Annual Reports 2013/2014

Annual Reports 2013/2014 Biennial National Delegate Conference City Hall, Cork • October 5th - 8th, 2015 Contents Foreword by Jack O'Connor 5 Progress on BDC 2013 Resolutions 7 Membership & Organisation 13 Membership Information and Support Centre 15 SIPTU College 19 IDEAS Institute 23 Information Technology 25 Premises 26 Northern Ireland 27 Economic Developments 29 Wage Developments 33 Changes in Sick Pay Schemes and other Working Conditions 2013-2014 37 Divisional Reports: Health 53 Manufacturing 65 Public Administration and Community 79 Services 93 Utilities and Construction 109 Strategic Organising Campaigns 131 Equality and Campaigns 2013-2014 137 Communications Department 145 Retired Members 151 Pensions 153 SIPTU Membership Services 157 Appendix 1: Financial Statements 159 Appendix 2: Staff Salaries 177 Appendix 3: 1913 Lockout Centenary Programme 178 SIPTU • Annual Report 2013/2014 3 March against the bank debt and austerity at Merrion Square, Dublin on Saturday, 9th February 2013. Photo: Jim Weldon. 4 SIPTU • Annual Report 2013/2014 During Conference 2013 in erects whatever fortifications it can and tries to organ- Dublin’s historic Mansion ise behind them, holding as much ground as possible House, we commemorated the to await better conditions for advancing again. That is heroism of those who resisted precisely what we did in the Autumn of 2009 into the the attempt to smash our Spring of 2010 when it became clear that the odds Union in the Great Lockout of a against success in an open, direct confrontation would century earlier. We were still result in misery on an awesome scale for our own firmly embedded in a rear- members and for Irish society generally. The fortifica- guard strategy in face of a tions we and others in the trade union movement built Troika imposed one-sided aus- were; the Protocol with the employers in the Private terity programme in the Repub- Sector, the Croke Park Agreement and its successors SIPTU General President lic of Ireland. The country was in the Public Sector and we urged Labour to go into Jack O’Connor still immersed in the throes of Government despite its minority position, to try and the fallout from the implosion mitigate Fine Gael’s austerity agenda. of the domestic credit fuelled property bubble against the background of the global The objectives were to shore up core pay and condi- financial crisis of 2008. tions as much as possible, to stave off the outsourcing of decent jobs on an industrial scale, to protect the The collapse experienced here was the most extensive “threshold of decency” in organised workplaces, to in any developed economy in the world since the Wall preserve the basic infrastructure of our social welfare Street Crash of 1929, apart from the Baltics and system and public health services, as well as to min- Greece. The State’s budget deficit was the highest in imise the extent of the privatisation of our strategically the Eurozone, higher even than that of Greece. In par- important State owned companies and public assets. allel with this, our debt/GDP ratio was the third worst We never endorsed, agreed with or went along with in Europe after Greece and Italy. one-sided austerity. We retained the option to fight where we had to or where we could win e.g. Vita Cor- The recession in the UK did not compare in terms of tex, Lagan Brick, Greyhound and in the public transport debt or severity. Nonetheless, the Tory/Lib Dem Gov- system. ernment availed of the opportunity to impose a penal austerity policy so that the most vulnerable and those Others in the trade union movement and on the Left dependent on public services bore the lion’s share of took a different view. At its very core, this was the burden. It entailed taking Stg£4 billion out of the premised on the basis that small countries could force economy of Northern Ireland with the attendant losses the creditor nations to adopt a more benign approach of tens of thousands of jobs across the public and pri- through threatening unilateral default or exiting the Eu- vate sectors. rozone. The essence of this theory is that those at the top of the system would be so petrified by the potential Across the Eurozone, a brutal one-sided austerity domino effect that they would relent and roll over. We recipe has been ruthlessly pursued throughout the pe- never subscribed to this view, because capitulation riod under review. The objective, which reflects the in- would immediately result in the demand for similar re- terests of those at the top of the financial system and lief by big countries like Spain and Italy. This most cer- in the creditor countries, remains a comprehensive in- tainly would bring about the collapse of the entire ternal devaluation. Essentially, this entails cutting system. By the end of 2014 the issue had not yet been labour costs, public expenditure and attacking the so- tested in any country, as it was to be in Greece during cial infrastructure. It has translated into the most ag- the spring and into the summer of 2015. gressive assault on the collective bargaining systems, employment and trade union rights, pensions and pub- Ultimately, the Republic of Ireland emerged from reces- lic provision, especially, but not exclusively, in the in- sion in 2013 recording real GDP growth of 1.4% and debted countries, since before the Second World War. going on to achieve 5.2% in 2014. This was reflected Accomplishing this requires an outright assault on the in some recovery in employment. Average annual em- trade union movement and the parties of the Left, ir- ployment grew by 43,300 over the four quarters of respective as to whether they are Social Democrats, 2013 (or 2.4%). In 2014, it grew by an average of Socialists or Left Republicans. The implications are 32,800 (or 1.7%). Budget 2015 was the first to provide manifestly evident in unprecedented levels of mass un- a small economic stimulus after seven continuous employment (especially among the young), emigration years of austerity. However, by the end of 2014 there and misery. was no real sense of any improvement being felt by the great majority of working people and the less well When one side in a war situation recognises that it is off. not strong enough to charge the enemy lines without getting slaughtered, it does the next best thing. It A major protest movement developed around the con- SIPTU • Annual Report 2013/2014 5 troversial issue of water charges. Our position has The year 2014 ended in a spirit of growing optimism been that every household should receive an adequate in the trade union movement on the island despite all supply of water to meet its normal domestic needs that had been endured. A growing progressive Left was without incurring costs with a tariff on waste thereafter, emerging in Europe with parties like Syriza in Greece as a conservation measure. Simultaneously, we have and Podemos in Spain. The tantalising prospect of a sought to make the case for co-ordinated increased in- profoundly better world presented, if only the various vestment in our crucially important water infrastruc- factions on the Left from Social Democrats to Social- ture, through Irish Water, which should ultimately be ists and Left Republicans in Ireland and in Europe designated as a Non-Commercial Semi-State Company. could agree a platform which outlines what they stand We firmly adhere to the line that all related works for as distinct simply from that which they are against. should continue to be carried out in the public sector on the basis of collectively agreed terms and condi- Trade unionists in the North ended the year embold- tions of employment. In parallel with this, we have pro- ened by the relative success of their campaign against moted the concept of a constitutional referendum to austerity. In the Republic, we were already chalking up prohibit the privatisation of the public water supply. successes with pay increases particularly in manufac- This policy has been unanimously endorsed by the Irish turing and to some degree elsewhere in the private Congress of Trade Unions. sector. We looked forward to a negotiation early in 2015 which would commence the process of recover- In the North, a vigorous trade union campaign against ing lost ground in the public service. In the wider con- the Tory/Lib Dem austerity policies ultimately resulted text of the workplace, we also looked forward to in a major political crisis in the political institutions utilising the recently created Low Pay Commission and there. This appeared to be resolved by the controver- impending legislation on Collective Bargaining rights to sial Stormont House Agreement of December 2014. go back on the offensive on pay and conditions and to The year ended with trade unionists there looking to mounting campaigns to challenge the growing culture the prospect of possible respite through the election of exploitation in the workplace. of a Labour or Labour minority administration in the impending UK General Election in May 2015. Jack O’Connor General President August 2015 6 SIPTU • Annual Report 2013/2014 Progress on BDC 2013 Resolutions • The examination of ways to provide for greater Motions 1 and 2 – Recognition and Protection social interaction and networking for Shop of Shop Stewards In conducting a Review of the Restructuring of the Stewards and Activists. This Social interaction Union, the National Executive Council established a and networking would be done at times of union Shop Steward Forum Group to review the issues activity, to support participation at times such as - impacting on the role of Shop Stewards and Activists • National Conference having particular regard to: • Divisional Conference • Education and Training • Sector AGM’s and Meetings • Support and Assistance • Sub-Sector AGM’s and meetings • Workplace Facilities • District Committees • Communication • Resource Facilities An examination of each of the Divisional Campaign • Recognition of the Voluntarist Role funds is recommended for exploring what options exist The Report of the Group was adopted by the National under this heading.

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