Tag Archives: SIPTU

FIREFIGHTERS in Clare have been put on alert they will be balloted for industrial action next week due to the lack of a breakthrough in their dispute over pay and working conditions. SIPTU official, Arek Muszynski told the Clare Champion the two-week notice of intention to ballot had expired without any meaningful engagement, which left him with no option but to send out papers to members in Clare and Tipperary next week, possibly on Wednesday or Thursday. Mr Muszynski said he hadn’t received any meaningful proposals for the national committee or engagement from Clare County Council, apart from an acknowledgement letter. The Clare Fire and Rescue Service could be severely disrupted over the coming weeks unless serious efforts are made to address the “recruitment and retention crisis” affecting the local Retained Fire Service. A council spokesman told the Clare Champion, there is no update from last week and noted the Local Government Management Agency are dealing with the matter centrally …

SHANNON Heritage staff working at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park are set to hold a lunchtime protest at 1pm on Friday, as there is still no clarity about the expected transfer to Clare County Council. They are set to assemble close to the entrance to the facility and it’s expected that workers from other Shannon Heritage sites will be there in support. While many of the workers are members of SIPTU, Friday’s protest is not linked to the union. As well as the lack of progress on the transfer, there is concern among workers that they could be laid off for the first three months of 2023, similar to what has happened to them in other years since the emergence of Covid-19. There is also frustration that Shannon Heritage has not made itself available for a hearing on conditions at the WRC on a date next month, meaning the process has been delayed by eight days. All staff are receiving …

SIPTU members working in early childhood care and education have welcomed the establishment of an Employment Regulation Order (ERO) that sets minimum pay rates for the sector, and comes into effect this Thursday, September 15.  The pay deal, negotiated by SIPTU Organisers and activists on behalf of the union’s 6,000 members in the sector, and which was signed off by the Government last week. will set legally binding rates of pay.  The minimum rates contain in the ERO are as follows: Early Years Educator: €13.00 Lead Educator: €14.00 Graduate Lead Educator: €15.50 Deputy Manager: €15.70 Manager: €16.50 Graduate Manager: €17.25 Early Years teacher and SIPTU activist, Claire Casey said: “The signing of this ERO by Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English, marks an historic day for our profession. “After years of campaigning, we finally have our first pay deal. Thousands of Early Years Professionals will see a pay increase that will end poverty wages and set us on a path to professional …

A UNION has warned that further industrial action may be initiated this Thursday, April 14 following a recent one-day work stoppage, if a company doesn’t implement a Labour Court recommendation. SIPTU members employed in LISK Ireland Ltd commenced a campaign of industrial action at its manufacturing plant in Gort on Monday, April 4, with a work stoppage that began at 8am and concluded at 12 midnight. LISK Ireland’s 150,000 square foot facility is home to both manufacturing and sales of control devices, solenoids and solenoids valves since 1979. SIPTU organiser Stephen Lavelle said members placed pickets at the entrance to the plant on Monday morning. “Our members were left with no option but to begin industrial action due to a management refusal to respect a Labour Court recommendation that the company engage in negotiations with their union. “Management has ignored several invitations from SIPTU representatives to discuss and resolve concerns its members have expressed in relation to their terms and …

AN Ennis security worker who faces losing his job in the coming weeks as part of plans by Tesco to outsource nearly 100 security jobs says they are being treated “like yesterday’s rubbish”. Fredrik Osterberg has been working security in the Ennis branch of Tesco for over 16 years. Last week Tesco security workers were called into meetings and told their jobs were being outsourced with three options: severance payment; redeployment to other positions in their store, if available; or a transfer to OCS security services. Employees were told they had until March 1 to make a decision. The move has been condemned by Mandate Trade Union and SIPTU. Fredrik, a father of two young children, tells us, “We have done everything that the company has asked of us, we have always been loyal but it has just not been shown back to us. “I have had knives pulled on me, I’ve had a hatchet pulled on me. I’ve been …

IN a statement SIPTU, which has 350 members employed at Lufthansa Technik Shannon Ltd (LTSL) said it was “disappointed and concerned” at the scale of the job losses being proposed. Spokesperson Karan O Loughlin, said, “SIPTU shop stewards and members have put hard work into maintaining the operation of this site as evidenced in the pandemic operation agreements entered into from September 2020 until March 2021 and a further agreement from March 2021 to September 1, 2021. They did this while awaiting the outcome of the due diligence process carried out by its new owners.” She added, “SIPTU representatives now wish to engage with LTSL and AAG management concerning the scale of redundancies and a strategic way forward to protect the remaining employment, terms and conditions of our 350 members in LTSL.” Clare TD Joe Carey said that engagement must happen. “Management need to engage with these loyal workers and their representatives. “Many of these workers have been employed at …

THE delay in restoring full GP out-of-hours services in Clare three weeks after a HSE pledge about the full resumption of facilities has been criticised by a union official. In response to a Dáil question from Deputy Maurice Quinlivan, the HSE primary care general manager, Carmel McLaughlin outlined that Shannondoc has commenced the restoration of services on September 14 in Hospital, Roscrea and Thurles and that planning is underway in relation to the resumption of services in Clare. Ms McLaughlin stated the HSE and Shannondoc were committed to the full restoration of all services that were in existence pre Covid-19. A spokesperson for Shannondoc said, “As a result of the Covid-19 public health crisis, a consolidated model of service operating from five treatment centres across the Mid-West was introduced at Shannondoc. “These changes were necessary to protect its GPs, its front-line staff and patients while ensuring the service was maintained to patients through-out the mid-west during the crisis. “Shannondoc, supported …

AS some childcare providers in the county re-opened their doors this week, workers in the sector reveal the financial challenges they are facing as they call for funding reforms. SIPTU Organiser and Big Start Co-ordinator for Clare, Yvonne McGrath insists, “This vital service cannot be delivered on poverty pay”. The campaign is urging the incoming government to deliver on pre-election pledges to reform the early years sector and implement a new funding model that delivers for children, workers, providers and parents. Ms McGrath says, “Early years educators are eager and enthusiastic to return to work. They play an essential role in our society and parents who have struggled balancing work and looking after children have some much welcomed relief. However, the issues that existed before the lockdown have not gone away. The reality is that before the Covid-19 outbreak the sector was in the grip of a low pay and staffing crisis with the majority of workers earning below the …