Sound Post VOLUME 18 NO. 2 - SUMMER 2020 IN THIS ISSUE: National Campaign for the Arts unim- pressed with Government’s Covid-19 scheme Unions secure improvements in tem- porary wage subsidy scheme Covid-19 unemployment payment helpdesk SIPTU launches working women’s charter 2020 Launch of MUI Executive Committee member, Francis Devine’s latest album Windmill Lane recording studio opens ‘Visitor Experience’ Angela Dorgan, Chairwoman of the National Campaign for the Arts. Photo: Irish Times ICTU Women’s Conference backs Stop 67Campaign NCFA unimpressed with International Federation of Musicians (FIM) a participant in ‘Make Music Government’s Covid-19 Scheme Safe’ initiative Possible NCH programming changes As part of a Government plan to support Ireland’s artistic and raise alarm bells cultural life during the Covid-19 crisis, the Minister for Culture, Josepha Madigan, announced in April an allocation of €1 million Reviews to support Irish-based professional artists creating new writing, Times Past music, painting, photography and sculpture. Comprising 334 grants of €3,000 each, the initiative is being jointly funded by the Obituaries Department of Arts and the Arts Council. It was stated that these MUI RTÉ freelance orchestral daily rates payments would be administered rapidly. Interval Quiz Declaring that the Arts Council was fully aware of the huge impact the crisis is having on the livelihoods of everyone working in the Gillian Smith on the National Youth arts, its chairperson, Kevin Rafter, said that the new work would be Orchestra of Ireland presented on a digital platform created by the Council. Roger Doyle on a composer’s strategies However, the National Campaign for the Arts (NCFA) expressed ex- Fintan Moran on Josef Strauss treme disappointment at the Department’s response to the effects of Covid-19 on the arts community. Conor Pyle on the Dublin Orchestral Players Continued on page 2 Sound Post | SUMMER 2020 did not qualify for the COVID-19 Unions secure payment or are still having diffi- culties accessing it would use this improvements facility so that the Department can see first hand the extent of the in Temporary problem we are pressing them on. Wage Subsidy NCFA Scheme unimpressed The Irish Congress of Trade Gerry McCormack, SIPTU Deputy General Unions and SIPTU have secured Secretary with Covid-19 changes to the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) to cor- Scheme rect anomalies. Covid-19 Continued from page 1 On 15th April, the Government announced measures to improve In a statement, NCFA Chair- the operation of the Scheme, Unemployment woman, Angela Dorgan, said: which include: Payment “In a time when the Irish Govern- 1. Workers with net pay of up to ment has acted swiftly and deci- €412 per week will now see helpdesk sively to allay fears and secure the welfare of Irish citizens in this the subsidy increase from 70% unprecedented crisis, we are dis- to 85% of their net weekly pay. There is now a helpdesk available mayed by the lack of vision shown from the Department of Culture, This will benefit workers on in relation to the arts”. € Heritage and the Gaeltacht in re- pay of up to 24,400 per year. lation to the COVID-19 Emergency Citing other countries that had made Payment. The Department has 2. For employees with previous provision for significant Covid-19 agreed to handle individual queries average net pay of between arts supports, including England from artists and arts workers about €412 and €500 per week (€160 million), Wales (€7 million) the payment, so if you’ve been re- € and Germany (€50 million), the NCFA (equivalent to 24,400- fused the payment or have a que- € said providing just €1 million to 31,000 per year), the subsidy stion about your eligibility, you can create online work was a small will now rise to €350 per contact the Department directly investment in individual artists. week. as follows and an official will con- tact you to discuss your query. An Arts Council survey revealed the This means no one will fall below massive scale of the Covid-19 crisis Please email [email protected] the level of the emergency Pan- in the arts sector, with a loss of with the following information: demic Unemployment Payment. audiences between March and May In addition, workers above • your telephone number of some 2.4 million, more than €38,000 per annum will now • a short description of your question 12,000 cancellations and 112,000 have pay reductions taken into tickets sold for events not proceeding. account when calculating the It is important that all of you who amount of the Temporary Wage Subsidy provided to the employer. SIPTU Deputy General Secretary, Gerry McCormack, said: “I would ask all staff to enter discussions with any member/company where the workers remain on payroll but are being paid less than €350 through the TWSS, to ensure that this amount is now increased to the minimum pay- ment of €350.” 2 Sound Post | SUMMER 2020 our Charter,” Monahan added, SIPTU launches “such as the legal right to flexi- ble working arrangements so working women can better balance work and caring responsibilities. women’s “This includes maternity, pater- nity and parental leave benefits charter 2020 on a pay-related basis so that parents don’t experience a A working women’s charter out- major drop in income when car- lining key demands that will im- ing for young children, and that prove rights for women in the women workers caring for el- derly relatives have their work workplace was launched by SIPTU Vice-President, Michelle valued and appreciated.” SIPTU Vice-President Michelle Monahan launches the 10-point Working Women’s Monahan, on 8th March – Inter- Charter on International Women’s Day. national Women’s Day – in Lib- SIPTU member and Big Start ac- erty Hall, Dublin. The 10-point tivist, Aisling Silke, told the Working Women’s Charter deals launch: “Today we have a situa- Services Division Organiser, with issues such as the gender tion where we are providing care Teresa Hannick. It also included pay gap, flexible working ar- in a society that refuses to value the launch of a photographic ex- rangements and properly valu- care. As we move into a new hibition featuring images of ing care work. Monahan decade we need and must begin women in the trade union move- described it as “a road map for to value care. As a union, SIPTU ment. Following the launch, the our union for the coming decade can do this by committing to film, Naila and the Uprising, in our organising and campaign- embed the Working Women’s about Palestinian resistance ing agenda for women work- Charter 2020 into all of our poli- leader, Naila Ayesh, was ers”. She said the Charter cies and objectives.” screened followed by a discus- underlined the union’s “key pri- sion with the film’s producer, orities and initiatives” on the The event, attended by more than Rula Salameh. issue. “Other mechanisms for 100 activists, was also addressed changing the game for women by SIPTU Deputy General Secre- The charter is available here. workers in Ireland are set out in tary, Ethel Buckley and SIPTU I The launch of Francy Devine’s album, an ownerless corner of earth, Teachers’ Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin, 27th February 2020, l-r: Steve Byrne (Scots Traditional Musician of the Year and MU member), Shona Donaldson Anderson, Dave McClean, Mark Dunlop (Makinky) and Paul Anderson. Francis (Francy) Devine is an Executive Committee member of the Musicians’ Union of Ireland. 3 Sound Post | SUMMER 2020 Windmill Lane Recording Studios, launch of ‘Visitor Experience’, 20 February 2020, from left: Sabina Higgins, Paul Brady, Donal Lunny, Aidan Alcock (Director), President Higgins, Tony Perrey (Director), Brian Masterson (Director), Naomi Moore (CEO), Fiachna Ó Broanáin and Paul Kelly (CEO, Fáilte Ireland). Photo: Naoise Culhane President Michael D Higgins was Speaking to Sound Post, SIPTU Windmill Lane the guest of honour at the studios Deputy General Secretary, Ethel for the launch of the new visitor Buckley, said the raising of the Recording Studios experience on 20th February, at State pension age affects all work- which singer Paul Brady per- ers but it has a more detrimental opens ‘Visitor formed alongside Donal Lunny. effect on women. She said: “Women are more likely to have Experience’ The one-hour tour provides visi- interrupted contribution records tors with an insight into the cre- Dublin’s world-famous Windmill and caring duties and forced to ation and production of some of rely on means-tested unemploy- Lane Recording Studios has the albums and songs of the past opened a new “visitor experi- ment payments between retire- forty years through a mix of tech- ence”, which Fáilte Éireann has ment age and the age we can said will be a “huge draw” for nology, audio-visual media and access the State pension. That is both domestic and international storytelling. Visitors can also ob- why stopping the raising of the age tourists. The original studio serve the music recording and of pension entitlements is one of buildings were famously covered production process. the key demands of SIPTU’s Work- in graffiti by U2 fans who visited ing Women’s Charter. Pensions from all over the world. are a workers’ issue and a women’s issue. We are committed Since then, some of the artists ICTU Women’s to winning the battle for pensions who have recorded there include fairness in order to ensure that Kate Bush, The Rolling Stones, conference older workers will not be forced The Cranberries, The Spice Girls into poverty, working more years and, more recently, Lady Gaga, Ed than they want to or pushed on to Sheeran, Westlife, The Script and backs Stop67 the dole.” Hozier.