1,300 IRISH bus drivers working for Bus Éireann have returned a massive 94% ‘YES’ vote for strike action to defend their pay and conditions, which the company are threatening to tear up.
The National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU) said there was a 75% turnout in the strike vote. Bus Éireann is drafting a plan to ‘secure a viable future’ for the service by cutting costs. In December, it said it planned to bring it before its board ‘as quickly as possible’.
NBRU Members at BUS ÉIREANN voted overwhelmingly (94%) for Industrial Action over the anticipated ‘Expressway changes’ as they are called. General Secretary Dermot O’Leary said: ‘Our members have sent a strong message to both their employer and the government with regard to the future of Expressway.
‘Keeping workers guessing in relation to their future in order to facilitate a General Election Campaign is an abdication of the duty of care that Bus Éireann owes to its workforce. Sending staff out behind the wheel of a large Public Service Vehicle whilst shop floor speculation has reached fever pitch is distasteful in the extreme.
‘It is a credit to the professionalism of Bus Éireann Drivers that they are able to maintain their ability to provide a service to the community in such circumstances.’ O’Leary went on to say: ‘The current regime along with those who have designs on governing post the Election would be well advised to heed the concerns of Bus Éireann staff, their families and the Communities they serve across the length and breadth of the Country as they peddle their political promises on the doorsteps.
‘Staff at Bus Éireann have been overloaded with information coming at them sideways over recent months through constant negative references to the future of the Expressway model. Rumour, innuendo and comments from managers in relation to impending changes to Expressway is not an acceptable method of consultation, furthermore, our members are not prepared to become pawns in a political game of “not doing anything” that would cause upset to a sitting government pre an election”.
‘Our members are not going to stand idly by and allow their livelihoods and those of their families become second best to political considerations, the continuous issuing of licenses by the National Transport Authority, which conflicts with the NTA’s own guidelines, is having the effect of making the Bus Market unsustainable.
‘The fact that the government is allowing this to continue unchecked will not be lost on the CIE Groups 9,500 plus staff, their families and communities, some of who rely on Bus Éireann for work and social needs, particularly when it comes to their own political selections at election time.’ This is an escalating ongoing struggle. Bus Éireann took strike action on May 1 last year.
• Irish Tesco workers in the SIPTU union have said they will not accept a management proposal to unilaterally cut the terms and conditions of long-serving staff with contracts agreed prior to 1997.
SIPTU Organiser, Derek Casserley, said: ‘Our members in Tesco have reacted with anger to the announcement by management that it intends to implement unilateral cuts to the terms and conditions of long-serving staff. SIPTU entered into an agreement with the company in 1997 on workers’ contracts.
‘The terms and conditions of these contracts were hard fought for by workers. Members have expressed their intention to fight to protect their contracts and they will not accept any management ultimatums.’
He added: ‘This weekend, union representatives will be meeting with the SIPTU Tesco negotiating committee. At this meeting we will discuss how our members wish us to react to this attempt to cut terms and conditions at the company. SIPTU representatives will then meet with Tesco management early next week.’
• SIPTU also organise health workers in Ireland. The union has condemned the massive spend on agency workers in the health service. SIPTU has called on the government to directly recruit health staff and end payments to private ‘for profit’ recruitment agencies which amounted to approximately 250 million euros during 2015.
SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said: ‘SIPTU is calling on the HSE to identify each of the 2,500 posts filled by an agency worker and, where appropriate, open a recruitment competition to fill the position on a direct contract basis. This will save on the commission paid to “for profit” recruitment agencies and allow workers the dignity of a full-time, pensionable job.
‘Spending hundreds of millions of euro every year on agency staff makes no economic sense. It is based around the false economy of moving staff numbers “off balance sheet” so it can be claimed that permanent staff numbers have been reduced without any impact on services.’
He added: ‘During 2015, 250 million euros was spent on employing agency workers.
This is despite an instruction to all managers in the HSE and related agencies to only use agency staff to cover absenteeism or peaks in service. It is clear from the amount of hours being allocated to agency staff that the HSE is using them to prop up the health service on a constant basis. Staffing the health service should not be about mere optics but be based on value for money for taxpayers and ensuring the best standards of care for patients.’
• SIPTU have launched a support network to ensure that workers who come in to Ireland from other countries have rights at work. SIPTU launched the Migrant Workers Support Network launched in Liberty Hall last Friday.
Over 150 people attended the launch of the SIPTU Migrant and International Workers Network at the two day conference. The conference was addressed by Minister of State Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor and migrant worker activists.
SIPTU migrant worker activists from across Ireland attended the conference to take part in workshops on issues including training, workers’ rights and innovation. SIPTU Migrant and International Workers Support Network co-ordinator, Evelina Saduikyte, said: ‘The aim of the Support Network is to organise and support migrant workers effectively and fully participate in union activity. Workers regardless of their country of origin have a shared objective in sustaining and improving working conditions.’
Support Network co-ordinator, Joanna Ozdarska, said: ‘Our union has a growing and active migrant worker membership. The Support Network will enable migrant workers to support themselves and their communities.’
She added: ‘It is also intended that the Support Network will work in collaboration with like-minded progressive groups and organisations across the community sector and civil society. This coalition will campaign for a just, inclusive and equal society for all.’
• Irish union IMPACT has launched a special booklet to mark the 1916 centenary of the Easter Rising. The Easter rising was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916.
The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans to end British rule in Ireland and establish an independent Irish Republic. IMPACT said: ‘Four Lives features the stories of Eamonn Ceannt, Seán Connolly, Harry Nicholls and Con O’Donovan. Ceannt, Connolly and Nicholls were workers and trade union members that played distinct roles in the events of the Rising.
‘O’Donovan was a student who later became an activist and was elected to the highest office in his trade union. The booklet was launched at the union’s Dublin office yesterday (Thursday 28th January) and was attended by members of the Ceannt, Connolly and O’Donovan families. The booklet was officially launched by Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD, Minister of State for New Communities, Culture, Equality and Drug Strategy.’
The booklet was compiled and written by IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody. Cody said the publication was IMPACT’s way to mark the centenary of the Rising. Members of IMPACT’s forerunner organisations played a central role in the Rising, as part of the wider trade union movement.
‘This is not a comprehensive account of every member of every union that preceded IMPACT that was involved in the 1916 rising. The four lives are a sample. That said, these are four important and symbolic lives. They represent activists in the trade union and labour movement that were involved in the forerunner organisations before IMPACT – namely, the Dublin Municipal Officers Association, the United Corporation Workmen of Dublin Trades Union and, later, the Institution of Professional Civil Servants.
‘In working on this booklet it becomes clear that history is more complex than the simple version often handed down. They were participants and witnesses to events that shook the nation and that also laid the ground for the turbulent years that followed. These were the years that would lead, ultimately, to the creation of an Irish state.
‘The Rising affected the lives of thousands of Dubliners as the city became a turbulent and complicated battleground. This publication is designed to capture their unique perspective, and to provide an historical context of IMPACT’s roots to today’s union members.’
Launching the booklet, Minister Ó Ríordáin said: ‘It is a great honour to launch Four Lives – IMPACT trade union’s roots in the 1916 Rising. The Easter Rising was a momentous moment in our nation’s history and it is right that we both remember and commemorate the movements which came together to advance the ideals of the Proclamation.
‘In particular, the labour movement in 1916 played a core role in making its progressive, workers-focused ideals central to the Proclamation and continued to work to make those ideals a reality over the last hundred years. I commend IMPACT trade union for highlighting their roots in this pivotal moment in Ireland’s history by publishing this booklet.’
