morning and in view of the significant progress made, we are not making any adjustment at the moment and we hope that delegates will facilitate the Chair in the smooth running, so we can try to claw back more time. I would also remind delegates that the two Emergency Motions 1 and 2 will be taken at 5pm. They will be proposed, formally seconded, and voted on. Thank you Chair.
Brian Campfield, President
Thanks Jack. In March this year the State formally recognised Irish Travellers as an indigenous ethnic minority, and to mark that we decided to invite someone from the Travelling Community to address conference, and I’m delighted to be able to invite Martin Collins, Co-Director of Pavee Point to to speak to you today. Martin has been an outstanding Traveller activist for over 30 years. He is a founding member of Pavee Point Traveller Centre, which he is now Co-Director of, and there are a whole lot of other stuff written here about him being a tireless campaigner, but I’m not going to read it. Over to you Martin, you’re very welcome.
Martin Collins, Co Director Pavee Point
Martin Collins, good afternoon folks and it’s an honour to be here today to have an opportunity to address your Congress. I will speak about the recognition of Traveller ethnicity and what it means for me personally, and what it means for my community, and more importantly what is the implications of that in terms of policy development and service provision? Just before I do that, I want to say I recognised a number of faces here when I arrived here earlier on, people I would have dealt with over the years trying to promote equality, address human Rights violations and so forth. I I see Seamus Dooley here and a a good few years ago we worked with Seamus and the NUJ in developing a set of guidelines on how the media should report on Traveller issues which is a very important issue for our community, because the media can either challenge racism and prejudice and stereotyping or it can reinforce it. Unfortunately in my experience and the experience of my people the media quite often reinforce prejudiced stereotyping and racism, so we worked with Seamus and NUJ and we had a number of workshops and seminars, and we produce d a set of guidelines in how journalist can be more sensitive when reporting on ethnic issues, and particularly in this case, traveller issues.
We have also worked quite extensively with David Joyce, Equality Officer on NCCRI and so forth. So I recognise a few faces here, so all I am saying is that the trade union movement collectively has a
123 very long and proud tradition I have to say of standing by and supporting, and standing in solidarity in my community. In fact the very first time that the trade union movement took a very proactive stance in terms of promoting travellers’ human rights was in 1963, and this is recorded vividly in a book free called ‘Free Born Traveller’, and it was a book that was written by Gratten Puxon. They were a group of Traveller families, about 40 Traveller families parked in a place called Cherry Orchard in a suburb in Dublin, and they were parked illegally because the Local Authority hadn’t provided any accommodation for them, and they were facing evictions, and they were been driven from pillar to post almost on a weekly basis. But Gratten Puxon was the first man to mobilise Travellers and get them to assert themselves and assert their rights.
Dublin Corporation as it was called then, ordered for the Traveller families to be evicted in Cherry Orchard, and the Trade union passed a motion, I think it was around 1963, and at that time it was called The National Industrial Employers’ Union, and I’m open to correction on that, but that union in any event passed a motion that none of its workers would evict the Travellers. They actually downed tools, they had JCB´S and other utensils that were been use to evict the travellers. So I am just making that a point, there is just that very long proud tradition which we are very appreciative of.
As was said on the 1 March 2017 our then Taoiseach Enda Kenny, made a very profound symbolic statement in the Dáíl, and I quote ‘As Taoiseach I wish now to formally recognise Travellers as an distinct ethnic group within the Irish nation. It is an historic day for our Travellers and a very proud day for Ireland’. I was in the gallery that evening when the announcement was made, and not only was it a truly historical day but it was also quite an emotional day. I was very conscience of my father and indeed my ancestors and I think the statement of the Taoiseach was a testament to their resilience and their determination to survive as a people. I think it was also a vindication of the present generation of Traveller activists who have shown tremendous courage and leadership and belief that we could achieve this. I also believe that it gives hope to the next generation of Travellers that they will grow up in a society that is respectful, more inclusive and equal of Travellers.
As many of you here today know, Pavee Point and indeed other Traveller groups have been campaigning on this issue for almost 35 years. This campaign has taken place both domestically and also Internationality within the European Union, the Council of Europe, and indeed the UN, and incidentally Pavee Point was the first Traveller organisation to actually internationalise the proper request. We brought in to Europe, the UN, the Council of Europe and we got concluding observations and recommendation to support our claim.
The recognition of our ethnicity is not some abstract ideological debate; traveller ethnicity is fundamentally a human rights issue, and it has implications for policy development and service provision. It’s about the validation of our history, our culture and our language, and our right to be nomadic, which has been criminalised certainly in the South. It’s about acknowledging that we have been an integral part of this Island for over a thousand years. It’s not saying that the more you claim your Traveller ethnicity the less you claim your Irishness. We are very proud of our Irishness and have in fact have played our part in the development of the Irish nation. In that context Irish history is both inaccurate and incomplete. My community have been completely obliterated from the history books. Somebody once said that history is always about people who own the mine and never about people down the mine. We all know it’s the elite and the privileged who get to write history and get to write it from their world view. Minorities such as Travellers and others are excluded.
We Travellers have a shared history and experience with other people on the Island, but it’s also important to acknowledge that we too have a distinct history and experience on the Island of
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Ireland, and that context it’s important to acknowledge that there is no conflict between nationality and ethnicity, they both mutually coexist.
It is my believe that this recognition will consign to the history books the narrative that my people are dysfunctional, primitive, and people who need to be civilised and normalised by the State. This racist ideology has led to what we call ‘internalised oppression’ and we can see the manifestations of that; Travellers being ashamed of their identity, low self-esteem, lack of pride, depression, suicide. So thankfully now as I say this racist ideology will be truly put to bed.
The acknowledgement of Traveller ethnicity is fundamentally about respect and inclusion, and those are the terms I heard when I went over to the workshop on Love Equality and Marriage Equality and so forth, so those terms certainly resonate with me. We have always said in our movement that we can’t have true equality if our identity is not validated and valued by the State. Now rights must follow. We have always said that recognition of Traveller ethnicity will not be a panacea. The acknowledgment of Traveller ethnicity, symbolic in all that it is, will not deal with the 84% unemployment rate in my community. It will not deal with the suicide rate which is seven times higher than the national average. It will not deal with low life expectancy in the Traveller man, living on average 15 years less than a settled man, a Traveller women living on average 12 years less than a settled women. Our infant mortally rate is four times higher than the national average. Ethnicity will not deal with the accommodation issue, and I have heard about people talking about homelessness and so forth this morning.
In my community we have about 1,300 traveller families which equates about 8,000 people who are in need of accommodation who are forced to live without electricity, sanitation, and refuse collection. It will not deal with the educational inequalities whereby only 13% of Travellers complete Secondary Education, compared in the 90% in the settled population, and less than 1% of Travellers complete Third Level Education. We have always said that with the recognition of Traveller ethnicity, rights must follow, and what we need now is an institutionalised policy response to what I would term the human rights violations that my community experience on a daily basis, across the Island North and South. In that context I am glad to able to that only two weeks ago Minster of State at the Department of Justice, David Stanton launched what’s called the National Traveller Roma Inclusion Strategy. This is a requirement by the European Commission that every Member State must develop essentially a national action plan to promote the inclusion and the rights of Roma and Travellers. Our process took about two years in the making but thankfully we did agree on what I what would regard as a very good strategy with 14 thematic areas, constituting about a hundred actions dealing educational inequalities, health inequalities, accommodation, employment, and so forth, and I think the biggest challenge officiously as we all know, its easily drawing up plans and action plans and strategies, the big challenge we have is for that strategy to be fully implemented. Its only by the full implementation of that strategy and the actions contained therein that we can see real improvement in the quality of life of Travellers on the ground.
Finally I spoke earlier on about language, and I know that a very topical issue here in the North at the moment in term of language. Language is important. For many people its core to their identity, and our language is important, and we would like to see our language documented, preserve and taught in schools and so forth. And with that in mind I will leave you with a few words of our language which means in translation ‘When I look out onto the audience I see a lot of good people, men, women, girls, and boys’. Thank you very much.
President made a presentation gift to Martin Collins.
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Brian Campfield, President
Okay that was excellent. Could I move on now to Motion 36 in the name of the Guinness Staff Association.
John Dunne, GSU
Present, General Secretary, Delegates, John Dunne from the Guinness Staff union moving Motion 36. It’s hard to follow that act from Martin, but I’ll try.
The housing crises has as we have heard had many varied aspect to it. There is a homelessness crises and that is very evident in the towns and cities, people living in hotels with their families as there is nowhere else to go, rising rent in urban areas. The 20% deposit rule which was brought in by the Government has actually made things worse, and I will just also mention to put that in context, the recent Conference of our colleagues in ASTI highlighted where a Secondary School Teacher and his partner who is also working, could not afford housing in the Finglas area of North Dublin. Now as a Finglas man I do understand where they are coming from. Finglas was always considered an affordable area to get housing, be it renting or buying. I also welcome the Executive motion and the various documents that were produced by the unions by SIPTU, Congress itself, and NISPA’s documents which were available earlier.
Similarly the Guinness Staff Union members we have cases of young workers unable to access affordable accommodation in the Dublin area. These are by and large professional people, young workers with good jobs, with a good Guinness job as they call it, and they are back living at home or else commuting from outside the Dublin area where housing is more affordable. This sounds all too familiar building I think. Building houses in estates in Leitrim or on flood planes in Longford is the recent memory of a constriction industry which is now saying ther eare too many obstacles, not enough profit, and restricted practises.
The NERI proposal envisages a different approach. Housing must now be treated as a joined up policy in Ireland North and South. Housing must become a right, and it must be guaranteed by the State. That sounds some radical claim that will never get delivered, but it is not a radical claim. In the 1930´s through to the 1960´s and 1970´s, Shay Cody mentioned this earlier on, the State in the Republic of Ireland actually delivered housing number in the thousands per annum. I will give you some of the figures. In the 1940´s there was 20,000 social houses delivered. In the 1950´s 52,000, and in the 1960´s 29,000 and it went to 61,000 in the 1970´s, that at a time when Ireland was experiencing extreme deprivation some called it a banana republic at the time. That was going on, on both sides of the border, and I think it’s fair to say that a large part of the civil rights movement was a claim that housing was for everybody in the North of Ireland.
The fact there is another interesting statistic, up to 1914 at the time of the First World War, Local Government in Ireland provided 45,000 dwellings. That was far in excess of what was being provided in Britain at the time, and I don’t think there was a Socialists Government in power, but there was deprivation. From the time of the Housing Act in 1932 up to the 1950´s social housing output accounted for between one third and half of all output. I have a quick question for you - I have a figure here from 2015. How many social houses were built in 2015? 75 is the answer. Recently the spokesperson for the Landlords’ Association was asked about the rising costs of rent in Dublin, and the effect that was having on the growing numbers of homeless people and families living in hotels, the spokesperson said and I quote ‘that’s nothing to do with us, that’s a Government problem’. I actually agree with that, as many as one third of the Landlords in the private rented sector are classified as reluctant Landlords, two thirds own one property. There is a Canadian
126 company based now in Dublin Reeds and they own 1,800 properties. There are other vulture funds who have bought properties, largely from single landlords. The rents are not cheap and the so- called vultures are now out there buying up, so called single landlord rental properties. What is the NERI proposal? It was mentioned earlier on, the NERI proposal is a European Cost Rental Model which would distribute the cost of new homes over a long period of time, and would socialise the cost of construction and rent in high quality accommodation. That is what the trade union movement has been calling for for years, and that is what this motion is about. As I said, people would say the Guinness Staff Union has well paid members, but we have got a lot of young members who are reasonably well paid and can’t afford to live in their own town. Thank you very much.
Brian Campfield, President
Just to say the Polling Station is closing at 3pm and that is the final notification, you have five minutes to get in. Seconding the motion?
Teresa Hannick, SIPTU
President, General Secretary, Delegates, Teresa Hannick, SIPTU seconding Motion 36 on Housing Policy.
The housing crisis is probably the single biggest crisis on this Island and like every crisis known to man; it hits workers and future generation of workers harder. I represent workers in the Private Sector, the workers in retail, workers in warehouses, distribution drivers that has precarious contracts of employment, low wages and these are the workers that are suffering the most from the Housing Crisis. Whether it’s to get on the social housing list, whether it’s to try and rent some kind of reasonable cost of accommodation, whether it’s to try and save up for a deposit for a mortgage they can’t get there.
Two months ago in the Republic in the leadership contest for the Fine Gael Party with the lovely Mr Varadkar saying he wanted to represent the early risers, the people who get up early every day. Well I would have to tell Mr Varadkar that I represent those workers. Like my colleague John has said, these are the workers that can’t afford to live in the urban areas, they can’t afford to rent in the urban areas, they have to travel nearly two hours either by their own transport or by public transport to get to work. What is our Taoiseach or any leader going to do about those kind of workers? We talk and talk about the housing crisis, is anybody going to do something about it, to set a policy like what NERI has proposed? It is a future generation of workers who are going to be trapped like this generation. There are at the whim of the housing market, they are the ones who are never going to be able to afford to make a future for their children. Delegates, I am going to ask you to support this motion, so we don’t have to see the future workers feel this. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Can we have the mover of Motion 37 in the name of SIPTU?
Gene Mealy, SIPTU
Gene Mealy, SIPTU moving Motion 37. Delegates, the Republic is now in a much better position economically than it was at any time in the past decade. Employment has increased by over 200,000 from 2012, while unemployment has fallen from 15% to 6%, despite Brexit which would 40,000 jobs over the 10 years following a UK departure, the Republic’s economic prospects are generally good. Growth is forecast to be 3% to 4% annually from 2017 to 2019 and 2% to 3% 2020 to 2021. Employment could reach 2.2 million by 2021. The Republic’s population is forecast to rise from
127 nearly 4.8 million in 2016 to 5.3 million in 2026, while the North’s population is forecast to rise from 1.8 million in 2014 to 2 million by 2024. Most people thankfully are living in better health and consequently longer. In the Republic the numbers age over 65 years and over rose by one fifth between 2011 and 2016. In the North it rose by one quarter between 2004 and 2014. Demographic changes means the Republic alone must allocated €450 million each year just keep pace with increasing demand for public services, never mind improving provision.
The ageing population reinforces the need to tackle the pension crises which dealt with by Joe O’Flynn this morning. Pension coverage in the Republic fell from 56% in 2005 to 47% in 2015, and between ages of 20 and 29 it fell from 39% to 22%. We can no longer afford to introduce a universal occupational scheme involving mandatory pension contributions by employers, the State and indeed the workers, and we cannot to afford not to invest in workers. North and South we underspend on education, Training and Skills. Such spending represents genuine long-term investment in workers and wider economic benefits. Though the economy may be better shape than at any time in the recent past, there hasn’t yet been equivalent degree of social progress. One in five workers in the Republic is low paid or earns less than €13 an hour. One in twelve is on or below the Minimum Wage of €9.25, which in itself is 20% below the Living Wage. In the North 40% of workers are in precarious non-standard contracts. 7,700 people including 2,800 children are homeless. This is a scandal, and it is a scandal that this Conference should send out a message that were not prepared to passively except these sort of statistics anymore in respect of our children.
92,000 households are on social housing waiting lists. In the Republic one in three children lives in households that are officially classified as deprived. This means that parents cannot afford the basic goods and activities that are considered the norm. Quality investment in a child’s early years has been proven to lead to positive outcomes for children, for society and for the economy. It is of one of the most effective ways of tackling intergenerational joblessness and poverty. While public investment in childcare in the Republic has increased over recent years, it amounts to just one half of UNICEF’s recommended spending of 1% of GDP and to one third of the investment in the Nordic countries and parents in the Republic still face some of the highest childcare fees in Europe. Ireland is the only EU country that is yet to ratified the UN Disability Convention which holds a potential to greatly improve the lives of 600,000 people.
The International Trade Union Conference has acknowledged that the Republic is probably the only country in the world that has strengthened collective bargaining over recent years. Despite the progress we made in 2015 legislation we have yet to secure the rights to engage in collective bargaining in the Republic and this must be secured. We face many challenges delegates, and Teresa mention the early risers, those who have to get up that Leo Varadkar wants to look after. Well there are many people here in this country who have to get up in the morning, those who are sleeping on the streets of Dublin, Cork and Galway, and other cities around this country. They have to be looked after. He has to prioritise those, or else the trade union movement must start a campaign to support those people. There are children getting up at 5 o clock in the morning because they are in sheltered accommodation, and they have to be looked after as well.
Overcoming these challenges delegates, will require substantial investment, investment that must be prioritising before any tax cuts. Conference calls for the incoming Executive to prioritise the development of policy, targeting and maximising the achievement of social progress in both jurisdictions, and to develop the necessary political campaigning strategies to give effect to the achievement of these objectives. I comment this motion to conference, thank you.
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John King, SIPTU
Thank you Chair, Delegates, John King from SIPTU seconding Motion 37.
Delegates, we have debated and passed motions over these last few days on the key issues confronting workers on this island and on the many issues and many challenges confronting the Trade Union Movement, as we seek to defend, protect and try to advance the interest of working people and as we try to meet those challenges on a daily basis. Also on the very significant challenge that we face of repositioning our Trade Union Movement, so as to ensure that all workers and future generations of workers see the Trade Union Movement as the vehicle that will win for them, that will win and deliver for them a fair and just society with fair and equal workplaces.
This motion is calling on the incoming Executive to set out putting in place the necessary building blocks so as to begin to scope out what that society and workplace looks like and to commence the building of those campaigns that can be supported by all our affiliates in the political, industrial and campaign work that we do. Such work by the Executive will enable the Trade Union Movement to coherently articulate the vision of that society and to organise those workers around it, so to be able to scope out and build for working people on this island the type of society that we want and the journey we need to take as a Trade Union Movement to achieve those objectivities. Such work would encompass addressing issues such as the attainment of full collective bargaining rights for all workers, ensuring that work pays, ensuring that we raise all workers at least to level of the Living Wage, and tackling the scourge of precarious employment, and to begin to end in-work poverty.
We must ensure the provision of decent housing for all our people and we must ensure that we have decent public and community services provided by directly employed, well paid and well-resourced workers, providing decent heathcare, childcare, and eldercare, and also ensuring that we have got decent education and training skills so is to be able to provide workers and future generation of workers with the opportunity to achieve employment opportunities that can sustain them and their families. We must ensure that all workers have right to adequate pension provision and must ensure the rights of people with disabilities and all the marginalised in our society, all the marginalised groups have their rights vindicated so as to ensure that they get the opportunity to fully participate in our society. We must ensure the vindication of workers’ social cultural rights.
This work by the Executive will and could serve as an overarching strategy providing the road map that will give direction to all the Congress Affiliates in our industrial, organising and campaigning work to ensure that we continue to strive to achieve justice for our members and their families. I ask you to support the motion.
Karen O´ Loughlin, SIPTU
Karen O Loughlin, I am a delegate with SIPTU speaking to Motion 36, and I think it’s important to take the time to speak to this motion because I think we need to give people an appreciation of the size of this problem. Currently as we speak, there are almost 8,000 homeless across the Republic of Ireland and that includes over 1,300 families. This is a 25% increase over the last 13 months despite all the promises of the Minister for Housing over that time, Simon Coveney.
It also includes as you just heard, over 2,800 children who live in emergency accommodation with their families and everything that comes with that, not being able to cook a meal, not been able wash your clothes, and all the other problems that you heard described before lunch. It also includes the 138 people sleeping on the streets of Dublin this week, and others who have to sit in the all-night café because they have no place at all to sleep. It does not include the many thousands who are hidden homeless - they are sleeping on sofas or inappropriate or overcrowed
129 accommodation, they are not counted in those figures. The absolute failure of the Irish Government to recognise that their reliance on the private market sector is a failed strategy of gigantic proportions, is an appalling statement of how far the neoliberal commitment has gone, and how far the commodification of housing has gone.
The market will not provide housing for all of the people so the State must be obliged to provide a programme of public housing that facilities affordable purchase and also affordable rents. As of now 30% of the population live in rented accommodation, most of those people will spend a lifetime living in rented accommodation because they will never be able to afford to buy a house because of the persisting drive to low wages and the deconstruction of work that over the last ten years. They have no security of tenure, they are very easily evicted, and families are constantly moving from one place to another, taken their children out school and restarting in other schools, and everything that comes with that as well.
So really I am obviously asking people to support the motion, but I am also asking delegates to consider seriously what else do we need to do rather than come to Conference and pass a motion? We need to do the work. We need to involved with the Housing Coalition and the frontline service groups. We need to get our members to put their feet on the street, to go to their politicians, to go to their Councillors, to go to the rest of our members with these housing policies, to demand that people pay attention, and to demand that middle Ireland will wake up and realise that the line between having a home and not having a home is much, much, thinner than most people think. So I urge you to support motion. Thank you, delegates.
Seamus Lahart, TUI
Seamus Lahart from the Teachers Union of Ireland, recommending the reports carried out by the Nevin Economic Research Institute, and speaking in favour of Motion 36 regarding housing policy.
Colleagues, my colleague before me gave some examples from Dublin. I grew up in a small village in South Tipperary. Each village in town or nearly each village and town had a stock of housing provided by the Local Authorities in the 1950´s, 60´s, 70´s, but the unfortunate thing is today as you go through the villages, we still reply on exactly the same stock built then, and therein lies the problem.
Teachers Union of Ireland now represents younger teachers and you now have examples of that before lunch, younger teachers who cannot pay rents and cannot save for a mortgage, and it’s a shame that they have to take themselves of to Dubai to try and put money together to try and get on the prosperity ladder. Far worse however, it’s the fact that many of our members are now teaching children particularly in or cities, who when the school day ends they literally have no homes to go to. As I said I grew up in the 60’s and one thing no matter how bad or good the school day was going, some of them were good and some of them were bad, but we had the security of knowledge of being able to return to our own homes, so that’s the security and safety we found there. Unfortunately and it is immoral and shameful that many children must return to a hotel bedroom instead of returning home.
The lack of provision of extra numbers of socially available houses is the root cause, I acknowledge the efforts made by ICTU to highlight the crises as outlined by Patricia King in her speech yesterday, but we must do more. Tom Healy, of the Nevin Institute said that housing is human right not a commodity. EU Fiscal policy must not be used to deny our children the right to go home after school.
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In the 1950´s and 60´s Tipperary County Council did not just build houses they build communities, children went home after school. I urge you the trade union family to put the provision of social housing to the fore on the political agenda. Please support the motion. Thank You.
Brian Campfield, President
This is going to be the last speaker on this becaue this section finishes at quarter to four, and we have the Women’s Committee speaker after that, and another section with motions.
Alison Gilliland, INTO
Colleagues, Alison Gilliland INTO and ICTU Women’s Committee. I want to address the issue of childcare in Motion 37.
I acknowledge Gene’s details on spending investment in his proposing of the motion. I also commend Congress’s Report on Childcare Cost and Practices and I support its recommendations. However, I go further than seeking a single affordable childcare programme and I really advocate universal free public childcare. A system not unlike our primary education system, but without the patronage complications. It would be funded by progressive taxation and greater public investment prioritisation. I believe that such a system would benefit both childcare workers and working families who need childcare facilities. Under a public system, childcare workers would be afforded an appropriate professional salary, career path and pension provision, unlike the often precarious contract system situations that they find themselves in with private providers.
A free universal system would remove the enormous childcare costs, often couples with high rents and mortgages from workers’ shoulders. Too often, childcare costs result in one parent, normally the mother, reducing her working hours, or indeed giving up work temporarily. Single mothers in particular often fall out of the workforce completely, and it’s interesting to note that in the calculation of the Living Wage, childcare costs are not considered. If they were that living wage would be sky-rocketed.
When we look at women who have to reduce their work or leave the workforce, this not only inhibits their career paths, their advancement, but it contributes to the gender pay gay and down the line to the gender pension gap. But it also deprives the State of income tax and funding and this is a real false economy. So if we put in initial and continued investment required to fund a public childcare system, we would get a return through greater, more active participation and advancement, particularly of women in the labour market, less worker stress and a quality professional childcare sector. So I ask Congress in its future policy deliberations that it would seriously consider this system. Professor James Wickham at a recent Task Conference said that childcare provisions is a game changer, and I believe we need to change the game. Thank You
Brian Campfield
Ok Conference, putting Motion 36 to you all those in favour? That’s carried.
Motion 37, all those in favour? That’s carried also.
Can I call on Margaret Coughlan from the Women’s Committee to address Conference?
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Margaret Coughlan, Women’s Committee
I will be very brief on this report, could I just acknowledge the passing of Ann Louise Gilligan, who passed away in the last few months, and she was a former Vice Chair of the Women’s Committee, and she was a great campaigner for Equality, so a round of applause for her.
The Women’s Committee is one of the longest standing formal committees of Congress and continues to provide the opportunity for women in the movement to meet and discuss through the gender lens. Alongside our Northern Ireland Committee we jointly organise our National Conference in 2016, which we agreed our programme from work which was endorsed by the Executive Committee. Our priorities focused on the following teams; working organising women for decent work, including the right to collective bargaining; women in society; ending violence against women; and women raising children in poverty, and affordable childcare. Women in the trade union movement including audits of women’s positions in the trade unions which encouraged my union IMPACT to put on a course to inspire women to go forward in the trade union movement.
Our Conference theme this year was 100 years of Struggle. We had a wide range of motions and great speakers on the history of women’s struggles. Our Congress General Secretary , Patricia King, in her opening address talked about gender equality, the challenges facing our society, the workplace and the trade union movement, which set the tone for a great Conference. Both Women’s Committees North and South support campaigns and initiatives to support women. The following are just a few; the White Ribbon Campaign, 16 days of Action Campaigning to End Violence Against Women, which included our Equality Officers speaking at an event hosted by Present Michael D Higgins on the Man Up He for She Campaign on men against violence against women.
We continued support for Turn of the Red Light Campaign which included campaigning for the passing of the Sexual Offences Act, and the swift enactment of it. The Congress Equality Officer wrote articles on the legacy project of why Congress was involved, and initiatives that we participated in, and we celebrated the passing of the Act on International Women’s Day.
The Committee completed the annual ETUC Survey on Gender Mainstreaming within the trade union movement in March. The Committee successfully sought Congress the Executive Committee to support the campaign on Repeal of the 8th Amendment. Congress subsequently made a submission to the Citizen Assembly supporting the Referendum on Repeal. In addition the Committee made submission to the Low Pay Commission focusing on the preponderance of women on the Minimum Wage.
The Committee has liaised with the Department of Justices and Equality and IBEC about opening a national discussing on the key issue on work life balance. The Rape Crises Network Ireland was supported by the PSEU which gave them temporary premises. We supported SIPTU A Hundred Years of Women Workers’ Events. We supported the Children’s Rights Alliance and the Annual Report Card assessment of the Government’s record in upholding children’s rights.
We ensured that the trade union movement’s perspective was heard during the Department of Justice, Equality and Civil Service Consultation on the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women. We supported the TESCO workers. The Committee also made strong representation to the Minster for Public Expenditure and Reform, urging a long overdue review of the Civil Service Equal Opportunities policies and guidelines.
The Committee made submissions to the National Women’s Strategies. Our sister Committee in the North of Ireland prioritised the following; tackling violence against women, fighting human
132 trafficking, campaigning for reform of legislation of reproductive rights and including abortion, gender budgeting, and the impact of austerity on women and affordable childcare. The Committee in Northern Ireland continues to campaign for Marriage Equality and we support Clare and the Committee.
Equality and gender equality is a fundamental value of the trade union movement, not only is it the right thing to pursue, but it is the smart thing to do. In seeking to tackle failing numbers and reducing density it is imperative for all of us a movement to be relevant to all of the working population and not just 50%.
The work of the Women’s Committee, both North and South, provides a critical contribution in this regard. We will continue Women’s Committees both North and South to do what we do best. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay I’m going to move on to Motion 38, Patricia McKeown to move on behalf of the Executive Council.
Patricia McKeown, Executive Council
President, Delegates, Patricia McKeown moving Motion 38 on behalf of Executive Council and honoured to do so. You have already heard from the brothers and sisters and who have spoken before and who will speak after, that the equality and human rights agenda, and the absence of equality and human rights on this Island is mighty.
This motion acknowledges the work of Congress, of Affiliates and in particular the work of the Congress Committees North and South, women - closest to my heart, disability, young members, retired members, LGB members, black and migrant workers in this movement. It acknowledges and highlights some but not all the critical tasks facing us in both jurisdictions, and some of those are common to both jurisdictions.
We fought for the enforcement bodies equality and human rights, we should have had seats on them by right, instead we have to work through advisory bodies. We have shaped this agenda over the decades, and I have to say that women in this movement in particular have shaped this agenda, and we have shaped it in inclusive way. Of course we have demand our own rights, but we have also looked at who else in our movement, in our workplace, in our communities, in society faces oppression, and we have understood that oppression and we have fought for gay men, for disable workers, for older workers, for young workers, for black and minority workers, for people who are not in the workplace, for women who engage not only in paid work but unpaid work, and is what makes this agenda so critical, so important, so mighty, and an agenda that if we are to have resonance, I listened to the young people yesterday, if we are to have resonance now and in the future with other generations, an agenda that we must take very seriously.
It sets out what we have to do in areas such as childcare. In Malta where there is a Labour Government that has managed to turn around a basket economy and five years without using austerity, they have free childcare, why not us? It talks about the fact that we are still seeking shared domestic responsibilities, all these decades later. It talks about the fact that there is much unfinished business on equality and human rights, both in the Republic and very specifically in the North which we have already been addressing in the course of this Conference.
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We are the trade union movement which has led on this Island on these issues. We were young and naïve when we shaped the Congress agenda seeking positions as of right for women in the movement, when we shaped the Congress agenda on abuse against children, both physical and sexual abuse. We had no idea when we were moving the motions and arguing in the debates, of the reality that really lay underneath this society, North and South, and here in the 21st Century it is still a frightening reality. It is a world where I celebrate our tens of thousands on the streets supporting the right to equal marriage, but at the same time we have tens of thousands on the streets denying women their reproductive rights. That is not acceptable in 21st Century Ireland. This motion reaffirms the Congress commitment for Repeal of the 8th, it reaffirms the Congress commitment to the Alliance for Choice and the campaigns running in the North. In recent days the world started to change just a little; Governments in England, Scotland, Wales, have made free abortion on the national health service available to women in Northern Ireland, but as women themselves have said why is it legal there, and it is criminalised here in both jurisdictions?
I want to say something about equal pay and debunk a myth about the attitude about women in this movement. The Equal Pay Campaign in the Irish and British Labour Movement is a 120 years old and we haven’t got it yet. I was privileged as a young women to meet the women from Ford Dagenham and they secured an Equal Pay Act in 1970 but it became patently clear that Act did nothing for the lowest paid women and the part time workers stuck in segregated employments which still exists today, and I have to pay tribute to then fish packers in Hull, members of the T&G. The School Meals workers in Yorkshire, members of NUPE and Unison. My own members in the Royal Victoria Hospital, the domestics who for 12 years struggled for equal pay. All of these and many, many, more women in many, many, more unions went before us in a struggle that has yet to be secured.
The President is shouting at me, I can remember when we as the women of this movement secured an entire two hours for this debate, and we don’t have those two hours anymore (big cheer), but in terms of the women inside the movement, I honour the woman and I honour the men who understand that this struggle has just begun, and we have got a long way to go, and I celebrate the third woman President of ICTU in 60 years, and I celebrate the first women General Secretary of ICTU in 60 years, and I look forward to the day when that is the norm and not the oddity. Thank you.
Steve Fitzpatrick, CWU
Steve Fitzpatrick CWU, seconding the motion on behalf of the Executive Council. Before I start I would like to complement Patricia Mc Keown, in the 10 or 12 years I have been on the Executive Council, human rights and equal rights have been the mantra that she has constantly raised at that level, and funny enough many years ago when you talked about human rights and equal rights you assumed you were talking about somewhere in the Third World or so-called Third World, and yet if you listen to the debates this week, we have had debate after debate about human rights; whether it’s the right to a home, the right to an education, the right to good health service, the right to water, the right to collective bargaining, all those human rights that are denied to so many of our members on this Island today. If that is not sufficient, we see more of those rights being put under attack when the establishment didn’t get their way and the jury found the people from Jobstown innocent. We had editorials looking to do away with jury trials because they did not get their way.
All this time we have had a perfect vehicle to try to establish what those rights are, and that’s basically Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland and the Charted of Rights for the Republic, which were voted on by the people on both sides of this Island and which have been kicked down the road like an old empty can since that landmark agreement was made. So we have ways to establish and to put into legislation and to put into Charters and Bills what those rights should be and how they can be achieved, and I think we should take those vehicles now and try to drive this home once and for all. So I would urge you to support the motion. Thank you.
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Brian Campfield, President
I’m going to take a few of these motions, movers and seconders and then we’ll get back to you. Next motion is motion 39 from UNSION.
Anne Speed, UNISON
President Delegates, Anne Speed, UNISON moving Motion 39.
Well here we are again addressing the appalling denial of a human and civil right to more than 50% of our trade union membership. Now we could be depressed at the fact that almost 40 years on were are still failed by weak and vacillating politicians who know or don’t really care about what really building democracy means, but change is coming. We don’t intend to try and convince those who have a different moral view on abortion to agree with each other, but we do expect those we elect and our trade union leaders to come off the fence and give leadership in the fight for a civil and human right. Now what does this require from our unions? Well it means hearing the call from that brave young women Sarah Ewart from this city who shared her story with us recently. It means paying attention to the knowledge and research of Professor Anne Marie Grey of Ulster University who concluded Northern Ireland laws are out of step with public opinion here. It means acknowledging the recommendations of the Republic’s Citizens Assembly which called for choice and health support for women which crises pregnancies.
We want to remind Congress that our Women’s Conference in 2015, attended by over 200 delegates, sent the following advice and recommendation to our Executive Council. They said to us that women comprise more than half the trade union membership and it is unacceptable that we live in places where the law puts our health and our lives at risk, criminalises us and forces us to travel abroad to avail of safe and legal abortion services. We also said women deserve better than this from our political leaders.
So what do we need to do? Well first we must definitely and overwhelming unanimously vote for this Motion. Our Executive Council has taken note of the Citizens’ Assembly recommendations and we now need to review the proposals which are under discussion here in Northern Ireland for legislative reform. There are political challenges on the arisen facing all of us. The Referendum in 2018 in the Republic on Repealing the 8th Amendment to the Constitution, and that the repeal to the UK Supreme Court following of the overturning of the High Court Declaration that the ban here on abortion conflicts with human rights. Thought the Westminster Government has opened access to the NHS for women here from Northern Ireland, offers some respite to us, but it is not enough.
Now, next in the Republic we have to put resources into securing and winning a Referendum that not only Repeals the 8th Amendment but opens up, not closes down, opportunities for real progress on the calls in this motion. Here in the North, we must demand of the MLA’s when they return to a devolved Assembly that they must support legal change to allow greater access to abortion. We must ensure also, that international human rights standards on women’s reproductive rights be applied in both jurisdictions on this Island.
Conference, when I came first to a trade union platform many years ago, as a young woman it was very personal for me and I wanted my rights. Now some years on, I speak for my daughter and for the young women, who sat here yesterday and claimed their space in our ranks. They asked us to listen to young people. They asked us to recognise and champion the issues that affect both young workers and what motivates them. We have recently walked among our young members in Dublin, mobilising in their thousands young women and young man calling for Repeal of the 8th Amendment,
135 and last Saturday we joined them as well marching for Marriage Equality. With them we can make history, lets us not fail this time delegates. Let’s win this battle.
Breda Hughes, Royal College of Midwives
Breda Hughes from the Royal College of Midwives, seconding Motion 39.
President, Delegates, contrary to popular opinion, Ireland has a very long history of abortion. My namesake St Bridget is recorded in the 5th century as Incogitasis Life of St Brigid ‘a certain women who had taken a vow of chastity, fell through youthful desire of pleasure, and her womb swelled with child. Bridget exercising the most strength of her enviable faith blessed her caused the foetus to disappear without coming to birth, and without pain. She faithfully returned the women to health and to penance’.
Now the word midwife itself is an old Anglo Saxon word, it means with woman and midwives have indeed been with women for Millennia. Midwifery as a profession is by definition ‘prolife’ but that doesn’t mean that midwives can’t also be ‘prochoice’. I object strongly to the high jacking of the term ‘prolife’ by those who would deny choice to women. We respect and support women’s choices, we provide care and support for them, whatever their decision, and that includes those women who decide to continue with their pregnancies. We are quite clear that abortion healthcare not a criminal issue, and support the decriminalisation of abortion. It should be regulated, it should be provided in the same way as any other aspect of healthcare, with services being provided within a healthcare framework where women can access safe, legal abortions.
We welcome the changes that other UK Countries have made that will make this issue easier for women from Northern Ireland. This isn’t a popular position with some people. My resignation is called for on a regular basis. We recognise the need to balance our requirement to provide care to women, with the need to represent our members’ views on conscientious objections, and we will continue to battle for that.
Following a sustained campaign, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland issued guidance in 2016 on this issue, and the guidance does its best with legislation which is over 155 years old, that hasn’t kept up with either advances in medical technology our women’s expectations. It skirts around the whole issue of abortion pills purchased online, with prosecution for the women if they tell us they have taken them, and prosecution for the midwife if she doesn’t report the women to the police. This is driving abortion underground. It’s a back street abortion using chemicals instead of coat hangers. In the three years before the introduction of the 1967 Abortion Act in Great Britain, 133 women in the UK died as a consequence of botched abortions, and we can’t allow this to happen again. I urge you to support this motion.
Irene Breen, FSU
President, Delegates, Irene Breen FSU and member of the ICTU Disability Committee speaking on Motion 38.
Economic and social equality is the entitlement of all citizens, yet people with disabilities are much more likely to be unemployed and suffer from social inequality. In the Republic of Ireland, a 2017 ESRI study, found that just 31% of working age people with a disability were at work, compared to 71% of those without a disability. In Northern Ireland, people with a disability face the same exclusion from the labour market, with just 33% of working age people with a disability in employment.
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As trade unionists we believe in work. We recognise that work means not only a wage packet, work should also deliver a feeling of pride, an opportunity for achievement, and a sense of solidarity. Excluding people with a disability from the workplace does a lot more then restrict their income. Exclusion restricts their ability to be full and equal citizens, appreciated for their talent and hard work. Exclusion adds to and reinforces the isolation that so many people with a disability experience. At it worst it confines them to second class status, a situation that no trade unionists should ever tolerate.
The Comprehensive Employment Strategy published in 2015 in the Republic outlined under strategic action no 6 what actions needed to be taken to engage employers in the recruitment and retention in the workplace of people with disabilities. The CES states that about 70% of people of working age who have a disability have acquired that disability within their working years, so this engagement is crucial.
For some workers the onset of a disability can be a trigger to permanently leaving work. Early intervention to support the return to, and reintegration into the work environment can help reduce the possibility of long term unemployment and can improve their social, physical and mental wellbeing. Creating and maintaining a workplace that promotes inclusion and supports diversity is a key factor in retaining employees who acquire disabilities. Whereas there are parameters in place for employment in the Public Sector of people with disabilities, the unfortunate fact is that there is no onus on employers in the Private Sector to actively seek to employ those with disabilities. The doors of the workplace cannot remain permanently locked to thousands of our fellow citizens. I ask colleagues to support this motion and to continue to campaign with people with disabilities for fair access to the workplace both North and South. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Conference I will put Motion 38 on Equality and Human Rights to Conference. Those in favour? That’s carried
I will put Motion 39 on Reproductive Rights for Women to Conference. Those in favour? Those opposed? That’s carried.
Could I call for the adoption of the EC Report, Section 2 ‘The Work of Congress’ Equlaity and Social Policy. Agreed to endorse that? That’s endorsed.
Okay, we now move to the section on Public Services, which Liam Berney will introduce.
Liam Berney, ICTU
President, Delegates and Guests, I would like to take this opportunity to draw to your attention to some of the highlights referred to in Section 1 and Section 2 of the Executive Council Report to Conference. The industrial relations work of Congress in the Republic of Ireland is guided and coordinated in the main by the Congress Private Sector Committee and the Congress Public Services Committee. As the Executive Council Report points out, Congress, through the work of the Private Sector Committee has attempted to provide a platform for the coordination of wage bargaining in the Private Sector. The Committee since the last BDC has published wage bargaining advice and encouraged unions to lodge claims for significant increases in pay across the Private Sector. In the most recent advice, published in December 2016 we have urged unions to lodge claims for an increase in pay of €1000 or 4% whichever is greater. During discussions at the Private Sector Committee recently, it would seem that the template provided by Congress has been welcomed and has been widely used by affiliates.
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In the autumn of this year the Committee will be reviewing its advice with a view to providing appropriate guidance for unions in 2018.
The Congress Public Services Committee has also been very active in the two years since the BDC in Clare. The Committee has been pursuing the objective of seeking the unwinding of the FEMPI legislation, and the reversal of the pay cuts imposed on Public Servants during the economic crisis. Proposals for a new pay agreement in the Irish Public Service are currently being considered by members of Congress Public Sector unions and the Public Services Committee will meet in September 2017 to decided their attitude to this agreement.
However, as the General Secretary said in her remarks to Conference yesterday, there are matters that are covered by the agreement that we must continue to pursue. We must endeavour to put in place arrangements so that all union members in the Public Sector can identify progress on issues of concern to them.
Colleagues, if you have attended the last BDC’s for the last number of years you will be aware of the work of the Trade Union Commission. One of the recommendations of the Trade Union Commission was for Congress to seek to co-ordinate our work by greater cooperation with unions in the various industrial sectors. While this is by no means a new idea, the need for greater cooperation and coordination between unions has never been more important. The evidence colleagues would suggest that where this can be done effective we can be very influential.
I would like to point to three examples of this since the last BDC. Firstly, by working together through the Health Sector Committee we have had a major influence on the Report of the Cross Party Oireachtas Committee on the Future of the Organisation of the Irish Health Service. Secondly, through the work of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee we have Government Ministers acknowledging the need for a Just Transition for workers in the energy sector. Thirdly, through the work of the Water Services Committee we continue to ensure that the delivery of water services is carried out by direct public service staff employed in the Local Authorities.
We in Congress have much greater ambition for the work of the industrial sectorial groups and would like to see this ambition reflected in further initiatives in the area of pay bargaining and crucially in organising the many thousands of workers not within the ranks of the trade union movement at all. While I know it is obvious to all those attending this Conference, it is very clear, more than ever, that there is far more that unites us than divides us, and the interests of working people are best served by a united, organised and determined trade union movement.
Colleagues at the last BDC we discussed the pending and very significant changes to the Industrial Relations machinery of the State in the Republic of Ireland. The establishment of the Workplace Relations Commission and the expanded mandate of the Labour Court was a massive undertaking. While Congress the proposed reforms, delegates to the last BDC rightly pointed out that we must be vigilant and ensure that the new institutions are operated so that workers can get a fair hearing. I think it is fair to say colleagues, that with the exception of some minor problems, the reforms have largely been successful, and we will continue to press for improvements in the service.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank on your behalf the staff of the WRC for the excellent work they do, and the staff of the Labour Court for the excellent work they do on behalf of all members of all unions. Could I particularly thank those on the Labour Court who come from our ranks; Brendan Hayes, Linda Tanhan, Gerry Shanahan, Andy McCarthy and Louise O’Donnell.
One of the objectives of this conference is to case and eye on the work we have done in the last two years and assess the challenges we face in the period ahead. Many delegates have already spoken
138 about the difficult challenges the movement will face in the coming period and I have already mentioned that if we must marshal our forces towards the achievement of common objectives we can be very effective. The other side will continue to see to divide us, let’s ensure that they do not succeed. I commend Section 1 and Section 2 of the Executive Council Report to Conference, and thank you for listening.
Brian Campfield, President
Thanks Liam, we move on now to Motion 44 by INMO.
Martina Harkin Kelly, INMO
Martina Harkin Kelly, President of Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, speaking to Motion 44 the Future of Healthcare in Ireland, proposed by the INMO and seconded by Mary Leahy first Vice President who will not be speaking to the motion.
President, General Secretary, Executive Council, and Comrades, Abraham Lincoln, in monumental Gettysburg Address remarked ‘the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here’, however we all know that the world noted at once what he said and will never cease to remember, as historically the battle itself was less important than the speech. I hope that as a Congress who forwarded a Motion two years ago calling for the establishment of the Oireachtas Future of Healthcare Committee and who also made a submission, that we are not left to wait for four score and seven years for the implementation of the contents of the outcome of that Committee - The Sláintecare Report. Our vision was based upon political consensus for an inadequately funded universal single tier health and social care system, where everyone has equitable access to services based on need, and not on the ability to pay, and that over time all citizens will have the entitlement to a comprehensive range of primary, acute and social care services with the goal of no cost or at a minimum, reduced cost as a just outcome.
The Committee was established and chaired by Róisín Shortall TD in May 2016. It published The Sláintecare Report on 30 June of this year which this Conference welcomes and endorses, and indeed is referenced in ICTU’s contribution to the national debate on Budget 2018 ‘Investment for the Many Not Just the Few’. However, the publication and completion of the Sláintecare Report is one thing, as we now require that the recommendations are urgently and of necessity real and made tangible by action.
We now call this Congress to utilise two key watchwords of its theme, that is to Organise and Progress by engaging with cross-party political systems to ensure that the implementation of our vision becomes a reality. As during the 19 June Dáil debate on the Report, the following remarks gave me great cause for concern where they said, our Government that is, ‘”Welcome of those elements that are consistent with Government policy’. If the Government to realise its policy of hospital avoidance, then shifting care out of the acute hospital setting, into the primary or community setting, requires both transitional and ongoing investment that cannot be sidestepped, critical to which its addressing the real staffing, recruitment and retention issues as debated by many of our colleagues here yesterday. and in particular the CSP under Motion 5. It has been estimated that €2.8 billion over 10 year period will support and build the necessary capacity and expand entitlements. We have got to remember that the banks were afforded €64.5 billion in their bale out, yet we have a health system were 44% of Irish citizens feel the need to secure their health and wellbeing by having private health insurance. These payments and other high out-of-pocket costs experienced by Irish people who access healthcare, which I must add, is a basic human and equal right, is a travesty that must be eliminated.
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Let this report not fall fowl of fiscal short-sightedness as a derailing factor, as losing track of the patience whom the Report is fundamentally about must not be jeopardised or dogged by different or vested interests. On this the birthday of the NHS I refer to Aneurin Bevan, one of the chief architects who famously said ‘no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of the lack of means’. Therefore I urge Congress, given our slogan of being Stronger Together to stand in solidarity and demand the required changes, to ensure the provision of a world class healthcare system, that we can all be proud of which is accessible to all Irish citizens based on need and not on the ability to pay. Therefor I seek that you would move to support this motion and as your President of ICTU said at the end of his address yesterday quoting Connolly, ‘health is a just cause for all Irish people’. I urge you to support, thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you, and that has been formally seconded. So can we have the mover of Motion 45 in the name of the IMO?
Antony Owens, IMO
Thank you Chair, thank you Delegates, I am Antony Owens from the Irish Medical Organisation and I would like to move Motion 45, broadly calling on the Irish Government to make the Irish public health service the employer of choice for the Irish Doctors and Irish trained medical graduates.
As things stand Ireland has comparatively few doctors, we have 2.8 doctors for 100,000 population, the average across the EU is about 3.4 so we are about 20% short of everyone else. The National Taskforce on Medical Staffing which published in 2003, suggested that given the size of the population now and the demographics of the population in terms of illness and age, we should have around 4,500 medical specialists. In fact we have about 2,500, so we are about 40% short were we should be.
Now the consequences of this inability to match the medical workforce to the clinical need is plain to see; its patients languishing on waiting lists, patients bored in overcrowded ED´S, and patients generally unable to avail of much needed care. That’s the present situation and while that situation is grim the future might be even more frightening. So my apologies as I’m going to give you a few statistics now. Of those doctors who completed their intern year in 2011, that is their first year in the hospital workforce, within 4 years 45% of them are no longer working in the Public Health system. A study conducted in 2015 by the State found that 87% of medical students had either decided to emigrate or were open to the idea of emigrating, and the RCSI contacted 400 doctors who had been through their training programme and gone abroad, and found that in excess of 80% did not intend to return to Ireland.
Ireland is just a small part of a highly competitive global market for international medical talent. In fact we are competing in the most competitive sector of the market, that’s the English speaking sector, but in fact competing is the wrong word - were not competing - we have given up. We have betrayed both our doctors and our patients.
Now one of the more insidious decisions taken to address the financial crises was to specially target the pay of new entrants. This has impacted negatively on workers all across the Public Servicem however, new entrant specialist were subject to a super reduction in October 2012, a reduction of 30% on top of already reduced salaries. This was an act of spreadsheet vandalism, and it has had disastrous effects on Ireland’s ability to attract, to recruit and retain medical specialists.
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There is a long tradition in Irish medicine of doctors going abroad to larger markets, larger countries, to complete their training and hone their skills. In a small country like Ireland you simply don’t get access to the breadth and variety of teaching and training required to be a specialist, so doctors go abroad and acquire skills in places like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the NHS which is generally good for Irish Public Health system.
However, what the 2012 reduction did was to dissuade many of those who had gone abroad from returning. It increased the number of those who were re prepared to go, and it caused doctors to leave the country at a younger age than ever. It also said to medical specialists that Ireland was a health system that could unilaterally cut their salaries and expected them to carry on regardless. It’s difficult to balance how much of that was naivety and how much of it was nastiness, I suspect nastiness was the greater part of it. The twin upshots though, of those doctors starting intern posts this week, that is their very first hospital posting, about half of them will be gone out of the Irish Public Health service within two years. On the other side you have an unprecedented number of vacancies for medical specialists in the Public Health system. Indeed, we now have the utterly novel concept of medical specialist and consultant’s vacancies failing to attract any applicants at all. In terms of mismanaging a health service, the HSE really have hit the gold standard.
But it makes no sense, none at all. As citizens, as tax payers, as patients, we invest heavily in training doctors but other systems get the benefit. International recruiters, the people that know the market better than anybody else, are active in Ireland enticing our doctors abroad with terms and conditions that are well in access of what they can get at home. It is imperative therefor that the three tiers of salary scales applying to medical specialists be addressed and equalised as a matter of urgency.
Lest anyone think it’s solely about money, I draw your attention to the findings of a Medical Council survey. When asked why they would consider careers abroad, salary was only the fourth most popular answer. It came in behind, experience and by experience I mean doctors who witnessed overstretched understaffed services, and they did not want to be part of that. Doctors who were pushed beyond what they were trained to do, and doctors who simply weren’t clear at all that they had a career in Ireland.
Nonetheless a pivotal part of the solution is to pay people the same money for doing the same job, and a process to enable that to happen must commence. In order to let doctors do the jobs for which they are trained, there must also be an investment in infrastructure to enable them to deliver the care, using the techniques in adequate and appropriate settings. We have heard about the Sláintecare Report that has recently been published. There is a tonne of paper that has been committed to various reports into the health service. More paper will be committed on various reports, however we are fast reaching the point where the contents of these reports, no matter what they say, will not have enough doctors to implement them. We have an opportunity to act and I would commend this motion to Congress and ask for your support. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President We are going take speakers to the first few motions here, take the vote and then were moving on.
Tanya Killen, NIPSA Conference, delegates, Tanya Killen on behalf of NISPA to support Motion 44, The future of the Health Service. Frankly the future of the Health Service is bleak unless we do something about it. The NHS has provided universal health care free at the point of entry and need, funded through a general taxation model, cost effective, efficient and visionary. This is all under threat. In the North on the 25 October, the Expert Panel in the Bengoa Report and the then Minster Michele O’Neill’s ten year vision was adopted by the Northern Ireland Assembly as a proposed direction for
141 the future of the health service. Similar to previous proposals the overarching theme has been one of streamlining of hospital services. What this means is hospital closures. The Report while vague in many respects did suggest, and worryingly agreed a role for the Private Sector in the delivery for our health service. This is not acceptable. Health isn’t a sectoral issue, It’s a societal issue. It affects all of us, all of our families, all of our members, our communities. In terms of fighting it that is how we have to go forward.
This was never more evident than at the march in London. I was proud to be in attendance at that march. The conviction and the mass character of the demonstration embodied the sentiments of the health workers and people in general for a human-centred NHS fit for a modern society. It was also testament to the consciousness of the necessity to build a movement, to intensify the fight to safeguard the future of the health service, to take it in a direction which affirms that healthcare is a right.
It’s understood that the health service is in crises, but let’s be absolutely clear, crises has not been created by staff. It’s not because of over-spending it’s because of under-funding. Blame lies solely on the Government who are making these political choices. Hospital wards in A&Es closing - the Government’s decision. Nurses relying on food banks - the responsibility of the Government, the elderly not receiving the care and support that they need, also extensive waiting list and everything else. The Government’s message to us is loud and clear. Tax cuts for the few are more important than the dignity and care of many in their time of needs. Conference this motion calls for a united campaign to defend our health service. In Corbyn’s own words ‘health care is a right intensive the fight’. Support the motion.
Maura Mc Kenna, UNISON
President, delegates, Maura McKenna, from UNISON, and also a member of Congress Northern Ireland Health Services Committee.
Conference in considering this motion we must think about the state of crises that the health and social care system in Northern Ireland has been in for some time. Our health and equality are shamefully wide between the most and the least disadvantaged areas. Our public health system, once genuinely free at the point of need, has been picked apart by the private companies who put profit ahead of public health. This is particularly the case in domiciliary care where almost 70% of the entire service is provide by private companies, social enterprises, or the community and voluntary sector rather than by directly employed public sector workers.
Our hospitals and community based services cry out for investment, but instead are met with a threat of closure. Our waiting lists for treatment are growing longer and longer, and years of poor workforce planning which did not listen to the warnings of the trade unions, have led to crises around the recruitment of staff and huge cost being racked up in paying Locum and agency fees. For all the talk that the health budget in Northern Ireland be protected, the realty has been cuts. In this environment Conference, as we have heard debated on Tuesday, workers have been squeezed and squeezed, expected to more with less and less resources, and insulted by the pay cap. Nine months ago we saw the publication of the Bengoa Report on the need for transformation in health and social care in Northern Ireland, and then the company and ten year plan to do so the then health Minster Michele O’ Neill.
UNSION is not against reforming the system, but we are only interested in reform which creates a properly resourced public health system, which tackles health inequalities head on. We’re not interested in reform which does not protect the jobs of our members or the local services in which
142 we work. We are not interested in reform which simply cuts services with no better alternative up and running.
Conference be in no doubt, UNISON will oppose any cuts dressed up as reforms all the way. UNISON will instead insist that a new model for a health and social care system has to abolish the costly inefficient Commissioner-provider split which opens our health service up to the market. We need to put an end to the outsourcing and privatisation culture. Bringing services back in house to improve standards of care and improve the conditions for workers. Conference a health and social care system which is based on the founding principles of the NHS is only achievable when we stand up and fight for it, considering is its 69th birthday today. Let’s continue that fight. I urge support for this motion.
Marie Casey, UNITE
Good afternoon Conference, Marie Casey UNITE supporting Motion 45. The Republic’s Health system is still crisis. According to the latest figures 672,000 people are on a hospital waiting list with over 85,000 waiting for Inpatient care and to be seen at an Outpatient Clinic. This does not include those waiting for a gastro-intestinal check or awaiting indicative dates for an annual check. Endorsing what has already been said, access to healthcare is often determined by the cash in your wallet rather than your medical need. Healthcare professionals are under increasing pressure and people are literally dying for a solution. Only two weeks ago in my own county Waterford, a man of 39 years died en route to Cork in an ambulance. The Cat Lab in the local hospital was closed. It runs on a 9 to 5 basis, Monday to Friday. Unfortunately, for that man it was Saturday.
Despite repeated efforts of local communities, TDs, medial advisors noting is changing for us down there. Meanwhile successive Governments apply band aids to the problem, the two tier system remains firmly in place, and the Government has declined to engage meaningfully with the report produced from the Committees on the future of healthcare. We don’t need band aids, we need radical surgery resulting in a universal single tier health system funded, as UNITE has previously argued, social insurance and accessible to all on the basis of need. I support the motion.
Liam Doran, INMO
President, Delegates, good afternoon, Liam Doran from the INMO speaking in support of Motion 44. Motion 44 builds upon a motion that Conference passed two years ago calling for a single tiered public health service, and I have to begin my contribution this afternoon to acknowledge the work of Congress, and in particular the work of Patricia as General Secretary, and Liam on the staff, for driving for coordinating the work of the Health Committee and formulating the submissions and so on that went to the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare. I have to say that Congress in the last couple of years has really moved into the health sphere, and this motion is intended to build upon that, because despite all the gloom I am going to give you now, the only glimmer of light is the Oireachtas Committee Report that was published a few weeks ago.
Just so that we are clear, and I have to echo the comments of the previous speakers about the health service in the North. The Public Health Service in the Republic of Ireland is utterly dysfunctional and utterly unfit for purpose and utterly fails the population. The INMO counts the people every day on trollies, either in Emergency Departments or extra beds on wards, because there is no proper In Patient bed for them. In the first six months of this year there was 51,300 people on trollies who were admitted for care for whom there was no bed. This morning at about 8.30am there were 344 people in the Republic admitted for care on trollies because there was no bed for them. I suggest to you that the vast majority of those come from our world, working class people who have given their hearts and souls to their families, to their jobs and so on, but now are
143 now most of them elderly, most of them over 70 years of age, and most of them being failed utterly by the State in which they have served for years and years. They have been left without their privacy and their dignity, and let me be quite clear, there are many things like Shay spoke this morning about the housing crisis and so on, but housing and health and education - they are pillars of what a society and community is about, and if we fail on any of those three there is no point in been the fastest growing economy in Europe, because you are failing the people who serve your economy.
In our health system we are failing those who need it most. In order to change that health system, those who work in have got to change as well. This is not something that we can just demand resources for and we have to demand more resources, but all of us who work in the health system have an obligation as move to a single tiered universal health system where access is determined by need, to be prepared to change, to work smarter, work better. We have only one purpose in working in the health service, to look after those who need us. We serve those who are ill and who are in need of disability services or whatever, so we have to have that service.
The glimmer of light I suggest to you is the Oireachtas Report. It is not perfect. It is under-funding the transitional cost and so on and so forth, but it offers the chance of lifting health care out of the electoral cycle, of taking it out of the pockets of the latest Minster for Health and whatever he or she thinks is the groovie thing to do, and sets us on a plan for 10/ 15 years. It may take us 10 or 15 years but let’s looks towards a situation were in that 10 or 15 years’ time with Congress pushing all political parties at every electoral opportunity, to have it in their mandate, to have it in their commitments and so on, that they will work collectively to deliver a health service that is large enough to look after all of us, that focuses upon primary care because we are all growing old, we are going to have chronic diseases, and we are going to want to be look after, not on a trolley, not left in a home on our own with no one calling to see us, until we are found unconscious and then rushed into the ED. We have got to make it better and it starts with Congress, it starts with this motion. We can make it better we have enough money in this country, people walk away with €12 billion not paid in tax. The hospitality sector gets away with €650 million, an annualised subvention of €650 million in the lower VAT rate, and they profiteering to the nth degree with hotel rooms and restaurant costs and so on. We want that money, we need that money, and Congress through this motion can ensure that money starts coming our way to look after all of us. Thank you please support the motion.
Phíl Ní Sheaghdha, INMO
Just supporting both Motion 44 and Motion 45, particularly focusing on the workforce in the health service. As the pervious speakers has said, we are currently in a global context in a crisis of health care workers, across all workers, across medical staff, nursing staff and all other allied health professionals, home helps. Every union in this room representing those workers knows that this is a crisis, and the answer in the Republic to this crisis is either don’t employ or employ an agency on a precarious contract.
As health service unions in the Republic, we meet the health service employers every second month. O the agenda a standing item is the cost of Agency. They shake their heads and they say oh it’s terrible, it’s gone up again. €77 million was the cost of Agency for healthcare workers in the first 18 weeks of this year - 18 weeks! It’s is an absolute scandal. There is no plan. There is no focus on fiscal prudence. It is simply, ‘we are not going to employ, we are not going to recruit, we’re not going to put in place a workforce plan and we will keep spending on agency’. Agency work is bad for workers, it’s bad for patients, and it’s certainly not the way we want to plan the future of our health services.
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What are the consequences? Liam has outlined a number of consequences for patients. For staff of the health service in the Republic, we recently looked for the figures on assaults. In the last six years the number of assaults has gone up to 3,462 serious physical assaults. Of those 66 per cent were on nurses and midwives, not in the Psychiatric Service, in the General Service, and that is a major shift and a direct consequence of poor planning, poor workforce planning, and we don’t accept it. We are looking for the support of every union, organising and working with health care workers to make a real and valid claim, that assaults on healthcare workers should not be part of the job. It is absolutely disgraceful and we shouldn’t condone it, and until we get our number right it is going to get worse. Thank you and please support the motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you Phil. I am going to put these two motions now to the vote and then I am going to call Jack McGinley from Standing Orders, and then I will go to the motions.
Putting Motion 44 to Conference. Those in favour? That’s agreed.
Motion 45, those in favour? That’s agreed. Ok Jack.
Jack McGinley, Chair Standing Orders
Delegates, you will beware at this stage that we are many motions behind. We have Motions 14 to 16 from yesterday, but we now have Motions 40 to 43 and Motion 51. Standing Orders Committee have met in Emergency Session and regrettably we have to ask Conference that the following will apply. Proposer of Motions – four minutes, formally seconded, and that in anytime that we make up in the remaining 40 minutes of this session we take Motions 41 to 43 and Motion 51, and that we take Motions 14 to 16 after Motion 55 tomorrow morning. I move.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay, look that’s where we are. I put that Standing Order Report to Conference. Are you unhappy to endorse it, so I’m proposing that we accept it if we want to get through the business. Okay, happy enough? Now I know that throws a bit of a spanner in the works for people who have speeches prepared which lasted for five minutes, but you’re an old hand.
I’ll make an announcement late on about when Motion 50 is going to be taken in a bit more details.
So we’re on Motion 46 now, in the name of NASUWT.
Louise O ´Prey, NASUWT
Present, Congress, Louise O´Prey, NASUWT the teachers union, proposing Motion 46 on Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Congress the issue of work, wellbeing and mental health is an increasing concern across all employment sectors for unions. Unions can all report the impact these issues have on working lives. I’m sure many of us in this room have experience of poor mental health, either for ourselves or with our friends or families, so we know the heartbreak or the devastation that poor mental health causes, not just for the individual but for the entire family circle.
But there is of course a wider impact on the economy that demonstrates why Governments should be taking this seriously. Poor mental health has costs for people, but it also costs the economy.
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ACAS reports that mental health problems cost employers in the UK £30 billion a year through lost production, recruitment and absence. In the Republic of Ireland the annual cost to the economy related to mental problems exceeds €3 billion. Here in Northern Ireland the economy loses over E800 million every year through mental illness. Each year research suggests that each and every employee in Northern Ireland accounts for seven days of sickness. Of these seven days almost three of them are from mental health related issues. This equates to 2.4 million days of sickness for mental health alone, or 6,575 years annually.
The causes of mental health and wellbeing issues are of course varied, however what is clear is that working conditions and problems encountered at work are a critical factor. The commodification of the workforce, zero hour contracts, and insecurity are all too familiar to ordinary working people. In the Public Sector workers have suffered cuts, high stake accountability measures, vilification and frankly contempt by Politicians and the media. There is a severe lack of regard for worklife balance from employers that should be modelling good practice and supporting their employees. Additionally the impact on the delivery on good Public Services cannot be overstated. Nowhere is this more acute than in our schools.
For teachers, the NASUWT has be tracking these issues for six years through our Big Question Survey, and over the course of that time we have findings that are thoroughly shocking. 93% of our teachers believe that they are not managed in a way that empowers them. The factors the teachers say are causing this disempowerment are all too familiar to many in this room, and include; constant change being forced upon them, a culture of blame and criticism for simply doing their job, a feeling that there is a complete lack of respect for the professional judgment that teachers must clearly exercise, unrealistic expectations placed upon by mangers and by the Government, and a lack of understanding by decision-makers as to what the job entails and solutions that are put in place to make a difference.
In relation to stress and wellbeing the figures are even worse. 63% of teachers said their wellbeing was not seen as important by their school. 72% have experienced more workplace stress in the last 12 months. 84% of teachers believe there job has impacted negatively on their wellbeing in the last 12 months. 61% believe that the job has adversely affected their mental health in the last 12 months, and this has led to a huge impact on their general wellbeing. 79% experiencing anxious, 82% experiencing loss of sleep, the impact on our lives is profound. 5% of teachers say that they have experienced relationship break downs as a result of their jobs, and 11% are now saying that they need to use antidepressants. Most shockingly of all is that 2% - which means hundreds of teachers in Northern Ireland - report that they have self-harmed in the last year because of the pressures of their job.
Congress is it any wonder that 53% of teachers have seriously considered leaving the teaching profession in the last year? We must campaign to tackle this issue, we must demand support for all our members. Congress please support the motion. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
We have adopted Standing Orders, and I appreciate the cliff-edge nature of this, so for this motion alone I am going to take two speakers; Fred and yourself okay? And then we are moving to a strict application of the new timing.
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Fred Brown, NASUWT
Fred Brown, NASUWT, to second the Motion 46. When I was preparing to speak on this I looked up the Government’s website and it said ‘work is good for mental health’. I think for workers in the Public Sector, for workers in the Voluntary Sector, and for workers right throughout that is blatently untrue. It should be ‘work should be good for mental health’. In order for it to be good for mental health, workers should be happy. As John Ruskin said ‘in order that people may be happy in their work, there are three things that are needed. They must be fit for it, they must not do too much of it, and they must have a sense of success in it’ and much as I hate to disagree with John Ruskin I would have to add something to that; ‘they must be properly paid for it’.
In the Public Sector we have for years had a 1% Cost of Living pay rise, for some of our workers, not for all of them, and that has meant a reduction in the real salaries and the real wages across the Public Sector. That is followed by the Voluntary Sector, they follow the Public Sector. In the Private Sector things are even worse with employers using zero hour contracts and other means to keep wages down as much as they possibly can.
If you are trying to juggle between paying the rent, paying for childcare, and eating properly, that is going to have a severe impact on both your mental and physical health. The pay has resulted in some people working, and they would be better off not working, they would be better off on benefits. Other people are having to take one or two extra jobs in order to do it. More and more of our children are living in poverty because of the shamefully low wages which people are paid in this country. Most of the children who are living in poverty are living in families ´s in which people are working, most in jobs because they are cutting back on Public Sector work, people are having to do more. We have had an industrial campaign for years now on this issue of overwork, in hospitals in the health service, all workers are working far too hard because of cuts, because of problems with recruitment and retention. What we need to do is to demand that our employers, whether is the State or whether it’s Private Sector, implement their duty of care to us as workers so that we can enjoy our work, so that we can live in decent, respectable lives which are worth living because for many of us this is not the case.
Brian Campfield, President Sorry, Billy Hannigan, the Chair of the Scrutineers has the election results but I’m going to wait to the end of this Section because I don’t want to interrupt the flow and I will get you in later.
Deirdre Mc Donald, ASTI President, Congress, Deirdre McDonald ASTI. Stress occurs when a disparity exists between the individual, what’s being demanded of them, and the resources available with them to deal with it. One does not have to be Einstein to realise that we are being asked, as our previous speaker said, to do more and more with less and less. Thus the reality of existence in schools is that stress is increasing exponentially, and it has serious consequences for all concerned. Work related stress, ladies and gentlemen, is not an individual weakness. What it is instead is a reaction to organisational difficulties, poor management. It is not the fault of the individual. It is an organisational issue. In occupational stress, physiological, psychosocial hazards - those are the hazarders that diminish our mental health and wellbeing - they are not being addressed ladies and gentlemen. In a recent survey of schools in our region, that is in the south of Ireland, a survey asked how many schools had audited for psychosocial hazards? It is their statuary obligation to do so. It is just as important as a noxious gas, or a slippery mat, or a rusty nail. And how many had? Three schools. I would put it to you ladies and gentlemen, that a lot of our employers do not realise that it is just as important, it is there statuary obligation to do so, and we must make them aware of that, and we ask that Congress will fulfil that as part of supporting workers mental health.
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The EU Sectorial Social Dialog Committee for Education has said that prevention and reduction in stress must be prioritised by the trade union movement and that’s what we are here asking the trade union and the Executive to do today. Prevention is better than a cure. It saves individuals from huge angst and ill health. It is cost effective. It supports all workers, and this is our right and it is our employer’s responsibility. As I said yesterday, when do good words become mere rhetoric, and I will reiterate. I’m a teacher and a trade unionist, we keep saying the same things. So, when they are not backed up by action. So we asking teachers North and South that the Executive will take on the welfare of workers not just in the education sector, but particular we’re asking for ourselves, and make this a real issue, a 21st Century issue for a 21st Century organisation.
Brian Campfield, President Okay, I’m going to move on to Motion 47, I will take a vote on these later on, so the move of Motion 47 will be RCM, and formally seconded, and then I will move on to the other motions with the same approach and if we have time we might have some discussion. It’s four minutes for a mover now, thank you.
Breda Hughes, RCM
Thanks very much President, Delegates. You will be sick of the sight of me, I am making up for the years I was here and I wasn’t allowed speak.
Anyway, you have seen the Motion in front of you. Some statics are contained within that Motion, but whilst bed nights can be counted, and money can be calculated, the true cost of perinatal mental ill health cannot be measured so easily. The distress of individual women, the impact on their families, their friends and their children, the detriment to their employment and career prospects, and indeed the threat to their lives, cannot be quantified.
One of the prevailing myths of modern motherhood is that it’s all apple pie and roses, and those of you out there who are mothers will appreciate the physical, mental, social, emotional, not to mention the financial impact of pregnancy and birth, even when everything goes well. Try to imagine therefore the distress and confusion of women whose anxiety begins during pregnancy and increases to the point where she feels that she is losing her mind, as people congratulate her on her pregnancy where the expectation of society is that she will be delighted and happy, looking forward to the birth of her baby, when in reality all she feels is a nameless anxiety, terror, fear, dread. Perinatal mental ill health has been one of those hidden ‘women’s problems’, but women are beginning to find their voice and to talk about their experiences, initially to other women, but more recently to anyone who will listen, and that includes healthcare professionals, the media, our policy makers and even Politicians. And to their credit all of these people are listening. The maternity strategies in both the North and South recommend the development of perinatal mental health services, both Out Patient, where the women is cared for by a specialist team while remaining in her own home, but also the establishment of a specialist In Patient Mother and Baby Unit. It is a disgrace that on the Island of Ireland there is not a single unit where an acutely ill women can be admitted with her baby. In every case where a woman is seriously unwell, she must be and is separated from her baby, fracturing that mother and baby bond, and placing an additional strain on her family, if she has one, who are quite literally left holding the baby.
Our politicians when they are working, are supportive of the campaign to develop perinatal mental health services. The media highlights the plight of women and their families on a regular basis so why isn’t it happening? Is it too expensive? The London School of Economics estimates that the cost of providing additional specialists services is an extra £400 per birth, and the cost of not providing this service is over £2,000 per birth. So it makes economic sense to do this. Who knows maybe we
148 will even get some of the additional £10 million a year that the DUP has managed to negotiate to improve mental health services in the North.
So do we have enough specialists staff? Is that the problem? I don’t know. We haven’t tried to recruit them, so how would we know? If we did we are likely to find that there is a huge skills gap that needs to be address as a matter of urgency. Is this an effective way to support women and their babies? All of the evidence indicates that it is, so what’s going wrong? Political paralysis in the North? Political indifference in the South? We urge Congress to support this Motion and use every means possible to ensure that these services are made available to women throughout the Island of Ireland.
Brian Campfield, President
Will somebody formally second that? Thank you. Then we’re moving on to Motion 48 in the name of Fermanagh Trades Council.
John Martin, Fermanagh Trade Council
John Martin, Fermanagh Trade Council, to move motion 48 on Cancer Awareness. I’m here to deliver good news and bad news, and probably the bad news would be for the male delegates here and all men on the Island of Ireland. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men. It can be treated if caught early. It usually effects men over 50 years of age, and is rare in younger men. It differs from most other cancers in the body, in that small areas of the cancer within the prostate are very common, and may all so stay dormant or inactive for many years. Most prostate cancers grow very slowly, and in a proportion of a men prostate cancer can grow more quickly and in some cases may spread to other parts of the body, particularly the bones. When it goes to the bones it’s a case of Hasta la Vista.
Now a couple of statistics here - in this part of the country more than 1,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year, and more than 200 men die from it. In the Republic more than 3,364 men are diagnosed with this cancer, and 527 will die as a result. Some of these men needlessly die due to late diagnosed, and that is a scandal. It’s a scandal in this country that the men of this country are not made aware of that treatable cancer.
Now for the good news. We can do something to beat this cancer and we can learn from existing and successful models. We can learn from our sisters in the movement who use their workplace networks to spread the message that early testing for breast cancer had save hundreds and thousands of lives of women workers. We have our education networks such as Union Learning in the North, the Congress Centres in the South, and Education Officers in all of our affiliates. We should work with campaign groups training to educate the public on these diseases, and we can literally save the lives of some of our workmates. Iit is not every day that we could claim that achievement.
It is imperative that we as an Irish Congress of Trade Unions join with all the Government agencies in both jurisdictions on this Island of Ireland to promote public awareness to men of the advantages of early diagnosis to treat this cancer which has a significant success rate if caught in time. I move.
Brian Campfield, President
Thanks John, that’s formally seconded. I’m looking for the Letterkenny Trades Council next.
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John Quinn, Letterkenny Trade Council
President, General Secretary, Congress and Delegates, John Quinn, Letterkenny Trades Council speaking on behalf of Motion 49 which calls on the incoming Executive Council of Congress to engage with the current Government to halt the decline in the services of the citizens of Ireland that have been denied in the past three years with the closer of banking outlets, rural post offices and on timely reports of the elimination of these services in the future.
The debate nationally reduced the number of route services by the national bus company where the general population has contributed to and continues to support through general taxation and various other means, that the Government feel the people of Ireland have to contribute to. We have learned earlier on today colleagues, as part of this formal proposal of this motion, that Larry Broderick from the Financial Services Centre indicated that a number of his branches closed around the country of Ireland, and mostly in the rural part of the domain. Certainly on the postal end and An Post in the Southern part have also experienced the decline and closures within small towns and villages where the actual inhabitants have no other means other than having to pay a taxi service or some neighbour to bring them to collect their dues that they have paid for their entire life by the means of taxation within the Governments of this particular Island.
Finally we went through a painful experience with the bus company recently and the company that went to a large number of weeks where they went on strike to make it clear how they felt, and also the Labour Relations Commission findings were pretty poor on this one well. So again by and large some of the findings of the bus company were that they were going to close down services to very vulnerable parts of the country, and again these services are very worthwhile to the people that have no public transport, no transport of their own, and indeed would have to pay high prices to bring taxis from other areas of needs to that particular area.
So colleagues I urge you to support this Motion 49 and to halt the decline and restore some of the services that have been taken away. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Is that formally seconded? Okay. Can we have Cork Trades Council to move Motion 50 please?
John Bowen, Cork Trades Council
President, Conference, John Bowen, Cork Council of Trade Unions, moving Motion 50 on Bus Éireann.
I think it’s appropriate coming after that last speaker, given the fact that he referred to the cut back in services in rural areas, and this is a result of the policies that are being pursued by the present Government. The very serious situation that workers in Bus Éireann found themselves in a few months ago, with the threat of liquidation of the State company if they did not accept savage pay cuts and cuts to their conditions, was a direct result of successive Government policies. I would like to congratulate these workers for the steadfast determination in seeing the dispute through to a conclusion which gave them a better outcome than would have been the case if they had accepted what Bus Éireann management has originally proposed.
Fine Gael and Minster for transport Shane Ross have a privatisation agenda regarding Public Transport starting with Bus Éireann. In its 2011 Manifesto, Fine Gael pledged to speed up the issuing of licences to private bus operators, while Ross has never lost an opportunity to attack the CIE companies.
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The vehicle they are using to undermine Bus Éireann is the National Transport Authority, which controls all finances paid to the CIE companies from the Department of Transport. The NTA has been issuing licences to private bus operators for non-stop services since its inception. This has resulted in a fall off in the number of passengers using the Bus Éireann Express Way services as these serve most towns and villages on their routes.
Despite several applications for non-stop routes, Bus Éireann have constantly been refused these by the NTA. Also from 2009 up to last year there has been massive cuts in the subvention that the State pays to Bus Éireann via the NTA for public service obligation services. As well as that, there have also been cuts in the same period in the payment per journey that the Department of Social Protection pays all the CIE Companies. In 2015 for instance the State subvention to Bus Éireann was €33 million, while it repaid €59 million in taxes, USC, and Social Welfare from itself and it workers. That year also Horse Racing Ireland received €60 million in State grants. It’s clear what this Government prioritises. It was therefore almost inevitable that Bus Éireann would end up almost bankrupt.
Despite issuing licences to private operators, the NTA does not apply any standards to theses. For instance most of these services operate from the side of the street, with no facilities being provided by passengers as is required by EU regulations. Drivers who work for these cowboys are very often paid a flat €100 per day, and sometimes even less, regarding of hours worked, with no overtime payment and no premium paid for Sundays.
When challenge about this the NTA washes its hands of any responsibility, saying that it’s a matter for other agencies, the RSA or the Garda to police private bus operators that it has licenced. It goes without saying that the vast bulk of these operators are viciously opposed to the their staff being represented by trade unions. Most of these operators do not accept the Department of Social Welfare Travel Pass, and the few that do are paid a higher rate per journey than Bus ´Eireann. It is proposed by the NTA to put 10% of routes up to tender next year. This makes no sense, as it would fragment the services which are currently integrated within Bus Éireann, and we must demand that these proposals be abandoned. We must also demand that Bus Éireann be put on sound financial footing by implementing the proposals contained in this Motion, and they are listed in the Motion, I’m not going to go through them again.
Finally the NTA should be abolished, with the CIE holding company taking over its functions, and the staff within it transferring to the CIE holding company. This is the model of transport regulation that applies in many European countries such as the Paris region where the RATB is both the operator and the regulator. Please support this motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you John, and that’s formally seconded. One more speaker and then we’ll go to the vote.
Flora Alfante, UNISON
Flora Alfante, UNISON. I’m supporting Motion 48, Cancer Awareness because my husband is in his fifties, and I encourage him to do the prostate test and then he keeps on saying ‘no, no’. I said they’re not going to do your thing there, they can do blood tests or urine test, and then they can find out if there are any abnormalities. I think it’s the culture of the Filipinos, I’m from the Phillipines. I said ‘be man enough, go and get checked, we need you, we love you’, because early detection saves lives. So all the men here I’m encouraging you to go and check the power packs. Please support the motion.
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Brian Campfield, President
Thank you for that now! That will probably save lives I’m sure. Can I move to voting on some of these motions and then if possible I have a speaker for five minutes at 4.55pm, and then we’re taking the two Emergency Motions.
I’m going to put Motion 46 to you. Those in favour? That’s carried.
Motion 47. Those in favour? That’s carried.
Motion 48. Those in favour? That’s carried
Motion 49. Those in favour? That’s carried.
Motion 50. Those in favour? Carried.
Is the mover of Motion 40 here?
Paddy Mackle, Belfast Trades Council
Paddy Mackel, Belfast Trades Council, to move Motion 40 eventually.
This motion is fairly self-explanatory to be honest with you, and its sufficiently broad enough we think to enable the Executive to seek details of best practice from unions, and using information to produce a meaningful Charter.
You be well aware of the rise in racist and right wing attacks in Ireland in recent times. These include attacks on newcomers to these shores, indigenous groups such as Travellers, sectarian attacks, attacks on Muslins and attacks on people from the LGBT community. That prejudice and discrimination of course also includes the often silent and hidden prejudice and discrimination against women in their daily lives, in the work place, and in their attempts access vital health care.
The rise of the far right in mainstream politics and there apologists in the media in the US, in Britain, in France, and also in Ireland, but also in the State of Israel, should all be seen as the brutal and arrogant manifestation of Fascist tendencies which history clearly shows can often lead to mass persecution, genocide, and eventually holocaust.
The trade union movement is well placed as the largest Civic Society organisation on this Island to lead the way in developing a tangible strategy to tackle the cancer in our mist, and to strengthen the zero tolerance approaches already adapted by many unions. This motion calls for the production of a Charter which will be used within unions, but also in the work place. The motion also encourage Congress to go beyond our normal parameters of engaging with Affiliates, union branches, and places of employment. We are of view that like some of the other motions already discussed this week, we need to go beyond that and engage with the wider community, to reconnect with ordinary citizens, make the movement more relevant to workers and their families and play an important role in tackling prejudice and discrimination, and face down right wing Fascists before they strengthen their grip on wider society. We know what can happen if we don’t. Please support the Motion.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay that’s formally seconded, thanks Paddy.
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John Boyle, INTO Comrades, just up the road we have the graveyard of Vere Foster our first President, 150 years ago Vere Foster said ‘a nation’s greatness depends on the education of its people’. Yesterday the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins spoke about the importance of a Universal Education System for the fulfilment of human potential, and today the current INTO President John Boyle ‘says the only thing more expensive than investing in education, is not investing in education, every cent or penny spent on education is an investment in every citizen’. Not everyone will go on to university, yet every child in Ireland will attend Primary and Secondary school. What they experience there will have an impact on their lives.
INTO’s vision for education is one of small classes that allow teachers to support each child individually. We need well-funded schools with professional, dedicated teachers who are lead to support by excellent school leaders. We believe that with proper funding and support all children will have a real chance to fulfil their potential, whatever challenges they face.
It is time for the powers that be on this Island to decide what they value in society. Early investment in education will reap real rewards for society. I believe it’s incumbent on the trade union movement to campaign for a huge increase in the education budgets North and South, so that children from marginalised backgrounds in particular, and children with special educational needs, get the best possible start in life to an inclusive and equal access to lifelong education.
The education budgets North and South have been thrashed during recessionary years. We now languish down at the bottom of the ladder of investment, GDP 5½%. Even countries like Iceland that had a severe bust are investing far more than we see invested in Ireland and in Northern Ireland.
We have all heard it said that I am where I am because my parents had a value on education. Irish society needs to continue to have this value on education. We must stand up for education, and the trade union movement can take a big lead in that. Liam Doran mentioned health and education earlier, and I thank him for that. It will benefit universities, it will benefit businesses, and it will benefit the economy if we invest in education. We will save money on Social Welfare and on prisons and hospitals. We have a huge number of priorities in this motion, but I just want to focus on one of the inequalities that has arisen, and it has affected children, have no doubt about. This is the inequality where in the recession we have unequal pay for equal work in Primary and Post Primary schools, and in many Public Services workplaces, and it really behoves the trade union movement to stand together on behalf of our young workers who entered since 2011, to ensure that the scourge of pay inequality is eradicated from the Public Service in the South of Ireland, and further more to ensure that the terrible insult that happen here in the North for teachers and for Public Servants generally, that the Government would dare to offer them a zero % pay rise. What an insulting offer of a zero & pay rise for our teachers in the North, we won’t stand for it.
Five things happened in the recession that really got on my wick in terms of inequality; the removal for the support for children from the Traveling Community. We fought against it, this union and other unions, and failed and it’s something that we are not going to give up on. The stripping of supports from children with special educational needs where they used to have huge supports for 30 years in the system and have now been reduce by 15%.
The pay inequality issue has affected their teachers and there have a number of Draconian cuts that have led to inequality. Support the motion.
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Brian Campfield, President
That’s formally seconded. That’s as far as we can go, I’m going to put that motion to Conference. Those in support of Motion 41? That’s agreed. And Motions 40 from Belfast Trades Council. This in favour? That’s carried.
We now have Clare Mahon from the Disability Committee to speak.
Clare Mahon, Disability Committee President, Delegates, the Congress Disability Committee in the South is Chaired by myself Clare Mahon from the INMO, and its Vice Chair is Mary Brannigan from UNITE. We also have the Committee from the North of Ireland which is Chaired by Marcel Dummigan from NIPSA, and we work very closely together with our colleagues in the North in hosting our annual Disability Seminars.
Both of our Committees have very strong links with groups who advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, and we represent those with disabilities on many diverse issues of importance, and in many different forums, both nationally and internationally. Here in Northern Ireland, only 33% of disabled people are in work. That is less than half of the rate of non-disabled people. Whilst legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act has undoubtedly made some positive differences, nevertheless disabled people still find themselves discriminated against, and with the recent report estimating that some 50% of job applicants surveyed did not feel comfortable about disclosing their disability in a job interview.
Now against this back drop the Committee here in Northern Ireland continues with the varied programme of work, supporting and representing disabled people into and in work in various forums. They have also raised serious concerns over the issue of the Universal Credit and new regulations around Incapacity Benefit and the removal of those who have previously been awarded this benefit. It continues to support the Disability Champion Network who works in the workplace to support and represent and advocate on behalf of disabled colleagues.
In the South our work is also informed by research which continues to show that persons with a disability are substantially less likely to be active in the labour market, and more likely to experience discrimination and consistent poverty. As you heard already this afternoon, in 2017 the Economic and Social Research Institute study commissioned by the National Disability Authority found that similarly to the North, 31% of working age people with a disability were at work, compared with 71% of those without. Across that period, people with disability were more likely to exit than enter employment. The Report also provides more evidence that despite Government efforts, not enough is being done to keep those with disabilities, enter and more importantly, remain in employment. There are a number of key specific areas of importance with people with disabilities, which include and this is in relation to employment; retention of their medical cards when they move into employment, support for the additional costs of their disability itself, and flexibility in how their jobs are structured , including in hours and tasks. These are just to mention a few of the issues.
Unfortunately were still not in a position to report that Ireland has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We continue to impress upon Government the importance of ratifying this Convention. It should be done at the earliest date, as it signifies that people with disabilities are entitled to the same rights and opportunities as each and every one of us. On a more positive note, the long awaited Comprehensive Employment Strategy for the Employment of People with Disabilities was published in October 2015, and we actively participate in its implantation and sit on its Implantation Committee. We have provided an input into the Strategy through two
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Disability Seminars. It is our view that the role of employers, workers and indeed unions is central to the Strategy and we particularly welcome its Priority Six which outlines that employers will be supported and encouraged to employ people with disabilities, to support job retention and to facilitate the return to work after the onset of a disability.
We also continue to engage with the National Disability Authority, particularly on its work on employment and our former Chair Deirdre O’Connor from the INTO sits on the NDA Board.
The Committee members would like to note that we are greatly sadden by the death of our former Committee Member and widely renowned disability activist Martin Naughton. Martin was a passionate campaigner for the rights of the disabled. He became active in the Irish Wheelchair Association and the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and helped found the first Centre for Independent Living in Ireland. Martin brought a unique and perceptive contribution that greatly informed our work, and rallying cry ‘nothing about us, without us’ is stronger for his dogged lifelong work in promoting independent living for people with disability.
Colleagues, we have debated a lot over the last two days on human rights and workers’ rights and we would like as a Committee to thank you for your support and endorsement of the work that we do, but we also ask you to keep the disability agenda as a priority in each of your organisations. It is up to us all as individuals and as organisations to support, speak out and advocate for those with disabilities, both in our workplaces and in our society. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you for that Clare. I will now call on Billy Hannigan to make an announcement as Chair of Scrutineers, and then we are moving to Emergency Motion No. 1 which is in the name of the FSU.
Billy Hannigan, PSU
Thank you President, Billy Hannigan PSEU and Chair of Scrutineers. We have the outcome of two elections. The first election was in respect of one place on the Executive Council for the Local Reserved Panel member. There was 500 votes cast from that election. Colm Cronin of the Cork Council of Trade Unions received 291 votes. Paddy Mackel of the Belfast Trades Council received 209 votes, so I declare Colm Cronin elected.
The second election was for the Standing Orders Committee for 2017 to 2019. There was 487,000 votes cast. The quota is 81,167. What I propose to do is give you the first count vote for each candidate, and the count on which they were elected or eliminated.
Annette Dolan, TUI 68,000 Elected on 4th Count Darren Erangey, TEEU 55,000 Eliminated on 5thCount Joan Gaffney, MANDATE 101,000 Elected on 1st Count Denis Keatings, UNISON 72,000 Elected on 5th Count without reaching Quota Jack McGinley, SIPTU 96,000 Elected on 1st Count Denis Walsh, CPSU 95,000 Elected on 1st Count
Given that there were six candidates for five seats and the defeated candidate Erangey becomes the Substitute member. I would like to thank Liam for his assistance and my fellow Scrutineers. Thank you.
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Brian Campfield, President
Thanks for that Billy and congratulations to all the successful candidates. Financial Services Union?
Fran O Neill, ESU
ESU rather than FSU. I understand Larry’s commitment to establishing and increasing his membership but we are not quite in the position to embrace him quite at this stage.
This Emergency Motion has been prompted in relation to climate change and the Paris Accord was prompted by the decision of Donald Trump to withdraw the USA from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. While that might not be surprising, the Motion rightly describes it as reckless, short-sighted, and dangerous, though many in the hall may believe that all the decisions currently coming out of the White House fall into that category.
Our concern is in relation to the commitment within and contained in the Paris Accord that gives workers, clearly dependent upon those on the fossil fuel economy, a key role in developing a Just Transition Strategy.
The Motion calls on Conference to support the work that has already been undertaken by the ETUC, the ICTU Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and individual unions such as IMPACT and SIPTU, to implement a Strategy for a planned transition to a low carbon economy. We believe this can be delivered through four key demands. 1. The establishment of a tripartite body, comprising the trade unions, employers and Government to ensure such a Just Transition, and I am happy to report that some progress has already been made through the ICTU Committee in that regard. 2. That a study be undertaken to evaluate the impact of meeting the goals of the Paris Accord on fossil fuel dependent communities. 3. That there will be the establishment of a European Fund and a National Fund to assist workers and their communities and citizens in this transition. 4. In addition to that we would like to see a situation where legislation was enacted to ensure that such a Just Transition has to take place.
We believe these key demands, if met, are the only basis under which we can see the delivery of what is a welcome position in relation to climate change, but also the requirement to protect the interests of that communities involved in the production of energy and the workers involved in the industry. Workers in such companies as the ESB and Bord Na Móna have been key drivers in relation to both the development of the economy and its rewards, and also a driver for social progress. We would intend that that would continue. Through your support of this Motion we believe we will certainly deliver it. Thank you for your attention.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay the agreement was that would be formally seconded, and I’m putting Emergency Motion No. 1 1 to Conference. Those in favour? That is carried.
I call on Derry Trades Council to move Emergency Motion No. 2.
Eamon McCann, Derry Trade Council
President, Brothers and Sisters, this a fairly lengthy Motion and I hope people have had a chance to read it. The argument for the Motion it really set out in the text of the motion, so I won’t stand here and repeat it given the time we have. All of the motion really is in the first sentence of it. The
156 appalling tragedy crime of Grenfell Tower was ultimately caused by the way working class families are treated in this capitalist society, by which we mean the way working class families are treated like dirt, and what resonated from the Grenfell Tower was not simply the appalling tragedy that we had to witness unfolding in front us. What was significant about it and gives it a relevance and a resonance at this Conference and wherever working class people are gather, is that it was symbol and substance of the rottenness of a capitalist society as it moves towards its own death agony. The way in which it regards those who create all the wealth in this society. How little value it places on our lives. We know that in general terms. There at Grenfell Tower we saw it right in front of us in dramatic, pitiless, wrathful full style.
Now it’s often Brothers and Sisters, you will know when great tragedies happen, on land, at sea or in the air, sometimes we gather together as trade unionist and socialist and so forth, and we talk about the political, social and economic reasons why it might of happened, try to trace it to its roots. But we do it sometimes hesitantly. We don’t shout it out too load because to analyse great human tragedy in economic terms or in political terms seems uncaring, seems distant from the human reality, but you don’t have to insist on a political dimension and an economic dimension when we come to Grenfell Tower. One of the striking things about this particular atrocity it seems to me, was the fact that immediately those who managed to survive this wrathful conflagration drew the political conclusions themselves. There was no need for me or anybody else here to shout about the fact that capitalism had caused this tragedy. The residents of Grenfell Tower were shouting out the truth around their own, even as the smoke billowed still from the destroyed homes. They were shouting it out.
I was in London a couple days after it and I went, partly I have to confess I wasn’t in sure whether it was the right thing to do, and somewhat hesitantly, went out to take a look and talk to people. There was a spontaneously march, got a little bit of coverage on television all the way from Kensington, all the way to Westminister, started out with a couple of hundred people, couple of thousand at the end of it. It wasn’t a mass thing, but what was really distinctive about it, is that is stopped every two hundred yards for somebody to speak through a megaphone. They were all very young, all very working class, all very ordinary, if you like. That’s what was interesting about them, how political they were.
At one point, I was standing watching a young woman about seventeen years old, a hijab on her head, with the microphone pointing up at the sky, and I didn’t have to say it, she was saying ‘it’s the Tories fault, get the Tories out, she didn’t say ‘get the Tories out’, I quote her exactly her, her microphone and hijab, ‘ get the f****** Tories out’. That’s the most beautiful phrase I have heard from anybody anytime. I think when we look at what has happened and have to draw conclusions from it, and we have to see that these things affect us directly, not just on the enormity and the emotional impact of Grenfell Tower, but also I come from Derry as you know, and in Derry just a couple of months ago, we got the Connor’s Court Apartments changed, we got the people moved out and them refurbished. What was wrong with them? What was wrong them was that among other things the flues from the gas system fed back into the stairwell. Think about that. Fed back into the stairwell. It was a death trap, and had been passed by the relevant building authoriess as safe for people to live in. It would be like that today if the people of Connor’s Court Flats - 21 flats - had not taken themselves down to the headquarters in the city centre, and we sat in there, and we said we are not moving until we get proper places to live, and were not going back until we get satisfaction about the conditions in Connor’s Court. We sat in there and they phoned us from Belfast and the Managing Director whatever he was, the CEO, he said ‘well ok, it is a terrible situation you’re describing, we will come down and sort it, we will see you tomorrow’. We said ‘no you will come down now’, and I negotiated like a polite trade unionist of course, I’m saying ‘well you will have to come down because the people here blah,blah,blah. A woman called Monica took the phone from me and she said ‘you get your f****** a** down here and the CEO appeared and
157 everybody was put up in hotels for about a week to 10 days whatever it took, and they got the flats sorted. That would not have happened if the residents had not sat in, had the residents not got together and said ‘we are not going to stand for this anymore’. The ultimate message from Grenfell Tower and all these other atrocities that we have, is that these are things we don’t have to put up with. It is only when are organised, one resident, one family from Connor’s Court could not have done that, but when everybody was sitting in the headquarters, and we had a phone line to their headquarters, that’s what made the difference, and the people of Grenfell Tower are absolutely right when they say what we need now is that young woman who was saying ‘get the Tories out’. Of course you can stop a wee bit short of that and say ‘we want an audit of every building where people are housed in Public Sector housing in Northern Ireland. We want a safety audit carried out. We want it done in the South of Ireland too. Tomorrow night in Dublin, trade union representatives of the Fire Service will be meeting with Government Minsters precisely to discuss the fact that while we have regulations up here which are not observed, in fact which are ignored, in fact we don’t even have tight regulations in the South of Ireland like that, they are even more inadequate in the South. This is an all-Ireland thing and it goes beyond these Islands. Working class people are entitled to live in safety, entitled to live not in fear, and the best memorial the only adequate memorial we can have to the people who died in the pitiless conflagration of Grenfell Towers, the only adequate memorial can be us in the trade union movement uniting and saying ‘we are not standing for Connor’s Court, we are not standing for the destruction of social housing, we are not standing anymore for our people being treated like dirt, and when we have to rise up, we will rise up. When we rise up we will all rise up together and deal with all these problems together. Thanks very much.
Brian Campfied, President
Wasn’t it just as well there were no more speakers? Thanks Eamon for that.
Now I’m going to put Emergency Motion No. 2 to Conference. All those in favour? That’s carried.
Just before you leave I have a couple of announcements to make. Remember at 5.30pm in the Minor Hall here on the ground floor, the Trade Union Friends of Palestine with Omar Barghouti is at a Fringe Event.
Tomorrow morning, first thing we have Huber Ballesteros from CUT in Collumbia as our guest speaker, so I would encourage delegates to be here on time.
See you all at 9.30am in the morning. Thanks.
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Thursday 6 July 2018 Morning Session
Brian Campfield, President Are you settled down, just before we start, we just got a note during Conference to tell us that Billy Wallace who was President of Congress in 1988, died at the end of May. I had not heard myself, but it’s from his daughter Norma Conway. Billy was member of the National Union of Tailor and Garment Workers, so he was, just to let you know. He was 96 so he didn’t have a bad innings I suppose, but nonetheless just to record our condolences formally.
Now, I am advised also that Carol O’Brien from UNITE, her son is going to Africa to do volunteer work on building schools and they are looking for school bags. So if anybody does not want their Conference bag, please empty and leave at the Congress Reception desk. So you’re not getting of your papers you’re just rid of the bag ok so anybody doesn’t want the bag or doesn’t want to add it to their collection then ok. So what I am going to do now I think is I am going to call Jack McGinley, Chairperson of Standing Orders.
Jack McGinley, Chairperson Standing Orders
Colleagues, the final Report of Standing Orders with a couple of alterations obviously. So the running order will be Huber Ballesteros, David Joyce, Emergency Motion No 3 on Columbia in the name of UNITE, Motions 52–55, Mags O’Brien, Omar Barghoutti, Motions 14–16, Motions 42 and 43 and 51, and then the Closing Ceremonies. I would remind delegates that it is 4 minutes for the Proposer and formally seconded. I move.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay stay where you are Jack. I will put Standing Orders Report to you ok? Are you happy enough with that? That’s agreed.
I have an envelope, it’s not a brown one, to present to Jack here. It really is in recognition of his competency, of being Chair of Standing Orders, so I am going to present him with this. By the way just as a word of thanks, they were going to give you the Trade Union Directory but you have about 30 of those already at the Labour History stall.
Okay I think we have a bit of a video here, go ahead.
[Just for Columbia, Free Huber Campaign Video]
Brian Campfield, President
We are delighted to welcome Huber Ballesteros to our Conference. I think this is the first international Conference he has addressed since his release. I know he is due at the TUC in September. But we are delighted that the campaign to have him released from prison was
159 successful and we are also conscious that he has many Comrades still in jail and like himself, under threat and attack in Columbia. You are very welcome Huber.
Huber Ballesteros, CUT Colombia
Good morning. It’s an honour for me to be able to be at this Conference, to be able to address such an important group of Trade Union leaders from Ireland, from Northern Ireland, and all the commitment that you have to improving rights for workers all over the country.
So thank you to Patricia King, to Brian Camp field, to Justice for Colombia, to the leadership of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and to all the Unions represented here today. I feel very honoured to be able to have shared the stage also with the brother Omar from Palestine, someone who has done so much to defend Palestinian rights. Thank you to Kevin Callinan who took the initiative to invite me to this Congress.
I come from a country where in the last 30 years they have assassinated 3,000 trade union members, where 10% of the population, the wealthiest, earn four times as much as the whole of 40% of the poor of the country, where in the last year 400 women have been assassinated, in a country where they claim to respect the freedom of press and media but five families own all of the mainstream media, where 10% of the annual budget is stolen in corruption by civil servants and by politicians, a country where the concentration of property and land ownership is the second highest in the world, a country where in the Western Hemisphere has the highest inequality after Haiti, a country where there are over 7 million people internally displaced, where 500 human rights defenders have been assassinated in the last 10 years, 50 human rights defenders a year, where in the last 5 years 170 environmental activists have been assassinated. I come from a country where only 4% of workers are organised in a trade union. We have 8 million workers working in the informal sector. And this country, our President Juan Manuel Santos was given the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and it is not surprising because this prestigious award has also been awarded to Barack Obama, Henry Kissinger to Shimon Perez, and to other people who have been involved in conflict and war crimes.
Despite all these difficulties, the workers of the CUT of the Colombian Trade Union Confederation continue to struggle, to organise, to defend the right of our members to join a trade union without fear of persecution, of imprisonment, or assassination. We struggle against the free trade agreements which impoverish our workers, and only benefit the wealthy of our country. We struggle to end subcontracting, temporary workers, agency workers we struggle to defend formal employment and unions, for decent wages, decent pensions, and above all we struggle for peace. This peace agreement signed on the 24 November we know that there were trade union representative from Ireland, from England who attended this signing, the Government has not complied with their obligation in this agreement. It’s a shameful situation that this by an Amnesty law, being included in the peace agreement more than six months ago, today over a 1,000 FARC combatants still in prison have been on hunger strike for over 10 days. Today the workers of Colombia are on high alert, we are ready to mobilise to demand reforms which benefit workers and not the wealthy of Colombia. We’re campaigning against the pension reforms which is trying to rise
160 the retirement age for women workers, and we are campaigning against social security reforms which are putting more pressure on workers to pay for their social security. Above all we are working tirelessly to make sure that the peace agreement is properly implemented, and that negotiations with the ELN Gorilla Group are successful so that there is a complete peace and a social justice in Colombia.
We are committed to this struggle and to all these struggles, and as the trade union movement we believe it’s our duty to campaign for peace and for workers’ rights. Out political action has to go further than just defending labour rights, we have to be an example to the rest of the Colombian people to defend all rights.
I want to thank you for this opportunity, and I want to thank all the unions, all the politicians, the ICTU for everything that you did during my three and half years in prison. I was imprisoned on the 25 August 2013 as I was leading an agricultural national strike. I was accused of rebellion and terrorism because in Colombia to be a trade unionist is to be an enemy of the State. The Prosecutor called for me to be sentenced to 38 years in prison. I was freed on the 13 January this year. The rebellion charge has been dropped, but the terrorism charge continues which could lead to a 21 years sentence. Because they weren’t able to convict me, instead they have chosen to threaten me, so me and my family have received numerous death threats in the last few months. But if you are going to be a trade union leader, if you are going to join a union in Colombia, you know that risk and are willing to take that risk to do the work we want to do. Your solidarity, your accompaniment gives us strength to keep going. Because as Che Guevara said ‘solidarity is the tenderness of the people’.
Thank you for the hospitality of the Irish people, I admire you for your bravery and your joy that you live with. Thank you to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, I wish you every success and you’re an example to the trade union movement.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay, thank you delegates, thank you Huber for being here. I’m now calling on David Joyce to introduce the International Section of the Report.
David Joyce, ICTU
Thanks President, I drew the short straw following that, but let me very briefly refer to the Section of the Report, Section 6, International Section, and I really have no intention of trying to take up the time. We have just heard from Huber, we are about to here from Omar and some of us have been privileged to hear more about their stories of their struggles in the fringe meetings that we have had in the last couple of days. The level of engagement and attendance of those is really heartening also. We are also going to hear this morning from Sharon Burrows, the leader of our movement on a global stage, and I want to also to salute Mags O’Brien the Chair of our Global Solidarity in the Republic of Ireland, Kevin Daly I’m not sure if Kevin is here, the Chair of the Committee in Northern Ireland, supported by John O’Farrell my colleague over here. Indeed all of the members of our Global Solidarity Committees and sub groups and I commend them for all of their work.
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I would say for those of you interested in getting more involved in some of our international work, you could maybe consider joining us in our Summer School in Wexford at the end of August.
I just want to thank Brian also for all his support during his term of office as Congress President, in supporting some of those events, and to say to Sheila that we very much look forward to working with her during her term of office.
Delegates International Solidarity is the bedrock of our movement, and we have just seen what we can achieve. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s also of course the smart thing for us to do, because International labour standards and human rights are there for all of us, and the more they are violated in different parts of the world, the more likely such developments will eventually visit our own shores. So we have important motions on the European Pillar of Social Rights, Global solidarity and the Rise of Populism, the International Labour Organisation, and Palestine Solidarity, so with that let us begin the debate.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you David. Okay we are going to move to the Emergency Motion on Colombia to be moved by Jimmy Kelly from UNITE. You should have copies on your seats, now this is going to be moved, formally seconded and put to Conference. There will be no debate.
Jimmy Kelly, UNITE
Thanks President, and good morning delegates. It is absolutely essential as David has said the international challenge that we have, and in this context the role of the Irish trade union movement in the fight for peace and justice in Colombia was absolutely second to none. It was a fantastic part of the drive for peace and justice in Colombia, and all of your unions and all of your senior leaders played a fantastic role. When we went on delegations across the jungles of Colombia, we met proud people, we met parents who had lost their kids in the war, we met peasant leaders who are fighting with strike action and paying with their lives in the strike action. All of your senior leaders played a fantastic role, I won’t start naming leaders of unions because I will leave somebody out, but all of your leaders played a fantastic role in those delegations.
Moving to the peace talks in Havana, moving to Washington lobbing the senior Congress and Senators out there, bringing everything together to bring that force and the need for peace and justice in Colombia. I think it is worth mention just briefly that the Northern Ireland trade unions played a fantastic role in the fight for peace and justice in Colombia, and we criticise politicians when they do the right thing and the do the decent thing we should say so. Northern Ireland politicians in that cross party delegation had got on board played a great role in the fight for justice.
I will move on to the actual motion itself and I hope this reflects all of your thoughts in the support that we give to Huber and to the fight for justice in Colombia, and just to say those working for justice for Colombia are fantastic people and we have come in contact with Sarah, Victor and Hassan along the way, great people and we have a lot of times singled out
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Mariella Cohan who is a really brave person, courageous the way she stood out. Sometimes when you arrive in Colombia you get bodyguards the minute you arrive and then Mariella gives you bodyguards to keep an eye on the bodyguards that were supplied when you arrived, so that you are despatched safely back home, so thanks Mariella for everything that you have done.
It was emotional Huber to have you here and listen to your great thoughts, it’s fantastic to have you here in the first place, so we this reflects our support. The Irish Congress of Trades Unions congratulates the Government of Colombia and the FARC EP for the historic peace agreement and recent advances in the peace process. It welcomes the announcement from the UN that they have received all individual arms from the FARC EP. The Irish Congress of Trades Unions celebrates the release of the Trade Union Leader Huber Ballesteros from prison, and congratulates Justice for Colombia for its campaign for his freedom.
The ICTU is, however, concerned by the lack of progress in implementing several areas of the Peace Agreement, specifically the lack of release of almost 2,000 FARC prisoners and other political prisoners. It is particularly concerned to hear the over 1,400 FARC prisoners have been on hunger strike in protest of this situation, today they are reaching their eleventh day.
The ICTU is alarmed at the spike in political violence by the Right-Wing Paramilitaries, killing more than 50 civil society activists, including Trade Unionist so far in just 2017, as well as the killing of 4 FARC members and 9 of their relatives, and we are concerned at the lack of progress to implement measures to dismantle those Right Wing Paramilitaries groups.
The ICTU congratulates Justice for Colombia on its successful work, particularly the ground breaking peace campaign to build international support for the peace process. Congress therefore calls on the Colombian Government to fulfil its obligations under the Peace Agreement, ensure that the Amnesty laws is fully implemented, and the measures to dismantle those Right Wing Paramilitaries are implemented. We agree to continue to support JFC politically and financially, we call on all our member unions and their branches to continue to affiliate to Justice for Colombia. We agree to continue to support the CUT, Patriotic March and other organisation in their campaign for peace and social justice. We call on the Irish and the British Governments to continue to support the Peace Agreement, implementation and to highlight the threats against civil society. That’s the emergency motion. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Thank you Jimmy. Formally seconded? Okay. I put the Emergency Motion on Colombia to you. All those in favour? That’s carried. Thank you very much.
Just before I move on to motions , Grahame Smith the General Secretary of the Scottish TUC has reminded me, that 29 years ago today 167 oil workers lost their lives in the Piper Alpha tragedy in the North sea. It was the world’s deadliest oil rig disaster, and while challenges remain, since then huge steps have been taken through the involvement of
163 unions and Health and Safety Reps in ensuring off shore workers can work safely in one of the most hostile environments on the planet.
Unfortunately, like other tragedies, Hillsboro and the Grenfell fire and the Grenfell fire for example it took such an event and significant loss of life before the proper action was taken to improve health and safety off shore. As a mark of respect I am going to ask you to be silent, it would be appreciated if you could take a few minutes today to think about all those who lost their lives and about the families effected by Piper Alpha and other similar incidents caused by negligent, recklessness, and disregard for lives of workers shown by employers and Governments, so from Grahame Smith from the Scottish TUC and no doubt you will give that some thought later on.
Moving on now to motion 52, which I think is Richie Brown, to move on behalf of the Executive Council, and remember the restricted speaking times and there is no seconder.
Richie Brown, UNITE
Presidents, Delegates, Conference, moving motion 52 on behalf of the Executive Council of Congress.
From protection against unfair dismissal to equal pay for equal work to limits on working hours and much more, many of the labour rights we enjoy today were introduced by, or are underpinned by the EEC, the EC, or the EU, and have been adopted, often unwilling, by national Governments in Dublin and Westminster.
In the 1970s and the 1980s Europe was a about a race to the top in terms of workers’ rights along with so many other protections from consumer rights to food safety. Much of the European red tape which employers complain about today dates back to those decades, but those gains for working people are largely taken for granted, and in recent years culminating and the shameful Fiscal Treaty, the EU has been about defending the interests of capital and the elites, rather the interest of working people. In fact the EU has been a driving force behind the years of austerity, inflicted on communities from Bandon to Ballymena to Barcelona. There is a clear disconnect between EU policy and people’s interests, and that disconnect has driven a political reaction, manifested not only in the Brexit vote, but also in Right Wing national movements such as Le Front National in France, the Alternative For Germany, Geert Wilders Party for Freedom in Holland and more. But those who vote for these parties are not necessarily themselves right wing many of them are simply disillusioned and desperate to be heard. If Europe is not listening and National Governments are not listening, there are others who are.
The European Pillar of Social Rights proposed by Jean Claude Juncker may mark a return to a social Europe, to a Europe focused on the interests of European people, rather than European capital. But it will require sustained pressure from European civil society especially the Trade Union Movement, to ensure that this Pillar is not merely a collection aspirational word, easily ditched if it gets in the way of private profit. The Pillar of Social Rights must be enshrined in European and National legislation and its components must be fully enforceable at a European and National level. It must be fully resourced and funds for
164 the necessary investment must be made available. It must be binding on all members of the European Union and not just on Euro Zone members to avoid social dumping onto Europe’s periphery. It must be focused on growing jobs and workers’ rights at a time when they are under threat from automation, digitalisation, and the so-called gig or platforming economy. All developments which treat workers as disposal profit generators with few if any rights.
For too long the debate over Europe has been about little more than what we get out of it, especially meaning cash, or we create a politics of accusation against Europe without appreciating that in many cases it is our own political elites who have imposed destructive policies to working people and their communities in order to bailout their own financial elites. But the debate rarely focuses on what kind of Europe we want to live in and how we can participate in the European wide campaigns to achieve those goals.
ICTU is best placed to lead this new focus. It is the largest civil society grouping on this island. It has links with trade union movements in every European country, and it has the capacity to start that debate beginning with the Pillar of Social Rights. As trade unionist we know that collective action can achieve much more than individual action, and this applies to countries as well. We need a Europe that can challenge finance and multinational capital at a super and national level, for few countries have the economic or political power to do this on their own. We need a Europe that can vindicate the rights of all workers to avoid a nationally driven race to the bottom, and we need a Europe that will defend a productive economy where women and men create goods and services that other people need or want to purchase, the real economy. That debate should start now and this motion enables us to do just that, and I move.
Brian Campfield, President
Thanks Ritchie, and formally seconded. I just want to move on take these Motions to be moved and seconded ok so. The next motion is Motion 53, Anne Speed.
Anne Speed, Unison
Good morning everybody. Conference, delegates, I’m moving this motion on behalf of the Executive Council and speaking also to the Report Section on International Affairs.
President, Delegates, the action called in this Motion is a most important one. Affiliates are urged to include anti-racist workplace strategies in our collective bargaining agendas. The Congress has long been an advocate against racism and an active campaigner for the rights necessary for individuals to live in dignity, rights which lay the foundation for a freer, safer and more democratic society. From Trump, Nigel Farage, to Marine Le Pen, the surging right wing populism has harnessed discontent across the world. Populist politicians are challenging for power, are scape-goating refugees, immigrant communities, and minorities.
Nativism, Xenophobia, Racism, and Islamaphobia are on the rise. These dangerous trends threaten to reverse the progress of modern day human and civil rights movements. We must never forget the demagogues of the past, the Fascists and there like, who channelled and claimed privileged insight into the majorities’ interests, but ended up crushing the
165 individual. Our response to this populist surge must be unwavering. We must offer a vigorous defence of the values of human rights. We cannot simply stand by and hope that the winds of populism will blow over. We must speak out against intolerance wherever we see or here it in our communities, and especially in the workplace and in our Trade Unions.
Now I want to commend the Global Solidarity Committees who hosted a fringe event here two days ago which informed Delegates on the rise of the right. The presentation we heard, I think should be incorporated into training for all Shop Stewarts and Workplace Reps. And we also heard from a resident of Direct Provision in the Republic. For the last two decades this Congress has continuously called for the ending of the direct provision system, a system of institutional racism, and the speaker told us ‘the experience of being forced to do nothing and rely on handouts is eating away at my soul’.
The recent Ruling by the Republic Supreme Court in favour in granting the right to work is a civil and moral imperative which must be grasped by all politicians in the Dáil. The Irish Government must urgently legislate this right.
In this motion there are concrete actions that all parts of our movement can undertake; our Trades Councils, our Communications Departments, our Campaigning and Organising Departments, our negotiations and bargaining teams. The motion directs us to mainstream or antiracism and human rights policies, and tells us how to do it. Delegates we urge you not only to vote for this Motion, we ask you actively embrace it and implement it. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay that is formally seconded. Move on to the next motion which is Motion 54, no it is formally seconded, the Standing Orders Report was adopted and it says no speaking to motions, but we will come back to it. Go ahead Tom Geraghty to move Motion 54.
Tom Geraghty, PSEU
Thank you Chair Tom Geraghty moving Motion 54 on behalf of the Executive Council. I suppose it would be fair to say that this is the graveyard shift, the ranks are depleted here in the hall and most people are probably thinking about moving on and getting home. In a way that reflects how we deal with international issues within our movement. To a large extent by our conduct we undermine the point that David made earlier about international solidarity being the bedrock of our movement, because to a large extent we never engage with our members about international issues.
Now if you look at this particular motion in relation to ILO, you will see the Irish Government is now on the Governing Body of the ILO. I suspect if you ask the vast majority of trade union members they wouldn’t know that, and indeed they would probably struggle to tell you what the ILO actually does. I am not exempting myself from this observation, even most leaders of the trade union movement wouldn’t know the various Conventions there that are set out, to which Ireland has yet to subscribe. What are they actually about? Yet they set the international context which determines the conditions which our members work, this is vitally important stuff. People like David Joyce spent a considerable amount of
166 time trotting to and from Europe trying to ensure that the Irish workers’ voice is properly represented in these Conventions. This is not just some sort of an idle observation about oh woe are we because we are not paying enough attention to what is going on, this has major consequences. That disconnect between what is going on in the international context that determines so much about the world of work, that disconnect was reflected to a very large extent in the many, many workers in Britain who voted essentially to self-harm by voting for Brexit last year.
Now a number of people over the course of the last few days have said that nobody voted to put their job in jeopardy our voted to face wage cuts, and I understand the point, rather worrying that point was made by the General Sectary of the TUC. It is not true, because that is actually the effect of what they voted for, but you can’t blame individuals for that if their leadership doesn’t engage with them, and explain to them that are in an increasingly globalised situation and what happens on an international level has major consequences for each and every one of us. This is not just a case of me slagging of the British Labour movement for their rather lack lustre performance in respect of all of this. The truth of the matter is that in the same confluence of circumstances the Irish Trade Union movement would have been equally irrelevant in that particular debate. That is because we don’t pay enough attention to what is going on.
So I would urge people, first of all I would hope that in future we would give a little more prominence in these gatherings to international issues, but more importantly than that, when we leave, here I mean there is not much point in listening to an inspirational speech from the somebody as inspirational as Huber Ballesteros, if we go home and do nothing about it. We have to got to go and talk to our members, we have got to give them context, we have got to explain to them what it is we are doing in an international situation. That is the best protection against the sort of casual populism that is finding so much favour, because that is presenting an alternative narrative and it is a very seductive one. We have a reasonability to address that, and struggle against it by putting things into a broader international context, and giving people an opportunity to understand the consequences of their actions. Thank you, I propose motion 54.
Brian Campfield, President
Is that formally seconded? Okay, speakers?
Joan McCrohan, IMPACT
Good Morning delegates, President, on behalf of IMPACT trade union and as vice Chair of the ITUC Global Solidarity committee, I would like to support Motion 53. Delegates, as a member of the Global Solidarity delegation to Calais I witnessed what must be the greatness shame of our age. I remember walking in to this make shift refugee camp and understanding from the minute French police questioned our presence and harassed us, that this was not a place where pleasant memories of liberty were etched out, but a nightmare was unfolding for the almost 10,000 people living there.
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But there is a sea of prejudice and fear I learned something important in that place. We sat with people that had lost everything. We sat with them, and they smiled at us, they welcomed us, they sang and played music well into the night with us, and they shared what little food they had. The strangers in a strange land treated us with more courtesy and more affection than Europe has ever shown them.
In Calais I learned of the strength of the human spirit, its innate goodness. Hope is a rare commodity there, but I saw people who hoped anyway. Among the dunes there were small children, there were mothers, there were brothers and sisters, fathers and friends. In Calais despite the injustice, despite the torture and the blatant racism, I found humanity, and with my comrades, offered solidarity on behalf of all of us.
To those who were trapped there, and this Motion goes to the heart of we trade unionists must do, we must fight against right wing populism, mistruths, fake news, and the scapegoating of those who are refugees, asylum seekers or migrants for political gain. We must not look away, we must shine a spotlight on the inhumanity of Europe and Ireland’s response to the refugee crisis is nothing for us to be proud of to date. We should be loud and clear, and although our Governments may not have their doors opened to those seeking refuge, our unions do, and refugees and asylum seekers will find that safe haven in our movement.
Finally President, I would like to encourage every union to use the full documentary on Calais to raise awareness amongst union members of the reality of the plight of the refugees in every corner and corridor of our movement. We must stand up to the voice of intolerance, racisms, Xenophobia and Islamaphobia. Delegates, our unions welcome refugees, and I ask you to support this Motion.
Rosie Donnelly, SIPTU
Delegates, I wish to second Motion 54. Delegates of the fundamental rights of the Decent Work Agenda at the international Labour Organisation, is the freedom of association the right to join a trade union. This year the European Regional Meeting of the ILO will take place in Turkey, and if the Irish Government in its role on the Governing Body is to promote the ILO aims and objectives at home and abroad, it must speak out about the escalating assault in Turkey on human rights, freedom of association, and freedom of speech.
We should call on the Irish Government in its role at the ILO to deplore the so-called precautionary dismissals and suspensions of public employees which are destroying the livelihoods of tens of thousands of workers. It should deplore the failures of the Government of Turkey to abide by its obligations under the Fundamental Rights at Work of the International Labour Organisation, and call on them to cease the violation, adopt respect for the Implement ILO Core Labour Standards, in particular Conventions 87 and 98 on Trade Unions Rights. Furthermore delegates, as the dangerous situation in Turkey for workers, particularly journalists escalates, as Trade Unions we must express our solidarity with the Turkish Trade Union Movement by urging the Irish Government to call on the Turkish Government to cease the collective dismissals and suspension, intimidation and arrest of workers without any basis of evidences with in the rule of law. Release all
168 detained workers and public employees and journalists who are imprisoned without any clear accusations, and immediately redress the grievance of innocence people who have been arrested or suspended and restrained within their jobs. Delegates, I urge you to support this motion, Thank You.
Brian Campfield, President
Just to get an idea how many more speakers are there here?
John O Brien, INTO
John O Brien, INTO and I am supporting Motion 53. I am also on the Global Solidarity Committee of ICTU. This Motion has both an international and a local focus, and the international agreements are hugely important and relevant. The Agenda 2030 is of particular note, and I would hope our movement internationally would sponsor this in a very real way, by suggesting that they seek a campaign across the European Union for all States to encompass the SDG´s within programmes for Government, that’s the big picture.
But I believe that the most important paragraph in this motion is about the Trade Union movement’s roll in defeating racial discrimination and combating the efforts to divide ordinary people, while defending the positive roll of people or workers who emigrate to Ireland. For most workers and the public at large their daily experience, involvement with, or visualisation of globalisation and the need for Global Solidarity principles is their engagement on a daily basis with people who are called refugees or people who and emigrated to Ireland, whether from European Union countries or further afield, and it is a real issue.
We must try to mitigate against any growth of alienation that some Irish people feel, whether instigated by the media or other sources, from the new comers, some of whom have been here for many years. Now I had very little experience of discrimination of that nature. I have been a very lucky person of this regard, but I will relate one small little story were on the streets of Dublin City with two other people, we were having a conversation, they were talking in a foreign language, I won’t say which one, and we were accosted by an individual on the street with a barrage of abuse, and basically the line was ‘f off back to wherever you came from’. Now two of us were Irish and one not, and I was shocked and bemused by the whole thing, but how serious it must be for people who have to deal with this kind of abuse on a regular basis, and it does happen in this country.
We must campaign for direct provision that is certainly true, but without promoting the benefits of emigration for Irish society we will run the risk of allowing an anti-foreigner vote lobby who will take ownership of that topic in public discourse. Therefore we must address the topic as widely as possible within our workplaces, union structures and in the public domain. Thank you.
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Kevin Daly, INTO
Kevin Daly, INTO and Chair of the ICTU Global Solidarity Committee. Comrades, supporting Motion 53 first I ask in supporting this Motion that Executive and Affiliated Unions commit themselves fully to resourcing any proposed campaigns to combat racism and the rise of the far right and so on, not just financially, but I also make an appeal here that affiliate unions send their delegates to the Committees to have their voices heard to lead the campaigns, to help with the campaigns, to help to identify whether our resources existing within our affiliated unions to move on to campaigns. We have seen this morning from Huber Ballesteros and we will see later on from Omar Barghouti the strength and the power of our contributions to the global struggle when we put our mind to it, when we put our resources into it, and I would urge the Executive and Executives of all unions to fully back and fully support both in human terms and financial terms the activities of our Committees North and South.
Secondly, in supporting campaigns against racism and the rise of the far right and so on, we must never tire of identifying the cause of the appeal of the far right, from all the issues we need to deal with at home and abroad. We need to tackle effectually housing, cuts to health, precarious work, precarious employment, underemployment, cuts to welfare, cuts to education, and we must never tire of educating our members and teaching people, and telling those who have been duped by their ruling classes the real cause of their discontent. It’s not in the emigrant, the migrant, the person working abroad under-cutting wages, its global capital and those who are responsible for it. Thank you.
Liam Doran, IMO
President, Delegates, Liam Doran speaking in favour of Motion 52 on The European Pillar of Social Rights. I will be very brief, but I think trying to build on what Richie and Tom said earlier on, and trying the link the two, I agree with Tom that there is a hesitancy on our part to fully understand the importance of looking at the European-wide and the international situation in terms of how it effects our members in their workplaces, and I think the last number of years has seen, while all of us have been trying to survive the recession, and trying to protect, and trying to do what we can with a kind of a narrow focus, the capital side of the world and the employers’ side of the world have sought to exploit the period of recession by trying to capitalise in every way, shape or form they can, upon imposing limits and pulling back upon the rights and entitlements of workers. Two manifestations of that have come to pass I suppose, are the proposed Tree Trade Agreement were they are trying to get situation in where they can sue governments who adopt policies that damage their rights to profits, and might inhibit their growth of profits and so on, so the workers don’t matter and any rights they might aspire to have.
A recent example I saw, and I hope I have this right because you are all wary of what you read, is that you had two small Italian banks failed about 10 days ago in that country, and the government moved overnight to protect the situation. So it was taken over by a bank doing relatively well, the taxpayer bailed out the banks to the tune of €6.5 billion, all the senior bond holders were protected in terms of their speculation and so on. There is going to be a few thousand job losses over time in relation to the small banks, but the following
170 day the share price of the receiving bank went up. So in a situation where workers were losing out, taxpayers were footing the bill, those who live on the markets and live on speculating and so on, were fully and absolutely protected. Now if that’s manifested or repeated itself, we have no chance. So I would certainly ask Conference to adopt the Motion and to ensure the incoming Executive, as I know it will, prioritise of this, because if we don’t win the battle of having rights enshrined for workers across Europe, I can assure you, employers will walk, tread and try to bury every worker in pursuit of profit, and we need this Pillar and we need this now. Thank you very much.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay, I am putting Motion 52 to Conference. Those in favour? That’s carried.
Motion 53. Those in favour? That’s carried.
Motion 54. Those in favour? That’s carried.
At this stage it is a pleasure for me to introduce our next speaker Sharan Burrow from International Trade Union Confederation. Sharan is the first woman to be General Secretary of the ITUC, and she was also President of the Australian Council of Trades Union for a period as well. She is from New South Wales and so I should just might make the Irish connection, I know there is probably a big one but some of Jimmy Kelly’s neighbours in the 1830s where transported to New South Wales. I think there is a song The call of the Conneries’ which gives pride of place to New South Wales, so that’s where we sent all our all of our best people.
Sharon Burrow, ITUC
Thank you, and perhaps the real passport to ICTU is my maiden name is Murphy, so that will tell you something. So Patricia it’s a pleasure to be back here with you, and I congratulate the ICTU, all the unions and most importantly, the members for the fight you have put up for working people every day. This is a fighting movement, we are proud of you, and you should be proud of yourselves.
You know that the current model of globalisation has failed working people and their families. The underbelly of cooperate globalisation is low wages, insecure and too often unsafe work. When only 60% of the global workforce in the formal economy, and more than half of those are in insecure, short term, often unsafe work with low wages, then something is very wrong. But think of the other 40%. They are brothers and sisters in the informal economy, the sector of desperation I call it, no rights, no minimum wages, no rule of law, absolutely struggling just to survive. And then up to 45 million of those brothers and sisters are in modern slavery and its growing, both informal work and modern slavery are growing, and now appearing in the supply chains of our major corporations. That’s the failure of globalisation writ large for all of us. Indeed we know that globalisation is also in trouble for corporations with shrinking markets, and extraordinary mistrust, and so it should be because the world’s workforce is in trouble, and people simply don’t trust their Governments when they offer them more of the same.
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The Italian Bank story was just one of those examples. Our 2017 global poll which just released for the G20, actually tells the story more graphically than anything I could say. The words of working people in the results are that 73% of people are worried about losing their jobs, and 83% of those people in around 50% of the world’s population believe that the minimum wage is not enough to live on. Inequality and instability, in their view, can only grow if you don’t tackle that. Working people are deeply anxious and 45% of people in G20 countries hold little hope that their children will see decent work in their lifetime. Think about that. We always believed, including you know the decedents of your convicts, that in fact life would be better for every generation of children, and that’s why you fought, whether it was here, in Australia, or indeed around the world.
So when you consider that people are not fooled, they know that the 1% are universally the holders of the wealth, and they also recognise what we know the threats to democracy, that 1% including our major corporations holds the reins of power over our Governments. Governments don’t hold the power, they in fact cowed by the major corporations and the wealthy. Yet people are not fooled by right wing populism, despite the risks for all of us, the brothers were right this morning who said that we have to fight it, but people are not fooled by governments or politicians who peddle division. They are not seeking a retreat into nationalism, rather they know that if governments acted together they could ensure decent work and the world would be more secure.
So there is a clear mandate from the world’s people for action. They want 85% of them to see the rules of the global economy rewritten. Rewrite the rules of the global economy. Indeed the messages for the G20 Meeting today and all Governments are very clear, they also want a Minimum Wage on which people can live with dignity, your Living Wages fight. They want investment in jobs for themselves and their children, investment in infrastructure, in the care economy, jobs for women but also services to free women to participate in the economy, and by the way ironically our research shows, invest in care and you get 4% dividend for men, in a third jobs dividend in infrastructure and services, so everybody wins. They actually want universal social protection, the essential public services, the income support when they are in need. 85% of them recognise that the world would be a better place if governments acted on climate. So our people are not looking for division, all of our people they are looking for security at work, security at home and for investment in jobs of today and for their children’s future.
So your Charter Fair Conditions at Work is an essential part of securing this future and organising for that is indeed Patricia, the recipe that we need is hold up everywhere.
Our frontlines, the ITUC frontlines are clear. We will stand to eliminated slavery. We will actually tame cooperate power in supply chains, and we will fight for climate justice and a Just Transition to a sustainable future. Our ongoing priorities include rights for migrant workers and refuges, we are very clear, to my sister from SIPTU, refugees are welcome, that’s what the global movement said.
Indeed our countries, my country is a migrant country, it was built by migrant workers. If migrants and refugees, and I might add Australia has a shameful record at the moment on refugees. If our countries don’t stand for refugees and migrant rights then indeed our
172 economies are at risk so is the depravity of our soul, when another human being has equal rights to both the right to work and equal treatment. So we have a job to do to be the guardians of those rights. You wouldn’t have a message from me without a message about women. Count Us In is the message from women from all over the world; count us into the economy, to jobs and that’s why we are fighting for that G20 promise of 25% increase in women’s participation, it’s actually a small target but let’s at least get that, and the investment in care that will make it possible as well as improve the security of our communities. But we also want to be counted into our unions, it’s not a good picture I am sorry to say, when you have almost 50% of union members being women, but look at the leadership, so count us into leadership everywhere as well. Indeed I think we have done very well in setting the agenda for women, but we have to bring it home. I was a reluctant participant on the UN High Level Panel for women, I think the UN is dysfunctional and we need to do something about that, but that is a huge debate in and of itself. But nevertheless the UN High Level Panel for women recognised what we want, they recognised that inequality can only tackled for women with social protection and equal pay. So social protection and a Minimum Living Wage, they are the two first pieces of the recipe to reduce inequality for everybody, but of course for women in particular.
They also recognise the agenda of care, both for the security and the fabric of our communities but for the role that women can then play more broadly, and they recognise the challenge of the fight against eliminating violence against women, and it’s for that, that I enlist your help today. We will have this debate hard fought for, for a standard - we want a convention so go lobby your Government - at the ILO next year, around Gender Based Violence. We had to call it Gender Based Violence Sisters, otherwise we couldn’t get it on the agenda but we know what it means. It means eliminate violence against women, and of course against men. But we want a Convention and we want to see the workplace and an actor. We have seen what you can do when you bargain for domestic violence clauses, and the rights to domestic violence leave in workplaces. It’s better for the business, it certainly creates solidarity in our workplaces, and indeed Canada is now going to legislate for it, we hope, so keep your fingers crossed. But that’s the fight for next year - a Convention on Gender Based Violence.
And, with the ETUC we have in fact declared that the fight is on for a global pay rise. The world needs a global pay rise. Esther was here I know earlier this week with Luca, she and I and Luca are leading the charge everywhere. As the G20 meets today our question is will they actually show leadership that is so essential. Will it end in division with the craziness of Donald Trump and others, seeking a world in their own eyes, with little or no thought for the consequences? Or will it see some of the successes we got from the Labour Ministers enshrined? The Labour Ministers recognised the need for a Minimum Living Wage, a wage on which people can live and raise their families. The fundamental right of freedom of an association and collective bargaining, they recognised occupational health and safety as a growing issue again in our midst. Corporate accountability with the due diligence that is demanded by the UN Guarding Principles for Business and Human Rights, and most importantly that oppression and violations of human rights cannot be part of competition, cannot be part of the global competition floor on which the current model of globalisation is based.
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So our question to the G20 as they meet today, will corporations be held to account with new rules that require due diligence, like the Bill in France, that require grievance procedures at all levels and remedies so we can do our job to represent workers. These are the principles set out in the UN Business and Human Rights Guidelines, and we want them implemented. And will inequality be addressed with the only solutions there are; wages, social protection, including public services, and taxation reform. That’s the solution, we must demand it of all governments. So governments need to stop protecting the corporate wage theft that fuels corporate greed, and drives inequality.
On October 7 I have another request, it’s the World Day for Decent Work. Unions all over the world will stand behind the banner of End Corporate Greed The World Needs a Pay Rise. I hope we will see Ireland there as well.
In Asia I am very proud of the campaign there. There is a united call Asia Fights for 50, think about this just – just $50 extra a month, $50 US a month would secure a Living Wage, would see that my friend Fermae from the Philippians does not struggle every week with the worry of whether he can afford his baby’s formula. Imagine, baby’s formula - one day’s wages, one week’s baby formula, two children – two day’s wages. $50 US dollars. And, when a company like Samsung that is our current target of evil in terms of corporate campaigning, when it earns $10,000 profit for every supply chain worker, not the 320,000 they acknowledge they employ, but the 1.5 millon in their hidden workforce, then think about that, €600 a year verses €10,000 dollars profit, it’s affordable.
And, we will build that campaign in Africa. I can tell you if that you pay 5 cents more on a bunch of flowers anywhere in Europe, and you are still in Europe all of you, anyone who actually pays 5 cents more on a bunch of flowers could double the wages of Kenyan flower workers. And, in Latin America the same thing in August we will be building those campaigns, because less than 2 cents on a banana, or 3 cents on a melon, you could provide minimum living wages for the workers in Guatemala and Honduras respectfully. So the wage fight is on.
If I can President, let me say something about two countries; Qatar - evil, evil empire seconded only by Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf States with their modern slavery. But I must say at the moment Qatar is under siege from the politics of who supports which terrorists group. But our migrant workers, 1.8million of them are at risk of not eating and not being able to get out of the country. So I have spoken to David and Seamus and others. We ask you to call on Qatar to eliminate the Exit Visa. Seamus is going to be there with the journalists who are under siege and under oppression in Aljazeera. We support the journalists, they are at the frontlines both there and everywhere, but eliminate the Exit Visa so we can work on getting our people out of Qatar.
Turkey, the Sister said it all, but can I tell you we have asked you all to boycott the European Conference, The ETUC, the ITUC, and we are asking you actually say to your Governments they should not send a delegation, they should not send a delegation. This is a country where all we would be doing is legitimating a dictatorship with our presences, it’s not a situation where we can go and stand in solidarity and fight in Turkey or other places. The best solidarity is to say we will not be part of an Erdoğancarnival.
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And of course I do want to say in reference to the magnificent struggle in Columbia and the Peace deal which I know is very venerable, and thank you Huber for all your work and all of the colleagues, that because of the situation in the world where democratic space is just shrinking, that we are going to hold a Freedom Summit and it will be a summit with a difference, in December. We will ask leaders but they are not allowed to come unless they bring a young leader, and we are going to have a intergenerational conversation about history, what it took to undo Fascism and Natzism, and therefore what it will take to stop populism or the rise of Fascism again across Europe, or indeed contemporary discussions about what it takes to seek peace and rebuild in Columbia, Syria, and Palestine, in all the other countries where we know that conflict and the military spend that is greater than any time during World War 2, is actually just fuelling the refugees, it is killing our people and it is undermining the ant-union attacks.
So let me finish with just a reference to the future and the future, the future of work, again I had breakfast with Seamus this morning because of Qatar, but I congratulated him about the fight of the freelancers in his union. You know the future of work is not that scary, well some of it is actually, you know, but we can see off the Ubers and the Deliveroos and the bastards who would simply want to break down any employment relationship. Because if we mobilise to keep the protections we know that your Charter is fighting for, whether I am indirectly employed by Patricia, or whether I am employed in David’s agency to work for Patricia, or I sign contracts of work on the internet to work for Seamus, Patricia, and David; who cares? We will fight for rights. We have preferences about direct employment, but who cares? You need the same things; social protection, a minimum living wage, and if what it takes for us is to set the contract price for that, then we need to just do that, if it means taking apart current competition policy that stops us.
We need freedom of association, because frankly the actors, the journalists, have always set the contract price, we have always set the contract price with collective bargaining, so you need freedom of association and collective bargaining. Yes we might have to build cooperatives again, internet-based cooperatives. We will organise freelancers, but we need the same rights and freedom to shape the new world of work as we have in the current world today.
So I can only say to you Patricia, that the answer to a better future, to win the promise of what 2015 and the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement promised us, zero poverty, a zero carbon worlds, to win that we need to defend democracy to secure human rights and equality, to seek climate justice and a Just Transition, and to win the Charter that you describe as fair conditions at work or decent work. The answer is to organise, you know that, we built the Global Organising Academy, we have held the first Globalising Organising Conference this year. I am so proud of the lead organisers in the developing world who are taking on tougher fights than many of us have ever faced, and indeed the recipe is simply; organise, organise, and organise. A mighty ICTU, you are on the front lines to the struggle for climate, rights, jobs, justice, a better future for our children. Solidarity.
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Brian Campfield, President
Sharan thank you very much. We’ll just make a little presentation to Sharan now.
Okay Patricia is going to pull the name out of a hat for the NERI competition. And the winner is Peter Lanigan.
Okay can we move on to Motion 55 Derry Trades Council? And after this we’re going to have a short film, followed by Mags O’Brien saying a few words, and then we will have Omar Barghoutti from Palestine.
Daisy Mewels, Derry Trades Council
I’m proposing Motion 55 on behalf of Derry Trade Union Council. President, Comrades. Delegates, it gives me great pleasure to be proposing this motion on Palestinian Solidarity especially as Omar is here with us today.
Firstly let me congratulate the ICTU Executive and the Affiliated Unions, including Trade Union Friends of Palestine for their ongoing support of the Palestinian people. It was especially heartening to see the leadership role played by Congress in helping to establish the European Trade Union network for justice in Palestine.
This Motion is asking you to endorse, publicise and actively support the work of the European Network. You will have read the Motion Comrade’s, I am not going to insult your intelligence by repeating all that is written here, however there are a few things I wish to emphasise by referring to them. It was encouraging to see that the recent UN Report of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia entitled ‘Israeli Practises Towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid’ supports our ICTU policy adopted in 2007, and suggests as one of its recommendations that we should try and broaden the support for BDS.
Comrades, this is the first time UN body has clearly charged that Israel has established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a whole. It is now up to us through our unions, civil society generally, to raise awareness about this apartheid system in Palestine, and to bring pressure on Israel to end this occupation and oppressive behaviour towards the Palestinian population.
This report is hugely significant, and it should be read and discussed by all affiliates. It will be crucial that the incoming Executive Council submit a response on behalf of ICTU, which should include asking the appropriate UN bodies to take the actions recommended by the report. Along with others here, other delegates here today, I was fortunate enough to be a delegate for both my union INTO, and the Derry Trades Union Council, on the recent TUFP delegation to Palestine in March this year. It was an intense eight days, at times harrowing and emotional, but ultimately a hugely educative experience. I recommend everyone here to visit Palestine. To give you a flavour, we met with Palestinian Trade Union, the new unions, and teachers unions, workers committees, women’s collectives, Defensive Children International, The Mayor of Rantis, representatives from Fatah and Hamas, and Omar here
176 of course. We were witness to the constant repression facing workers and civil society living their daily lives. We visited check points crossings for workers and students. We visited schools, one of which had been demolished four times by Israeli soldiers. We visited farming communities where many people live in caves as they are less easily demolished, imagine in this century living in a cave. But this is what the Israeli Government is forcing on the Palestinian people. We visited the oil fields near Rantis on stolen Palestinian land, appropriated by the Israeli Government.
Throughout Palestinian we met the separation wall, meandering through or around villages and towns, cutting off Palestinians from their work, from their olive tree fields, family and friends - apartheid in practice. During our many varied meetings and visits we always asked what could we do to support Palestinians? Every individual group, union, political representative asked for the same three things; educate people about the oppression and the occupation, expose the settler colonisation and apartheid, and encourage people to implement BDS as the main tool of support.
The Israeli Government’s response to worldwide increasing support for BDS has been to attempt to criminalise anybody associated with BDS. The recent legal prevention of BDS activists entering Israel is just example. We must be very concerned at the recently proposed collaboration between the Ministry for Strategic Affairs and the Israel Trade Union Federation Histradut in its attempt to set up an Histradut NGO programme which would be used as a tool to work against BDS activities in our unions.
We in the trade union movement must guard against any attempt by the Israeli Government to smear or criminalise our movement in our defence of human rights. The ICTU Executive must be in the forefront of defending human rights in Palestine by actively implementing ICTU’s long standing BDS policy. We are also asking the Executive to seek a meeting with the Irish Government at the highest level to inform them of our determination and to advance the case for effective action to end Israeli breaches of International Law and EU complicity with this. Comrades, I urge you to support this urgent motion and its recommendations.
Eamon McMahon, UNISON
I’m a member of UNISON and Secretary of Trade Union Friends of Palestine, speaking to the motion. First of all I want to thank Derry for the motion it’s a long motion but sometimes long motions are what is required. It’s a very strong motion in terms on what it’s demanding of the Irish Government and with the request that it’s putting forward on the policy position that we will have in ICTU now. So there are concrete measures in that motion, Daisy has outlined them and I don’t need to go over them again.
I want to thank Congress for accepting our request that we invite Omar to address conference. We knew that Huber was coming, but they also agreed in the context of what’s happening and the attacks on the BDS movement to invite Omar, and I sincerely want to show my appreciation on behalf of TUFP that Congress decided to do that.
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Now you will hear Omar very shortly, he’s very articulate and he’s very forensic in his presentations. A number of you will have heard him already, but I’m tell you, you might have seen it on TV, you might have watched films, no matter when you’ve read, it’s not until you go out there yourself it really, really shocks you. No matter how much you think you know about it you will be shocked and distressed at what’s evident. The fact that 50,000 people in Hebron for example are in community prisons, they actually in prison, locked in. You can’t get out after 10 o’clock at night. They’re in community prisons. The streets are call sterile streets, because they are sterile and that’s the official military term, sterile streets because Palestinians are not allowed to walk on them, and the people live in caves, and Daisy has outlined that.
We are promoting ambassadors in TUFP, we want people to get involved in the model of solidarity that we are now promoting, based on our Norwegian colleagues and sending out trade union ambassadors to Palestine. We’ve a lot of documentation about that. We’ve a lot of reports. We have guidelines about how to do it, so come on board. I just want to in terms of the mention, the incredible attacks on Palestinian children. Children are now a deliberate weapon of war. Based on an understanding of their neurological development, their need for attachment and security, that has been undermined quite deliberately, in a very planned way, and this has never ever happened before in the history of human warfare. So I think we have to do something quite drastic.
TUFP are going to be organising, in association I hope with ICTU, a major conference on this with NGOs, so we’ve got lots of plans for further solidarity activity, and I know that the trade union movement in Ireland will be with us on that. Thank you very much.
Kevin Daly, INTO
Comerades, Kevin Daly, INTO and Trade Union Friends of Palestine. We should be in no doubt as well that the struggle for rights in Palestine is also our struggle here, the struggle for rights across the world. Omar Barghouti reminded us yesterday at a fringe meeting that attempts to crush BDS are intrinsically linked with attempts to crush other forms of activism, including environmental activism which also relies on the idea of Divestment Sanction and Boycott.
If you look at the CETA and TTIP trade agreements which would further criminalise buying and outlawing collective efforts in boycotting and divestment on a range of issues, so this is very much everyone’s fight. Israel is an exporter of oppression. It takes is methods of repression and exports them elsewhere. Another reason we have a moral obligation to combat abusive human rights, instigated in Israel and exported around the world.
We should also note that solidarity is also very much a two-way street. We benefit from the solidarity we show to our Palestinian Brothers and Sisters by learning from their methods, learning from their activism, learning from their steadfastness in their struggle in the face of overwhelming odds. We learn methods of resistance, of organising, of educating on the minimal of resources, again I mentioned it the last time I spoke, resourcing is an issue for us and we would again appeal to the wider trade union movement, rather than us handing out
178 the begging bowl all of the time that we should be funding Trade Union Friends of Palestine in an effort to show solidarity with our Brothers and Sisters overseas.
Again we heard earlier that solidarity in Columbia gives strength to the Columbian Trade Union activists and human rights defenders to continue. I would argue also that their commitment to their struggles gives us inspiration to continue with our day-to-day struggles, that we take into our workplaces and into or own organising, and our own day-to- day and bread and butter issues. We adopted the slogan ‘solidarity is with the struggles, not with the suffering’ and I would ask you to give that some reflection this morning. Thank you.
Roberta McGee, UNISON
Speaking in support of Motion 55 on Palestinian Solidarity. Conference, I had the privilege to go to Palestine in March of this year, and I thank Patricia McKeown for the opportunity. The plight of the Palestinian people is seen to be supported by only one side of our community, with the other side very suspicious. Patricia wanted to highlight that this was something we all needed to get behind and support. So there were two Protestant people, myself and Ali Long joined that delegation, we were the ‘token Prods’ of the delegation.
To say my eyes were opened would be a total understatement. We have heard from great speakers about Palestine, much more knowledgeable than myself. But I want to talk about the people, the men, the women and children of Palestine. We might think of this as a project to support. This isn’t just a project, these people depend on us. I can remember the faces of the men coming home from Palestine to Palestine. Their own land, three checkpoints, hearded like sheep, having to get up at 3 in the morning to go to work in order to feed their families. So can you imagine how this hurt the pride of these people? I saw it in their faces with my own eyes, it was a hard thing to watch. I saw it in the faces of the young men, far too young waiting at the farmer’s gate, taking their horses and carts home, only when allowed by the Israeli army. To the children who have to look after younger children, some only five and six, to the daughters who have to be midwives to their mothers, to the skinny wee boy who followed us down the marketplace to get some bread. He was about 6 years old, it’s hard to tell sometimes with Palestinian kids because they’re extremely underweight. To the 12 year old reporter who wants to go to Harvard to study journalism so she can tell the world what’s happening to her people. To the women of the new unions, what hope they have for the future. They want to help those women without husbands who have to go work in the settlements. They want to organise them, educate them of their rights. Most of all they want to make them self-sufficient to be able to earn a decent day’s pay for a day’s work, without having to give half of what they earn to the Israeli Government.
They have a plan, but they need us to help them. Conference, we must help them. This is not about Catholic and Protestants. None of us ever suffered like the Palestinian people are suffering wherever we come from. This is about proud husbands and fathers, young men, women and children. These are the memories that will stay with me from my visit to Palestine.
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I promised the people I would tell anybody who would listen, so I hope I’ve done that. So delegates whatever religion you are, please support, support, support the people of Palestine.
Brian Campfield, President
By the way I adjusted the lights there so I wouldn’t be embarrassed too much by speakers going over the red light, but it’s back to the normal Peter for you if you want to speak. This is the last speaker and then we’re going to the vote.
Peter Collins, UCU
One of the things that Roberta highlighted was the divisions in this part of Ireland between Protestant and Catholic over Israel and Palestine, some of you may find that incredible, but it goes back a long, long time. It goes back to when the state of Israel was set up, Northern Ireland Friends of Israel, which is linked to extreme Unionism I have to say, has been working away promoting Israel’s case. It’s unbelievably unsupportable, but nevertheless they use all sorts of bigotry to put this case forward. Now a friend of ours is a Presbyterian Minister, he went to Palestine some years ago and he found what all of us who have been to Palestine find, is that there is only one side that is being repressed. He came back and he has been working for the cause of Palestine and that has brought upon him the wrath of his community. He talked to us recently about this and it’s a very sad story, in fact it has broken his family up, so that’s the kind of thing we’re up against.
Now I want to echo what Roberta has said about our work here as trade unionists. In each of our branches and indeed in our regional headquarters we should work to promote the cause of Palestine, despite the fact that many of our members, particularly here in the North are brainwashed against Palestine. They are told that the Palestinians are part of Islamic terrorism. If you go to the Shankill Road you’ll see a huge mural about Lieutenant Colonel Patterson who was a leader of the UVF in 1913 in West Belfast. He set up the Jewish Mule Corps in the First World War, the first fighting unit of Jews since biblical times, so he is someone who is held up as a hero in the Unionist Community, so that’s where we’re at. So we really have to work hard in our branches to do away with this attitude. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay putting Motion 55 to conference, those in favour? It’s clearly carried.
Just to let you know to a brief film, Mags O’Brien is going to speak and then Omar Barghouti. But after Omar speaks we’re going to go straight to Motions 14, 15, 16 and then Motion 42, 43 and 51. Just be prepared for that.
Calais video played.
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Mags O’Brien, Global Solidarity Committee
Delegates, that clip is part of a longer video which is available to any union here and it gives a concrete example of Global Solidarity work. As Joan already said she led a delegation organised by Yvonne O’Callaghan to go to Calais to see first-hand the conditions there. Following that the Global Solidarity Subgroup on Refugees became involved in the ‘Not on Our Watch Campaign’ to try to get the Irish Government to take in minors from the Calais camp. We were instrumental in lobbying for a motion to the Dáil to accept 300 children. 300 was a token of what we thought we might be able to do. That was passed in the Dáil, however we still haven’t got the numbers through and we continue to press for this to be fully implemented.
The refugee crisis is a shame on our world, and we continue to highlight it in any way we can. We have also undertaken to work on the right to work for those in direct provision centres, and the abolition of such centres which are a shame on Ireland. As Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers said ‘you don’t fight racism with racism, the best way to fight racism is with solidarity’. We recognise that the rise of the right and the repressive regimes across the world has many dangers for the trade union movement and workers’ rights and we continue to highlight this in any way we can. The Committee is also concerned about trade agreements such as CETA and TTIP and have also lobbied regarding these.
As a Committee we adopted a number of themes and agreed to work with other groups for increased effectiveness on issues such as Agenda 2030 and specifically the aim for full employment and decent work. We also campaign on the right to human rights and decent work in many countries where trade unions and workers suffer problems, for instances as has already been mentioned so ably by Huber - Columbia and you will hear from Omar on Palestine, and Katar where we have been involved in the Fifa Fair Play Campaign. We also recognise the deteriorating situation in Turkey for human rights activists and the suffering of the Kurdish people there. We have also lobbied on behalf of Ibrahim Halawa and again that’s another shame to our country that we haven’t done more on that.
I want to pay tribute to a number of unions who continually make it possible for us to invite speakers or contribute in some way to the causes we work for, and I would urge more unions to become more closely involved in our work and to use the committee as a resource to show members that trade unions are about solidarity. We also hope, as David already said, that we can encourage members to participate in the Summer School in Wexford in August which will address some of the issues.
I want to pay tribute to David for the tireless work he does on our behalf, I don’t think people realise the amount of work he does, and the other staff in Congress, but I would urge you all that we need more people involved. It’s very difficult for us to be involved in so many campaigns to try to give time and energy to them when we’re spread thinly on the ground. Remember it is an organising tool for young people especially because young people are enthused about issues around the world and we should try to draw them in more.
So I will finish by saying that the struggle continues, and it will not end easily.
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Brian Campfield, President
Okay thanks Mags, it’s now the time when we invite Omar Barghouti to speak to us, it’s a great pleasure to have you here. Omar is from a family of Palestinian refugees, he’s a human rights defender and he’s a cofounder of the BDS movement for Palestinian rights. I have a long list of qualification and publications here but I’m not going to read them out. You heard from Huber earlier, and Huber was just released from prison and the people of Palestine are basically in an open air prison, I think Eamon McMahon made reference to that, and it’s still a prison.
So it’s with great pleasure that I’m inviting Omar to address you now.
Omar Barghouti, Guest Speaker
Thank you very much for this kind invitation. I want to start by thanking Huber for being such an inspirational force to me and I’m sure to many others, thank you.
The Palestinian led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement for Palestinian Rights salutes the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for supporting the movement since 2007 reflecting the deep roots of Irish-Palestinian solidarity.
The challenge ahead is how to translate this principled and highly-appreciated support into effective, strategic campaigns that can significantly contribute to our struggle for freedom, justice and equality, given the sharp escalation of Israel’s regime of occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid of its war crimes, siege of Gaza, ethnic cleansing and dehumanisation of the entire Palestinian people.
Israel’s military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem, turned 50 last month. The gigantic fraud of the so-called ‘peace process’ has made a just peace father than ever by providing a fig leaf for intensified colonisation and denial of basic human rights. Concerted action is needed more than ever. Along with colonising Palestinian lands, Israel has for decades attempted to colonise our minds with despair and the futility of hope to live in freedom and dignity. The long path to justice and freedom therefore must commence with exercising our deeply-seated inhibitions and embarking on a process of decolonising our minds, for we cannot possibly pursue freedom while our minds cannot envision what it looks like. This decolonisation of the mind in turn demands rekindling our well-founded hope. Hope after all can be contagious. This is precisely why Israel’s regime has desperately tried to suppress the BDS movement for it’s the main source of our hope, a key part of our non-violent popular resistance, and the move effective form of international solidarity with our struggle for rights.
Begun in 2005 by the broadest coalition on Palestinian civil society, including all trade unions, BDS calls for ending the 1967 Occupation, ending what even the United States State Department once criticised as Israel’s system of ‘institutional, legal and societal discrimination’ which meets the UN definition of apartheid, and upholding the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes of origin. These three basic rights correspond
182 to the three main constituencies of the Palestinian people, 38% in the Occupied Territories, 12% Palestinian citizens of Israel, and 50% Palestinians in exile.
BDS is deeply inspired by the South African Anti-Apartheid Movement and the US Civil Rights Movement. Anchored in the universal declaration of human rights, BDS has consistently and categorically opposed all forms of racism and racial discrimination, including anti-Jewish racism and Islamaphobia. From Belfast to Bethlehem we strongly believe one’s identity should never diminish or restrict one’s entitlement to universal rights. BDS as a result targets complicity, not identity. BDS is an inclusive movement that enjoys a growing community of support, including among younger Jewish Israelis. Despite the obvious differences between Israel’s regime of oppression and Apartheid South Africa, the similarities are striking. South Africa Speaker of Parliament Baleka mBete recently stated that apartheid in South Africa was a picnic compared to what we have seen in the occupied Palestinian Territories. A few months ago as was mentioned earlier, a UN report concluded that Israel was practising apartheid against the entire Palestinian people and called for intensifying BDS to hold Israel to account. Israeli apartheid is in fact recognised as such by prominent Israeli figures and commentators, some of whom admit that Israel’s more than 60 racist laws form a pillar of this apartheid. Earlier this year for instance Israeli forces destroyed most of Umil Haran a Bedouin Palestinian village in the Negev Desert whose residents are citizens of Israel to establish a Jewish only settlement on its ruins. Israel maintains a completely segregated system which enforces racial discrimination against its non-Jewish indigenous Palestinian students.
Globally Israel is becoming more openly associated with the rising far right including Xenophobic and anti-Semitic groups in the United States and Europe. Richard Spencer a white supremacist leader in the US supporting Trump for example has defended his racist nationalism as ‘a sort of white Zionism’. As a result, support for holding Israel to account according to international law is growing worldwide, especially among younger Jewish Americans and the broader US public, where it matters the most. A 2014 poll in the US showed that 46% of non-Orthodox Jewish American men under the age of 40 support a full boycott of Israel to end its occupation. A 2016 survey by the Brookings Institution reveals that almost half of all Americans support sanctions against Israel to end its human rights violations. BDS draws a lot of inspiration from the growing bonds of mutual solidarity with movements defending the rights of refugees, immigrants, women, workers, blacks, Muslims, indigenous groups and the LGBTQI community. Beyond the ethical imperative to stand with all oppressed communities against oppression, we understand that isolated we fail and united we prevail.
But what about the impact of BDS? The largest multinationals that are complicit in Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights have been successfully targeted by the movement. In September 2015 Violia the French conglomerate, became the first international company to end all involvement in Israeli illegal operations following an extensive 7 year BDS campaign that cost it tenders around the world worth billions of dollars. This has triggered a domino effect with companies like Orange telecommunications, CRH and others following suit.
Bowing to BDS pressure last year after what the Financial Times called reputational damage, G4S the world’s largest private security company decided to end most of its involvement in
183 illegal Israeli business. G4S had lost contracts in Jordan, Norway, Lebanon, the European Parliament, South Africa, Columbia and others. In the first weeks of 2016, the $20bn United Methodist Church Pension Fund declared the five largest Israeli banks off limits for investment, following the lead of the second largest pensions fund in the Netherlands, PDGM, which in 2014 divested from Israeli banks. The US Presbyterian Church has voted to divest from Catepillar, Hewlitt Packard and Motorola Solutions, as did other mainline churches in the US – mostly Protestant churches by the way - due to these companies’ support for the occupation. Tens of city councils in Spain have declared themselves Israeli Apartheid free zones and the Northern Irish city of Derry announced its full support for BDS last year.
While many artists have cancelled gigs in Tel Aviv or refused to participate in events there in the first place, of the 26 Oscar nominees in 2016 who were offered expensive all paid propaganda junkets by the Israeli government, none has taken up the offer. Six out of 11 National Football League NFL players in the US have also turned down similar junkets. US Academic Association, Academic and Teachers’ Unions in Ireland, the UK, South Africa, Canada and elsewhere have adopted the institutional academic boycott of Israel.
Support for a military embargo against Israel is also spreading. In Ireland BDS partners are campaigning against the shameful purchase by government of Israeli drones that are field tested on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. But BDS cannot claim full responsibility for Israel’s growing academic, cultural and increasingly economic isolation. Israel’s regime itself takes a lot of credit for that.
In 2015 Israel elected it’s most racist government ever, leading Israeli political and military figures to publically express concern about the State’s future. Ehud Barak, a former Prime Minister, warned that Israel has been ‘infected by the seeds of facism’. While the current Israeli Deputy Chief of State Major General Yair Golan compared revolting trends in Israeli society to Germany in the 1930s.
Alarmed at how effective the BDS movement has become, Israel in 2014 adopted a new strategy for fighting BDS. Evoking memories of McCarthyism it employs legal warfare, trying to suppress BDS by law from above, espionage, reputation tarnishing, propaganda on steroids to undermine or even outlaw BDS advocacy. BDS activists like myself have been threatened with civil assassination. A new Israeli anti-BDS law denies entry to boycott supporters and the Minister for Strategic Affairs in Israel has collected a blacklist of Israeli citizens who support any form of boycott. These Israeli measures have alienated many in the liberal mainstream who consider freedom of expression an essential part of democracy. The European Union, the governments of Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands as well as the Parliaments of Spain, Switzerland and of course Amnesty International and others have all defended the right to BDS as a matter of freedom of speech and freedom of association.
To conclude, if boycott at the most fundamental level constitutes refusing to cooperate with an evil system, as Martin Luther King Junior taught us in a different context, BDS fundamentally calls on all people of conscience, all institutions, all unions, all corporations to end the respective complicity in Israel’s denial of Palestinian human rights, ‘do no harm’ is after all not an appeal for charity, it is a demand for solidarity for fulfilling ones profound
184 moral obligation to respect the human rights of all, Palestinians included. James Connolly once said, no revolutionary movement is complete without its poetical expression. So let me end with a quote from the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish ‘besiege your siege, there is no other way’. Thank you.
Brian Campfield, President Okay, Conference we’re moving onto Motion 14.
Paddy Kavanagh, TEEU
Finally moving Motion No. 14 (applause). Delegates, there’s one thing I don’t have to do here today and that’s to remind everybody here of the hardships that have been suffered by workers on this Island over the last 10 years as a result of the austerity inflicted on them by those global multinational apostles of austerity and their fellow travelling neo-liberal numpties in Westminster and Dáil Eireann.
However, a lot of speakers have said this in the last couple of days, there is a recovery underway and our motion is about this recovery. What we have to do as this new society rises up from the ashes of the debacle of the economic collapse, we have to as a movement seize that opportunity to create a new society, one that provides decent and proper wages, pensions, social protection, education and healthcare. When this new economy is being built up after the collapse the people at the forefront of this will be the workers, our members, our constituency. What we have to do as a movement, and we charge Congress to do this, is get out there lead the charge and make sure the gains that are got in this new recovery is given back to those to gave the most, from those that have the most and gave feck-all. So I move the motion.
Brian Campfield, President Okay, that’s formally seconded. Is there a speaker to that motion?
Teresa Walsh, INTO
I want to speak on behalf of young people because it’s this generation that are bearing the brunt of cuts and austerity. According to the CSO youth unemployment is decreasing, yet it remains unacceptably high at 12.9% in April of this year. Over 11,000 young people are now long-term unemployed for 12 months or more, and this is concerning given the commitment of the EU Youth Guarantee to provide any young person with an education, training or work experience place if unemployed for four months or more. Also we need equality for young people on jobseekers allowance. Reduced welfare payments to young unemployed people under 26 years of age is discriminatory and full rates should be restored. In Budget 2017 the full adult rate was restored to young people engaged in education and training, the imposition of lower rates on young job seekers is contrary to Article 40 of the Irish Constitution which states that all citizens should be treated equally. An answer to a Parliamentary Question in May found that only 18% of jobseekers are on the full rate of €193 per week, while 11% are of €147.80 and the majority of 71% are on the lower rate of €102.70 a week.
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The impact of these cuts on welfare payments have mainly impacted young people at risk of homelessness. This results in consistent poverty where the poverty cycle continues in the lives of those most vulnerable. Also another issue, the sub-minima rates of pay on the Minimum Wage need to be abolished. They are also discriminatory and in break of Ireland’s commitments on the European Social Charter.
A 2015 NERI Report found that almost 4 in 10 young people aged 18-29 years in the labour force were being paid a rate on or below the Minimum Wage. The sub-minima rates of pay include a trainee rate lasting up to 3 years which can be as low as €6.94 an hour.
In 2008 FAS, now Solas recommended that the trainee rate should only last for one year. Society has changed in recent years. Sub-minima rates are not sufficient to ensure a decent standard of living in Ireland today. They contribute to precarious employment and social exclusion. And lastly for young people who wish to attend third level education the cost has doubled in the last five years. The student contribution has increased from €1,500 in 2010 to €3,000 in 2015. I see the red light and I’ll leave it at that, thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
No other speakers so I’m putting Motion 14 to Conference, those in favour? That’s carried. Can I have the mover of Motion 15 from IMPACT?
Linda Kelly, IMPACT
Proudly joining the ranks of uppity women everywhere to move Motion 15 on the Gender Pay Gap. Colleagues, four decades of hard won equal pay legislation which we were reminded of yesterday has improved women’s income and status in the workplace. It has provided invaluable organising and negotiating tools that time and again have enabled our movement to demonstrate our relevance and our value in the workplace.
However, despite this progress we still have a gender pay gap of around 15% in the Republic and 10% here in Northern Ireland. At the current rate of action the UN reckons it will take 70 more years before our pay equals that of our male colleagues. We cannot wait that long, we won’t wait that long, and why should we bother waiting that long? There are simple steps that can be taken now to improve transparency on the pay gap which would speed things up a lot. Legislation to introduce workplace gender pay gap reporting has been adopted in the Seanad with all party support. Similar measures have recently come into force in the UK and are due soon in Northern Ireland. Gender pay gap reporting is a modest measure that is simple to do, but make no mistake it would have a massive impact on women’s earnings. When the UK measures were introduced one leading law expert said it was likely to do more for pay parity in five years that equal pay legislation has done in forty five, and this has been borne out by large employers like PriceWaterhouse Cooper making their stats public in the UK last week.
But we have to organise and campaign as we have always done to make sure that this happens. The Seanad Bill introduced and championed by Labour Senator Ivana Bacik didn’t come about by chance or by accident, or at the whim of a benevolent political
186 establishment. We made it happen by campaigning, by making the argument, and by fighting hard to get it on the political agenda.
IMPACT’s Clocked Out Campaign made a huge impression, supported on social media and elsewhere by Congress, SIPTU, many organisations in this room and across society. We quickly saw that this was an issue and a campaign that resonated with women and with our members. It connected with a hunger for fairness and justice that exists across the genders, across the generations, and across borders.
Motion 15 is a call to Congress and all affiliates here to step up the campaign. We must ensure that the Bill as it stands becomes law, that it does not become lost in a myriad of consultation processes or get butchered recognition at amendment stage. And then we ourselves must get tooled up and ready to use it, and all instruments at our disposal to improve women’s pay and close the gap.
The lights flashing but if it had been heard on Tuesday when it was scheduled, I’d have five minutes so I’m going to keep going with my speech. There are a number of reasons why gender pay gap reporting would have a positive effect….that was with respect President. Firstly, pay gap reporting will help us by shining a light on the source of the inequity, so often expressed in ignorable national averages in all of our workplaces, regardless of what sectors of the economy we represent. It will put pressure on employers, forcing them to address the issue if they want to protect their reputations in an economy where brand value is ever more important. It will help decent employers to compete for the best talent in the labour market. Imagine a world where employers are competing to pay people more and not less. It will empower women, our members, and their unions to organise and bargain, armed with facts and with public opinion on their side. It will enable us trade unionists, citizens and progressive organisations to take account of the gender pay gap when making decisions about how and where we spend our money, like the Fair Shop Campaign, the Fair Trade Campaign, and the Fair Hotel Campaign. And of course it would be a hugely symbolic measure, not empty rhetoric, a signal that we don’t just care about the gender pay gap, but that we mean to do something decisive about it, not in 70 years time in 2087 when I’ll be 101 years of age, but now in 2017. I move the motion.
Brian Campfield, President
This is all the speakers that is being taken, no more, the ones in the front here because we do have other motions, go ahead.
Joan Donegan, General Secretary Designate, IFUT
Formally seconding motion 15. Colleagues, I am very pleased to support this motion because sadly I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive equal pay and equal treatment, and there is no country in the world that we can yet say that has gender equality.
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When I came to work for the Irish Federation of University Teachers five years ago, I had a sense that university life for women was very different form the workplaces that I had previously represented. We think of teaching as women’s forte and universities of merit autocratic institutions, yet women academics do not share the career patters of their male counterparts. Not one of the University Presidents in any of the seven universities since the establishment of the first Irish university 425 years ago is a woman.
So I was in for a rude awakening and I was actually quite shocked. The entire university community in Ireland was actually in for a rude awakening when on the 13 November 2014 after 24 year’s service, Dr. Micheline Sheehy Skeffington won a landmark case against her former employer NUIG Galway. The Equality Tribunal ruled in favour of her complaint of discrimination on the grounds of gender regarding access to promotion which has direct implications for pay. Micheline agreed to take part in a series of public talks with IFUT concerning her win at the Equality Tribunal, but at those talks it became clear to me that female academics were uncertain as to the role of the Trade Union Movement within the gender inequality debate. They were also unclear as to the trade unions capacity to assist them in their endeavours to obtain justice and the Equality Tribunal, an industrial relations forum, appeared to be too daunting and too inquisitorial and very slow in determining an outcome, and ironically many believed that they required the support of a solicitor or barrister to pursue their complaints.
The current discrimination cases taken by the four women in NUIG Galway is an example of the practical result of such a failure in the overall industrial relations policy. We saw last month that the scheduling of the High Court Hearing for the equality cases at NUIG, while the issue has now been referred to mediation almost on the steps of the High Court, the extent of the financial and personal stress on those women over a two year period is a cause for grave concern. I second this motion, thank you.
Brian Campfield, President
Now I’m in a bit of difficulty here because I’ve four speakers and I’ve quite a number of motions still to get through, and if people are going to continue to go over the red light then we’re going to have to cut down the number of speakers on motions. So bear in mind you’re eating into some other union’s motion and time.
Karen O’Loughlin, SIPTU
I think it’s worth taking a minute to make sure that we all fully understand what we talk about when we talk about the gender pay gap. Because I do hear it often in the ether where people say ‘well I work with women in my job and we all get paid the same so I don’t know what you mean when you talk about the gender pay gap’. But what we actually mean when we talk about the gender pay gap is the consistent preponderance of women who are stuck in low paid jobs or in part-time jobs because they have no supports or capacity to get full-time jobs. It’s about the fact that 65% of minimum wage workers in the Republic of Ireland are women, and it’s also about the consistent and persistent undervaluing of the work carried out by women particularly in what we call the feminised sector, such as the care sector with childcare, early years education, elder care – all of those sectors.
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It’s about the lack of opportunity for women to be able to manage their way out, or work their way out of these sectors. Now I fully support this motion but I think it’s important that we would not just support it, but that we would action it, because we need to get out in front of it, and we need to have all of our own organisations, trade unions as employers need to have these uncomfortable conversation to say that if this legislation was enacted in the morning, what would we look like? And that might be an uncomfortable situation but it’s not acceptable to sit on the fence and say to other employers ‘you must do all this’ if we’re not already doing it ourselves. So just in supporting the motion, I also ask you to action the motion, thanks very much.
Maura McKenna, UNISON
I’m also a member of the Congress NI Services Committee. Conference representing a union whose membership is 83% women, many of whom work in the lowest paid jobs, achieving real gender pay equality will always be a major priority for UNISON. UNISON along with many other unions here today successfully lobbied government to include commitments on the gender pay gap within the recent Employment Act of Northern Ireland 2016. These included that laws would be passed requiring employers to publish information on the gender pay gap and that a strategy and action plan in eliminating the gender pay gap would be produced by government in consultation with the unions.
This work, like so many other important equality and rights issues for women in our society has gotten stalled due to the political crisis that has engulfed Stormont. The laws that require information and gender pay gap to be published have not been passed and the deadlines set have come and gone. Given the political uncertainty and instability it looks like the strategy and action plan that is legally required will miss its deadline too. Conference, the gender pay gap is not just something trivial. It is a fundamental issue of equality and rights for women. The gender pay gap goes when women leave the workplace to fulfil a caring role for their children and families, and it’s often at vital and an unappreciated one. This only goes to show how important access to affordable and appropriate childcare provision is. To deal with the gender pay gap real action from government in Northern Ireland through a properly resources childcare strategy is long overdue. We need mandatory reporting and clear action plan for compliance. Conference, equality for women cannot wait any longer. It is no longer good enough for women to be left behind because our politicians just can’t resolve their differences. I support this motion.
Deirdre O’Connor, INTO
My colleague Teresa has been up on several occasions to talk about younger workers, but I want to specifically refer to the gender pay gap in retirement, and the impact that lower salaries and a broken career trajectory for a lot of women has then on those women when they come into retirement. Specifically our experience would be in the public sector where we appreciate that our pension schemes can only be called gold plated if they are compared to the really appalling pension provision that there is for men and women in this country.
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Just to acknowledge that those people coming into the public sector, that women are more likely to have broken service, to end up in the later and worse pension schemes. We need to ensure that the people who care for our sick people, who care for our elderly people, who teach our children, that when they retire themselves the gender pay gap does not impact negatively on their income in retirement. Go raibh maith agaibh.
Brian Campfield, President
Okay I’m going to put this motion to you then. All those in favour, all those against. Okay it’s carried.
I’m going to take the movers of the rest of the motions and then we can have a debate afterwards, I think it’s GMB to move Motion 16 in the name of GMB. And then we’re moving to Motion 42 okay?
Declan Donnelly, GMB
My name is Declan Donnelly, I’m a workplace rep with the GMB. When we were thinking about this motion and what we would say, the tendency is to put it in a search engine and come up with lots of facts and figures, but I thought, what’s it actually about and the motion is about the people we represent, so that got me thinking about why we were putting it forward and why I do what I do.
So, I’m a representative because very simply, I want to help people, that’s why I do it, and I suppose we and the union movement are about supporting struggling and vulnerable people. We heard about all the struggles abroad but we also have people who are struggling within our workplaces, and we do that with compassion and empathy and those aren’t two words that are easily attributable to other people in other organisations, but they are what we are about and the people I represent who need support sit in a carpark in the morning and in the evening crying because they don’t want their colleagues or their partners to know the struggles they’re going through. They sit and they tell you that not only are they suicidal, but they have identified a tree that they want to drive into on the way home. They sit for an hour on a Friday evening sobbing uncontrollably, telling you they have suicidal thoughts and you can’t contact them because their wife doesn’t know. You have to wait to Monday morning to see what’s happened. So those are the people that this motion is about. But it’s also about us as representatives, because we can’t divorce our emotions. So what happens when we go home? This motion is asking that Congress develops mechanisms to support us because I’m sick of working for organisations who have policies on health and wellbeing who hide behind the policies, but actually do nothing about it. I’m sick of it. They abdicate responsibility but the trade union movement doesn’t abdicate it’s responsibility. So this motion is about us taking responsibility. It’s about us taking the moral high ground. We’re already on it but we might as well cement where we are. It’s about supporting the people that we should be supporting – our members, but also minding ourselves, so I’m asking you to support this motion on behalf of those people.
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Brian Campfield, President
Okay that’s formally seconded, and now can we take Motion 42, TUI?
Joanne Irwin, TUI
President, Delegates, moving Motion No. 42. Our motion focusses on the critical need for investment in education and how that investment should be directed. The backdrop, as our motion states, is that investment in education was severely restricted during the period of austerity. It is universally accepted that there is a positive relationship between educational attainment and person and societal wellbeing, including economic wellbeing. If we invest in education we will have a highly skilled labour pool and high end jobs which in turn creates the tax base needed to sustain a thriving society.
I will focus on one aspect of the motion, the effect of undermining the morale of educators. It is a simple fact that if you undermine the morale of the profession, you will get a damagingly high turn of teachers, lecturers, educators, fractured services for students, and a breakdown of collegiality and continuity.
81% of respondents to a recent TUI survey said that the differentiated discriminatory pay rates have had a very negative effect of staff morale in their school. In that same survey 30% of recent entrants to post-primary teaching believe that it is unlikely that they will still be in the profession in 10 year’s time. These responses indicate a real risk of slide into chaos. The most damaging blow to morale and the one that has most fractured solidarity and collegiality was the introduction of low and discriminatory pay scales for those appointed since 2011.
Because student numbers are growing, teacher numbers are growing accordingly. The issue therefore is more immediate and more pronounced in the teacher unions that in any other union. I can tell you that if unchecked and unremedied, pay inequality inflicts damage. It destroys trust and it undermines the credibility of the effected unions and the trade union movement among young teachers and workers.
I can guarantee that what we are experiencing in the teacher unions, you will experience in other unions before long. It is undoubtedly necessary for you and it would be wise for you all to prevent that damage rather than to suffer what we are suffering. After all, of the 28,000 new entrants to the Public Sector since 2011, over half are not in the education sector. On Tuesday we heard repeated demands that we should organise, we should mobilise and we should inspire young people. One speaker said that we should ask young members what issues they have. As I sat down the back of the room, my blood was boiling, because we have asked our young members what they want, and they have told us what they want, and that is pay equity.
Ask yourself the question that young teachers and other young workers are asking. Why should be align to a trade union movement that tolerates discrimination? What is your answer to that question? As President of the TUI, I’m now struggling to answer that
191 question. If establishing pay parity based on the applicable 2011 pay rates is considered costly, consider the cost for the trade union movement of not establishing pay parity. Young workers will not be attracted to join, density will fall, organisation will suffer, pay rates and conditions will continue to slide. This is genuinely an existential issue for the movement, a fundamental test of solidarity, an acid test of our commitment to justice. Pay parity is needed colleagues, and I welcome the commitment given by Patricia King the General Secretary on Tuesday. We need this issue addressed, and we need it addressed now. In teaching the warning signs are clear. The profession is becoming less and less attractive. The number of applications to the professional teacher training qualification has halved, a 50% drop. Teachers of particular subjects are as rare as hen’s teeth, they cannot be found. We are aware of instances where there are no applicants for posts in certain subjects such as Irish, Home Economics, modern languages, and sciences. Yesterday alone we learned of one ETB an Education and Training Board that has advertised for 8 teachers of Irish, and has received no applications.
As this motion makes clear, our demand for younger members are not selfish. They are motivated by a desire to provide a publically funded, state mandated education of the highest quality to every citizen, and we explicitly asked for targeted investment towards those with greatest needs or who are suffering the most acute disadvantage. Each and every one of our members wants high quality, inclusive education provision that is appropriately supported by public investment. I therefore ask that you support this motion.
Brian Campfield, President
That’s formally seconded then. We’ll move onto Motion 43.
Richie Browne, Unite
President, Delegates, Conference, Richie Browne from Unite moving Motion 43 on media control. Insofar as the issues that affect our members, and potential members, especially young people, the need for those issues to be addressed by a plurality of media, discussion, debate and analysis is absolutely essential.
In 1999 the Council of Europe opined, and I quote ‘democracy would be threatened if any single voice within media with the power to propagate a single viewpoint were to become dominant’. Therefore media plurality is a feature and an essential component of a well functioning democratic society. For example the crucial debate that we have on the housing emergency and our support for the building of public housing, including the use of publicly owned landbanks, compulsory purchase orders, local authority building and employment and using money owed to citizens from the sale of AIB, as articulated by the General Secretary Patricia King on Tuesday, and from the platform yesterday by various speakers, is logical, rational and doable. However, the message that citizens get through our media is increasing that it just isn’t possible, it can’t be done and it’s against the rules.
President Higgins spoke twice in his address on Tuesday about the concentration of ownership and media in this regard, referring to distorted communication and the need for a new discourse. Ireland has one of the most concentrated media markets of any
192 democracy. We have conditions in which wealthy individuals and organisations can amass huge political and economic power and distort the media landscape to suit their own interests. Does anyone actually believe Denis O’Brien and Rupert Murdock buy and control so much media because they want to enrich democracy and facilitate free and diverse opinions? The effects of this on our collective memberships and on our class is felt every time we have a dispute, a campaign, a strike, and sometimes even a policy or a belief. This advance of a neo-liberal ideological sect through media can only ever be partially offset by public broadcasting, social media and internal communications. If we are going to have any chance of gaining the wide support necessary to deliver this excellent 2017 Congress programme, we need to address this matter as an absolute priority. Therefore I move Motion 43 and we accept the amendment as written and proposed by the NUJ.
Seamus Dooley, NUJ
I’m proposing the amendment to Motion 43, and I’m glad that Richie has clarified the support of public service broadcasting because the motion proposed by Unite, surprisingly failed to address the implications for media workers of ownership concentration, and fails to differentiate between media ownership, employment practices and the practices of journalists. Indeed many trade union members in their role as members of the ‘Twitterati’ frequently lose the cool and talk about boycotting the licence fee as if it was acceptable to cut off the revenue which funds 1,800 union jobs, many of them union jobs in RTE.
The motion also fails to make any reference to the role of public service broadcasting and Richie has mentioned public service broadcasting and it is vital to say that a coherent public policy in support of public service broadcasting is fundamental and that includes an efficient public licence fee and a realistic funding model.
The motion also deals with the issue of embracing social media and the notion of using social media as a means of preaching our message. I never thought I’d see the day that I’d be comparing Richie and Jimmy and Brendan Ogle to Donald Tweet….Donald Trump. The great are only great because we are on our knees, let us retweet. The reality is that social media is an echo chamber every bit as dangerous as the Murdocks and the other media moguls that Unite have addressed. Of course we need to strategically use social media, but slacktivism is no substitute for trade union activity. I believe that this is an important motion, it raises a number of significant issues which if we had more time we could address more comprehensively. But I would say this, as Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, at times trade union members forget that not only are journalists human, they are also trade union members, and when you attack by name individual RTE journalists, you are doing what you wouldn’t do to a member of SIPTU, to a member of IMPACT, to a member of Unite and that comes with a responsibility. I absolutely accept that the media is open to criticism. I accept that media organisations are open to criticisms, but my workers and my members, and the members of SIPTU who are the researchers, who are the producers, members of Unite who work in the ancillary services we are not fair game. Thank you.
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Brian Campfield, President
Okay Seamus, is the mover of Motion 51 here from NIPSA?
Carmel Gates, NIPSA
Moving Motion 51, sisters and brothers, the motion speaks for itself and I’m speaking to the converted so I don’t intend to give you a long list of stats or anything. But what I think we do need to recognise is that poverty polarises communities, austerity polarises communities, and certainly the current political impasse is polarising our communities. Now we know that there are competing trends, if you look at the stats you might think well the numbers of reported incidents of racist hate crimes, homophobic crimes have reduced, but we also know that there are growing isolated incidents that aren’t reported. It is good to see that particularly amongst our young people, trends are changing. The march that took place on Saturday, if you think about 10 years ago a march like that just couldn’t have existed. I remember being on Pride marches in the very recent past where you’ve got a few hundred people marching through Belfast, and people shouting abuse and throwing things into the crowds. Thankfully that is now gone. Those attacks still happen but they happen quietly now when people are isolated and the thugs who take part in those crimes are generally not reflective of the rest of society. But I have to say we need to be on our guard because the current political impasse is a time when sectarianism can grow and some of the issues which our politicians are discussing at the moment are issues around which people can polarise.
We know as well in the last two elections have probably been two of the biggest sectarian head-counts that we have seen in many years. So as the biggest civil, non sectarian, cross community organisation on this island, there is a very particular onus on us, and for that reason I think that we need to make sure that we are I suppose politically we need to be independent. Now I don’t mean independent of politics because I personally believe that the trade union movement needs to be very political, my own union might not necessarily agree with that, but the politics we need is the politics of non-sectarianism. We need to guard against any aspect of what we do being seen to be reflecting or taking sides with any of the political parties here who base themselves on one community or the other. I think the political independence of the trade union movement has never been more vital and more crucial, and I would appeal to all of us as we come to the marching season, as we are in the talks which are now obviously suspended to allow for the tension to be removed from the situation, I think we need to be on our guard.
We need to make sure that our members are sure and clear that the union is going to be supportive of them, that we encourage them to avoid situations where sectarian tensions can arise and that we do what we can to ensure that our workplaces and our communities stay united and that we stay united on the issues that we need to fight against. As I said poverty, austerity and those things, if they take hold particularly here in this city and in cities in the North, we know that often that can get into the grip, particularly for young people who have no future, no hope, no jobs, we know that they find themselves in the grip of paramilitaries as tensions can arise again. So we need to appeal to all of us to be vigilent, to work hard, to fight against sectarianism, fight against intolerance wherever it exists, and to
194 build a movement that can cross the political divide, can encourage all people to be involved in politics, but the politics of hope, the politics of fight back against austerity, the politics of Jeremy Corbyn and to build something that we can all be proud of. Thank you, I move.
Brian Campfield, President
Is that formally seconded, thank you. Now this is all the speakers, if I can manage to get throught them. But I just want to get an indication from you which motions you’re speaking on. Who wants to speak from on the GMB motion – that’s three there. However many want to speak on the education motion - okay well we’ll take them in order, the three speakers.
Deborah Yapicioz, UNISON
Speaking on Motion 16 finally on mental health awareness training. Conference, in Northern Ireland it has been consistently found that around one in five adults will have the signs of a mental health condition. The prevalence of mental ill health here is higher than in England which is hardly surprising when we consider the impact that years of violent conflict have had on our people. As well as being a UNISON activist I am also a social worker in a busy community, learning disability and mental health department. In the last number of years my colleagues and I have seen an increase in the number of individuals accessing services who have had complex health and social care needs along with challenging behaviours. This is against a backdrop of staff shortages, reduced budgets, and ever- decreasing resources. As a result our members report feeling increasing frustrated, demoralised and isolated as they carry out their role. It is not wonder that we are experiencing an increase in stress and mental health related illness. n this environment it is vital that we are mindful of the mental health needs of our members, their families and their communities, and that we take care of our own mental health as union activists.
At the UNISON National Delegate Conference two weeks ago, we passed a motion that will require Mental Health Champions to be trained amongst our activists, who will then help their fellow members to find the help and support they need. We will share the learning from these initiatives with colleagues through Congress.
Conference, mental ill-health doesn’t need to be a taboo subject. We need to talk about it and help our members when they are in need. I urge support on this motion.
Deirdre Cousins, UNISON
Delegates, I’m Deirdre Cousins Staff Nurse in the Royal and UNISON Rep. I’m speaking in support of Motion 16. I just want to reaffirm the importance of mental health wellbeing, not only for reps, but for all our members. UNISON provides courses for reps. These include mental health first aid for activists, resilience for activists, and suicide awareness for activists. We also provide mindfulness and many other courses for our members. Poor mental health can impact on everyday life and receiving support from the union is so important. It makes me a better nurse, wife, mother and friend, as well as a rep of course. I urge support for this motion.
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Tina Creaney, NIPSA
Speaking in support of Motion 16, and I’d like to praise GMB for putting this excellent motion to conference and I find it a very personal motion, and I wonder why it hasn’t been done years ago.
We need awareness for our reps and we are well behind the TUC and many other unions in this aspect. Very few of us will never be touched by mental health, whether it be ourselves, or a member of our family. It’s getting more prevalent. Since the Good Friday Agreement more people have died by suicide than were killed in the 30 years of conflict in the north. I think our reps are on the front line in dealing with our members who are struggling to adapt, and stay in work while coping with a mental health problem, and the lack of knowledge and support and understanding by managers it’s just diabolical and it’s not helping them. They feel the workplace is their enemy. We as union reps are in a unique position to lead from the front, and having a strong presence in the workplace we can change attitudes and practices, but we need those tools and we need our unions to give us those tools.
As I said, this is personal. I was ignorant of how much a union could do in this field until about 11 years ago. Triggered by work related stress my partner crashed, but when a friend found out how ill he was, a union rep, he came to our help and helped us get through this crisis. Sorry…..
It was a very dark time, and he helped us get him back into work, get the adaptions and all the other reps in NIPSA helped him to stay in that workplace, it saved his life. I was so inspired by this and moved by the support that I became active in my union and after 15 years of thinking that the union was just to get me a payrise – back in the good old days – I became and active rep and I want to make sure that we can be there for the rest of all of our members, so please support this motion.
Brian Campfield, President
I think that’s all on Motion 16 and I’m going to move on to the Education motion, motion 42.
John McGabhann, TUI
Speaking to Motion 42. Joanne Irwin TUI President mentioned one issue that is of particular importance, that is the intolerable discrimination against new and recent entrants to the Public Service, including teaching. I want to focus on other other issue, and that is the TUI call for a dedicated higher education fund to be raised through a levy on corporate profits.
It isn’t today or yesterday that TUI first made this proposal, in fact it was first made by TUI in 2004 when we presented to an OECD expert group that was brought in by the then Minister Dempsey. Minister Dempsey was attempting to privatise higher education and he was attempting to privatise it essentially by withdrawing state funding and in substitution bringing in what’s called the ‘student contribution’. It’s timely that we speak about this
196 again because the report under the direction of Peter Cassells in or about a year ago has proposed precisely the same type of dynamic. Privatisation by the substitution of private contribution through fees, in place of state funding. That is wrong. It is fundamentally wrong, and it’s fundamentally wrong because the primary beneficiaries of higher education are actually those multinational corporations which find available to them a huge and highly talented pool of graduate potential employees. They do not however pay anything that is appropriate or proper towards the benefit at they accrue, and we are saying that they must. If there had been in 2011 when things were at ‘their trough’, if there had been a 1% levy towards a dedicated fund it would have yielded €280m . If there were such a levy today it would yield in the region of €600m per annum. If you say things like this about corporation tax you are immediately among the unblessed. You are accused of causing the earth to spin out of its orbit and end up as a cold object somewhere south of Pluto. We need to test the proposition that these corporations are getting away with blue murder. They need to pay, they need to contribute to our society.
Brian Campfield, President
Sorry just before you start, anybody who has spoken could you return to your seats so I can get an idea of how many people I have to deal with here?
Noreen Robinson, UNISON
Supporting motion 42. Conference, the education budget in Northern Ireland has been cut repeatedly and we know that more cuts are coming down the line. Listening to the news this morning we know what cuts are happening. Our children and the people who work hard, day in and day out in our schools have the right to better than a false economy which believes that you can cut school budgets and not harm educational outcomes.
The lowest paid workers in our schools have already faced a stark choice – cut hours or lose their jobs. The Education Authority and the Department of Education continue to make proposals which do not have the best interests of children at their core, and which threaten the jobs and terms and conditions of UNISON members such as Classroom Assistants like me. Whilst many teachers value the role of the Assistants, many within government structures do not. As a steward in UNISON who works as a Classroom Assistant and supports other Classroom Assistants I see the dedication of these assistants to the role they play, yet there is no professional development for them. Some of these Assistants earn less than £8 an hour whilst supporting curriculum work.
This motion is asking Congress to call on governments North and South to recognise that decent pay and conditions for teachers are essential requirements to providing quality education. Conference, we also need to recognise that decent pay and conditions for support staff, in particular Classroom Assistants, are equally vital. We need a new approach to funding our schools which target children living in poverty, based on objective need and which targets the growth in quality of outcomes which children living in poverty and children with special education needs already face.
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Conference, Nelson Mandela once famously said that education is the most powerful weapon that we can use to change the world. If we want both jurisdictions on this island to change the places that are most peaceful, more just and more prosperous with all, we need to send a message that our children have a right to an education that develops their personality, ability and talents to their fullest. To fulfil that right and change our world for the better the roles of all who work in our education systems must be protected and strengthened. Our schools and our wider education services must be properly funded to build the better future we all deserve. I urge support of this motion, thank you.
Miriam Duggan, ASTI
Speaking to Motion 42. I’d like to echo the sentiments of the proposer of the motion the President of the TUI and I’m very very happy that we’re drawing attention to the plight of lesser paid workers. It works this way – anybody employed in the Public Sector after 2011 was put on a lower pay scale, and that’s going to follow them the whole way through their careers, so I’m really glad we’re discussing this issue here. Unless an end is put to that kind of discrimination they will be discriminated against for the whole of their careers.
Can I just put it to you this way? If I were to stand in front of you and I were to say that this person is being paid on a lesser pay scale because they were that colour, that person because of their sexual orientation, or that person over there because of their creed we would also be horrified, and it is right that we should be horrified. What we’re talking about with these lesser paid workers is that they are being discriminated against in their pay on the basis of the day they started work, it’s as arbitrary as that and I want to tell Congress one other thing as well which is that every lesser paid worker isn’t young. I understand that, because if every lesser paid worker were young we would be in the law courts and it would be a case of discrimination. But, every younger worker is lesser paid. Now we spoke earlier on this week, and brilliant speakers spoke about attracting young people to join the trade union movement, and there’s one sure fire way of encouraging people to join our movement and that is by showing them that their issues are our issues, that we will stand with them and with their struggle.
This morning we heard inspirational speakers, they were magnificent, and their message was very clear. Coming and working together, joining the trade union movement can change lives. Let’s put that energy to work to defend our youngest workers. Thank you very much.
Brian Campfield, President
Are you speaking on the education motion? Go ahead, and that’s going to be the end of the speakers then.
Roseana Jordan, INTO
Speaking to Motion 42 and specifically the pay equality part of it. President and Comerades, equal pay for equal work is the cornerstone of what we as trade unionists believe in. Yet since 2011 in the Republic, entrants to the Public Service have been paid less than their
198 colleagues for doing the exact same work. This is totally unjust and goes against all the values that we as educators try to inculcate in our students, and our government must put a stop to it before many more public servants are caught in this loop. It is an absolute abomination and it needs to be addressed before it becomes too costly to do so, and is used as another excuse by government not to deal with it.
We did make some progress on this issue last September but we now need to have the pay to pay equality fully set out. Thank you very much.
Flora Alfante, UNISON
I am a migrant worker, supporting Motion 51. Obviously the rise in hate crime against ethnic minorities and Brexit. In UNISON we have our own group Black and Migrant Workers and we meet every two months, we talk about the issue of the migrants at work, in school, in communities. We are trying to take actions, campaign if we need to and I think if we start to educate our children, education is very important, educate our children at home because the bad media publicity doesn’t help at all. Children can hear that from the news and then if we as parents don’t correct that, that’s the start. So like my son’s bad experience in school, one of the boy asked him ‘what’s the colour of your skin?’ and my son just simply replied ‘brown’. Then the boy laughed and said ‘that’s the colour of my poo’, but because it was addressed immediately, nothing like that happens any more in school.
What I’m trying to say is that if we heard a colleague saying something bad about migrants, defend migrants please, because we as trade unionists we know very well the reality about migrants and this bad publicity about migrants taking our jobs it is against migrants. If I’m at work and I hear a colleague talking bad about migrants, I would just simply talk to them to tell them the reality about migrants. Education is very important, educate, educate. We can do that at home, in school and in the community. Thank you. Please support the motion.
Tiernan Millar, NIPSA
President, delegate, supporting motion 43. Conference, article 40 of the Irish Constitution guarantees the freedom of the press with the caveat that such freedom will not be exercised to undermine public order or morality or the authority of the state. But Ireland has one of the most concentrated media markets of any democracy, an accumulation of what has been described as communicative power within the news markets is at endemic levels.
At present we have one individual who controls five national weekday publications, six regional publications in the Republic, two major titles in Northern Ireland and five radio stations, and the newspaper circulation for that alone reach 220,000 media consumers every day. Comrades we live in a society where the Irish Independent was able to provide a more robust defence of former Tánaiste Joan Burton than the prosecuting counsel or the scores of Gardaí who gave fanciful testimony at the recent Jobstown witch trial.
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In the UK there is a newspaper whose name I won’t mention, that unashamedly claims the ability to swing public opinion so much that it can bring down governments. In the United States Fox the News network was highly influential in delivering the frankly ridiculous situation where a reality TV star is now the most powerful man in the world. In Ireland one man controls such vast swathes of the media landscape that it is impossible to separate government policy in some areas from the whims and preferences of this real life Citizen Kane.
Conference, it is incumbent upon us in the trade union movement as the largest civic society group on this island to present an alternative narrative to ensure that the views of ordinary working class people are presented on such an industrial scale as are the attacks being visited upon them. It is also up to us to ensure that the state broadcaster whether that be RTE or the BBC becomes not merely a mouthpiece for the governing elite, but that it provides for the public good, that it separates opinion from fact, and that it adequately represents the position and daily reality of workers who struggle through a society that sees them as a commodity, a resource to be exploited and as a cog in the machine to provide for the luxuries and greed of official Ireland. Conference, support the motion.
Patricia McKeown, UNISON
Speaking to the section of the report, I hadn’t intended to, but I couldn’t contemplate the trade union movement being here in Belfast this morning at the same time as an obscene attack on the poorest children in this society is taking place outside. As we have been participating we have also been dealing with it. I’m referring to the section of the report on the Education and Trade Union Group in the North, part of the Northern Ireland Committee structure of Congress, and a very important body that deals with social policy and education, and I’m assuming – in fact I know that it will swing into operation directly after this conference. But the Department of Education we are told this morning has instructed the Education Authority to slash the school uniform grant scheme by 60%, that’s £3m. They are also proposing to lop £1.5m off the breakfast clubs and the afterschool, home help clubs and some of the parent support schemes.
This is a society where we have the highest levels of children in absolute poverty, a society that has not delivered as we have heard this week on equality and human rights. It’s also a society that doesn’t have a government operational yet. How dare well paid public officials ignore the laws of the land on equality and human rights, ignore a court judgement, a judicial review decision that we must have an anti-poverty strategy based on objective need and attack our children.
I want a message sent from all of us today, that we the trade union movement will not let this happen, this is abuse. We want the decisions reversed, and I am asking for a very clear message from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, that we are the people who have got to stop this. Thank you.
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Brian Campfield, President
Will the appropriate authorities here please take heed? I think that’s all the motions so…oh hold on I haven’t put the motions to you yet.
Motion 16. Those in favour? That’s carried. Motion 42. Those in favour? That’s carried. Motion 43. Those in favour? That’s carried. Motion 50. Those in favour? That’s carried. Thank you, all of those motions are carried, sorry about that.
CLOSING CEREMONIES
Sheila Nunan, Vice President
Delegates, we are now moving into the closing ceremonies of the Conference, and I’d like to call on Jimmy Kelly please to move a vote of thanks to our outgoing President Brian Campfield.
Jimmy Kelly, Unite
Thanks Sheila, this is a pleasurable task and it’s a pleasure that Brian has to sit through it without being able to interfere with lights or points of order!
I’m afraid I can’t get into a lot of ‘as gaeilge’ like Brian did in his opening address but the good news is that the seconder of the vote of thanks Phíl Ní Sheaghdha will eloquently display her knowledge of the language when she comes to speak. I thought it was a bit much of Phil when she said yesterday evening ‘Jimmy it’s the English language you’re struggling with so thanks for that Phil’.
This is mean in all genuineness and sincerity, a vote of thanks to Brian Campfield. Brian’s involvement in the trade union movement stretches back over 40 years. He started work at Ingles’ bakery in the early 70s and Brian has attributed his early political development to the influence of the late Sean Morrissey, a stalwart of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, a pioneer in workers education who was the Shop Stewards Convener in the bakery at the time. And that political apprenticeship shaped the type of trade unionists that Brian was to become, and always said this right through his involvement in the movement. His political awareness and his sensitivities to the challenges posed by sectarianism.
Since then Brian has obviously served as a lay rep and held a number of positions across the movement. As the President of Belfast Trades Council in the 1990s and early 2000s Brian has worked hard through trade union structures to help embed the peace, ensure that the voice of workers and working class communities were heard among the noise of the political classes. The Trades Council during his tenure was instrumental in organising mass demonstrations for an end to violence and in building support for the Good Friday Agreement which followed the ceasefires. You can encompass that into one sentence, but I tell you that wasn’t easy.
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Brian has been a strong advocate of anti-sectarian initiatives along with others in the Trades Council. He helped to secure ICTU support for the establishment of Counteract, an inti- intimidation unit in 1990. Counteract was formed as part of the wider trade union effort to alleviate sectarianism in the workplace. This important work is carried out today by Trademark and organisation which succeeded Counteract in 2001.
As NIPSA General Secretary, Brian has demonstrated that he’s not afraid to endorse strike action, stand on the picket lines in defence of members’ pay and conditions of employment, while supporting broader campaigns around housing and welfare and public services that delegates have been talking about at conference here, and engaging people in the campaigning activities of NIPSA, that fighting back union.
Brian has carried that vast knowledge and experience into his Presidency of the ICTU. He came into office at a difficult time when the Republic of Ireland entering those second phases of austerity, and the prospect of Brexit, coupled with Tory cuts was threatening to deteriorate and already fragile political situation here in Northern Ireland. For the past two years Brian has worked with the ICTU Executive, our General Secretary Patricia King, and has promoted that unity of purpose across our diverse movement, North and South.
So on behalf of the ICTU I would like to thank Brian for guiding us through this difficult period leading up to the Brexit Referendum and beyond. Through his chairmanship of the ICTU Executive he brought a critical perspective to bear on our discussions around the EU and the potential implications of a vote either way, while all the time seeking to reach a consensus within our movement. He has continued in this vein since the Leave vote, articulating our criticisms of and our members conditional support for the EU project.
Given the presence of Huber Ballesteros and Justice for Columbia at this conference, Brian has absolutely embedded the international perspective into our agenda here at conference, and it would be remiss not to acknowledge Brian’s continued support for that Columbian Peace Process, he has dedicated years to that. He has done a sterling job representing the Irish Trade Union Movement on that issue and was part of those peace talks in Havana along the way.
Finally, delegates returning to Northern Ireland we cannot but commend Brian’s work on the Peace Process here where we all live and work. His commitment to ensuring full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, the building of a better future for our members and our communities. He speaks for all of us when he calls for the restoration of the devolved government while noting that Stormont cannot deliver for the people of Northern Ireland within an austerity framework. Thankfully as Brian prepares to leave this office it appears that the winds of political change may be upon us.
In this spirit delegates, I move the vote of thanks to our outgoing President and I wish him well in his retirement. Thank you.
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Phíl Ní Sheaghdha, INTO
Delegates, colleagues I’m very honoured to be asked to speak and second the motion of thanks to Brian Campfield. I’m a recent member of the Executive Council of the ICTU and there are just a few memories I have of Brian as he chaired our meetings. They were always on time, we rarely ran over, and I don’t think that’s a surprise to anybody here. I’d like to bring a few issues that in his address to us, I feel are important and they’re important for us to continue. I think particularly the trend that Brian has of being a defender of equality, a defender of public services and a great advocate for the Irish language.
In his address to us he asked us to continue with the work of re-establishing the links with communities, and rebuilding that connection between the worker, trade union and communities. He also asked us to campaign with governments to again look at social rights and that includes the European Trade Union Movement, particularly to challenge the fiscal rules.
He asked us to look at how we organise. He asked us to concentrate on organising unorganised workers, and not those who are already trade union members, and this is a very important message for all of us. I want to particularly note that as a proud man from Northern Ireland, I think it’s a very good that that the Royal College of Midwives have affiliated to the ICTU during his tenure, and on a personal note I think Brian welcomes that. I want to finish by, I was looking for words that would be appropriate and I found them in a translation by a West Kerry fisherman, a man called Danny Sheehy, Donal MacAnTaoisi who tragically lost his life off the coast of Spain last month. But I think the words he translated, I’ll give them in Irish first and then in English. Danny was always a beautiful wordsmith, so I hope you appreciate the sentiment.
“go raibh agat flúirseacht na talún Go raibh agat cruinneas an tsolais Go raibh agat gluaiseacht na farraige Agus cosaint do shinsear Go fíodh an ghaoth bog na focail seo i do thimpeall Mar clóca cosantach ag slánú do shaol”
May the bounty of the soil be yours May the clarity of light be yours May the fluency of the ocean be yours May the protections of the ancestors be yours And may a slow wind wind these words around you An invisible cloak to mind your life.
Go raibh maith agat.
Brian Campfield, Outgoing President
Gets a bit embarrassing, go raibh maith agaibh Phil agus Jimmy, look just to say thank you very much, the last couple of years as President have been a privilege and an enjoyable
203 experience. I would like to thank Patricia the General Secretary, all Congress staff, the Executive Council for all the assistance that they’ve given me over the last two years, I suppose working in the trade union movement for along number of years has been a privilege as well. Working on behalf of workers.
When I first took up the job as President of Congress, somebody said you wouldn’t be in the country, you’d be out of the country travelling all around the place, and I’ll give you a list of some of the places I’ve managed to get to – Kildare, Bray, Galway, Wexford (INMO Conference), but I got further afield, I got to Dundee, I got to Ayre and I got to Llandudno as well. I did get to Columbia, but that has it’s own pressures. But I did fairly recently get to Oslo to the LO Norway Conference and when I got there I realised I wasn’t sure if I should thank Shay Cody who nominated me to go to that, because it was £19 a pint.
So, I would like to apologise to all those delegates who didn’t get speaking on their pet subjects – apologies if I caused you any distress. Just a couple of things, linking up and I appreciate the Donal MacAnTaoisi reference, he died in accident, I think Liam O’Maonlai from the Hothouse Flowers and Brendan Begley were in the boat with him, so it was a tragedy, but you can watch some of the programmes on TG4 they’re very interesting. But just on the subject, one of our delegates, I’m not sure if he’s here, Ciaran Campbell from Mandate, one of his son’s Naoise has just won the 2017 Seannós competition in Donegal so a big hand for him. I’ve known Ciaran a long time but he’s living in Ardragh now but he was a former President of NIPSA, but it says a lot I would have been more friendly with his mother and father. And another old friend of mine he’s not here, Tom O’Driscoll in SIPTU, Tom as you know is from Cork, and he’s taken up sailing he’s got a boat now and he’s going to be retiring next year, and I just remember the comment he made to Kevin Laurenson who was a NIPSA person who took up sailing as well, but when you see Tommy just say ‘from commissaire to commodore’ he’ll be giving up his politics and taking up sailing. I told a story the other night, a trade union job can be tense, can be difficult, you get into arguments, you can’t please people all the time, you have to fight your corner, well I’ve been involved in a waterpolo, it’s a minority sport and the politics involved in it is very much a minority politics, but I was having an argument with the brother outside the Falls Baths in Belfast, and I was obviously getting the better of him in the argument as I usually do, but he stopped and he said ‘ do you see you, even your friends don’t like you’. So I’ll leave it at that, thanks.
Coming up to the close of Conference I would like to call on Sheila Nunan, the newly elected President of Congress. Sheila as you know is the General Secretary of the INTO, she’s a long- standing trade unionist and before that she was I understand a school principal in Bray - I’ve been there – and she was a principal in the first designated Traveller school, but I’m handing you over to a very competent, capable and committed woman – Sheila Nunan.
Shelia Nunan, Incoming President
Colleagues, before I begin the formal address and to kind of win you back, teachers are very good at giving feedback, we’re not often good at receiving it, so when I did a short bit of chairing yesterday, I got some comments at lunchtime and they said, don’t be looking over your glasses as us and wagging your finger, you’re reminding us of all the worst aspects of our time in school. So I did reflect a little bit overnight, so I thought this is great the first
204 thing I can say is ‘you’re getting a half day’ (cheers), so that’s in the bag, but you’re also going to get some homework so I’ll try to be less ‘teachery’ and hopefully I’ll succeed over the next two years, but the glasses have to go back on and I’ll just try not to look over them all the time.
Colleagues, I want to thank you all very much for electing me to the position of ICTU President for the term 2017 to 2019 and I have to tell you that it really is an enormous honour for me personally, for my union, whose support has made it possible for me to take up the role because it’s obviously time consuming, and I take it up with great pride, and I will carry it out with great pride, taking comfort from the very fine work done by our past President Brian Campfield, who is leaving the movement in very good shape. Thank you
Brian for your commitment, your courtesy and your leadership over the last two years. There is a very strong link between my own union the INTO and the ICTU and thanks to the Deputy General Secretary’s good historical archive of the INTO he tells me I’m the fifth General Secretary of the INTO to take up the position of President of ICTU.
INTO has also always appreciated the strength and security gained from our affiliation with ICTU bringing the world and work of teachers into closer contact with the wider family of the trade union movement, and I would hope as your President to deepen the links with affiliates and to strengthen the core of this great movement. And I have a short anecdote I want to tell you, I don’t know if John Douglas is here, that will sometimes illustrate how we can support each other in these things. In the course of the Tesco strike last year, one of the stores where the workers were striking was opposite St. Patrick’s Teacher Training College, the College of Education in Drumcondra. Obviously the young students were so busy worrying about their exams that they were blind to the pickets as they were going in and out of the supermarket. John rang me in a very encouraging and kindly way, he said ‘ look just to let you know that there are students passing the pickets’ and then in case he thought I might take a bit of umbrage, he said ‘they’re probably up from the country’. And I couldn’t think what was the connection, but in actual fact our great Press Officer Peter Mullan in the INTO then has a lot of links with the colleges, so he got onto the student leader, who is indeed a man from Mayo, and then I was thinking out ex-formidable Mayo President of the INTO, he was probably worried about her and that he’d never get a job anyway if it was seen. But it all worked out in the end in fairness, he got out the message very quickly but the story didn’t end there because then a very good IFUT member in the college the following day brought her whole class over and gave an absolute lesson in trade union solidarity in front of the picketing workers with the students, so it was a story that ended well in terms of solidarity between unions and how we can link each other.
I want to briefly set out, and I will apply the rules to myself now and try to be brief, about the hopes and aspirations I would have for the forthcoming term of office, as I work with the Executive Committee, the Northern Committee and the various Congress Committees. Just reflecting on the debates and the agreed positions of the last few days, two very clear themes emerge that I think will guide my work. The first, intergenerational solidarity, and the second international solidarity. We have come through a very difficult decade, many of us battle-weary and in that time we have seen a huge transfer of burden onto future generations. The socialising of the bank bailout debt onto the shoulders of citizens in the
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Republic will be felt by many generations to come. Congress is sending a clear and unambiguous signal that we will work to ensure that the transfer of the burden to the next generation cannot continue, and we must insist that workers also into retirement will not have their prospect of a secure life diminished. We will look out for and look after each other and the communities we work in. We’ve had a cradle to grave approach reflected in the breadth of our debate this week, from perinatal care, affordable childcare, investment in education and health, fair and decent work, equality and human rights nationally and internationally, climate change and Brexit.
A key initiative in demonstrating our intergenerational solidarity will be the housing campaign. Congress is already advanced and has formulated an excellent, well researched policy position based on a local authority response to address this national crisis, and I look forward very much to chairing this campaign and securing your commitment to ensuring we are successful. And through this campaign we can meet the needs of our younger members who are locked out of the housing market, priced out of the rental market, and families who are dispossessed, on the streets, distressed and insecure.
In the wake of the Great Famine in 1850 the Land League called for fair rent, free sale and fixity of tenure, and here we are 170 years later finding ourselves in a similar crisis with our citizens. But I’m really confident Congress, that activists can unite under this campaign and we together can progress this really basic human right.
Housing and decent work are linked and you can’t really have one without the other. Decent work, decent pay conditions for all of us North and South can only be addressed by continuing our advocacy and our campaign on the Charter for Decent Work. We need to highlight the low wage economy in Northern Ireland and in the Republic, and the scandal of the Public Sector pay cap in the North. We need to exploit every opportunity to fight against precarious work, using the mechanisms that we have won in restoring some of the industrial relations legislation, and as we have heard this morning we need to progress the issue of new entrant pay, a divisive legacy of the recession. We need to ensure properly funded activation and training supports to tackle youth employment.
Climate justice and the need for a just transition is also an intergenerational and international human rights issue, and the emergency motion passed has set the course for us.
The pension battle is the third defining intergenerational battle and excellent speeches this week, highlighting the disgraceful low coverage of pension support for workers, and we have to redouble our efforts to seek an early introduction of the Universal Occupational Pension Scheme, or we will be a country full of elder poverty. The demographic bounty that we enjoy in the Republic must not be seen as a burden but a bounty. Equality is at the core of our work and the Marriage Equality campaign will be successful if we bring the same level of intelligent campaigning that was the hallmark of the Republic campaign.
The inspiring speeches given today and the overwhelming solidarity shown to Huber Ballesteros and Omar Barghouti, coupled with those of Martin Collins serve to remind us
206 that we can and do make a difference, and their stories will encourage all of us to work harder on these issues.
My own work for many years in Traveller education gave me a great insight into the instruments of exclusion and oppression that people experience and understanding how subtly and not so subtly they work, and I would hope as President to continue that tradition and to shine a light and to bring further justice to these dark corners.
The context for all of this is very deeply challenging, by the time we meet again the shape of Brexit will have been determined, and we outlined all of our fears and anxieties in relation to that yesterday, and hopefully we can be to the forefront, not maybe in the room but outside the room banging on the door in negations.
Finally colleagues, I want to return to the theme of organising and growing our movement, and the leadership we need to give to the next generations of activists. Age is an issue, but not the only one. When we came here on Tuesday morning, seems like a long time ago, President Michael D Higgins, our national treasure, lifted our spirits with his energetic endorsement for our work and his insatiable interest in and support for the rights of the citizen. Throughout the week we had references to Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Saunders and it did remind us all that age does not dull the message. These are the current rock stars of the fair society with very impressive youthful fan bases. So succession is critical and today amongst us many of our excellent union leaders and activists are attending their last BDC. Congress we will miss them, but our best thanks to them is to ensure that we encourage, we cajole and we coerce the next generation of activists. That’s how I became involved in the trade union movement, the encouragement, the support, the constant cajoling people to get involved, there was a gin and tonic involved one night when I refused to speak on something I didn’t know anything about, but they said ‘throw that into you you’ll be fine’. I don’t do that anymore, you needn’t worry!
I met on Monday another union elder with an undiminished appetite for the work of the movement, he was a former bricklayer, many of you know him. He’s been the arbitrator of many disputes and he now advises government on public sector pay, he told me that in 1972 he was at a conference in, I think he said, Bundoran or Galway, but there were four women delegates, and I thought God they’d great choice! But I am delighted and I actually hadn’t realised it until somebody said it yesterday, that I am the third female President of ICTU and that doubles the honour for me, and I would hope – Ethel Buckley spoke about role models we need to have – and I would hope that I will also follow the tradition of encouraging and cajoling, I won’t be buying the gin and tonics for future members, but it is important that we unleash that potential.
In concluding Colleagues, we can be very critical of our efforts and we can argue about the means, but we must remain united about the ends. There is much unfinished business. I quote from the Executive Report ‘We must seek to ensure that we are fit for purpose. We cannot hope to successfully meet the challenge that faces us armed with ill-suited structures and outmoded practices’. That’s a huge challenge that we keep laying down to each other, but we don’t quite rise to it. We have to strengthen the core of ICTU if the agenda we set out is to be achieved. Patricia is excellent but she needs the support and the resourcing to
207 be on the same pitch as the big employer organisations who have wealth and resources to fight battles. We need to do that. I remain hopeful, I remain optimistic and I ask for your support and your cooperation over the coming years, because I believe colleagues we have made a difference, and we will make a difference, and I hope to facilitate that as President. Safe journey home.
We’ll now call on our General Secretary Patricia King to formally close the conference.
Patricia King, General Secretary
Thank you very much President, and it just falls to me to offer thanks to the Officers of Congress, to Joe our Treasurer for his work to Congress not just the last two years, but all of the years that he has performed that function. Thank you to the outgoing Vice Presidents, Kevin who is remaining with Sheila obviously who has become President, and we welcome Alison as well into the Vice President post.
Then I just want to briefly all the staff of Congress North and South. I want to thank Owen Reidy, Gillian, Eileen Gorman, Julie, Clare, Tony, Kevin, John, and Lucca from the Northern Ireland Office. Macdara, Peter, Eileen Sweeney, Deirdre, Fiona, Frank, David, Liam and Pat from the Dublin Office, and the people who are left as well Natalie, Vivien, Catherine and Trisha who are minding base back in Dublin.
I also want to thank all of our colleagues here in NERI who have participated and also all of them working in NERI,who support us in our work in Congress. Also our colleagues in the People’s College whom we work well and closely with. I want to thank as well Joan and her team here in the Assembly Buildings for their cooperation, for their courtesy in the course of doing our work, for the people who manage the sound, the electrics and technology, thank you very much for that.
I also want to thank all of our fraternal guests and speakers who contributed so much to the conference. I want to thank those who represented various organisations and came here to join us in conference in that capacity. I want to thank all of the Observers who over the course of the conference took part in the proceedings, and to you the Delegates, I think it has been a very active conference and positive I believe.
I want to just mentione briefly in relation to our outgoing President Brian, I didn’t know Brian very well until he became Vice-President of Congress and then I got to know him better during his tenure as President. I just want to say that I got to know a very decent, hard working trade union representative, and you couldn’t ask for any better. He travelled across the country, he even got as far as Bray, he travelled Europe and further afield, and on each occasion he represented the trade union movement in an exemplary fashion. I also want to say I wish I had a bit of your forensic detail piece, he’s forensic, if you make one typo error Brian would be sure to find it, and he did. Also his calmness, he was a bit unlucky, he took over as President and I had just come into the job, so I was a rookie, and he was extremely supportive, but it’s not the easiest thing to do when there’s a new person taking over and we both had to get to know one another, I think we did it quite successfully,
208 and I’m very grateful to you Brian on a personal level for the help, cooperation and support that you gave me in those two years.
Finally I want to say ‘lads, watch out’. This is the first time in the history of the movement that two women are in leadership. I very much look forward to working with Sheila. I think her contribution sets in a very stark way exactly what our mission will be. We will all support her in achieving that and I would just say to you as we wind up this conference, and as I offer you my thanks for taking part, let’s go out of here with hope, let’s go out of herE on a positive note, we will get there and we’ll do it together. Thank you very much.
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