November/December 2015Vol.14 No. 7

ISSN 0791-458X

SIPTU is seeking action from the Government in relationto so-called ‘if and when’ contracts which have been high-lighted as a major concern for precarious workers.Researchers at University of Limerick (UL) found that ‘if and when’

contracts have evolved to undermine protections in Irish law againstthe imposition of ‘zero hour contracts’.The contracts circumvent existing legislation by, in theory, giving

employees the option of refusing to work hours allocated to them atshort notice. The contracts were found to be particularly prevalent inthe accommodation, food and retail sectors as well as in occupationsincluding nursing, community care and third level lecturing.Writing in Liberty, the Minister for Business and Employment, Ged

Nash, commits to tackling this new form of precarious employment,stating that; “Too many workers go to bed on a Sunday night notknowing how many hours they will work that week, what their take-home pay will be or how they are going to organise family life aroundwork. I am determined to tackle this.”He said: “Tackling precarious work practices is a priority for me and

the Labour Party, and is a key element of the dignity at work agendaI have been promoting since becoming Minister.”Nash has called on stakeholders to make submissions based on the

UL study, which will inform recommendations on creating greater jobsecurity that he will bring to government early in the new year.SIPTU will be presenting an extensive submission to the minister

on the UL study and on what legislative changes should be imple-mented to provide workers with greater job security.

by Scott Millar

Continued on page 2

Brexit dangerPage 5

CrosswordPage 31

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Christy Moore singing with Clerys workers in Liberty Hall on Friday, 16th October. See page 4. (Photo: Derek Speirs )

Saving the public water servicePage 8

TacklingprecariousworkPage 13

WORKERS RIGHTS CENTRE8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., Monday - Friday wrc@siptu.ie

Fighting for theundocumentedPage 16-17

Call to end ‘if and when’ contracts

Battle for BrazilPage 26

wrc@siptu.ie

Supporting Quality: Odlums and PfizerPage 18-19

Polska Edycja LibertyPage 6

Dancing with Paddy BehanPage 22

Liberty ViewPage 11

1916 - the sporting yearPage 30

Ending the CubanblockadePage 25

In this month’s Liberty

Editor: Frank Connolly, SIPTU Head of CommunicationsJournalist: Scott Millar Design: Sonia Slevin (SIPTU), Joe Mitchell (Brazier Media) & William HedermanPublications Assistant: Deirdre PriceAdministrative Assistant: Karen HackettProduced, designed, edited and printed by trade union labour. Printed by The Irish Times, City West, Dublin.Liberty is dedicated to providing a platform for progressive news and views.If you have any ideas for articles or comments please contact: communications@siptu.ieLiberty is published by the Services, Industrial, Professional & Technical Union, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor • Vice President, Gene Mealy• General Secretary, Joe O’FlynnProduction: SIPTU Communications Department, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1, Tel: 01 8588217 • Email: communications@siptu.ie

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

2 News

LibertyView

SIPTU Services Division Organ-iser, Ethel Buckley, said: “Ourmembers will regard the publica-tion of the UL report as an oppor-tunity to deal with the abuse,misuse and manipulation of vul-nerable workers in Irish society.“We note the commitment by

the minister to bring forwardmeasures to handle this type ofmistreatment by some employersand the union will engage fully in

the consultation process with theintention of ensuring that themeasures to be adopted will fullyprotect the interests of workersand their families.”Among the proposals put for-

ward in the UL report to assistprecarious workers is a recom-mendation that employees re-ceive, on day one of a new job, acontract which includes workinghours that are a true reflection of

what is expected of them.Other proposals include a mini-

mum shift of three continuoushours work for employees and, ifnot, that the worker should bepaid for three hours. There is alsoa recommendation to legislate fora 72 hour notice period for anyrequest to undertake work or cancellation of work, or compen-sation for not meeting this mini-mum notice.

Continued from page 1 — Call to end ‘if and when’ contracts

The 1916 Rising generationPage 28

SIPTU has agreed to a re-quest by the Workplace Rela-tions Commission (WRC) torefer the dispute at Irish Railto the Labour Court.SIPTU Organiser, Paul Cullen,

said: “SIPTU will be presenting itscase that the management of IrishRail must honour its commit-ments in relation to past produc-tivity, which were agreed in 2014,at the forthcoming Labour Court

hearing.”In deference to the WRC re-

quest, SIPTU agreed to suspend awork stoppage by train drivers,which was scheduled to take placeon Friday, 6th November.

Labour Court intervention in Irish Rail dispute

Workers in Irish Water beganballoting on industrial ac-tion on Monday, 9th Novem-ber.The decision to ballot for indus-

trial action by SIPTU members re-sults from an attempt bymanagement to break a service

level agreement and enforce up to1,500 job losses among front-linewater service workers.SIPTU Organiser, Brendan

O’Brien, said: “The company hasnot explained who would carryout the essential work of any em-ployees made redundant. It can only be deduced that the plan is

to expand the number of privatecontractors working for the com-pany which will accelerate thecreeping privatisation of this pub-lic utility.”The ballot is scheduled to be

counted on Friday, 20th November. (see page 8)

Irish Water workers ballot for industrial action

Proposals by the Bank of Ire-land to restrict cash transac-tions in branches amount toan attack on the elderly ac-cording to the National Sec-retary of the SIPTU RetiredMembers Section, Paddy

Moran, . Under the propos-als, Bank of Ireland is at-tempting to force customerswho are dealing in amountsof less than €700 to only useautomated or internet basedbanking systems.

“This amounts to an attack onolder people, many of whom findATMs and computerised interac-tion extremely difficult, if not im-possible, and do not own homecomputers,” Moran said

Proposed banking changes an attack on the elderly

A well-designed system ofrent controls must be intro-duced immediately to stemthe rising tide of homeless-ness, according to SIPTUPresident, Jack O’Connor.“Ireland is experiencing a hous-

ing crisis that is worsening eachweek with spiralling rents, home-

lessness, long-term mortgage ar-rears, home repossessions andshortages of social housing andprivate rental accommodation allintensifying in severity,” he said.The SIPTU President said that theGovernment needed to go muchfurther than proposals thatemerged in early November in re-lation to the issue. He called for

the adoption of a system modeledon the best practice in other coun-tries.O’Connor added: “Many other

European countries have had suchsystems in place for many years,indeed decades, and have seensolid and sustainable investmentin the rental sector at the sametime.”

Rent controls needed to stem rising homelessness

SIPTU members have ac-cepted a Workplace Rela-tions Commission proposalon a plan that will see num-bers in the Dublin FireBrigade (DFB) brought up to

safe minimum manning lev-els within an agreed time-frame.The main provisions of this

agreement, which was concludedin October, is a commitment by

Dublin City Council that numbersin the DFB should be brought upto 963, in line with the agreed safemanning levels that have been inplace since 1991.

Deal to bring Dublin Fire Brigade numbers up to safe level

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

3News

By Scott Millar

Gardai have been accused offocusing on charging undocu-mented migrant workersrather than abusive employ-ers following revelationsabout widespread exploita-tion in the Irish fishing in-dustry. International Transport Federa-

tion (ITF) coordinator for Britainand Ireland, Ken Fleming, told Lib-erty: “The arrest of a young Egypt-ian fisherman in west Cork forfailing to produce identificationand a work permit indicates thatgardaí are still failing to tackle thecause of this problem which isnon-compliant, exploitative em-ployers.”On Thursday 5th November, Mo-

hamed Elfallah (23), was chargedwith a breach of the ImmigrationAct at Bandon District Court afterhe was unable to produce a validpassport or equivalent identifica-tion to gardai at Union Hall pier inCork on the previous day.Fleming said he believes more

than 1,000 migrant workers arecurrently being exploited withinthe Irish fishing industry. The scaleof the problem was confirmed byan in-depth investigation by theGuardian newspaper published inearly November.Guardian reporters uncovered a

range of abuses suffered by work-ers, including low pay, no pay,withheld pay, workers being forcedto work long hours, suffering ex-treme sleep deprivation and a lackof mandatory basic training.SIPTU and the ITF are calling for

exploited undocumented migrant

workers to be provided with a pe-riod of reflection after makingthemselves known to the authori-ties. This period would allow themto decide how best to regularisetheir status and, if required, to pro-vide evidence for the prosecutionof employers for gross violationsof human and employment rights.Fleming continued: “The intro-

duction of such a period of reflec-tion is essential if we are to tacklethis issue at its source, that is em-ployers who will inflict any degreeof suffering on workers in order toincrease profits. “The ITF has been demanding

government action to end exploita-tive practices in the industry forseveral years but there was no ef-fective response.“A report was produced in 2009

outlining many of these problems.I met various departments andministers concerning the issue,had talks on quay walls with gardaíbut the whole thing was a waste oftime as nothing was done.”The ITF has been asked to make

a submission to a new high-levelinter-departmental taskforce setup by the Minister for AgricultureFood and the Marine, SimonCoveney, to examine the issuesidentified in the recent Guardianreport.Fleming added: “This is also an

issue in Northern Ireland and Scot-land. However, there is a degree ofeffective police action in those ju-risdictions.”He believes the largest number

of undocumented migrants work-ing in the industry are from theEgypt and the Philippines withsmaller numbers from other coun-tries including Ghana and Indone-sia.SIPTU Divisional Organiser,

Gerry McCormack, said: “SIPTU iscalling on the Government to im-mediately move towards the intro-duction of a legal framework thatwould provide for decent pay andconditions, proper training forworkers and an appropriate inspec-tion system to ensure compliancein the fishing industry.”

WORKERS at most of Ireland’s leading companiesare organised into SIPTU, afact which critically under-mines claims that unions areof the past or againstprogress, SIPTU General Sec-retary, Joe O’Flynn, hasclaimed. “There is a lot of perception

today that unions are no longer rel-evant and we are not really repre-sentative in terms of employmentand are not organised in the big USmultinationals,” he said address-ing 400 delegates gathered at theCity Hall, Cork, on 7th October. “However, if you take the top

100 listed companies in terms ofemployees, 72 are SIPTU-repre-sented and that includes the likesof Pfizer and Apple.”Addressing delegates on the

progress of the union in 2013 and2014, O’Flynn pointed to the scaleof pay increases that were beingachieved by members.“The improving economy hasn’t

impacted positively on everyoneyet,” he said. “But we have startedto advance workers pay and condi-tions over the last two years, particularly in the private sector.We are securing pay increases in a

lot of employments in the privatesector, particularly in manufactur-ing, of up to 4.5% to 5% in someemployments where they have theability to pay. In others it might be2% to 3%.”O’Flynn said the fact that work-

ers still understood that organisingin a union is relevant to the qualityof their lives was clear from the increasing SIPTU membership thatwas beginning to recover from thelosses it had suffered during therecession.“We have organised 16,000 new

members since 1st January,” hetold delegates. “We expect that bythe end of the year we will haveover 20,000 new members. Therehave been losses but for the firstyear in six we will have more newmembers than people who areleaving due to the loss of theirjobs.”O’Flynn’s address to delegates

confirmed this year’s biennial con-ference as marking the start of anew period for SIPTU - one inwhich members strive to win backwhat was lost during the recessionand push on to build a better coun-try for workers.

l For full conference reportsee pages 14 and 15

General Secretary Joe O’Flynn delivering upbeat address toSIPTU’s biennial delegate conferencePICTURE: Jim Weldon

SIPTU: securing pay increases and growing membership

Ken Fleming, International Transport Federation (ITF) co-ordinator for Britain and Ireland.

Gardai ‘focusing on migrant fishermen – not unscrupulous employers’

PICTURE: Courtesy Irish Examiner

Irish Water workers ballot for industrial action

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

4 Clerys concert

HE Justice for theClerys workers cam-paign has continuedto gather strength in

recent weeks with a solidar-ity concert by singer ChristyMoore and a growing numberof politicians offering theirsupport. The concert took place in a sold-

out Liberty Hall Theatre on Friday,16th October. During the perform-ance, Christy warmly recountedhis own memories of Clerys andthe important part it played inIrish life. He performed rousing favourites

including Ordinary Man, ConnollyWas There and Oblivious – the last

TBy Scott Millar

PROPOSALS by the newowners of Arnotts to main-tain and develop the busi-ness have received supportfrom SIPTU members work-ing at the iconic departmentstore in Henry Street,Dublin.In early November, the store

was purchased by WittingtonProperties and Selfridges, whichare controlled by the Weston

family who also own BrownThomas.SIPTU Organiser, Teresa

Hannick, told Liberty: “Our members in Arnotts are pleasedwith the positive news that thenew owners are planning to further upgrade and develop theretail store.” There are 45 members of SIPTU

working in Arnotts from a total of500 direct employees.

Arnotts plan backed by workers

song a powerful polemic againstthe Irish political and businesselite written by singer-songwriterMick Blake.During the concert, SIPTU Presi-

dent Jack O’Connor presentedChristy with a copy of the newSIPTU publication The Workers Re-public. There was also a powerfulperformance of an extract of theplay Rebel, Rebel by drama groupANU.“We’re not just fighting for

Clerys workers, we’re fighting forall workers,” former Clerys workerSusie McGowan told the audiencein a speech from the stage. She said that the workers would

now be intensifying their fightwith a series of protests in the runup to Christmas. The night con-

cluded with an emotional rendi-tion of Molly Malone with theClerys workers joining Christy onstage. Lord Mayor of Dublin, Críona Ní

Dhálaigh, Tánaiste Joan Burton,Sinn Féin Vice President Mary LouMcDonald, Junior Minister AodhánÓ Ríordáin, and People BeforeProfit TD, Richard Boyd Barrett at-tended the concert.Before taking their seats the

elected representatives expressedsupport for the Clerys workers’ de-mands for fair treatment andbacked a meeting with the direc-tors of Natrium – the consortiumthat bought the store in June – sothey could be quizzed about why itwas decided to liquidate the busi-ness with the loss of 400 jobs and

to discuss future plans for the site.Since the Liberty Hall gig the

Clerys workers have also widenedtheir protest campaign to includea weekly picket outside the De-partment of Jobs, Enterprise andInnovation in Dublin 2, in a bid tohighlight the need for a change inthe law to ensure no other workerscan lose their jobs in a similarmanner.ICTU General Secretary, Patricia

King, has attended the picket out-side the department alongside or-ganisers and members fromseveral unions including SIPTU,Impact and the PSEU. Proceedsfrom the concert were given to theCarrickmines Tragedy Fund, theRise Foundation and the ClerysWorkers Fighting Fund.

Solidarity in song at Christy’s Clerys gig

PICTURE:RollingNews.ie

Christy Moore

Christy Moore with The Workers Republic

Susie McGowan addressing the audiencePictures: Derek Speirs

Robbie O’Connor and Aisling O’Meara of ANU Productions performing at Clerys gig

Clerys workers joiningChristy Moore on stage for a rendition of MollyMalone

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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A UK exit from the EuropeanUnion (the so called “Brexit”)would have a hugely negativeimpact on the Irish economy,in particular on the agricul-ture and food & drinks sec-tors, the head of SIPTU'sManufacturing Division haswarned. Gerry McCormack, whose divi-

sion has 37,000 members directlyemployed in the manufacturing in-dustry, was addressing a seminar inOctober on a possible “Brexit”, or-ganised by the Charter Group.He said trade union led economic

predictions suggested Ireland couldlose up to 3.1% of GDP in a worst-case scenario and 1.1% of GDP in abest-case one.“The total value of agriculture,

food & drinks exports is in the re-gion of €10.5 billion, and exportsin this sector have grown by 45%from 2009 despite the recession,”McCormack said. “Our biggest mar-ket by far is the UK where over 40%of all goods are exported with atotal value of over €4.2 billion.”In the event of a Brexit, Irish ex-

porters could face border controls,customs and excise duties, tariffsand other regulations, he warned.

Noting that the two-way trade be-tween the Republic and the UK isworth €1 billion a week, McCor-

mack said it was clear the UK alsohad “an enormous amount to losein terms of its exports to the EUand to Ireland . . . It is therefore dif-ficult to foresee how a Brexit wouldbe in the UK’s economic interest.”McCormack said SIPTU was also

concerned that the proposal of aBrexit could have a detrimental im-pact on workers’ rights – even if theUK decided to stay within the EU,

having received concessions or afudged agreement from our EUpartners.“This could lead to the dumbing-

down of employment rights and thepossibility of social dumping...It is clear the British prime ministerDavid Cameron cannot be trustedwhen it comes to workers’ rights.”Pointing out that Ireland is the

only country in Europe that has aland border with the UK, McCormack said living and workingon both sides of the border “may become extraordinarily difficult forworkers if based on the worst-casescenario involving border controlsand work regulations”.McCormack called on the Irish

Government and its various Stateagencies to take immediate steps toprotect Irish jobs and employmentrights. “The Government should engage

with its UK counterparts to ensurethe minimum impact to both countries’ economies and socialstructures. The Irish Governmentshould also reject any attempts bythe UK Government to water downworkers’ rights at EU level.”

Brexit would hit Irish workers hard

Gerry McCormack: called onthe Government to takeimmediate steps to protect Irishjobs and employment rights.Picture: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie

“The proposal of aBrexit could havea detrimentalimpact onworkers’ rights –even if the UKdecided to staywithin the EUhaving receivedconcessions”

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

6 News

NCI pay deal: cuts reversal for SIPTU membersSINCE 2008, SIPTU membersat the National College of Ireland (NCI) in Dublin havehad to endure significant cutsto their salaries, a freezing oftheir pension schemes, and ahalt to incremental salary progression – all in the name ofsustainability and job security. Over this period, SIPTU

members in NCI have been involved in a continuous struggleto reverse these cuts, at times having to resort to official industrial action to compel man-agement to honour many agree-ments that had been sanctionedand proposed through the LabourRelations Commission and theLabour Court.After eight years, October 2015

has seen the final elements ofthese cuts reversed, with a proposal on a new model of payprogression being overwhelminglyaccepted by SIPTU members.The new agreement will provide

members with pay band reviewsevery two years – as a way to en-sure that pay keeps up with infla-tion and the general cost of living. Each year will see percentage in-

creases in members’ current salary,with these increases being basedon a percentage tiered system, resulting in a larger percentage in-crease on the first portion of amember’s salary, with slightly reduced percentages on the nexthigher portion of salary and so on. In addition, the new agreement

will result in a significant increasein annual leave entitlement for allmembers. This adds up to five

additional days, bringing annualleave entitlement up to 26 days annually for non-academic gradesand 36 days for academic grades.The new agreement will also see

the updating of the current annualreview processes, with the intro-duction of a more balanced andfairer annual review system whichwill provide members with another opportunity for progressionin pay.A large number of lower-paid

NCI staff, who previously were notpart of the incremental system,will now enter into the new payprogression system. This will seethem placed on to increased salarybands and benefiting from all aspects of the new model. The new pay progression model

will also be applied to senior executive management bands withno alternative awards of pay pro-gression outside the scope of thenew model. This new model of payprogression has been built and developed with members firmlyaware of past occasions whenSIPTU members have had to endure the unilateral withdrawalof negotiated pay agreements.It is also being built with our

eyes focused on the future and thesignificant growth forecast for NCIover the coming 10 years. The new agreement firmly

commits NCI executive manage-ment, unambiguously, to the sharing of this growth with unionmembers and all staff through payprogression.

Jonathan Lambert is SIPTU shop stewardand committee chair at NCI

By Jonathan Lambert

Liberty Hall to host talksby working class loyalistsA SERIES of lunchtime talksfeaturing speakers fromworking class loyalist communities in Belfast willbe held at Liberty Hall,Dublin, during Novemberand December.The five Our Friends From

Belfast talks were organised bya group of peace workers, com-munity activists and tradeunionists from Dublin as partof an effort to build bridges anddispel myths.Speakers include Progressive

Unionist Party leader Billy

Hutchinson (Thursday, Novem-ber 19th), East Belfast-basedIrish language activist LindaErvine (Thursday, November26th), historian Philip Orr(Thursday, December 3rd), PUPmember Julie-Anne Corr(Thursday, December 10th), andex-UVF prisoner and playwrightRobert Niblock (Thursday, De-cember 17th).Each talk begins at 1.00 p.m.

and will be followed by questions and discussions.Entry is free.

Drodzy czytelnicy, SIPTU zamierza prowadzić osobną kolumnę w Liberty w języku polskim, skierowaną przede wszystkim do polskich członków związku.Mamy nadzieję, że będziemy ją prowadzić wspólnie z Wami. O czym chcielibyście przeczytać, czego chcielibyście się dowiedzieć? Prosimy o wszelkie sugestie. Piszcie na adres: bdorda@siptu.ie. A na początek przedstawimy trójkę Polaków, którzy pracują w SIPTU. Polaków w SIPTU jestponad 7000 i mamy nadzieję, żę będzie okazja żeby i o nich opowiedzieć.

Zajmowałem się organizowaniem związków zawodowych w najróżniejszychmiejscach w Irlandii. Wiem, żeto wyzwanie by założyć silnezwiązki zawodowe, ale jest tojak najbardziej możliwe.Wymaga to wytrwałości i uporu.Od roku pracuje w CentrumPraw Pracowników w SIPTU,gdzie udzielamy poradprawnych indywidualnymczłonkom, reprezentujemy

ich na spotkaniach dyscyplinarnych, w sądachprawa pracy. Indywidualneosoby opłącające składkiczłonkowskie otrzymują od naspomoc prawną, ale pamiętajcie,że największa korzyść z bycia wzwiązkach to siła płynąca z działania grupy. Zorganizowani,działający wspólnie wywalczycieo wiele więcej niż ja przed sądami pracy w sprawach indywidualnych!

BARNABA DORDAORGANISER, WORKERS RIGHTS CENTRE, W SIPTU od 10 lat

Moja przygoda z SIPTUrozpoczęła się, kiedy podjąłempracę na odlewni aluminium wLimerick. Zapisałem się dozwiązków i szybko przekonałemsię o korzyściach - siła w jedności,mozliwość reprezentacji i realnaszansa na zmianę. Tospowodowalo, że zacząłem aktywnie działać w pracy izostałem wybrany Shop Stewardem. Teraz pracując w

Siptu pomagam pracownikomzakładać związki. Mającdoświadczenie w miejscu pracygdzie nie było zwiazków zawodowych dobrze wiem jakłatwo jest być wykorzystanym iczuć się tylko numerem wmiejscu pracy. Wspólniemozemy to zmienić! Pamiętaj,nikt za Ciebie zmiany nie zaprowadzi, ale nasza pomocsię zawsze przyda!

AREK MUSZYNKIORGANISER, THE STRATEGIC ORGANISING DEPARTMENT, w SIPTU od 7 lat

Reprezentuję członków związkuw sprawach grupowych.Prowadzę negocjacje zbiorowedotyczące podwyżek, zmianwarunków pracy. Negocjacje sąłatwiejsze z grupą pracowników,którzy wzajemnie się wspierają.Ważna jest ilość ludzi wzwiązkach i ich aktywność. Jeślijesteś członkiem SIPTU,zachęć swoich kolegów i włączsię do działania. Jeśli nie ma u

Was związków, skontaktuj się znami, pomożemy Ci je założyć!Bez wsparcia związków wmiejscu pracy nie mamy dużejszansy wpływać na warunkipracy! DZIAŁAJMY RAZEM!Jeśli nie teraz to kiedy? Dzielmysię informacją i pozytywnymihistoriami z naszego życia byinspirować innych i pokazać żejest inna droga do osiągnięciaspokoju i swoich praw!

JOANNA OZDARSKAORGANISER, SERVICES DIVISION, w Siptu od 8 lat

Barnaba Dorba

Arek Muszynki

Joanna Ozdarska

POLSKA EDYCJA LIBERTY

Zapisz się do związku! Chcesz wiedzieć więcej, zadzwoń: 1890747881

NEW! POLISH SECTIONIf you have any colleagues from Poland in your workplace, you may show them the new Polish section of Liberty. We start small but aim to expand. Keep an eye on the next issue and share with your Polish colleagues. You might also ask for their opinion or feedback.

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

7News

THE Irish Congress of TradeUnions has expressed “deepconcern” at new EU proposalsto establish National Com-petitiveness Boards thatwould “inform the wage set-ting processes” in all euro-zone member states. Congress General Secretary Patri-

cia King has sought an urgentmeeting with An Taoiseach, EndaKenny, on foot of the EU Commis-sion proposal in order to “expressour strongly held view on this se-rious matter.”She said: “The proposed boards

could infringe upon the autonomy

Edenderry court decision mustnot lead to compulsory lay-offs

Competitiveboards riskwage race tothe bottom

Fire audit of properties needed

Workers accept proposals to end Bellanaboy dispute

SIPTU HAS called for an ur-gent and wide-ranging firesafety audit of propertiesdue to the number of seri-ous regulatory breachesacross the country.Defects have been found in

many buildings, includingschools and apartment com-plexes such as Longboat Quay inDublin and Riverside Walk incounty Meath.SIPTU National Retained Fire-

fighter Organiser, Con Casey, toldLiberty: “A culture of silence and

inaction by the relevant authori-ties, including the Health andSafety Authority, alongside theso-called ‘light touch’ regulationof construction projects has al-lowed a situation to developwhere risks for the public andfire service personnel have beensignificantly increased. “Immediate action is now re-

quired to address this situation.The authorities must act deci-sively now and not wait untilafter another fatality has beencaused due to the failure to iden-tify existing defects.”

of social partners in collective bar-gaining and wage setting. Such amechanism is unacceptable toworkers and their trade unions.”The proposal to set up the Com-

petitiveness Boards across the eu-rozone, which emerged from ameeting of the EU Commission on23rd October, has already drawnstrong criticism from the EuropeanTrade Union Confederation(ETUC). The ETUC has called for the plan

to be shelved.

SIPTU members have voted to ac-cept proposals to end a disputeinvolving security officers atShell’s Bellanaboy Bridge GasTerminal, county Mayo.The dispute which arose from a

threat to impose unilateral joblosses and reduced hours resultedin a 12-hour work stoppage bySIPTU members employed by thesecurity contractor, Senaca Group,on 19th October.

SIPTU members in MusgraveRetail Partners Ireland(MRPI) voted overwhelminglyduring October to accept a24-month pay deal. Workers in the company’s ware-

houses in Fonthill, county Dublin,Kilcock, county Kildare and in Corkcity accepted a 2% basic pay in-crease backdated to 1st July 2015as well as a further 1% basic pay in-crease from the 1st July 2016. Driv-ers in Fonthill and Kilcock also

accepted the same pay deal.SIPTU Organiser, Teresa Han-

nick, said: “This two-year agree-ment that will expire on the 30thJune 2017 is the first time sincethe National Wage Agreementsthat MRPI has had a national payincrease across its sites around thecountry. “The deal was negotiated by the

MRPI National Negotiation Com-mittee with the assistance of theWorkplace Relations Commission.”

Pay deal at Musgraves

A RECENT High Court deci-sion to overturn planningpermission for the continuedoperation of the Bord naMóna power plant in Eden-derry, county Offaly, mustnot result in compulsory re-dundancies.SIPTU Organiser, John Regan,

who is secretary of the Bord naMóna Group of Unions, made thecall in response to the October27th decision.He said: “The decision of the

High Court to overturn the judg-ment of An Bord Pleanála to allowthis plant to continue operation isconcerning. However, there is asecond planning application

lodged and we expect it to be ap-proved next year.“The success of this planning ap-

plication should secure all the jobsin Edenderry Power and its sur-rounding operations.

“However, if there is a rejectionof this second application the po-sition of the Bord na Móna Groupof Unions remains that no compul-sory redundancies will be acceptedat the semi-state company.”

PICTURES: RollingNews.ie

EU Commission HQ

Patricia King: ‘unacceptable’

PICTURE: Se?bastien Bertrand (CC BY 2.0)

ADVICE, SUPPORT AND HELP

CONFIDENTIAL

EXPERT

1890747881SIPTU WORKERS RIGHTS CENTRE

8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., Monday - Fridaywrc@siptu.ie

VICE, SUPPORT AND HELPAD

VICE, SUPPORT AND HELP

VICE, SUPPORT AND HELP

TPIS

CONFIDENTIAL

EXPERT

SREKROWU

CONFIDENTIAL

TNECSTHGIR

ERT

1

0891

47740

874

188

1

wrc8

siptu.ie@wrc

03.5ot.m.a03.

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LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

8 Irish Water

FOR decades, SIPTUmembers have ensuredthat fresh, clean waterflows from the taps of

homes and businesses aroundthe country. However, now themore than 4,000 workers whoprovide water services arelocked in a fight to protect thevery existence of this publicservice.Liberty discussed the looming

threat of the privatisation of waterservices with frontline waterworkers following a meeting of theIrish Water National Dispute Com-mittee in Liberty Hall in October.

WHAT IS AT STAKEMonaghan based waste water

caretaker Stephen Kelly outlinedwhat was at stake in the battle toensure Irish Water respects a Serv-ice Level Agreement and does notsucceed in enforcing 1,500 redun-dancies among frontline staff.

“The background to our disputeis that originally the local authori-ties provided both water and

waste water services to the pub-lic”, said Stephen. “Following theelection of Fine Gael it then had amandate to bring in what wascalled a water board to run waterservices on a national basis. Sincethen it has become clear that thisorganisation, Irish Water, is set ongoing down the road of privatisa-tion which will have a detrimentaleffect both on the public serviceand the public.”

IRISH WATER BUSINESS PLANPaddy Beirne, a water and sew-

erage caretaker in Co Laois withmore than 20 years' experience ofproviding water services, explainshow the proposals by Irish Waterin a “business plan” published inearly October to reduce numbersof frontline staff will assist thecreeping privatisation process.“This is a campaign to fool the

general public and the taxpayerthat savings are going to be madeby reducing staff numbers,” Paddysaid. “In fact, they will now useprivate contractors to do the samejobs. Reducing the number of pub-lic sector workers and increasingthe number of contractors is notgoing to make water any cheaperto the general public, and it maymake it dearer.”

BRINGING IN PRIVATE CONTRACTORSIt is a view supported by Denis

Reen, a non-domestic water meterinstaller in Kerry who has workedin water services for 40 years. Hesaid: “There is no way they can runthe water services with 1,500 lessjobs. They are just going to have tobring in private people to do it.”“We have the private operators

creeping in week by week incounty Clare, and they are doingthe exact same job we should be

doing which is the maintenancework,” said Tom Floyd, a watertreatment plant worker, “Privatecontractors seem to be the pre-

ferred option.” The workers believe the reason

Irish Water management is seek-ing to make local authority work-ers redundant is that it is part of awider drive to push down termsand conditions of employmentand also to avail of an accountancytrick.“They budget local authority

workers as a cost of running thenetwork but they put down thecost of private operators as a capi-tal investment,” says Conor O’Toole, a waterworks caretaker inCo Mayo, “So even the terminol-ogy they use is misrepresentingthe facts.”

DBO: PUBLIC MONEY - PRIVATE OPERATORSPaddy traces the privatisation

agenda in water services back tothe introduction of Design, Buildand Operate (DBO) water treat-ment plants in the 1990s. “These

were constructed and are runusing public money but are oper-ated by private companies,” hesaid.The claim made by private con-

sultancy companies hired to pro-duce reports for Government wasthat there was a lack of expertiseto run public water treatmentplants and that DBO plants wouldend up costing less. The reality isthat DBO plants have cost more forlocal authorities to finance, and in-troduced inefficiencies into thesystem. The same consultancycompanies advised on the settingup of Irish Water.Paddy adds: “You don’t have

people interested in the beginningand the end of the pipe. At the be-ginning of the pipe you have the

treatment plant, and the more thatgoes out there in waste the betterfor them as their price goes up.”

PRIVATISATION AGENDAOn the wider privatisation

agenda in water provision, Conorsaid: “It introduces opportunitiesfor profit-taking. When you bringa contractor in to work on a job hedoesn’t look at how that probleminterferes with the rest of the sys-tem. When a contractor comes inthe first thing they think is ‘whereis there money to be made inthis?’, if something goes wrongelsewhere it is another opportu-nity for them.”The workers believe the only

lasting defence against the privati-sation of water services is a refer-endum, which enshrines theirpublic provision in the Constitu-tion. They also accept that having a

nationwide aspect to water serv-ices does have benefits. “There was a void there before

on budgets,” said Conor, “Underthe local authority system if youmade savings, all it meant was thatyou got less money the next yearso there was no incentive for effi-ciency. Now with Irish Water if youcan make a justification for moneyto be spent locally it will be spent;the best illustration of this isRoscommon. There was a voidthere and something was neededbut the problem is that the animalyou’re getting isn’t what youneed.”He added: “It does not need to

be a national utility – you couldhave national regulatory and tech-nical guidance. They didn’t neces-sarily need to form an organisationas big as they did.”

The plot to privatiseWATER

‘This is a campaign to fool thegeneral public and the taxpayerthat savings are going to be madeby reducing staff numbers’

Members of the Irish Water National Dispute Committee,from left to right: Tom Floyd, Paddy Beirne, Conor O’Toole,Stephen Kelly and Denis Reen. Picture: Scott Millar

By Scott Millar

‘There is no waythey can run thewater serviceswith 1,500 lessjobs... they willuse privatecontractors todo the samejobs’

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

9Economy

By

Vic Duggan

A women begs on the street at the Central Bank of Ireland in Dublin. PICTURE: Rollingnews.ie

S IRELAND a particu-larly unequal country tolive in? Well, it dependswho you ask, what youmeasure, and relative towhat.

Many developing and emergingeconomies are vastly more un-equal than Ireland, with a narrowoligarchy controlling the bulk ofmany countries’ wealth and power.For reasons of historical and colo-nial legacy, Latin America remainsparticularly unequal.

Budgets since2011 have taken a more regressive approach, relying moreheavily on spending cuts that have a bigger impact on the poorest

Pre-distribution is at least as important asredistribution,meaning investment in better infrastructure,high-qualityhealthcare, childand elder care

I

A better point of comparison forIreland is countries at a similarstage of economic development.The OECD, a group of 34 mainlyadvanced economies, distin-guishes between market incomeand disposable income, then usesa range of measures for income in-equality.

So, how does Ireland compare?When you look at the distribu-

tion of market income, beforetaxes and benefits are taken intoaccount, using what policy wonkscommonly refer to as the GINIindex, only Chile is more unequalthan Ireland among OECD coun-tries. However, even after years of aus-

terity, taxes and benefits reduce in-equality in Ireland by more than inany other OECD country. Thismeans that when you look at dis-posable income – what people re-ally care about – Ireland is actually

troduced. While there will be clam-ours to reduce them, these shouldbe resisted, both on the groundsthat they are progressive wealthtaxes, and because they allow forthe income tax burden to be kept

less unequal than the OECD aver-age. Not quite Scandanavia, but farfrom Latin America.

So, did the crisis make Ireland more equal?There’s a difference, of course,

between being more equal andbeing better off in absolute terms.Almost everyone in Ireland took afinancial hit during the crisis. Itseems plausible that those whohad the most to lose took thebiggest hit. Many property devel-opers lost their metaphoricalshirts, for instance. For the most vulnerable people

in society, however, loss of a job oreven a small drop in income, canput you on the wrong side of thebreadline. So, even if statisticalmeasures suggest a decrease in in-equality, as seems to have been thecase in Ireland since the crisis, thismay not be the best indicator ofhardship. Indeed, measures of rel-ative poverty and deprivation tell avery different story.

And then there’s the impactof government policy...Since 2008, the ESRI estimates

that Government-imposed auster-ity has been broadly progressive,meaning budgets over this period,when looked at overall, have takenmost from those that had the mostto give. This is largely thanks to thereliance by the Fianna Fáil-led Gov-ernment on much-derided taxhikes and public sector wage cuts.Painful? Certainly. But at least theywere designed to impose thebiggest burden on those with thebroadest shoulders.The same ESRI analysis notes

that budgets since 2011 have takena more regressive approach, relyingmore heavily on spending cuts thathave a bigger impact on the poor-est. Similarly, the first post-auster-ity budget for 2015 prioritised themiddle-income floating voter,rather than those on the lowest in-comes.

What about Budget 2016?The ESRI jury is still out on the

full distributional impact of lastmonth’s pre-election budget, butthe Fine Gael-Labour Governmentmay well have broken their duckby bringing in their first progres-sive budget, particularly when ac-count is taken of the €1.5bnsupplementary spending for 2015,which enters into the baselinefrom which 2016 Budget measures

are calculated. Having said that, initial analysis

suggests that the overall impact ofthose 2016 Budget measures willnot significantly benefit those onthe lowest fifth of incomes, de-spite restoration of the Christmasbonus.

Looking to the future, how should we prioritise tax and welfare reform? Interactions between the tax and

welfare system for those on low in-comes need to be examined closelyso as to eliminate unemploymentand poverty traps. Boosting take-up of the Family Income Supple-ment, and reducing the rate atwhich it is withdrawn as incomeincreases, would be a good place tostart. On the tax side, capital gains and

inheritance taxes have increasedsignificantly since the crisis, whilea progressive property tax was in-

lower than would otherwise be thecase. Increasingly, there is a reali-sation that inequality is aboutmore than income. Thomas Pikettyand others have helped highlightthe importance of wealth inequal-ities, while inequalities in well-being outcomes – such as health,education and job quality – are alsocoming more sharply into focus. What this means is that what

has been termed pre-distributionis at least as important as redistri-bution. This means investment in more

and better infrastructure to im-prove connectivity with isolatedareas, as well as high-qualityhealthcare, childcare and eldercare.In short, it means investment in

– as well as improved efficiency of– public services to reduce theneed for tax and welfare to redis-tribute incomes. It means giving people real

equality of opportunity.

EQUALITY

Inequality is about more than income

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

10 Housing crisis

By David Connolly

Ballyfermot homeless group meets SIPTU Co-ordinatinggroup set up

Housing crisisin the capital

HOMELESS CRISISConvene at 5.00 p.m. at the GPO and march to Molesworth St where a vigil will be held outside the Dáil

PROTEST MARCH & VIGILTuesday 1st December Time for action to end the

A PROTEST organisinggroup on housing has beenformed bringing together arange of trade unions, vol-untary and campaigngroups as well as represen-tatives from parties linkedto Right2Change.SIPTU District Council,

Mandate, Unite, Housing ActionNow, Focus Ireland, the Merchants Quay project, andthe Peter McVerry Trust areamong the organisations in-volved with the initiative. At a meeting on Wednesday,

4th November, the group agreeda number of key demands to resolve the homeless crisis.These include rent capping inthe private rental sector as wellas fixity of tenure and increasedrent subvention.The homeless and housing

crisis coalition group has alsodemanded substantial publicinvestment in a major pro-gramme to build social and af-fordable housing.

SIPTU Dublin District Councilhas hosted a well-attendedmeeting on the housing andhomeless crisis – a nationalproblem that is increasinglyimpacting on members of theunion and their families. The meeting in Liberty Hall on

October 19th was addressed by RoryHearne of TASC and John Bissett ofHousing Action Now, to which theDistrict Council is affiliated. DesDerwin spoke to the meeting on be-half of the Council. Two city councillors were also

present – Dermot Lacey of Labourand Daithí Doolan of Sinn Féin whois Chairperson of the Dublin CityCouncil housing committee. A range of issues were identified,

including the increasingly unafford-able private rented sector, the lackof social housing provision, and thescale of the housing waiting list inDublin.Particular difficulties faced by

older workers unable to afford pri-vate flats on their retirement were

also highlighted. City councillorspointed out that despite Environ-ment Minister, Alan Kelly, confirm-ing that significant funding wasavailable for house building, the ex-perience in Dublin was that seniorofficials in his Department had con-tinuously rejected and frustratedproposals put forward by the CityCouncil. It was decided that SIPTU Dublin

District Council would convene ameeting of representatives drawnfrom the various unions with mem-bers involved in housing and home-less provision – includingconstruction, rent subventions,housing allocation and homelessservices – with a view to jointly in-fluencing current policy. The meeting also agreed to com-

pile an analysis of the impact theproblem had on SIPTU members inDublin and to expose the activitiesof senior civil servants withholdingfunding and blocking urgent provi-sion of social and affordable hous-ing in the city.

MEMBERS of the Dublin Dis-trict Council, including chair-person Jack McGinley, DavidConnolly and campaigns or-ganiser, Karan O’Loughlin,met with a delegation from anew voluntary communityinitiative, Ballyfermot Help 4the Homeless, on Monday2nd November. Three representatives from the

group, Keith Troy, Evonne Byrneand Anne Marie Gleeson, were

seeking the union’s help in sup-porting and organising a protest tohighlight the current housing andhomeless crisis. The Ballyfermot initiative was

set up last year to respond to theincreasing problem of rough sleep-ing in the area and to offer supportto families faced with losing theirhomes. A large number of local residents

have become involved in providinghot meals each day and warmclothing as well as other supports. The group has called for a Dáil

protest on Tuesday, 1st December

to highlight the issue and is work-ing along with a broad range ofcommunity and voluntary organi-sations, political activists and tradeunions. (Protest details below).The December date is significant

as it will be the first anniversary ofthe death of Jonathon Corrie, ahomeless man who perished in adoorway on Molesworth Streetjust yards from Leinster House. This death led to the convening

of an emergency summit on home-lessness in Dublin by EnvironmentMinister, Alan Kelly. While some initial actions were

implemented, one year on the position is significantly worse withmore than 80 families a month becoming homeless. In addition,the number on the waiting list forsocial housing stands at over100,000. Meanwhile, those in private

rented accommodation in Dublinhave experienced continuoushikes in rent as well as cuts in rentsubventions, in particular hittingthose on low pay and welfare payments the most.

Flowers mark the spot onMolesworth Street whereJonathan Corrie died

PICTURE: Photocall Ireland

19th October meeting in Liberty HallPICTURE: Teresa Hannick

• Public investment in a major construction programme to build social and affordable housing • Private sector rent cap • Fixity of tenure and increased rent subvention

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

11Liberty View

By JACK O’CONNORSIPTU General President

LibertyViewIt is clear from the most recent political opinionpolls (Red C on 1st November and MillwardBrown on 8th November) that we are on theway to electing a monopoly, single party, FineGael government - unless a significantlygreater number of voters decide to supportLabour.

Even without further momentum between nowand election day, Fine Gael is on about 30% of

the first preference vote. This would enable it to place their second candidate ahead of theLabour person in most constituencies andsweep into power on transfers, with the support, if required, of a number of right wingIndependents.

Many people believe this wouldn’t represent muchchange from the way things are at present.Nothing could be further from the truth. If FineGael had managed to pull off the overall majoritywhich they came within a few seats of last time,they would have gone on to implement the fullagenda as outlined in their manifesto. It’s worthrevisiting it. The party declared that it wouldhave cut the gap between the amount the Statecollects in taxes and the cost of providing publicservices to 3% of GDP by 2014. Moreover, itsaid that it would eliminate the difference bycutting the amount spent on public services by73% and only raising 27% through taxes. If thatpolicy had been implemented it would havemeant at least €2.2 billion more in cuts. That inturn would have entailed savage cuts in thebasic rates of social welfare (which have notbeen touched). It would also have rendered itimpossible to conclude the Haddington RoadAgreement in the public service – thus opening

the way for outsourcing of good jobs on an industrial scale.

Fine Gael also committed to raise €10 billionthrough the sale of state assets. This wouldhave meant the sale of virtually the entire portfolio owned by the Irish people – includingthe ESB and our ports and airports. Thankfully,because they didn’t get an overall majority, the privatisation agenda has been minimised. Theparty also declared its intention to tender outevery single bus route in the country – not just10% of them.

On the employment rights front, the party saidit would “review” the Joint Labour Committee/Employment Regulation Order (JLC/ERO) andRegistered Employment Agreement (REA)mechanisms which underpinned the thresholdof decency. In other words, it would havespared certain elements among the employersthe trouble of having to go to the courts to have

them struck out. Instead, we were able to getnew legislation enacted to reinstate the mainelements of them. Moreover, we were also ableto get a new law to strengthen collective bargaining rights for workers. Indeed, it wasnoted at the recent annual meeting of the general council of the International TradeUnion Congress that Ireland is the only countryin the world which has legislated to supportcollective bargaining rights since the globalcollapse of 2008. This is during a period whenthey have been under sustained attack even inEurope – in Greece, Spain, the UK and in Finland which we once envied for its respect for workers’ rights.

Of course, many people on the ‘Left’ wouldn’tnecessarily see a single party monopoly FineGael government as a bad development. Intheir view, this would galvanise support for a viable left alternative in the long run. We do not

agree. The political right has long since learnedhow to concentrate misery on a minority – thus guaranteeing themselves the support of a permanent majority.

Moreover, we shouldn’t forget the lessons ofthe last time the Right achieved a monopoly ofpower. It happened in 1997 when the so calledProgressive Democrats (forerunners of today’sRenua) edged themselves into Governmentwith Fianna Fáil. They inherited a dynamicallygrowing and sustainable economy and went on to ruin it. Their remnants were still in Government to introduce the tragically ill-fatedbank guarantee on 30th September 2008 – whichwas enthusiastically supported by Fine Gael fromthe opposition benches. Indeed it was opposedby only one party in the Oireachtas on thattragic day – Labour.

We should have learned by now that singleparty government has never been good forworking people or those who depend most onpublic services. The emergence of the ‘Right toChange’ platform is unquestionably a poten-tially positive development for the future. How-ever, it will not be part of the make-up of thenext government. Meanwhile, an overall FineGael majority must be avoided at all costs.

Threat of single party Fine Gael government looms

This would enable it to place theirsecond candidate ahead of theLabour person in most constituenciesand sweep into power on transfers,with the support, if required, of anumber of right wing Independents.

Fine Gael also committed to raise€10 billion through the sale of stateassets. This would have meant thesale of virtually the entire portfolioowned by the Irish people – includingthe ESB and our ports and airports.

The political right has long sincelearned how to concentrate misery on a minority – thus guaranteeingthemselves the support of a permanent majority.

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

12 Comment

Shifting values and winning change

Popular demandfor a more equal,inclusive andsustainable Ireland will onlyemerge as dominant valuesin society shiftand new valuesare accorded priority by people

CROSS civil societywe want change. Wehave always beenclear about what we

don’t want when it comes tochange, and we have had a lotof that in the last few years. We have struggled but made

progress in defining the changethat we do want. However, weseem to be less clear as to whattactics or actions might work in ac-tually achieving that change. Claiming Our Future and a range

of civil society groups have de-cided to promote some delibera-tion on this.The polls are out again. Fine

Gael is up a bit, Labour down, SinnFéin and Fianna Fáil are static. Themedia makes its own news withpoll after poll. Pages of analysis,breathless reportage and not a lotof change would be the best sum-mary. Strange that there is not a lot of

change despite the hardships ofausterity and the long-term issuesthat are now emerging due to thelack of investment in public serv-ices and infrastructure. Agendas for change have been

developed. The emergence of theRight2Change has been importantwith the agenda they have devel-oped off the Right2Water protests.This covers broad proposals onjobs and decent work, housing,health, debt justice, education,democratic reform, equality, sus-tainable environment and nationalresources. Usefully, it is under-pinned with a fiscal frameworkthat shows how it can be paid for.The Community Platform net-

work has set out a comprehensiveagenda for an inclusive, sustain-able and equal Ireland in their Fu-ture Perspective. This sets out thepolicy directions they want to seetaken, under the values of eco-nomic equality, social inclusion,social justice, dignity, participationand sustainability.The UN has even chipped in

with their Sustainable Develop-ment Goals agenda that Ireland hasjust signed up to. The global justiceand environmental sectors, in par-ticular, have espoused this agenda. There are 17 goals with 169 tar-

gets agreed at a global level to endpoverty and hunger, combat in-

equalities, and ensure the protec-tion of the planet and its naturalresources. These are universal goals that

apply to all countries including Ire-land. The Sustainable Develop-ment Goals are an official agendathat civil society can easily sign upto. The danger is that, at the mo-ment, they are as likely to get im-plemented as the FuturePerspectives of the CommunityPlatform or the Right2Changeagenda.There is the obvious barrier that

civil society lacks power. It isequally clear that we disempowerourselves. Fragmentation in civil

society has always been a problem. Claiming Our Future was formed

back in 2010 with an express goalof creating a space where civil so-ciety could overcome this fragmen-tation. Clearly, we find it hard toovercome. There is a lot more weneed to do on this front as we lookat the alliances that have shiftedpolitics so dramatically in Greece,Spain and Portugal.There is another barrier in that

the tactics and actions we use toseek change might no longer be ef-fective. The context for our de-mands has changed radically, yetour tactics for pursuing changehave remained the same. There isa challenge to look more criticallyat what is needed to make changehappen in the current context. This has been a concern for

Claiming Our Future since its inau-gural event when more than 1,000participants deliberated on andagreed the shared values of equal-ity, sustainability, solidarity, ac-countability and participation. This stimulated thinking on the

power of values and the role of val-ues in achieving change. Populardemand for a more equal, inclusiveand sustainable Ireland will onlyemerge as dominant values in so-ciety shift and new values are ac-corded priority by people. This isnew ground and we don’t yet havethe tactics to engage effectivelywith values in society.There will be an election in

2016. The polls suggest it will notbe a year of substantial change.2016 could be a year for change inhow civil society organises itselfand the tactics it uses. To this end, Claiming Our

Future, along with a wide range ofcivil society organisations, is planning to host a deliberationevent on these issues in the firstquarter of 2016.

By

Niall Crowley

A

Change in the air: Podemos rally in Spain in January. Claiming Our Future’s inaugural conference, right, in 2010

Syriza supporters celebrate victory at the polls in Greece

Picture: Michalis Famelis (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Pictures:Daniel Lopez Garcia (CC BY 2.0); COF

TOO many workers goto bed on a Sundaynight not knowinghow many hours they

will work that week, whattheir take-home pay will be orhow they are going to organ-ise family life around work. Iam determined to tackle thistype of precarious work whichgives too many workers sleep-less nights worrying aboutwhether their wages will meettheir bills. As a result of a study I commis-

sioned on behalf of the Govern-ment, we now know that zero-hourcontracts as we know them are actually not used extensively in Ireland. However, the University of Lim-

erick report, 'A Study on the Preva-lence of Zero-Hour Contractsamong Irish Employers and theirImpact on Employees' shows a newtype of insecure work has emerged– “if and when” contracts.Such contracts have evolved as a

result of some employers trying toget around the protections affordedto zero-hour contract workers.While a worker on a zero-hour con-tract must make themselves avail-able for work, someone on an “ifand when” contract is not obligedto make themselves available. Inessence, employers offer work ifand when it is available and an em-

ployee can, in theory, agree or re-fuse to take up the work if andwhen it suits them. Some employers are avoiding

having to pay compensation toworkers under the current legisla-

tion which provides that employ-ees on zero-hour contracts must bepaid for either 25% of the time theywere required to be available or 15hours, whichever is the lesser.There are no such protections forworkers on “if and when” con-tracts. The independent study by UL

also points out how “if and when”and low-hour contracts are preva-lent in the accommodation/foodand retail sectors, and in certain oc-cupations in education and healthsuch as community care, bank nurs-ing, general practice nursing, third-level lecturing, school caretakersand secretarial staff. UL also put forward a range of

recommendations in order totackle precarious work. These in-clude employees receiving a con-

tract on day one of a new job,which includes working hours thatare a true reflection of what is ex-pected of them; a minimum ofthree continuous hours’ work foremployees, and if not, the workershould be paid for the three hours;and 72 hours’ notice of any requestto undertake work or cancellationof work, or compensation for notmeeting the minimum notice. UL also suggests that employer

organisations and trade unionswhich conclude a sectoral collectiveagreement should be able to optout of some of the suggested provi-sions – thus using a carrot approachto encouraging both sides to ham-mer out a deal under the CollectiveBargaining and Registered Employ-ment Agreement/Sectoral Employ-ment Order (REA/SEO) legislation I

introduced this summer. Many of these recommendations

seem reasonable to me. However, Iam conscious that neither employ-ers nor worker representatives in-cluding SIPTU have seen the reportin full until now. Therefore, Iwould urge all interested parties tosubmit their views on the UL find-ings and recommendations. I will then consider those sub-

missions in conjunction with UL’scomprehensive report and bringmy own recommendations back toGovernment early in the New Year.Tackling precarious work prac-

tices is a priority for me and theLabour Party, and is a key elementof the dignity at work agenda I havebeen promoting since becomingMinister. Alongside the Collective Bargain-ing legislation I have mentioned,the re-introduction of the REAs,new Employment Regulation Orders I signed last month whichwill see 50,000 contract cleanersand security workers receiving apay rise, the new rate of the Mini-mum Wage which will take effectfrom 1st January, and the promo-tion of the Living Wage Campaign,this Government with Labour at itsheart is delivering and will con-tinue to deliver for working people. Ged Nash is Minister of State forBusiness & Employment andLabour Party TD for Louth/EastMeath

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

13Comment

The study byUniversity ofLimerick alsopoints out how ‘if and when’ and low-hourcontracts areprevalent in theaccommodation/food and retailsectors, and in certainoccupations ineducation andhealth

While a workeron a zero-hourcontract mustmake them-selves availablefor work, someone on an“if and when”contract is notobliged to makethemselvesavailable

Ged Nash: commissioned astudy which found that zero-hour contracts as we know themare actually not used extensivelyin Ireland. Picture: RollingNews

Too manyworkers go tobed on aSunday nightnot knowinghow manyhours they willwork that week,what their take-home paywill be

Tackling precariouswork is my priority

Some employers are resorting to 'ifand when' contractsto get aroundprotections forworkers on zero-hour contracts. The Government is looking at newmeasures to combatthese practices,writes Ged Nash

WORKERS RIGHTS CENTRE8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., Monday - Friday wrc@siptu.ie

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

14 SIPTU Biennial National Delegate Conference 2015

SIPTU BDC 2015, Cork

Packed agenda as SIPTU charts path aheadMORE than 350 delegates attended four days of discussions at the SIPTU Biennial National Delegate Conference in City Hall, Cork, from Monday, 5thOctober to Thursday, 8th October. The conference debated motions on the economy, the housing crisis,health, pensions, public transport and international issues among others.Guest speakers who addressed the event included US trade union leader

Scott Courtney. He spoke about his role as the Organising Director of theService Employees International Union (SEIU) and the success of the ‘Fightfor 15’ campaigns for wage increases for low-paid workers in the US. Duringthe conference the 1913 Lockout Tapestry, which in 30 panels recounts thestory of this defining event in Irish trade union history, was on display inCity Hall.

SIPTU National ExecutiveCouncil member, Jack McGin-ley, proposed a successfulmotion calling for an EasterRising centenary campaign bytrade unions, progressivecivic groups and political or-ganisations in support of aPalestinian state.McGinley said that the “most fit-

ting way to commemorate” theanti-imperialist principles of the1916 leaders was to “call on theIrish Government to fight for theliberation of the Palestinian peo-ple.”On Wednesday (7th October)

delegates had heard details of thehorrific suffering of children livingin Gaza from Dr. Mona El Farra, theprojects director of the Middle EastChildren’s Alliance.At a conference fringe meeting

in Connolly Hall, Cork, hosted bythe SIPTU Global Solidarity Net-work, Dr. El Farra said: “Childrenunder five have lived throughthree military attacks by Israel onGaza. All Gazan children sufferfrom signs of trauma; tens of thou-sands show signs of severetrauma.”

SIPTU President, Jack O’Con-nor, announced that theunion is to organise a majorcampaign against low wagesand exploitative work prac-tices and contracts. In his opening address to the Bi-

ennial Delegate Conference, O’Connor said that the campaignfor decent work will include lobby-

ing all political parties to include acommitment to fair employmentrules in their forthcoming electionmanifestos.“As well as continuing with our

work to win pay increases acrossthe economy, we will be launchinga new campaign for decent work.This will go on for as long as ittakes,” he said.

FOLLOWING a debate on amotion proposing a review ofthe union’s political fund andone calling on disaffiliationfrom the Labour Party, dele-gates overwhelmingly votednot to change the operation ofthe fund before an extensiveconsultation with members.SIPTU NEC member and Com-

munity Sector activist, David Con-nolly, said the NEC had “set up apolitical strategy subcommittee toundertake a fundamental reassess-ment of the future political en-gagement and priorities of theunion.” Connolly added that“while there is a long-term histori-

cal connection between the unionand the Labour Party” the emer-gence in recent years of a numberof other Left-wing parties meantthat the union should now worktowards building political unity be-tween these groups “based onagreed values and objectives”.Proposing the motion calling for

the immediate disaffiliation of theunion from the Labour Party,SIPTU Education Sector delegate,Kieran Allen, said he was callingfor the union to implement a“level playing field” for all Left-wing parties. Delegates voted todefer a decision on disaffiliatingfrom the Labour Party.

DELEGATES unanimouslyvoted in support of an emer-gency motion supporting theSIPTU NUI Galway EqualityCommittee’s campaign againstall forms of discrimination atthe university and calling onmanagement to attend concil-iation talks with unions at theWorkplace Relations Commis-sion (WRC).SIPTU NUI Galway Equality Com-

mittee member, Maggie Ronayne,said: “As a result of the conferencedecision, the SIPTU National Executive Council will be closelymonitoring the situation at NUIGalway. “The union will be formally con-

tacting NUI Galway President, Jim Browne, to insist that management attends the WRC forconciliation talks with the unionson discrimination problems at theuniversity.”

Union drive for decent work

Political fund to be reviewed

NUI Galway equality campaign backed

Make creation ofstate of Palestinea reality in 2016

General President JackO’Connor addresses BDCPictures: Jim Weldon

Dr. Mona El Farra speaks about suffering of Gazan children.Delegates, below, show their support for Palestinian cause

Maggie Ronayne calls on delegates to support equality campaign at NUI Galway

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

15

DELEGATES voted unani-mously to support a motionproposed by the SIPTU Equal-ity Committee calling on theunion to support a once-off,time-bound regularisationscheme for undocumentedmigrants in Ireland. SIPTU Services Division Organ-

iser, Ethel Buckley, told the confer-

ence: “Undocumented workers areoverwhelmingly represented inlow and minimum wage jobs inthe services sector such as hospi-tality, security and cleaning. A reg-ularisation scheme with fair andtransparent criteria will encourageworkers out of the shadows andenable them to enjoy the protec-tions which should be available toall workers in Ireland.”

She added: “The majority of un-documented workers are residentin Ireland for over five years. It istime that their position is regu-larised both to protect the humanrights of these workers and to pre-vent the further erosion of condi-tions for all workers employed inprecarious sectors.”See pages 16-17

DELEGATES voted unani-mously to support a motioncalling for a comprehensivereview of policies designed toprotect staff experiencing vi-olence and aggression in theworkplace. SIPTU Health Division Organ-

iser, Paul Bell, said: “This reviewmust consider if the necessary de-

terrents, protections and supportfor staff are in place and suitableto meet their needs.”SIPTU Health activist, Donie

Doody, told conference: “Healthworkers are particularly vulnerableto violence and aggression in theworkplace. The evidence of in-creasing attacks on workers in thissector is stark.”

Review call on workplace violence

Backing for once-off migrant regularisation

Health Division delegatesoutside the City Hall

From left to right: SIPTU Vice-President Gene Mealy,SIPTU General President JackO’Connor and SIPTU GeneralSecretary Joe O’Flynn

NEC member Jack McGinleyat the Cuba Solidarity stall

Delegate Brian Condramakes his point clear

Packed hall and apacked agenda...

SIPTU Biennial National Delegate Conference 2015

Justice for undocumented workersLibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

16

By Scott Millar

MAGINE being unable tovisit home following thedeath of a close familymember. Imagine having

to accept exploitative work-ing conditions in silence.Imagine seeing your inabilityto assert your rights in theworkplace being used to un-dermine the terms and condi-tions of other workers.This is the situation that up to

25,000 undocumented migrantworkers find themselves in everyday in Ireland. It is an unaccept-able situation in both humanitar-ian and workers’ rights terms thatthe Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland (MRCI) aims to end with itsJustice for the Undocumentedcampaign.MRCI spokeswoman, Helen

Lowry, explains that the campaignhas brought together many mi-grant workers with the aim of urg-ing the Government to implementa once-off “fair and transparent”regularisation scheme for the un-documented migrants that havebeen living in Ireland for more

than four years.“Broad-based schemes with a

low barrier in terms of applicationoffer the advantage of bringing thelargest portion of the undocumentedpopulation back into the managedmigration system,” said Lowry.

“Most undocumented migrantshave entered the country legallyand have been working and livinghere for many years. To date, littlehas been done to respond to thesituation of undocumented mi-grants.”At the SIPTU biennial confer-

ence held in Cork in October, del-egates unanimously backed amotion supporting the Justice forthe Undocumented campaign.Service Division Organiser, EthelBuckley, said the success of thiscampaign was important not onlyfor migrants but for all workers inIreland.“A migrant working irregularly

in Ireland has no legal contract ofemployment and therefore no en-

forceable employment rights.Bringing irregular migrants intoformal employment will help toroll back the grey economy,strengthening the position of mi-grant and Irish workers in access-

ing employment rights and im-proving working conditions inlow-paid sectors.”She added: “Ending the exploita-

tion of undocumented workers iscrucial to ending the race to thebottom in sectors of the economysuch as hospitality, cleaning andsecurity. That is why it is crucialthat SIPTU members get behindthis campaign.” The day-to-day impact of the ex-

ploitation of undocumented work-ers and its impact on the assertionof employment rights by all areconfirmed by SIPTU Organiser,Joanna Ozdarska.“In the restaurant sector I am

currently dealing with severalcases of extreme exploitation of

undocumented workers. One well-known chain of pubs in Dublin is,in some cases, only paying theseworkers €6.60 an hour. “In other cases, workers are not

getting paid at all for some shifts.When workers complain, theyhave been told directly by manage-ment: ‘get your visa, then you getyour money’.”Currently, the Justice for the Un-

documented campaign is focusingon lobbying the Minister for Jus-tice, Frances Fitzgerald. “We are calling on SIPTU mem-

bers to contact the Minister statingwhy they think it is important thatthe situation for undocumentedmigrants is regularised,” saidHelen Lowry.

I

Bringing irregularmigrants into formal employmentwill help to roll backthe grey economy,strengthening theposition of [both]migrant and Irishworkers...

Most undocumentedmigrants have entered the countrylegally and havebeen working andliving here for manyyears. To date, littlehas been done to respond to the situation of undocumented migrants...

SOME FACTS...

Why justice for undocumentedworkers benefits all

PHILIPPINES PAKISTANBRAZILMAURITIUSCHINA

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

17Justice for undocumented workers

PriyaMarites

Shay

Ms Frances Fitzgerald T.D.Minister for Justice and Equality Department of Justice and EqualitySt Stephen’s GreenDublin 2

YOUR ADDRESS HERETODAY’S DATE HERE

SAMPLE TEXT

Dear Minister,

1. TELL THE MINISTER WHY YOU ARE WRITING AND THAT YOU’RE A VOTER

I am writing to you as the Minister for Justice and Equality in relationto the urgent situation of undocumented migrants living and workingin Ireland. As an Irish citizen and voter in the next general election Iam fully in support of the introduction of a regularisation scheme asproposed by the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland and SIPTU. I think undocumented migrants living and working here in Ireland should begiven the opportunity to regularise as part of a scheme.

2. WHY YOU SUPPORT UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS– ANY FRIENDS/COLLEAGUES YOU KNOW WHO ARE UNDOCUMENTED?

I believe many undocumented migrants and their families are makinga valuable contribution here in Ireland and deserve the opportunity to get their immigration papers in order. Without their papers undocu-mented migrants are more likely to be living in poverty, are at greaterrisk of exploitation in the workplace, and their children face deeply un-certain futures. I don’t believe we can ignore this situation any longer.

3. SUPPORTING A SOLUTION – CALL FOR A REGULARISATION SCHEME – END WITH COMMITMENT

Minister I would be in full agreement with the introduction of a regular-isation scheme in the lifetime of the current government to give un-documented people in Ireland an opportunity to come forward andregularise their status under agreed criteria. Taking decisive action forthe undocumented in Ireland will surely aid our efforts to do the samefor undocumented Irish citizens in the United States.

Yours sincerely YOUR NAME HERE

“I am undocumented. I am a mother of twoteenagers who are happy in school here inDublin. My husband and I came from Mauritiusover six years ago and have made a life in Ireland. My husband works in the restaurantsector and I work as a cleaner. I work hardcleaning offices and homes every day. It’stough work. I have to travel sometimes longdistances early in the morning and late in theevening to jobs, the hours are long and thework is hard. Being undocumented is very difficult for me and my family. Our futures are very uncertain and we could get a knockon our door any day from Immigration. Wecannot travel home to see our families. Mymother is getting old and her health is notgood. It breaks my heart to tell her I won’t see her again this Christmas.”

“I came to Ireland to support my childrenback in the Philippines. I work as a carer in a private home here in Ireland. I am undocu-mented. I came to Ireland nine years ago.Since then I have always worked caring forchildren and families in the private home. Ihave four children back in the Philippines.The youngest is 17 now and my eldest 22. Ihaven’t seen them in nine years and this isthe single hardest thing about my life here inIreland. I like my job, the work is hard but thefamily I work for are good people. I am lucky,I know many undocumented childmindersand carers who have really poor workingconditions. The first thing I would do if I gotmy papers is go home to see my beautifulchildren and my family.”

“I worked for many years in the security industry. The work was hard because it meant beingaway from my family for long hours, overnight and it’s tough work because you have to handle alot of difficult situations. I now work in the restaurant industry as a sous chef. It’s very risky work,because I’m always afraid I’ll be discovered. I have to take this risk and I have to put up with theseconditions to provide for my family. I have to work hard for my wages and they are half of what Ishould be getting. A regularisation scheme would make all of the difference in the world to me as a worker. I could say no to working conditions like this. My children’s future would be more secure. We could support them to go to college.”

Marites, left, with ServiceDivision Organiser EthelBuckley and Priya

SOME FACTS...

NOW DO YOUR BIT...

• THIS IS JUST A SAMPLE LETTER – IT IS STRONGER IF YOU PERSONALISE IT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

• YOUR LETTER CAN BE TYPED ORHAND WRITTEN – JUST MAKE SURE IT’S READABLE

• IMPORTANT - DO NOT GIVE THE FULL NAME AND ADDRESS OF AN UNDOCUMENTED PERSON – IF YOU ARE REFERRING TO SOMEONE YOU KNOW JUST USE THEIR FIRST NAME

SAMPLE LETTER

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

18 Supporting Quality

RELAND’S oldest andbest-loved bakingbrand, Odlums, cele-brates its landmark

170th anniversary in 2015.Odlums has estimated that it

has milled enough wheat tomake over nine million tonnesof flour since it was set up in1845.The business was originally es-

tablished when William Odlumopened the first mill in Port-laoise. This formed the basis forthe present business whichtoday operates the Republic’slast commercial flour mill in Portarlington, also in countyLaois. The mill currently em-ploys 30 people and is in produc-tion 24 hours a day for five daysa week and 16 hours on a Satur-

I LIMERICK native Ena Carroll now livesin Naas and has worked at Odlums forthe last eight years.“I started in the mixing and packing

plant in Mulhuddart in Dublin,” she toldLiberty, “From day one I have workedas the Quality Manager. I did a degreein food science in University CollegeCork. I have responsibility for overallfood safety and quality, right throughfrom the raw material to the finishedproduct. “One of the biggest challenges we

have every year is the wheat harvest.What we are looking for is consistencyin the finished product. In order to en-sure that, I visit several wheat storesaround the country to select the bestwheat. I take samples from the variouswheat stores and bring them to the lab

to be tested. We aim to ensure that theflour always bakes products of the samequality.”

Michael Gallagher has worked at Od-lums for the past 27 years. “I came in asa casual worker looking for part-timework,” he said, “and have been hereever since.”“A brother and two nephews also

work here. It is a family-run businessand they always hire people from the lo-cality where possible. I operate the floursilo in the plant transferring the flour tothe packing machines.“I keep a check to ensure everything

is functioning properly. There has beenmajor change over the years. Everythingused to be manual work but now it’sforklifts, palletisers and computers. “I’ve been the shop steward here for

the last two years and before thatserved on the four-person workplacecommittee for 12 years. We always workas a committee and we have workedwell with management, although we ofcourse do have our disagreements.”

LIKE Michael, Brendan McCann, an Od-lums veteran of 26 years, is a local man.“I’m from just about two minutes walkdown the road. My father worked hereback in the 1960s and 1970s as a lorrydriver, my uncle worked here as well. “I like working here. I get on with

everybody and they all get on with oneanother so it’s grand. I work from 6.00a.m. till 2.00 p.m. or 2.00 p.m. until 10.00p.m.. I’ve seen huge changes over theyears. With new machines coming in,production has been increased. My ma-chine packs two-kilo bags, 54 bags aminute. The mill is hugely important tothe town because all the other local fac-tories have closed.”

IT’S also a family tradition for Odlumsemployee Michael Smith. He said: “Ihave worked here nearly 20 years. Myfather worked here for nearly 40 years.I got in here to do summer work andgradually worked my way up to becomethe Mill Operator. I look after the run-ning of the roller mills that break up thewheat and make the flour. “Seven-and-a-half tonnes of wheat an

hour are milled here. There is in excessof 800 tonnes of wheat milled here eachweek. “You have your ordinary flour and

then your wholemeals, which is wherethe bran is mixed with the flour to giveit a tougher texture for baking. Thereare 24 different types of products pro-duced here. Many a family has beenreared through people working at themill. I’m happy, that’s why I’m still here.”

By Scott Millar day. Current Odlums CEO, Nigel

Odlum, told Liberty: “The new millwas built in 1978. The technologybehind the control systems operat-ing it have been continually up-dated. However, the basictechnology at the centre of themilling process is largely the sameas it has been for centuries.”Market research shows an in-

crease in the total Irish flour mar-ket of 11%, most of which is beingdriven by Odlums which hasrecorded a 10% increase in thevalue of its sales in the last year. Odlums has been at the heart of

Irish baking for generations and isthe official sponsor of The GreatIrish Bake Off on TV3 for a thirdconsecutive year. The brand has responded to con-

sumers’ appetite for home bakingby introducing a variety of innova-

tive products including their BakeYour Own range of bread andscone mixes which have been wel-comed by time-pressed baking en-thusiasts. The latest additions toOdlums range, due to hit the mar-ket shortly, include Irish StoutBread, Focaccia Bread Mix, Multi-grain Bread Mix and Multi-seedScone.Speaking about the rise of home

baking, Odlums Brand ambassa-dor, Catherine Leyden, said:“Home baking has undergone a re-vival in recent times as people lookto bake from scratch and gain asense of achievement at havingmade something that looks andtastes good. It’s also a great oppor-tunity to share time-honouredskills with children.”Odlums has a wide variety of

recipes which can be viewed onwww.odlums.ie

WHY QUALITY COUNTS

Brendan McCann: ‘mill hugely important to Portarlington’

Michael Gallagher: shopsteward at the flour mill

Left to right, Linda Rogers, labtechnician and Ena Carroll,quality manager.

Michael Smith: ‘I worked my wayup to become Mill Operator’

SIPTU workers keeping flour mill oven best

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

19Supporting Quality

HARMACEUTICALmanufacturer, Pfizer,began its operationsin Ireland in 1969

and since then has investedin developing manufactur-ing, commercial, sharedservices as well as researchand development opera-tions across six sites. Thereare currently more than3,200 people employed bythe company in Ireland. In the last two years, the com-

pany has invested over €300million in its Grange Castle andRingaskiddy plants in Cork. Suchlarge-scale investment ensuresthat the company will continuemanufacturing quality medi-cines in Ireland for global export.The Ringaskiddy site was

Pfizer’s first manufacturing facil-ity in Ireland. Commencing man-ufacture of citric acid more than40 years ago, it currently pro-duces many of Pfizer’s newestand most complex products forglobal export. In October, Pfizer announced

plans to hire a further 40 work-ers at its Ringaskiddy and Little

PBy Scott Millar

Island plants in Cork. The posi-tions being filled include opera-tors, engineers, chemists andquality control analysts. Pfizer Site Lead at the two

plants, Seamus Fives, told Liberty:“We are delighted to say that Pfizer

is hiring. These are key roleswithin the organisation and playan important function in the man-ufacturing and delivery of medi-cines to patients worldwide.”Products made across the two

sites include small molecule treat-

ments for cholesterol, diabetes andsome of Pfizer’s newest oncologydrugs. Recently, Pfizer opened aNew Product Technology Labora-tory at the Ringaskiddy site. This investment enabled the fa-

cility to begin making products to

Pfizer looksto future bydevelopingnew products

HR Director Mike Crowley (left), Supporting Quality directorFabia Gavin and SIPTU Sector Organiser Alan O’Leary

Pfizer plant inRingaskiddy

SIPTU member Owen Condon has been at Pfizerfor 14 years, having previously worked in electron-ics after studying mechanical engineering.He told Liberty: “Like most of the people here

I’m from Cork but there are some from outside thecounty. I work as a process operator and trainedon the job. International competition has threat-ened jobs in the plant. “However, over the last 14 years I’ve seen numer-

ous changes as we have developed different plansand strategies to work us through the externalpressures on the plant. We are now getting productlines back to be produced here. This is because ofthe quality of the product that we produce due tothe quality of our procedures, input materials, ourwater – it is all regulated to the highest degree.”

PROCESS operator and SIPTU Shop Steward, BarryO’Leary, has worked at Pfizer for 15 years. He said: “Myjob is to mix the raw materials, which are processed tocreate the active pharmaceutical ingredient for Pfizerproducts. We ship the active ingredients abroard whereit is made into tablets. The site is in production 24/7 witha short break around Christmas. We work four days onand four days off.The site was under competitive pressure but it is now

expanding again and actively bringing back product linesto be made in-house.I have been a SIPTU Shop Steward for 13 years. The

biggest challenge we faced was the restructuring of 2012when we were facing job losses but we changed the waywe did our business and we came out the other side andare now actively employing. The plant is very much onthe up again.”

Site Lead Seamus Fives:Pfizer ‘hiring key roles’

deal with some of the most dev-astating and difficult diseases. The investment was wel-

comed by SIPTU Pharmaceuti-cals, Chemicals and MedicalDevices Organiser, Alan O’Leary,who said: “In 2013, a businesscase was jointly formulated bythe union and Pfizer manage-ment to protect jobs. “The transformation agreement

provided the right environment tosecure new investment. The Pfizercolleagues demonstrated the high-est levels of performance, flexibil-ity and commitment which hasadded value and created businessopportunities.“The company reversed a

decision to move production ofPfizer’s cholesterol drug out ofIreland and it has also investedin the new ultra-modernResearch and Development facility to assist in the develop-ment of new product pipelines.”

Product lines returning because of our quality of work

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

20 Supporting Quality

a jointinitiative

THE POWER UNION

www.supportingquality.ieproud partner

Supporting Quality is RecruitingNew Brands for our CampaignIF YOU WANT YOUR BRAND INCLUDEDPLEASE LET US KNOW...IF YOU WANT YOUR BRAND INCLUDEDPLEASE LET US KNOW...contact fabiagavin@supportingquality.ie or your Organiser for more info

If every household spends an extra €4 on goods manufactured in Ireland each week, it can create up to 6,000 new jobs in Ireland!

SUPPORTING QUALITYPROTECTING QUALITY JOBS IN IRELAND!

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LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

21Climate change

ENVIRONMENTAL campaign group StopClimate Chaos is to stage a rally inDublin on November 29th as part of aworldwide series of events to coincidewith the start of the UN Climate Summitin Paris.Organisers have called on individuals,

families and groups to join the protest“for climate justice, community energyand a carbon free future” at the CustomHouse at 2.00 p.m.A Stop Climate Chaos spokesperson

said: “Please join us in Dublin and stand

with those who are taking part inmarches in cities around the world, demanding the political action that isnecessary to avoid the worst impacts ofclimate change. “Bring your supporters and friends to

Dublin to help make this the largest evergathering of people calling on Ireland toplay its part in tackling runaway climatechange.”Organisers have also called on trade

unions, community groups and civil society organisations to pledge their

support “by bringing as many membersas possible” to the November 29thprotest.Meanwhile, the International Trade

Union Confederation has issued four keydemands in advance of the Paris summit.A number of NGOs, charities and environmental groups have signed up tothe Stop Climate Chaos campaign, including AFRI, Trócaire, Concern,Friends of the Earth and Oxfam.

Call for massive turnout atDublin climate change rally

Letter to the Editor

Dear EditorTHE GOVERNMENT has an-nounced changes in the taxregime for future oil and gas ex-ploration off Ireland and a higherpercentage of any future prof-itable fields will go to the state.The changes were strongly crit-

icised by the oil and gas industry.Others have welcomed a tighten-ing of a regime which was previ-ously seen as something of agiveaway to the industry.In media treatment and discus-

sion of the issue, little – if any –consideration was given to theclimate crisis and the wisdom ofactually starting to exploit newfields. And yet, three-quarters ofthe increase in human-producedCO2 over the last 20 years hascome from the burning of fossilfuels.There is consequently a grow-

ing movement calling for an endto all new exploration, and se-

vere restrictions on existingfields.Also, much has been made of

so-called technological progress,which supposedly makes drillingin previously difficult areas a lotsafer now. However, environmental cam-

paigners are quick to point outthat the biggest ever accidentalmarine oil spill in history tookplace just five years ago. Elevenworkers were killed in an explo-sion which caused a spill of al-most five million barrels into theGulf of Mexico. Despite the latest technology,

it took BP 87 days to stem theflow of oil, by which time1300km of coastline had been af-fected.SIPTU produced a report in

2011 on the regime applicable toIrish discoveries. Part of the doc-ument alluded to the danger ofreleasing more CO2.

The introduction to the reporthailed the prospect of “over 100years” of hydrocarbon self-suffi-ciency in the new oil and gas re-serves off Ireland.Many climate organisations

argue that nowadays, when itcomes to defending jobs and jobcreation, trade unions need tolook at the big picture.The climate crisis means that a

swift transition to renewables isessential. (One recent study as-serts that 100% of the world’s en-ergy could be supplied byrenewables by 2030).Renewable energy creates

clean jobs, and more jobs perunit of energy delivered than fos-sil fuels. The InternationalLabour Organisation estimatedthat five million such jobs hadbeen created by 2012 – withoutanything like the push whichwill be required for a major tran-sition.

In advance of the Paris climateconference, which starts at theend of November, organisationssuch as 350.org are calling fordemonstrations around theworld to bring pressure to bearon the conference negotiators. They are calling for a halt to all

new exploration, for 80% of ex-isting fuels to be left in the

ground, and a transition to 100%renewable energy.In Ireland, Stop Climate Chaos,

a coalition of 27 civil society organisations, is calling on Irishpeople to take to the streets onNovember 29th.

Noel WardParis

PICTURE: David J (CC BY 2.0)

Climate crisis means swift transitionto renewables is essential

Burning more fossil fuels cannot be the answer

Trade unions set agenda on refugee crisisSIPTU Global Solidarity ac-tivists have attended an ICTUmeeting on the theme of de-veloping a ‘Trade Union Re-sponse to the Refugee Crisis’. The 16th October event was ad-

dressed by representatives of theSyrian community, refugee advo-cates and Direct Provision activistsas well as the European NetworkAgainst Racism (ENAR). A poignant account of what is

currently taking place on theground across the Balkans wasgiven by Caoimhe Butterly.During the meeting, trade union

members considered how theycould best support humanitarianaid efforts, build coalitions toshape public policy as well as helprefugees arriving in Ireland.It was agreed that ensuring so-

cial inclusion was of primary con-cern and that the key issue to be

addressed was the right to work toensure that refugees were not sub-jected to exploitation in the infor-mal economy. It was recognisedthat trade unions can play an im-portant role in providing supportand information on employmentrights to these vulnerable people.With an increasing racist and

xenophobic approach to the crisis,it was proposed that educationalmaterial for trade union members

could be developed both to dispelmisrepresentation of the facts andraise awareness of the responsefrom unions.Given both the international and

European dimension it was agreedthat trade unions need to bolstertheir links with national tradeunion centres in the countriesdealing directly with the flow ofrefugees, to help the humanitarianresponse and to ensure a co-ordi-

nated trade union policy regardingthe European Union’s position.To deliver refugee solidarity, par-

ticipants agreed that unions buildon their existing coalitions withthe NGO community, develop a co-ordinated policy response to gov-ernment and collaborate onfundraising initiatives for human-itarian organisations on theground.

By Yvonne O’Callaghan

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

22 Paddy Behan

WELL-KNOWN figurewithin the tradeunion movement fordecades, PaddyBehan, has now been

introduced to audiencesacross the globe as one of thestars of an awarding-winningdance film.The Area by Ríonach Ní Néill and

Joe Lee, which involves profes-sional dancers and members of theMacushla Dance Club, has beenshown at international festivals inmore than eight countries includingthe US, Netherlands and Turkey.The film has won three interna-

tional awards for its unique per-spective of the connection betweenthe members of the MacushlaDance Club, who range in age from50 to their 80s, and their nativenorth inner city Dublin.Choreographer and founder of

the the Macushla Dance Club,Ríonach Ní Néill, said: “The clubwhich was established in 2007 andis based in Dublin 1 supports olderpeople’s contribution to Dublin’svibrant and diverse dance scene. “The Area looks at club members’

relationship with their Dublin cityneighbourhood and how the streetsare a kind of diary for them whichholds memories from the 1940s,1950s to the present.”Music and dance have always

been central for Paddy who wasborn in Ringsend, Dublin, in 1938.“I was born the eldest of eight.

My father worked in Skelly’s boxfactory in South Lotts Road all hisworking life. He was a trade unionactivist and was elected as shopsteward for the ITGWU,” he said.“There was always a piano in the

house. On Saturdays, my fatherwould go into Fitzharris’ for a fewpints on his way home from work.He would often come home with aneighbour for a few bottles of stoutand a sing-song.”Down the years, the family used

second-hand pianos until Paddy’sfather secured a compensation pay-ment for being knocked down andinjured by a car.“As soon as he got the money, he

went into Clerys in O’ConnellStreet and bought a brand newpiano for £800. This piano is in theold family home in 33 PembrokeCottages to the present day.”It was dance that had brought

Paddy and the “love of my life” Maytogether. As he recalls: “I met Mayin 1959, I used to do a bit of workfor mentally-handicapped children.They used to do a raffle at theThursday night dance at the Metro-pole and I was selling raffle tickets. “I asked this girl, who I knew to

see, if she wanted to buy a ticket.Her name was May Blair. She said,‘I don’t carry much money with meat dances’. I gave her a ticket any-way and asked her if she wouldsave me a dance before the end.”By the time the couple began

rearing their own family they wereliving in the north inner city ofDublin, a community in whichPaddy still plays a very active role invarious social organisations andcommunity campaigns such as theSwan Youth Service, Dublin City-wide, St. Agatha’s Hall Community,Matt Talbot Committee and the Ma-cushla Dance Club.Dublin was in the middle of a

major housing crisis in the 1960sand Paddy and his young family ini-tially squatted in a flat in MountjoySquare. As Paddy remembers: “Itwas because of this that I becamepolitically active. I joined theDublin Housing Action Committeeand the Labour Party. There was ahousing crisis at the time and wewere involved with occupations ofvacant buildings, prevention of

evictions, and protest marches anddemonstrations of all kinds.”Paddy had joined the ITGWU as a

16-year-old ‘van-boy’ while workingfor the Swastika Laundry in Balls-bridge. His drive to better the livesof working people would see himplay a leading role within theITGWU and later SIPTU as a Branch

President, delegate to the DublinCouncil of Trade Unions and amember of the SIPTU National Ex-ecutive Council. From 1967 to 2000,Paddy worked as a porter for theBank of Ireland branch on TalbotStreet, a job that allowed him to reg-ularly visit Liberty Hall and main-

tain his vigorous union activity.Now in his late 70s, Paddy is still

dancing and active in the union. Hebelieves both are crucial for a fulllife. While dancing is still importantto the young, Paddy fears the unionis not.“Myself and May’s standard of

living wasn’t great when we startedout together but improved signifi-cantly over the years. I am ab-solutely convinced we would nothave made this progress if it werenot for the trade union movement.“The union, however, does not

appear to mean much to a lot of thecurrent generation – but unlessthey wake up and get organisedtheir standard of living will disim-prove rather than get better. That isa statistical fact.”

A

Paddy has a singalongwith the family in ascene from The Area.

Veteran tradeunionist PaddyBehan warnsyoung people theyneed to unionise

PICTURE: Cioto?gPICTURE: Cioto?g

Paddy Behan, right, is joined byJim Reddington and BrendanLyons as he takes a mannequinfor a spin in The Area

Paddy, right, outside ITGWU conference in 1989

Union stalwart Paddy steps up again ... but thistime as a dance star

By Scott Millar

Paddy, left, with Jack McGinley andPresident Michael D Higgins.

Paddy, with ‘loveof my life’ May

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

23International

During October, Oliver Downes was presented with a badgeand scroll to mark 50 years membership of SIPTU. Oliverworked in Bank of Ireland - Output Production, Cabinteely,Dublin. Pictured Oliver (left) with SIPTU Organiser, PeadarNolan.

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If you would like to purchase a copy of ‘The Workers Republic’please contact khackett@siptu.ie or Tel: 01 8588217

Cost is €20 for paperback versionsand €40 for hardback versions.

Cost of post & packaging is an additional €10 for delivery within Ireland. Books can also be collectedfrom Liberty Hall, Eden Quay, Dublin 1.

By

Michael

Halpenny

The political pendulum canswing fairlyquickly in favourof the Left if theymake the rightchoices...

E’RE at that pointin the US politicalcycle when everyday is Halloween,

as a freak show of Republicanpresidential hopefuls paradethe catwalk for the benefit ofthe party faithful. The personalities and the poli-

cies range from the positivelyfrightening to the frankly “whackjob”, as potential candidates viewith and savage each other in a po-litical race to the bottom. One of the leading hopefuls,

billionaire Donald Trump, who iscampaigning to “Make Americagreat again”, decided one way toprogress his presidential qualitieswas to tweet an image of rival JedBush wearing a swastika and asombrero. However, leaving aside the un-

doubted entertainment value ofthis ongoing spectacle, it would bea grave mistake to underestimatethe determination of the Republicansand the interests that they repre-sent to re-capture the Presidencyand with younger candidates likeMario Rubin erode still further theposition of working people andthose dependent on public services.Meanwhile, in the calmer waters

of the mirror exercise under way inthe Democratic Party, the US’s onlyavowedly democratic socialist sen-ator, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, iscutting more than a dash and inthe process moving the debate(and prime contender, Hillary Clin-ton,) to the left. It is probably too much to hope

that he can achieve much morethan that, though parallels havebeen drawn between the perform-ance of this septuagenarian andthat of British Labour’s (not yet

W

septuagenarian) Jeremy Corbyn.What possibly gives some slight

hope, however, is the recent im-pressive outing in polls north ofthe border where Canada’s “pro-gressive” Liberal Party won powerin the House of Commons, ending10 years of Conservative rule. Unceremoniously dumped by

the electorate four years ago andfinishing behind the left-wing NewDemocrats, their then leader,Michael Ignatieff, became the first

Canadian opposition leader to losehis own seat since 1878.However, just over 200 weeks

later, the Liberals resurrectedthemselves in a manner rivalledonly by Lazarus and a decent car-penter from Nazareth. Their 19% share of the vote and

the resulting meagre 34 represen-tatives were transformed almostovernight into a thumping 184seats and a 39.5% vote share. Theyalso brought back with them a fa-

miliar name, that of JustinTrudeau, son of former Prime Min-ister Pierre Trudeau.The Liberals clicked with the vot-

ers, offering to double investmentin infrastructure, raise taxes on thetop one per cent and reduce taxesfor middle-income earners. They also committed to new cli-

mate change targets, the legalisa-tion of marijuana and a publicinquiry into missing and murderedindigenous women. Since winningpower they’ve also produced a gen-der-balanced cabinet.In contrast, regrettably the for-

tunes of the trade union-backedNational Democrats waned, revert-ing them to third party status asvoters appeared to be convincedthat the Liberals not only had bet-ter policy choices on offer than theformer ruling Conservatives, butbelieved they were committed toimplementing them.As the British magazine, New

Statesman, recently pointed outthere is a lesson there for defeatedleft-of-centre and “progressive”parties. The political pendulumcan swing fairly quickly in theirfavour – if they make the rightchoices (and the electorate believethey have a realistic chance of giv-ing them effect).

Caricature of Republicanhopeful Donald TrumpILLUSTRATION: DonkeyHotey (CC BY SA 2.0)

From freak show politics to hopeful signs for progress

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

24 International

By

Yvonne

O’Callaghan

The [election]results couldpush the AKPfurther towardsauthoritarian excesses andreprisals againstthe opposition

IN June this year for the firsttime in 12 years, the AKP Partyof Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan lost its single-party majority. The party has managed to rule

Turkey for the last five monthswithout sharing power with the op-position, with the exception of a 25-day term when it had two PeoplesDemocratic Party (HDP) ministers. After a five-month intermission it

took a gamble and held parliamen-tary elections on 1st November fora second time to win the electionand once again lead the govern-ment. Although the AKP has failedto win the super-majority needed tounilaterally impose an executivepresidential system tailor-made forErdogan, the party regained a clearmandate to rule Turkey for the nextfour years.Since the June elections, Turkish

politics has been marred by intimi-dation and violence carried out bythe Turkish state, the KurdistanWorkers’ Party (PKK) and IslamicState (IS), leading to hundreds of casualties. Erdogan seems to have ridden the

wave of mayhem back to power bytaking the votes of Turkish nation-alists away from the far-right MHPand of religious Kurds from the pro-

Kurdish HDP. The AKP’s promise of strong lead-

ership, security and stability seemsto have struck a chord with an elec-torate deeply worried about Turkeyspiralling into violence in a volatileregion. The AKP used the five-month

run-up to the snap elections tocrack down on trade unions, oppo-sition NGOs and businesses, to takeover critical media, as well as intim-idating journalists and oppositionfigures. This strategy seems to haveproduced significant gains for Erdo-gan. The most brutal blow to the elec-

tion campaign came at the begin-ning of October when two ISsuicide bombers killed more than100 people at a peace rally inAnkara. The rally was called bytrade unionists and leftists for anend to fighting between the govern-ment and Kurdish militants. Ratherthan shocking people into a unifiedstance, the attack seemed to exacer-bate bitter divisions.Turkey’s fragile ceasefire with the

Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK,crumbled in July. The PKK had ac-cused the Turkish government ofcolluding in a suicide bombing thatkilled more than 30 people whowere organising an aid delivery toKobani, a town inside Syria thatKurdish fighters took from IS earlier this year. The HDP was the first pro-Kur-

dish party in Turkish history to pass

the 10% threshold to gain represen-tation in parliament. Although thefailure of the Kurdish peace processand the escalation of PKK violencehave presented significant chal-lenges for the HDP, the party man-aged to clear the threshold again,albeit with significant losses. TheHDP gained more seats than the far-right Nationalist Action Party

(MHP), making a pro-Kurdish partythe third-largest party in the Turkish parliament for the firsttime in history. The AKP Party maybe jubilant with a landslide victorythat no pollster saw coming. The results, however, could push

the party further towards authori-tarian excesses and reprisals againstthe opposition. If the AKP contin-ues on its path to undermineTurkey’s rule of law, and media free-doms, the country is facing intogreater authoritarianism.

After election gamble, President Erdogan now holdsTurkey’s future in his hands for the next four years

PICTURE:Presidencia de la Repu?blica Mexicana (CC BY 2.0)

Source: Palestinian Monitoring Group (PMG)

Monitoring group details Israel’s tally of shame TYPE OF VIOLATION WEST BANK

GAZASTRIP

TOTAL

Killings 56 17 73

Injuries (since October 1st)(Source: Palestinian Ministry of Health)

- - +2,250

Raids 752 10 762

Detentions 1179 59 1238

Temporary Detentions 503 3 506

Flying Checkpoints 813 - 813

Israeli Gunfire Attacks 1189 121 1310

Home Demolitions 8 1 9

Destruction/ Confiscation of Properties

143 7 150

Settler Terrorism/ Violence 312 - 312

IN THE past year, Israeli occu-pying forces have further in-tensified their provocationsand attacks against the Al-Aqsa Mosque compoundin Jerusalem by allowing Israeli extremist settlers freerein to storm the holy site inan attempt to change its status quo. According to the Islamic Endow-

ments in Jerusalem (Al-Awqaf), be-tween January 14th and September15th of this year alone, Israeli oc-cupying forces, and extremistsunder their protection, carried outa total of more than 450 attacksagainst the holy site and againstPalestinian civilian worshippers. They have used live ammunition

against worshippers and have pro-hibited their entry to the holymosque.Israeli incitement and attacks

carried out by the State of Israelagainst the Palestinian populationand its leadership undermine allefforts to create two independentstates based on the 1967 borders. As the Israeli government con-

tinues its belligerent occupation,oppression and apartheid policies,the Palestinian population is sub-jected to extrajudicial killingswhile protesting in defence of itsrights. Meanwhile, the interna-tional community remains silent.On October 15th, the Israeli oc-

cupying forces placed cementblocks and checkpoints restricting

the Palestinian civilian popula-tion’s entry and exit throughoutOccupied East Jerusalem.The table, right, summarises

some of the aggression Palestini-ans have endured at the hands ofIsraeli forces and settlers over thepast month alone (between Sep-tember 13th and October 31st2015). It also highlights examples of Is-

raeli violations (classified by type)throughout the West Bank, includ-ing Occupied East Jerusalem, andthe Gaza Strip. Since September13th, Israel has killed 73 Palestini-ans and, according to Amnesty In-ternational, some of the recordedcases amount to “extrajudicialkillings.”

Israeli violations: 13th Sept - 31st Oct

In the six weeks since the latest unrest began in Palestine, the majority of incidents have takenplace in the occupied West Bank or East Jerusalem, with an overall death toll at the end of October of 72 Palestinians and 11 Israelis. Israel says 43 of the Palestinians were carrying outattacks when they were killed. Amnesty International has documented four cases of what it describes as “extrajudicial killings” of Palestinians.

Turkey — Poll shock puts Erdogan back in driver’s seat

25International LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

RELAND should host aninternational conferenceon Cuba to help bring anend to the US blockade

and build stronger political,economic and trade linkswith the Caribbean nation,Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan told a recent gathering in Liberty Hall.Ireland has already developed

good links with Cuba through soli-darity work ranging from thehealth sector to organic farming,and further links should be ex-plored, it was explained at thebriefing on the continuing block-ade of Cuba – economic, commer-cial and financial – which tookplace in Liberty Hall on Friday,23rd October. Organised by Cuban Ambassador

to Ireland, Hermes HerreraHernández, along with SIPTU andthe Cuban Support Group Ireland,the briefing was held in advance ofthe 27th October UN vote on the il-legal blockade. Despite the ease of the diplo-

matic relations between Cuba andthe US, initiated by PresidentObama, the embargo has not beenlifted.“We need to continue the fight

against the blockade [which is] still100% intact, and 100% effective”,Simon McGuinness, Cuban Sup-port Group national coordinator,explained.He cited the example of the

€1.66 billion fine that was im-posed by the US on French bankCredit Agricole on 21st October,because it was trading with Cuba.He also explained that no donationcould be sent to Cuba, as Irishbanks were ordered to close the ac-counts of Irish solidarity groups, inresponse to a directive from US in-stitutions. McGuinness also said that the

Government should ensure that

Irish companies do not complywith the illegal blockade main-tained by the US. “The purpose ofan embargo is to punish a govern-ment, but the blockade in Cuba isat the expense of ordinary people,”said Labour MP Joe Costello whoadded that it is a “major obstacle todevelopment.”“It is high time for the blockade

to be lifted”, Maureen O’Sullivantold the meeting.Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan ac-

knowledged the steps taken byPresident Obama to ease relationsbetween Cuba and the US and saidthat there was “a window of oppor-tunity with Obama that we need to

I

Ambassador Hermes Herrera Hernández at apress briefing in LibertyHall Pictures: Rollingnews.ie

Ireland should host conferenceto help end US blockade of Cuba

ON Tuesday, 27th October,the United Nations GeneralAssembly voted by 191-2 insupport of a resolution call-ing for the end to the USblockade of Cuba.Only the United States and Is-

rael voted against all 191 othermember states of the United Na-tions, in what marked the largestmajority in favour of Cuba in the24-year history of the annual votesagainst the blockade. Although the vote is non-bind-

ing, it sent a clear message to theUS government that it remainsisolated from the rest of the worldin its policy towards Cuba.Despite the fact that Cuba and

the US have re-established diplo-matic relations, the United Statescontinues its 54-year blockadewhich the Cuban Foreign Minister,Bruno Rodriguez, claimed had costthe island US$833.8 billion overthe last five decades.Although in his speech to the

UN Rodriguez praised US Presi-dent Obama for efforts to build re-lations between the two countries,he said that not enough had beendone either by the President orCongress to end the blockadewhich remained firmly in place.He continued: “And facts show,

crystal-clear, that the economic,commercial and financial block-ade imposed against Cuba is being

fully and completely imple-mented.“Ten months after the

announcements made on December 17th 2014, no tangible,substantial modification has beenintroduced in the implementationof the blockade. “Barely a week ago, a $1.116 bil-

lion fine was imposed on theFrench bank Credit Agricole,which adds to the $1.710 billionfine imposed on the Germanbank, Commerzbank, in Marchthis year for doing transactionswith Cuba and other States.”Rodriguez also focused on the

human cost of the blockade inCuba. He told Assembly represen-

Historic vote at UN call for stop to US sanctionstatives: “The embargo is a fla-grant, massive and systematic vi-olation of human rights of allCubans. It is contrary to interna-tional law... It has been describedas an act of genocide.”Cuba’s report contained many

examples of patients being de-nied medical treatment becauseof blockade laws including thecase of children waiting for heartoperations at the William SolarPaediatric Cardiology Centre whohad to “undergo open-heart sur-gery, with greater risk of compli-cations and mortality, and highercosts.”

Cuban Foreign MinisterBruno Rodriguez addressesthe UN General Assembly

Picture: UN Photo (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Ambassador Herrera Hernández withSIPTU General President Jack O’Connor

By Justine Carner

exploit”. She said that only the US Con-

gress can lift the trade embargoagainst the island, and claimedthat Ireland ought to put “diplo-matic pressure on Obama” as “hecan do a lot with Congress”.In a nutshell, the press confer-

ence highlighted the on going real-ity of the blockade in spite of theimprovement in diplomatic rela-tions between Cuba and the US. Allspeakers agreed that there is still alot to be done to bring an end tothe embargo while Cuban ambassa-dor Herrera Hernández welcomedworld wide solidarity with his coun-try, including from Ireland.

Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

26 International

Picture: Jonas Pereira/Agencia Senado (CC BY 2.0)HE politics of South

America’s largest state,Brazil, are currentlymired in corruption

allegations and accompaniedby sporadic street protests asthe traditional elite attempt topush President Dilma Roussefffrom power.Central to the struggle is the po-

sition of workers in a society rivenwith divisions derived from itslong history of slavery and morerecent decades of right-wing mili-tary rule. Rousseff, a member ofthe Brazilian Workers’ Party and aformer left-wing political prisoner,took over from her party colleague,Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva, in 2011. Historically, Brazil has always

had presidents from the tradi-tional white elite. Only with theelection of Lula in 2002 did thecountry for the first time have apresident from a working classbackground. Lula’s governmentimplemented public policies tofight poverty and income inequal-ity through a real minimum wageincrease; conditional cash trans-fers (Bolsa Familia); health, educa-tion and housing improvements.These policies contributed to

the economic development ofBrazil and took more than 40 mil-lion out of poverty. In addition,there was a significant increase inwages and over 22 million jobswere created.Although there was a substan-

tial improvement in income dis-tribution during Lula’sleadership, many political and taxreforms were never secured re-sulting in economic and politicalpower remaining mainly in thehands of a white business elite.Rousseff won a bitter presiden-

tial election in October 2014. Thesecond round of voting wasfiercely contested and flagged upclearly the differences betweenthe sides: the neo-liberal pro-gramme of the main right-wingparty, the PSDB, and the redistrib-utive policies of the progressivebloc of the Workers’ Party and itsallies. Rousseff won by a 3% mar-gin. However, voters also elected

the most conservative Congresssince the end of the military dic-tatorship in Brazil in 1985. Cur-rently, the Workers’ Party hasonly 62 of the 513 seats in Con-gress, which is divided between atotal of 29 different parties.The traditional ruling elite,

which dominates the country’s ju-diciary, media and military, has re-fused to accept Rousseff’s victory.The elite’s mood has been de-scribed as “Dilma cannot beelected; if elected, she should not

come to power; if inaugurated, sheshould not be able to rule.” The mainstream media pushes a

discourse of hatred against theleft, the black population and mi-norities while sections of the mid-dle class have taken to the streetsto join protests to revoke Rouss-eff’s mandate. This attack has oc-curred during a period ofeconomic turbulence which has

seen unemployment, which at theend of 2014 stood at 4.6%, reachmore than 8% this year. According to the Brazilian CUT

(Central Única dos Trabalhadores),the country’s leading trade unionconfederation, the struggle isbringing to the fore class conflictin a society where the transfer to“full democracy never took placeeffectively.”The CUT argues that the conflict

has empowered “a conservativeagenda that aims to cut the age ofimprisonment, to limit freedom ofexpression, to attack indigenouspeoples’ and other minorities’rights and even to allow supervi-sion of school curricula by reli-gious and multi-nationaleducational institutes.”The conservative attack on Rou-

self and the Workers’ Party nowfocuses on a long running investi-gation into corruption allegationsat the Brazilian state owned energycompany, Petrobras The oil and gas sector accounts

for 13% of Brazil’s GDP. Petrobras –South America’s largest corpora-tion – has been the centre of polit-ical interest and attack since thediscovery of huge deep-water oilreserves off the Brazil coast with

an estimated value of more thanUS$8 trillion. The current corruption allega-

tions centre around the overpric-ing of contracts related to theoperation of Petrobras with theproceeds used to finance electoralcampaigns.Ongoing investigations have

led to the arrest of constructionindustry executives and somepoliticians. Also, heavy construc-tion companies have beenbanned from public contracts.This has led to a standstill in thesector, which has impacted on thelabour-intensive naval and steelindustries. Most of the jobs lostin 2015 come from these sectors.Although several parties have

received money from companiesimplicated in the Petrobras cor-ruption allegations, so far theWorkers’ Party has been the maintarget of legal action. Sectors ofthe federal police, prosecutorsand the judiciary have evenclaimed that funds receivedlegally by the Workers’ Party arecorrupt in origin, but similarfunds received by opposition par-ties and from the same sourcesare lawful.

The conservative majority inCongress has attempted to takeadvantage of the crisis and moveto privatise a weakened Petrobras,which currently institutes an ex-ploration-sharing model, whichentitles it to take part in all energyprojects and ensures that 75% ofroyalties are earmarked for publicinvestment.Progressive forces in Brazil are

responding to the attack on theleft by developing new alliances.These include the Brazil PopularFront, which has brought togetherleft-wing parties, trade unions,student, peasant and urban move-ments.The CUT states that, “The Front

urges structural political and taxreforms, the regulation of themedia and other sectors. It alsohas a short-term agenda as a wayout of the economic crisis, whichis the protection of jobs and in-comes, strengthening of the do-mestic market, preservation ofsocial investments, interest ratereductions, taxing fortunes and in-heritance, profits and dividends,and the need to fight tax evasion.“The struggle for social justice con-tinues and the solidarity of com-rades of the international tradeunion movement is crucial tostrengthen this fight.”

Dilma – under pressure from elitesof the RightT

The Brazilian Trade Union Congress gave this update on the political and economic situation in its country at the International Trade Union Congress in São Paulo in October

The elite’s mood has beendescribed as“Dilma cannotbe elected; ifelected, sheshould not cometo power; if inaugurated,she should notbe able to rule.”

The battle for BrazilThree main global issues for action by trade unionists during2016 were endorsed at the 15thmeeting of the InternationalTrade Union Confederation (ITUC)General Council in São Paulo,Brazil from 10th – 12th October.

The issues endorsed were climate justice and industrialtransformation, taming corporatepower in supply chains and eliminating slavery.

The meeting opened with a message of solidarity with thevictims of the bombing that dayin Ankara, Turkey, in which morethan 100 people were killed whena union-organised peace rally wastargeted by terrorists.

The Council also marked theaward of the Nobel Peace Prize tothe Tunisian “Quartet”, and wasbriefed by General Secretary ofthe UGTT Houcine Abassi, one ofthe Quartet members.

The meeting was chaired by ITUCPresident João Felicio and attended by 130 representativesfrom ITUC affiliates in 54 countries.

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015News 27

This limited edition print byRobert Ballagh of one of thedefining events of modernIrish history is availablethrough the National GravesAssociation. The funeral of Fenian Jeremiah

O’Donovan Rossa in GlasnevinCemetery on 1st August, 1915 wasseen as a show of strength by theIrish Volunteers and the Irish Citi-

zen Army and was a pivotal event inthe lead-up to the 1916 Rising.Padraig Pearse’s speech at the grave-side is seen today as one of themost significant speeches in Irishhistory. There are 175 copies, numbered

and signed, at €295 plus postage.The image size is 41cm X 81cm.Prints can be bought online atwww.nga.ie/shop.php.

For further details please contact:Aidan Lambert at 087 6202680, donations@nga.ie. Postal address:National Graves Association, POBox 7105, Dublin 2. Proceeds go to the National

Graves Association 1916 project torestorate and improve the St Paul’s1916 plot in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Limited edition Robert Ballagh print

Dear editor,Please allow me a little space to congratulate all the team whoproduced the wonderful musical show ‘Beyond the Barricade’in Liberty Hall in October with such sprit and gusto, well done.

Jim O’BrienNavan

Letter

SIPTU was represented by Ed-ucation Sector Committee andNEC member, Jack McGinley,at the Higher Education Fund-ing Consultation Forum heldin the Gresham Hotel, Dublin,on 30th October.

Presentations at the event willinform the Expert Group on Fu-ture Funding for Higher Educa-tion which has been establishedby the Department of Educationand Skills to identify funding ap-proaches that can provide for thecontinuing expansion of highereducation while protecting itsquality.

McGinley said: “We await thefinal document from the ExpertGroup with both expectation andangst. To ensure the sustainabil-ity of higher education we needto spend a further €750 millionto €1 Billion per annum.”

SIPTU participates in Higher Education Forum

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

28 Review

Coogan is at his most trenchant when dealing with the way in which the legacy of 1916 has been squandered ... he deals with astate corrupted, whether through abuse in Church-run institutions,‘Golden Circles’ or in a ‘moral sickness’ pervading the establishment.His anger and his analysis are well justified

The Rising generation and its squandered legacy1916 The Mornings After –From the Courts Martialto the TribunalsBy Tim Pat CooganPublished by Head of Zeus Ltd 2015

WHILE in no way diminishing thestature of the remarkable revolu-tionaries who led the 1916 Rising,noted journalist, historian andcommentator Tim Pat Coogantakes the reader on a journeythrough the history of our islandin the ensuing years. And, like the ghost of Christmas

Past in Charles Dicken’s A Christ-mas Carol or Clarence the proba-tioner angel in It’s a WonderfulLife, he occasionally shows usthings which may be less thancomfortable in this trip downmemory lane.A master of the subject on which

he has written extensively, hemarks out the condition of post-Famine and “pre-Revolutionary”Ireland as one restrained by twoforms of colonial straitjacket –British rule and the influence of“Mother Church”. To a large extent, much that has

happened subsequently has beenas a consequence of or in reactionto those two prevailingforces. Indeed theexamination of theperiod comes downto how much Irelandwould change andhow much it wouldstay the same in theyears to comeOf the Rising itself,

he (probably correctly)terms it a “protest inarms”, the potential ofwhich would be re-alised not so muchthrough Irish efforts asthrough British actionsand errors. And so it came to pass

through gratuitous exe-cutions, mass arrests and deporta-tions, such that prisoners who hadbeen shipped as criminals to Fron-goch POW camp in North Waleswere feted as heroes on their re-turn for Christmas 1916.Conversely, the fortunes of the

hapless John Redmond and hisIrish Parliamentary Party plum-meted almost to oblivion. Replacing them in life and death

was the great political and rival“double act” of post-Rising poli-tics –Michael Collins and Eamonde Valera. Here the author hides nolight under a bushel and by anyyardstick Dev does not come out ofthis well. Both men cast long shadows on

contemporary Ireland – one fromthe grave and one through decadesof political life.

If Collins’blessing was thatthe Gods lovedhim better thananti-Treaty ir-regulars in westCork, Dev’scurse was thathe was long

lived and had tocraft his own legend.After the “glory days” of the War

of Independence, came the bitter-ness of the Treaty debates and theCivil War. Here again the author illumi-

nates the reality on the ground forboth sides, with the spotlight stillfirmly on Dev’s actions (and inac-tions). He also points up the enor-mous economic challenges facedby the new Free State government

and in passing recalls that whenthe Irish banks were asked to sup-port a national loan to keep thestate running, they refused.And the labour movement?

Coogan repeats the oft-quotedclaim that Connolly marched itinto the GPO from which it neveremerged. If the book has a weak-ness it lies in a lack of analysis inthis area. If de Valera has questions to an-

swer about the period prior to1939, redemption lay in his han-dling of the “Emergency” and theRepublic’s neutrality. In the previous seven years he

had been tinkering with the leversof constitutionality, trying, some-times by sleight of hand to mas-sage into existence a“republicanised” Free State. Now

there was something to get histeeth into. It was, as Coogan says,the zenith of his powers. Post World War II Ireland on the

other hand was marked by unem-ployment and emigration. If therewas any common ground betweenboth establishments North andSouth it was one of relief at the de-parture of so many who wouldtake their economic burden andtheir political aspirations else-where.The complexity of the North is

well dealt with by the writer whoknows his subject better thanmost. He also exposes the ambiva-lence of southern politics, evenamong the revolutionary genera-tion, including Collins and Dev, to-wards the subject of Partition.

Ultimately it was viewed bymany, if not most, nationalists inthe six counties as abandonmentto the cold house of the newNorthern State where they wouldhave to wait for two generationsand the burgeoning civil rightsmovement to have the light shoneon its darker corners. Coogan is at his most trenchant

when dealing with the way inwhich the legacy of the 1916 gen-eration has been squandered. Inhis penultimate chapters he dealswith a state corrupted, whetherthrough abuse in Roman CatholicChurch-run institutions, “GoldenCircles” or in a “moral sickness”pervading the establishment. Hisanger and his analysis are well jus-tified.For far too long the ‘powers that

be’ in both partitioned states wereconcerned with comforting thecomfortable and afflicting the af-flicted. It is timely that the warmglow of patriotism should be punc-tured by the righteous anger of ahistorian and public intellectual ofthe stature of Coogan. It keeps usall in balance.

Michael Halpenny

Éamon de Valera in full flight on thesteps of Ennis Court House, Co. Clare,just over a year after the Rising

PICTURE: NLI Flickr; no known copyright restrictions

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

29Obituary

JOHN Delmer of PaircMhuire, Newbridge, whodied on August 3rd, was acommitted trade unionistand community activist.

John spent his working life withIrish Ropes Ltd in Newbridge, Co.Kildare, producing both ropes andcarpets. The company was then thelargest employer in Kildare, withmore than 1,000 workers at itspeak, all of whom were members ofthe ITGWU and subsequentlySIPTU.John was a shift shop steward for

the ITGWU and a member of theKildare Branch Committee. He wasa founding member of the KildareTrades Council and Kildare Net-work of Resource Centres and alsoa volunteer member of MABS.On first impression, John was a

gentle giant. However, as a tradeunionist and community activist hehad a steely determination toachieve the best terms and condi-tions of employment for his mem-bers and was committed tocommunity activism. During the recession in the mid-

1980s, the Kildare Trades Council

elected a steering committee to es-tablish a network of Resource Cen-tres to meet the challenging needsof the unemployed in accessingtraining and work. John was one ofthe founding members in establish-ing a network of resource centresacross Kildare to assist the unem-

ployed and the disadvantaged. Hewas also a member of the KildareTrade Union Joint Oireachtas Com-mittee and assisted in the negotia-tions to fund the centres.John also became a voluntary co-

ordinator for the five Resource Cen-tres established by the KildareTrades Council under the auspicesof the ICTU and was subsequentlyappointed full-time co-ordinator,based in Newbridge. Following retirement from his

full-time position with the Re-source Centres, he continued to actas voluntary treasurer on behalf ofthe Kildare Trades Council.He will be remembered as a loyal

trade union activist and a wise andloyal counsel. Wherever there was a dispute or

protest he was always there underthe banner “Ní Saoirse go SaoirseLucht Oibre”. On this, the 30th anniversary of

the Miners’ strike in Britain, wewill always remember his unwaver-ing commitment in support of theminers.John is survived by his wife

Frances and sons John, Des, Ron-nie, Brian and Justin.

An activist of steely determinationOBITUARY John Delmer

John will beremembered as aloyal trade unionactivist and a wiseand loyal counsel.Wherever therewas a dispute orprotest, he wasalways thereunder the banner‘Ni Saoirse goSaoirse LuchtOibre’

Billy Cox rememberedA FIRST anniversary Masswill be held for Billy Cox onFriday, 27th November at 1.00p.m. in the Camino RestChurch in St James’ Hospital,Dublin. Billy worked in St. James’ Hospital

for 24 years and was an activemember of SIPTU. During this timehe was employed in several areas,including Accident and Emergencyand in recent years as a darkroomtechnician in the X-ray depart-ment.

Pictured Alisha Mary (6) and Dominic Berry (6) joined hundreds of travellers and their supporters to protest outside Leinster House in Dublin on Wednesday, 28th October. Theprotest against poor conditions on halting sites and for recognition of their cultural rightsfollowed the tragic deaths of ten travellers at Carrickmines, Co Dublin earlier in the month. Picture: Rollingnews.ie

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

30 Sport

T WOULD appear thatevery dog and its motherhas a 1916 book out already in anticipation ofthe 100th anniversary

next year. So in the absenceof any major events on thehorizon, and not wishing tocontribute to the navel gazingthat followed Ireland’s igno-minious exit from the RugbyWorld Cup, I decided to lookat some of the sportingevents of that year.Of course 1916 happened to be

the bloodiest year of World War Iand many of the leading sportsevents had been postponed forthat reason. Foremost among themwas the Olympics which had beenscheduled to be held in Berlin thatsummer. Phil Collins once described

sport, and specifically theOlympics, if I recall correctly, as“war without tears”. Well, therewas a real war on so more civilisedmeans of earning bragging rightswere not required.Professional association football

had also fallen victim in all of theparticipant countries. Horse racing,perhaps it was indeed the ‘sport ofkings’, by and large survived. Al-though the British Grand National was not held, the EpsomDerby went ahead. It was won byFifinella, who is remembered now

as the last filly to win the Derbyand the last horse to win the Derbyand the Oaks in the same year.In Ireland, sport by and large

escaped both the impact of the Eu-ropean War and the Easter Rising. The Grand National of that year

is best remembered as having takenplace on the day the Rising beganon Monday, April 24th. It was wonby All Sorts who, because of the dis-ruption caused, then had to walk allthe way home to Longford.

Soccer was organised on an all-Ireland basis before partition andthe Irish Cup had been won by Linfield, who beat Glentoran in areplay at Grosvenor Park in Belfast,three weeks before the Rising.Linfield also won the Irish Leaguethat year. Gaelic games were inconve-

nienced, not least by the numberof players who were interned following the Rising. Dublin hadlost so many players that they

were unable even to enter a teaminto either the football or hurlingchampionships, which were wonrespectively by Wexford and Tip-perary. Both finals had to be putback until late December and Jan-uary. The main Dublin GAA per-sonality to be caught up in theevents was Harry Boland, formerDublin player and chairman of theDublin County Board. He had alsorefereed the 1914 hurling final.A footnote to sport and the Ris-

ing took place in Frongoch intern-ment camp in Wales in late 1916where Dublin and Wexford playedone another, apparently with morefirst choice players than wouldhave been available back in Ireland.

Local pride: Waterford hurlers in 1916

Blitzed: Abbey Street and Sackville Street (O'Connell Street) in rubble after the Rising

Picture: NLI; no knowncopyright restrictions

Picture: NLI; no known copyright restrictions

GAA people are often suspiciousof change, but do enjoy a good argument. On that basis, nextyear’s Congress debate on Director General Padraig Duffy’sproposals to change the gamescalendar will be interesting.

The most significant changes areto move the senior hurling final to mid-August and to have thefootball final on the first Sundayin September, and to have extratime in all drawn games. There will also no longer be semi-finalsin Division One of the footballleague.

The other significant changesproposed are to do away with theUnder 21 football championshipand create a new grade of Under17 for both hurling and football.

The objective is to reduce thenumber of games in order to address the problem of ‘playerburnout’ and the fact that clubschedules are often greatly disrupted by the length of theinter-county season.

That is fair enough, but I wouldhave some reservations about the extra time rule, purely on theselfish basis of missing a possiblerepeat of the 2013 hurling final,or even this year’s football replaybetween Dublin and Mayo.

By

Matt

Treacy

1916 — Not quite sport

The main DublinGAA personality tobe caught up in theevents was HarryBoland, formerDublin player andchairman of theDublin CountyBoard. He had alsorefereed the 1914hurling final.

I

LibertyCrossword

*Correctly fill in the crossword to reveal the hidden word, contained by reading the letters in the shaded squares from top to bottom.

Email the hidden word to communications@siptu.ie or post to Communications Dept., Liberty Hall, Dublin 1 along with your

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ACROSS DOWN

7 Chinese martial arts (4,2)

8 Puzzle (6)

9 Impose, as a tax (4)

10 Transporters of goods (8)

11 Praise (7)

13 Traditionalist Christian community (5)

15 Needed for rivers and money (5)

16 New edition of an old book (7)

18 Extremely clean (8)

19 Farsi-speaking land (4)

21 Symbols which are worn (6)

22 Historic Scottish county and sock pattern (6)

1 Ancient Christmas festival (4)

2 Young swans in a fable (4,9)

3 Radical American folk singer (7)

4 Sporting or music (5)

5 Central to recent equality debates (5,8)

6 To lock up (8)

12 One day more (4,4)

14 English soldier (7)

17 Apprehensive feeling (5)

20 "___ Lang Syne"

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The winner of the crossword competitionin the September edition was Hugh O Domhnaill, GalwayAnswer: Loophole

LibertyNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

31Liberty Crossword

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7 8

9 10

11 12 13

14

15 16

17

18 19 20

21 22

1 2

7

3 4 5

8

6

9

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18

10

13

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19 2018

21

19

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Farrell’s photo shots

1916 — Not quite sport

Dublin photographer, Eamon Farrell, has captured many of the moments thathave made the late Charlie Haughey a subject of such deep fascination (anddislike) for the Irish media and public over four decades. Farrell was presentduring the rise and fall of the enigmatic politician including the immediate aftermath of the 1989 general election when Haughey failed to win a majorityand after which he was forced into coalition with the Progressive Democratsled by his arch rival, Des O’Malley. The expression on the politician’s face,and perhaps more dramatically, on the face of his back seat passenger, friendand advisor, music promoter, the late Jim Hand says it all.

The exhibition of Eamon Farrell’s photos of Charles Haughey continues in the Gallery of Photography, Meeting House Squareuntil Sunday 22nd November. Tel: 01 6714654