Ceardchumann Teicniúil, Innealtóireachta & Leictreachais

Official Magazine of the Technical, Engineering & Electrical Union (TEEU)Official Magazine of the Technical, Engineering & Electrical Union (TEEU)

Important PensionIssues

Stress in theWorkplace

Youth &Women’sForums

LabourLaw Issues

Civil MarriageReferendum

Issue 15

January 2015

January 2015 fusion 3

EDITORIAL

What’s all the talk about a fight back?Pay has been stagnant for the last seven yearswith some sectors having to endure pay cuts whileother sectors have achieved all be it marginalincreases mainly in the PharmaChem, MedicalDevices and the ICT sectors. Throughout thisperiod, costs continued to rise for goods andservices while a body of additional direct andindirect taxation has been imposed on ourmembers, financially crippling them and theirfamilies.

We are in a period of “Free Collective Bargaining”.This means we are free to serve pay claims onemployers and the TEEU is encouraging ourmembers to do so in profitable employmentswhere it is believed that there is an ability to payon the part of the employer. Our officials havebeen reporting numerous recent pay successesmainly in the manufacturing sector.

IBEC and ICTU have agreed a National Protocolfor the Orderly Conduct of Industrial Relationsand Local Bargaining in the Private Sector.Consequently, there is an expectance byemployers that they are open to pay claims.Indeed IBEC has publicly stated that theyanticipate that the majority of their employermembers expect to implement pay increases intheir companies in 2015. Additionally, Ged Nash,Super Junior Minister of State for Business &Employment also declared 2015 the year of thepay increase.

All of these statements came after the TEEUBiennial Delegate Conference in late November2014 when we signalled a National Claim for a 5% Pay Increase in economically viablecompanies.

Concessions During RecessionIn the Public Sector and in some employments inthe Private Sector, our members were put underpressure to accept pay cuts and/or reducedconditions of employment including pensionchanges as part of a survival plan or whateverexplanation was given by their employer at thetime. Now that we have emerged from recessionthe time has come for redress.

In the Public Sector the Government has liftedpay restrictions for some categories; of course thisdoes not include TEEU members, this needs tobe challenged now.

We all need to understand that in the PrivateSector we are no longer shackled by NationalAgreements and are therefore free to bargainwithout restriction. Therefore, it strikes me thatas part of the Trade Union Fight Back in whateversector our members are working as part of any claim under the current Free CollectiveBargaining arrangements our claim should

include, in the first instance, that the loss of anypay and/or conditions be restored immediately.

Construction/ContractingFollowing the loss of the registration with theLabour Court of Registered EmploymentAgreements - REA’s (sectoral collectiveagreements), as a result of the Supreme Courtdecision in May 2013, there has been aconcerted effort by some employers to diminishpay, travel time, sick pay and pensions. Somevulnerable members have been taken advantageof by being forced into bogus self-employment or employment through spurious employmentagencies on terms and conditions far less thantheir entitlement under the relevant NationalCollective Agreement.

So, the time has come for everyone to standshoulder to shoulder and fight back for theirentitlements. If in any doubt or if you becomeaware of any employer not applying the fullentitlements to our members please call theTEEU 24 hour Help Line 01-8719 903.

TEEU Solidarity Links Across the GlobeThe TEEU has moved from being regarded as asmall craft union to a significant force not only inIreland but across the globe. Our contribution tointernational affairs and the influence that wehave brought to bear on such issues as theapprenticeship system at home and acrossEurope is well recognised. Our recent associationwith the Global Power Trade Unions (electrical)and the United Association already established inthe US, Canada, Australia and now Ireland(mechanical), coupled with a number oflikeminded unions considering transferring theirengagements to the TEEU has undoubtedlystrengthened our influence with both Governmentand employers. The Union is now on a steadycourse of being a well-respected force thatdefends and improves the lives of our membersand their families.

I wish to sincerely thank our President, Trustees,EMC/NEC officers, branch officers and committeemembers, shop stewards and all our manyactivists who work tirelessly on a voluntary basisfor the Union in the interests of our members, aswell as our officials and staff for all theirdedication and hard work throughout 2014.

Finally, I wish you and our colleagues, familiesand friends good health, peace and happinessthroughout the year ahead.

Eamon Devoy,General Secretary.

Dear Colleague

Happy New Year to all Members

As we emerge from a very depressing recession, it is time forall members to take stock of the industrial landscapesurrounding them, grasp the opportunity to improve theiremployment conditions and work together through the Unionto restore and improve their living standards.

BDC 2014 4

BDC Workshops 6

Some Pension Issues 8

Saying YES to a new chapter in 10Irish history

Ireland and the First World War 11

The ‘Secret Service Unit’ of 12Michael Collins Operation in Irish Craft Unions

TEEU going from local action to 13global action

Workplace stress` 15

Recent Developments in LabourLaw 16

Region Reports 18

TEEU Women’s Forum 20

The Ragged Trousered philanthropists 21

Power & Rail 23

Relationship with other Unions - 24International / EU Activity

Proudly Standing Together 26

Red Card for FIFA 27

TEEU Youth & Apprentice Forum 28

TEEU concerned about erosion 30of health and safety protection

Scrap TTIP now! 31

Hill-walking for pleasure - 32Safety on the hills

The Economy – where is it at 34and where it is going?

TEEU Education and Training 35Programme 2015

C O N T E N T S

FRONT PAGE STORY: TEEU blockade of theGrangegorman Dept. of Education siteDublin, to highlight exploitation andsecure workers entitlements on thispublicly funded project.

© 2015 fusion is published by the Technical, Engineering & Electrical Union (TEEU), 6 Gardiner Row, Dublin 1. Tel: 01 874 7047 / Lo-Call:1890 488 338 / Fax: 01 874 7048 / Email: info@teeu.ie / Web: www.teeu.ieDesign, Layout and Print by CRM Design + Print Ltd. Unit 6 Bridgecourt Office Park, Walkinstown Avenue, Dublin 12. Tel: 01 429 0007.DISCLAIMER: Technical Engineering & Electrical Union do not guarantee the accuracy of statements made by contributors or advertisers oraccept any responsibility for any statement which they may express in this publication

THANKSI would like to thank Pat Guilfoyle and hisassistant Collette Collins, the previous editorialteam for producing Fusion over the past 14years and bringing the magazine this far.

Thanks to Frank Keoghan General President,Sean Heading Regional Secretary and TamaraHarte Personal Assistant for their support andassistance in producing this edition of Fusion.

I trust you will enjoy reading it.

Eamon Devoy, General Secretary

fusion January 20154

BDC

The TEEU – Biennial Delegate Conference (BDC 2014) was held in the Newpark Hotel inKilkenny in November 2014. With acombination of Branch Delegates, ShopStewards, Youth and Women Forum delegatesalong with international guest speakers fromacross the globe there was a combined total of170 people in attendance.

Eamon Devoy, General Secretary in his openingremarks to Conference made the followingpoints:

THE STATE OF OUR UNIONThe TEEU was never in a stronger position thanit is today as we emerge from the depths of anational depression. Our membership is growingsignificantly, our finances are on a sound footingand our relationship with other unions at homeand across the globe has strengthened ourorganisation exponentially.

He revealed the union had lost 9,500 memberslargely due to the collapse in construction as aresult of the crisis. However, he went on to saythat membership is growing significantly, due inthe main to the organising activities of theUnion’s full-time officials.

He said many employers had taken advantage ofthe recent crisis by cutting members’ term andconditions of employment but that the time hascome for a “fight back” and the union was neverin a stronger position to support its members as

we emerge from the depths of a nationaldepression.

There were 37 motions (including threeemergency motions) considered by theconference that were grouped under the fivestrategic objectives of the Global UnionIndustriAll - Building Union Growth - FightingPrecarious Work - Ensuring Sustainable(Industrial) Employment - Confronting GlobalCapital - Defending Workers Rights.

The three emergency motions that were adoptedwere:

STUDENT SERVICE CHARGE TO APPRENTICESThis conference is concerned at the applicationof a Student Services Charge to Apprentices.These charges vary from €916 to €1,576 fordifferent Apprenticeships during phases 4 & 6while attending educational institutions.

This despite the fact that:n Apprentices are employees not students

n the student services available to students arenot available to apprentices

n monetary supports available to students infinancial difficulty (student grants)

The TEEU disputed the establishment of thesecharges, met with the Minister for Education &Skills and subsequently attended a series ofmeeting with Department officials. However, noreasonable outcome was forthcoming.

In the light of the above this conference resolvesthat unless a satisfactory resolution can be foundwith the Department within the next 3 months,the EMC/NEC shall hold an Special Meeting witha view to serving notice on all employerorganisations that the employers should bear thecharges being imposed on apprentices, whilekeeping in reserve the possibility of consultingour general membership to take whatever actionis deemed necessary to bring this matter to asatisfactory solution

WATER CHARGESThe TEEU calls on the Government to abolishthe proposed water charges with immediateeffect and will campaign to achieve thatoutcome while supporting the ICTU call for aconstitutional referendum to retain water inpublic ownership in perpetuity.

MIGRANT WORKERS RIGHTS IN QATARConference condemns the exploitation ofmigrant workers in Qatar.

Qatar is a government that takes no respon-sibility for workers’ rights.

40 billion dollars of infrastructure is forecast toget Qatar ready to host the 2022 World Cup.Qatari own estimates are that 500,000 extraworkers will be needed in the run up to the WorldCup.

Conference calls on the government to make rep-resentation to the Qatari government and FIFA

Biennial Delegate Conference (BDC 2014)

1 2 3

6 7 8

January 2015 fusion 5

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over the exploitation of migrant workers and callson the Qatari government to implement the ITUCrecommendations for migrant workers in Qatar.I urge conference to support this motion.

Other motions included:

JOBBRIDGE, GATEWAY, INTERNSHIPS ANDOTHER FORCED LABOUR SCHEMESConference has identified the seriousexploitation of young workers, including youthmembers of the TEEU, at National level. TheYouth Guarantee Scheme funded by the EU isintended to assist young workers gainmeaningful employment, instead our youthmembers face “sanctions” from the Departmentof Social Protection for refusal to participate inforced labour schemes including cuts to theirweekly payment.

However, the infraction doesn’t stop there.When a young person undertakes an internshipor other placement on these scheme, oftendisplacing permanent workers on reasonable payand conditions, their payment can equate to aslittle as €3.75 per hour for up to 48 hours perweek.

The TEEU must support all opposition to thisgovernment’s attempts to place the unemployedand newly qualified workers, graduates andprofessionals into dead-end jobs at inferior ratesof pay. These schemes undermine our hard-wonrates of pay and conditions of employment and

are just profit enhancing mechanisms forunscrupulous employers.

Given that youth is the future of this Union, theBranch calls on the BDC to instruct theEMC/NEC to oppose all forms of forced labourschemes, in their entirety.

STRATEGIC ACTION AGAINSTNON-COMPLIANT CONTRACTORSThe Dublin No. 10 Branch calls for thecontinuation of Strategic Action against non-compliant Contractors in order to protect theNational Collective Employent Agreement for theMechanical Contracting Industry (MEBSCA) andshould it benefit from new legislation to enableits registration as an employment order thatevery effort is made to ensure that this Union isthe driving force behind compliance with itsterms.

MOTION ON PRIVATISATIONConference notes with concern the recentGreyhound Recycling dispute and the damageinflicted on unionised workers and their families.Conference calls on the EMC/NEC to pursue withGovernment the reversal of the devastatingeffects of privatisation on working people andtheir families. Calls on Government to desistfrom any further transfers of our Nationalservices and resources into the hands of theprivate sector, whose only objective is profit atany cost to the workers concerned.

HOUSINGConference calls on the EMC/NEC to pursue withGovernment the current housing shortage inorder to benefit our members, not only in theconstruction of new housing developments, butalso in the provision of quality homes for workersand their families, who suffered at the hands ofthe austerity measures introduced to benefitthose better off in our society.

That the TEEU should adopt a motion requestingthe Government to start a social housingprogramme as a matter of urgency, as many craftpersons can no longer afford mortgages ormortgage insurance protection so as to buy orbuild their own home.

The TEEU - Executive Management Committeemet on the 18th December 2014 and agreed animplementation plan to give effect to the variousmotions agreed at the conference.

1 Eamon Devoy, General Secretary TEEU.2 Delegates voting at BDC.3 Ambet Yuson BWI.4 Eamon Devoy welcomes Richard Bruton.5 Conference in action.6 David Begg addresses Conference.7 Orla O’Connor, National Women’s Council.8 Terry Urbanek UA.9 Andrew McGuinness, Lord Mayor of Kilkenny.10 Laurie A. Shedrick, UA and Breda Swift,

Waterford No. 1 Branch.11 Jim Pavsic UA.

4 5

9 10 11

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THE TRADE UNION FIGHT BACK(Global, National & workplace by workplace)At a Global level (through IndustriAll to which the TEEUis affiliated) five (5) key strategic objectives have beenidentified:Building Union Growth / Confronting Global Capital /

Defending Workers Rights /Fighting Precarious Work /Ensuring sustainableIndustrial Employment) Across the world the neo-liberal employers agendais taking hold and hardwon benefits are beingconstantly eroded - let thefight back begin!

workshop

1

W O R K S H O P STEEU - ORGANISING WORKERS FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE

29/07/2008 13:37 Page 1

TEEU – BDC Conference Workshops - Friday 21st November 2014 - Newpark Hotel Kilkenny

Motion - The Trade Union Fight Back (Subsequently adopted by Biennial Delegate Conference)

The Trade Union fight back supports the strategy adaptedby the TEEU negotiation team and EMC, to date in defenceof our members and calls on this BDC to mandate theEMC/NEC to place the critical matter of defending andimproving the Terms and Conditions of our members acrossall sectors of our economy, including the public service atthe top of the TEEU agenda.

• Any further attempt to erode the pay and conditions ofour members will be vigorously resisted,

• Any reduction to terms and conditions conceded duringthe recession should be restored,

• Improved remuneration must be the central focus havingregard for the long pay standstill throughout therecession while many forms of direct and indirecttaxation have been imposed.

Marion F. HellmannDeputy General Secretary

Building Workers International– International Perspective

Sally Ann KinahanAsst General Secretary –

National Perspective

Eamon DevoyGeneral Secretary, TEEU – The TEEU’s Perspective

NEW RIGHT TO BARGAIN LEGISLATION(valuable in every workplace?)

The right to bargain was first introduced in Ireland in2000. It provided the opportunity to pursue employers

who were unwilling to engage in collectivebargaining and provided a legallyenforceable mechanism to have successfulclaims implemented. Following theSupreme Court (Ryanair) Judgement thismechanism was by and large dismantled.However, as part of the currentGovernment’s manifesto an undertakingwas given to implement legislation torestore these mechanisms.

workshop

2Motion 19 -

New Right to Bargain Legislation (Subsequently adopted by

Biennial Delegate Conference)

Conference re-asserts its concerns regarding the absenceof adequate legislation to provide the legal right ofcollective bargaining by Trade Unions to the standardsset out by I.L.O. Conventions no. 87 & 98 and theEuropean Court of Human Rights Rulings.

Conference demands the fulfilment of the Government’scommitment to enact the legislation as promised in itsprogramme for government before the end of 2014.

Esther LynchLegal Officer ICTU

Anthony Kerr Barrister at Law

THE FUTURE OF PENSIONS IN IRELAND(What needs to be done?)

As the days go by, more and more employers are shirking theirresponsibilities to workers’ Pension Schemes which in the vastmajority of cases form part of a collective bargaining agreement in

relation to their conditions ofemployment.

workshop

4 Motion - The Future of Pensions

in Ireland (Subsequently adopted by

Biennial Delegate Conference)

This conference pledges to mobilisewith the objective of rolling backregressive developments in pensionschemes in co-operation with otherunions by means of industrial,educational, political and communityactivity. Frank Keoghan

General President TEEURachael Ryan

Legal Rights Official,SIPTU

NEW EMPLOYMENT ORDERS TO GUARANTEE PAY ARRANGEMENTS (replacing REA’s)

Since the Supreme Court (McGowan) Judgement in May 2014many employers have embarked on a race to the bottom in terms

of the pay and conditions ofworkers, including the blatant useof bogus self-employed andspurious employment agencies.Now legislation has been enactedto overcome this problem byrestoring minimum pay, sick payand pension but not otherconditions of employment.

workshop

3Motion -

New Employment Ordersto Guarantee PayArrangements(Subsequently adopted by

Biennial Delegate Conference)

To put pressure on the government to enact the legislation for the newREA’s / JLC’s taking into account theUnion’s role in a monitory enforcementas soon as possible.

Esther LynchLegal Officer ICTU

Michael GreenAsst. Principal Officer,

DJEI

Brian NolanNational Construction

(M & E) Official

WORKPLACE RELATIONS REFORM PROGRAMME(Changes you need to know about)

There are significant changes underway in relation tothird party processes, such as, the EAT, Labour Court,Rights Commissioners. New processes are also being

introduced thatincorporate a newMediation and ArbitrationService. (Learn how to accessthese and what isexpected of you when youdo so)

workshop

5Motion 8 -

Workplace Relations Reform Programme

(changes you need to know about)(Subsequently adopted by Biennial Delegate Conference)

We call on conference to endorse and support the newWorkplace Relations Commission and encourageemployers where we have members present to co-operate with the processes and procedures within it.Familiarity training with the new Workplace RelationsCommission, it’s structures and procedures for TEEUFull-time Officials, Staff, Shop Stewards and BranchOfficers is also required.

We also call on Conference to put forwardrepresentatives from the Union on the WorkplaceRelations Commissions board and consultative bodiesshould such vacancies become available.

Padraig DooleyDeputy Director, NERA

Kevin FoleyDirector of the Conciliation,Facilitation and Mediation

Division of the LRC

Anna PerryDeputy Director of the

Conciliation, Facilitation andMediation Division of the LRC

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Paul KennyPensions Ombudsman

n Are your Pension benefitsguaranteed or a mere promise thatneed not be fulfilled?

n have you already been told that yourpension scheme is too expensive?

n do you know where your money isbeing invested?

n can you exercise any control overthis?

Minister Noonan said that the Pensions Levy was atemporary measure when he introduced it in 2011

but the Levy has netted €675m for the exchequer thisyear alone; more than the original projected €500m peryear from water charges. The coalition raised the Levyfrom 0.6% to 0.75% for 2014. In most cases, as well aspaying the Levy, an average worker starting a pension atage 35 will be at least €1,000 per annum worse off onretirement.

The Levy exacerbates the poor performance of funds andhas reached a cumulative percentage of 2.55%. Manypension funds could not absorb the Levy and it is beingpassed on to the pensioners as a permanent diminutionin benefits.

The Levy was an iniquitous imposition and is particularlyso now when interest rates are at an all-time low and thePensions Authority is directing pension investmentpolicies towards sovereign bonds. This Levy and itsarbitrary introduction are a major disincentive to peopletaking up pensions, contrary to Government policy ofexpanding pensions’ coverage.

In Budget 2015, the Minister undertook to abolish theLevy next year but the Government could continue withthe pension levy because it has faced little popularopposition, in spite of its costing pension savers anaverage €2,500 each per year and €2.2bn being takenout of pension schemes over the last four years. Thecoalition has already reneged on a promise to abolish itin 2014.

It’s effectively a tax on savings. If it was coming out ofyour bank account, there would be a lot more uproarabout it. So, this time there must be widespread andsustained protests demanding its abolition, should it becontinued.

Pension protection is also in the news arising from theECJ case Waterford Crystal vs. the Minister for SocialProtection (2012). The Court found that the Irishgovernment had not adequately protected the worker’spension scheme but left the exact level of protection tobe decided by the Irish High Court. In the event, theworkers are to be congratulated, having achieved 100%of their entitlements through negotiation, to be funded by the taxpayer, though, unfortunately, some hadpredeceased the settlement.

This leaves other workers in a similar situation relying onThe Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2013 (No. 2),enacted since the ECJ Waterford ruling, which has set thelevel of obligation at 50% of pension benefit – just 1%above that already rejected by the ECJ in a British case.If the Waterford workers had proceeded to the High Court,it was clear that 49% would have been insufficient, as aBritish scheme offering this level of protection waspreviously rejected by the ECJ, while 90% would seemsufficient, as this level is offered by the current Britishscheme.

Now, it seems that workers in a similar situation must relyon the resolve and resources of themselves or their unionto proceed to the High Court in the hope that the Courtwill act on the ECJ ruling. The government may chooseto then head off a judgement having general applicationby settling with the workers in question as they did in theWaterford situation, though it has to be emphasised thatthis would most likely only apply in a case of doubleinsolvency – pension and company and that it is not clearwhether it would apply only to cases where the insolvencyoccurred prior to the enactment of the 2013 Act.

The Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2013(“2013 Act”) came into force on Christmas Day 2013. Itintroduces two new wind-up priority orders and expands

the type of benefit reductions which the Board may directunder section 50 of the Pensions Act 1990.

In a funded defined benefit scheme, if the funding of thescheme is not sufficient to satisfy the Funding Standard,the trustees may apply to the Pensions Authority for whatis referred to as a “Section 50 order”. Under such anorder, accrued benefits relating to members’ past service(excluding pensions currently in payment) can bereduced. Benefits will be distributed in the followingorder of priority:

1. Additional voluntary contributions (“AVCs”) andtransfers in of AVCs; and defined contribution (“DC”)benefits and transfers in of DC benefits.

2 Pensioner benefits (excluding post-retirementincreases), in accordance with the following limits: (a)if the annual pension is €12,000 or less, 100% of thepension; (b) if the annual pension is more than €12,000and less than €60,000, the greater of €12,000 and 90%of the pension; and (c) if the annual pension is €60,000or more, the greater of €54,000 and 80% of the pension.

3. 50% of active and deferred benefits, excluding post-retirement increases.

The other big hit has been Pension ‘reform’ through whichthe State Pension (transition) was abolished at the startof the year. Previously those with sufficient stamps wouldhave received this pension between their 65th and 66thbirthdays, subject to conditions.

The next phase in the roll-out of the government’s pensionpolicy will be to increase the eligibility age for the StatePension from 66 to 67, which will happen in 2021. In2028 the eligibility age will increase to 68.

There was no political debate; no public consultation andno cost benefit analysis of the measure. Nor was thereconsideration of the significant labour market issuesinvolved, nor to issues of fair play, while over the years,successive reports, have rehearsed spurious demographicand other arguments to attack the modest public pensionentitlement of workers.

Now, a fifty-nine year old private sector worker, whostarted work at sixteen and who has had circa 15% oftheir income paid in PRSI since then, will lose circa€24,000 (two years’ State pension). Such a person willnow get their pension at age 67 after fifty one years inwork (2021). In today’s terms, using the averageindustrial wage as a benchmark, circa €362,000 in PRSIcontributions was paid on this worker’s behalf duringhis/her career.

Making major pension changes in such an ad-hoc way isnot just a cruel injustice to individual workers; it is adenial of the right of legitimate expectation. Most definedbenefit schemes integrate benefits with the Statepension, whereby the rules may provide that a multipleof the single rate contributory State pension payable atage 65 is offset from salary to arrive at the pensionablesalary.

From this year, in such cases, the off-set would be zero(as no State pension is now payable at 65) and a largerscheme pension could become payable than that whichmight have been funded for. Most schemes could notafford to off-set this and so the pension for that yearwould be short by the amount of the transition pension.

One alternative might be to negotiate a fixed-termcontract for the period beyond retirement age as in arecent IBEC survey, 78% of employments had a normalretirement age of 65 - but only 7% intended to changetheir normal retirement age to 66. The union has alreadysuccessfully negotiated such contracts in a number ofemployments

fusion January 20158

PENSIONS

Frank Keoghan, General President TEEU

SOME PENSION ISSUES

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In a previous life I worked in a nationalnewspaper. By the way of things journaliststended to mix with journalists, printers withprinters and the fitters and electricianssocialised together.

Save for the Christmas party we seldommixed outside our immediate circle. For thenight workers that meant we did not reallymix with the predominately female clericalor advertising staff. The night desk, the caseroom and the workers were distinctly maledomains, with plenty of pints and laddishbanter between shifts in the necklace ofpubs around middle Abbey Street: the Oval,The Batchelor, Briodys, the Horse and Tramand the Sackville.

Now and again borders would be crossedand the sub editors, on a break from the firstedition, would be joined by a fitter or anelectrician drooping for a swift pint or morein those less health and safety consciousdays.

On one such occasion a colleague wasstunned to find me chatting with a craftworker who I knew separately from thesocial circles in which we, outside of work,both mixed. George not his real name, wasthe apparent personification of a macho,beer swilling, heterosexual.

Neither George nor I explained that weshared mutual friends from the Dublin gayscene but my colleague managed to join thedots back at the office.

He certainly had no doubt about my sexualorientation “but one of the lads?”

Even an enlightened, right on liberal likemy friend found it hard to accept thatGeorge was gay, simply because he did notlive up to the stereotype. Are there reallygay electricians? Fitters? Printers?Carpenters? He’d obviously never seen theVillage People doing the YMCA!

I recall that episode because in the current,largely open society in which we live it istoo easy to forget that only two decades agomany felt it necessary to conceal their fullidentity.

For my part I never “came out” of thecloset, I emerged at my own pace withoutdrama and without feeling the need toexplain myself. I was lucky to findacceptance but also to be able to withstandthe casual homophobia which was part andparcel of everyday life. Others were not solucky and endured physical and mentaltorture.

I never wanted to be identified by mysexual orientation - I still don’t see it as abig issue but in the face of discrimination itbehoves those of us who can take a stand todo so.

As we prepare for the referendum on civilmarriage equality the Irish trade unionmovement can be proud of the role weplayed in bringing about profound changein Irish society towards LGBT men andwomen.

At the launch of the SIPTU LGBTQnetwork in Liberty Hall that role wasemphasised with the viewing of the film“Did they notice us at all”, a documentaryresearched with characteristic attention todetail by Edmund Lynch.

The work of pioneering trade unionists suchas Kieran Rose and the late Chris Robsonserves as a reminder of the role ofindividual unions, of the Dublin Council ofTrade Unions and, more recently, the ICTU.GLEN, arguably the most effective LGBTcampaigning group, has it’s origins in thetrade union movement.

I was enormously proud to propose theCongress motion supporting the concept ofcivil partnership on behalf of the ExecutiveCouncil and in 2014 am proud to havehelped secure Executive Council supportfor the Yes campaign in the referendum.

The introduction of civil partnership hasbeen a milestone on the road to full equalityfor gay and lesbian men and women. Yes, ithas been about rights and responsibilities,about legal protections and entitlements butin a sense the importance of civilpartnership lies in the way in which it hasbrought about a deeper appreciation of thevalue and meaning of same sexrelationships.

Throughout the country barriers werebroken down as couples were joined bysometimes sceptical families, friends andneighbours at civil partnership ceremonies,which inevitably proved to be wonderfulcommunity occasions.

The sun continued to rise in the morningand set in the evening, the sky miraculouslydid not fall, despite the dire predictions ofthose who set their face against any form oflegal recognition of same sex unions.

For trade union members the civil marriagereferendum presents a challenge and anopportunity. The opinion polls suggest amassive percentage in favour of marriageequality but that may well lead tocomplacency.

Elections are won by those who go out andvote, not simply by those who respond torandom opinion pollsters.

The No campaign will be committed, wellresourced and will attempt to portray thereferendum as being about redefining thevery concept of marriage and the family.

Those who seek a Yes vote are not anti-family and are not attacking the institutionof marriage. It is precisely because of thevalue placed on marriage by our society thatmany men and women in same sexrelationships want the opportunity tocommit themselves publicly to each otheron an equal basis to their brothers, sisters,neighbours and friends.

Those who currently enjoy that right are notbeing asked to surrender anything. Somegays and lesbians will opt not to getmarried, just as many heterosexuals preferthe option once endearingly called “livingin sin”. The referendum is about choice.

The campaign will not be won by partypolitical campaigns or even by dint of hardworking civic society groups and tradeunions but by the active engagement ofcitizens. Many unions, my own included, donot take part in direct political campaignsbut as individual members we can join withthe broad coalition currently being co-ordinated by GLEN, ICTU and MarriageEquality.

Union members, their families and theirneighbours form a great network which canhelp shape history. What better way tobegin the celebration of the 1916 centenarythan by writing a new chapter in Irishhistory.

Seamus Dooley is a board member ofGLEN, the gay and lesbian equalitynetwork.

Saying to a new chapter in Irish historyYES

Seamus Dooley, NUJ Irish Secretary

fusion January 201510

REFERENDUM

At least 40,000 Irish people werekilled during the First World War.Thousands more were wounded, inmany cases bearing the scars forlife. Over 200,000 men and womentook an active part in a conflictwhich touched every town andvillage in Ireland. It is right thatthose who suffered and diedbecause of the war should beremembered. But we should notglorify their sacrifice. The FirstWorld War was fought by imperialpowers, for imperial interests.‘Plucky little Belgium’ invaded byGermany in 1914, was one of themost brutal colonial powers inAfrica. The Russian Empire, one ofthe major Allied powers, was a farmore dictatorial regime than that ofImperial Germany. Hundreds ofthousands of colonial subjects ofthe various empires fought in thewar, but there was never anyquestion of them being consultedas to their opinions on the matter.Ireland went to war as part of theUnited Kingdom, because ofdecisions made in London. Therewas no Irish parliament torubberstamp ‘our’ participation.The leaders of both Irish unionismand nationalism made conflictingpromises to their supporters inorder to convince them to supportthe war. The Ulster Volunteer Forceand the Irish Volunteers, on thebrink of fighting each other in thesummer of 1914, were nowpromised to the war effort by theirleaders. Edward Carson hoped thatUVF participation would guaranteeunionists escaped Home Rule,while John Redmond gambled that a display of Irish nationalistloyalty would guarantee itsimplementation. Thousands of Irish men paid for these politicalcalculations with their lives.

When war began the first to becalled up were reservists (ex-soldiers). These included over1,000 members of the IrishTransport and General WorkersUnion. As Jim Larkin’s IrishWorker lamented in August 1914‘some of our best comrades areleaving the North Wall to fight forthe glory of England.’ Many ofthese men had been leftunemployed following the DublinLock-out. Another thousandTransport Union men were inBritish uniform by 1915 with onebattalion of the Royal DublinFusiliers even nicknamed ‘theLarkinites’. At the beginning of thewar recruits to the British Army

came from a range of socialbackgrounds. But by 1915 the British War Office wascomplaining that ‘recruiting (inIreland) is slow and almost entirelyconfined to the towns’. Even inwartime for working-class men thearmy meant a pay rise, a chance tolearn a trade and a separationallowance for wives and families.

And class mattered. Britishenlistment officers complained that‘a much larger number of recruitscould be obtained from the(farming and commercial classes inIreland) if it were not for theirreluctance to enter upon theirtraining with recruits from thelabouring classes. This classprejudice is probably much morepronounced in Ireland thanelsewhere in the United Kingdom’.One Irish officer explained that the‘ranks’ was ‘not a very pleasantplace for men of education andrefinement to be huddled togetherwith men who had probably notwashed for a couple of months. Hecame to the conclusion that therewas a large number of men who didnot join because they did not careto be mixed up with the cornerboys’. Not much evidence ofshared sacrifice there.

Another factor in the decline inrecruitment in Ireland were thelosses suffered at Gallipoli andelsewhere during 1915. Manypeople became more receptive tothe arguments of those who haddenounced involvement in theconflict. Both James Connolly andJim Larkin had opposed the warfrom the beginning. In August 1914the Irish Trade Union Congress andLabour Party had warned that ‘theworking-class will, as usual, supplythe victims that the crowned headsmay stalk in all their panoply ofstate…Irish women, it is you whowill suffer most by this foreign war.It is the sons you reared at yourbosom that will be sent to bemangled by shot and torn by shell;it is your fathers, husbands andbrothers whose corpses will pavethe way to glory for an Empire thatdespises you; it is you and yourchildren who will starve at home ifthe produce of Irish soil is sent outof this country’.

James Connolly was deeplydisappointed at the failure of theEuropean labour movement toeffectively counter the war. He hadhoped that ‘rather than slaughtereach other for the benefit of kings

and financiers’ the workers ofEurope would rise up against theirrulers. When this did not happenConnolly argued that Ireland could‘yet set the torch to a Europeanconflagration that will not burn outuntil the last throne and the lastcapitalist bond and debenture willbe shriveled on the funeral pyre ofthe last war lord’. In October 1914he chaired the first public rally ofthe Irish Neutrality League, analliance of socialists, tradeunionists, republicans and pacifists.Throughout 1915 the INLorganized dozens of protestmeetings and distributed anti-warliterature, despite strict censorshipand harassment from theauthorities. Anti-war feeling wasgrowing before the Easter Rising.But in its aftermath masses of Irishpeople rejected any participation inthe war. Thus when the BritishGovernment threatenedconscription in 1918 they metfurious resistance.

This resistance was led by the tradeunions. On 20 April 1918 1,500union delegates met in Dublin andbacked a call for a general strike.The strike, on 23 April, involved

skilled and unskilled workers, menand women, and members of Irishand British-based unions. Itparalyzed most of the economy.Hundreds of thousands signed ananti-conscription pledge. Theunions had also drawn up plans forboycotts, passive resistance andindustrial espionage if conscriptionwas introduced. The Irish Timessuggested that ‘it was the voice ofLabour, not the voice of religion orpolitics, which yesterday stoppedthe wheels of industry…We thinkthat April 23rd will be chieflyremembered, not as the day whenNationalist Ireland proclaimed herspiritual and moral isolation, but asthe day when Labour found itself’.This is one aspect of the war weshould surely celebrate. Ifconscription had not been stoppedthen thousands more Irishmenwould have died at the front. Irishtrade unions had warned of whatwar would mean in 1914 and fouryears later played a major role inpreventing more Irish people beingvictims of it. 100 years on that issomething to be proud of.

Brian Hanley, Historian

January 2015 fusion 11

ANTI-WAR

IRELAND AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR

001 Dublin Port Company 3/3/09 7:58 PM Page 1

In the autumn of 1919 a ‘Secret ServiceUnit’ was set up by Michael Collins withthe aim of securing key positions in theIrish trade union movement for committedseparatists. Its other objective was to‘smash up’ British rivals. IRA and IRBmembers in Dublin were specificallyassigned to this objective.

Some members of the group subsequentlysubmitted virtually identical statementswith their applications to the Free Stategovernment for pensions as IRA veterans.Here is a typical example from JosephToomey, the District Delegate of the Britishbased Amalgamated Society of Engineers(ASE), the largest British craft union:

‘I was a member of an Intelligence, orSecret Service Unit under the controlof the Chief Intelligence Officer, thelate Michael Collins. This Dublin Unitwas under the direction of MartinConlon. What was called the LabourBoard was formed under this Unit;and about the Autumn of 1919, I wasdetailed for special duty on thisLabour Board by orders of the ArmyCouncil.

‘Our duty was to use our influence inour various Trade Unions, and in theLabour Movement generally on behalfof the Republic; to get hold of men inimportant key positions, such asPower Stations, Railways, andTransport Dockworkers, etc; and mostimportant of all, to undermine theAmalgamated and Cross ChannelUnions, and where possible toorganise a breakaway from theseUnions, and establish purely IrishUnions instead; manned, andcontrolled by men with Republicanand National tendencies, in otherwords we were Republican Agentswithin the Trade Union movement.This was regarded as very importantwork both by the Army Council andthe Dáil at the time.

‘We were in direct communicationwith Michael Collins, both as Ministerof Finance, and Chief IntelligenceOfficer of the Army, and on differentoccasions were supplied withfinancial assistance to carry on thework. As members of the IRA ourwork was directed on those lines, andunder orders the same as ordinarymembers though more rigidly

controlled. We worked underactive service conditions, andour Company Officers wereinstructed to excuse us fromordinary parades, while stillretaining us on the Roll of theCompany, and were thus liablefor mobilisation at any time.’

Martin Conlon, the man put incharge of this unit, was a DublinSanitary Officer and member of theMunicipal Employees Trade Union,a forerunner of IMPACT. He wasalso on the IRB Supreme Council,as was his deputy, Luke Kennedy,an electrician.

The unit was given the cover nameof ‘Labour Board’ and established at anIRB meeting chaired by Collins’ financialconfidante Joe McGrath TD. BesidesConlon, who was appointed as Chairman,another IRB man and senior Volunteerofficer, Patrick McGurk was appointedSecretary. The Board quickly recruited aprovisional committee from craft unionactivists in the Irish Volunteers, Sinn Féinand Irish Citizen Army to establish the newunion.

Official negotiations between this widercommittee and Dáil Éireann took placewith Countess Markievicz as Minister for Labour and the Secretary of herdepartment, Diarmaid Ó hEigeartaigh,another IRB man.

On Sunday, 9th May 1920 these effortsbore fruit when a packed meeting of craftworkers was held in The Abbey Theatre,Dublin, to establish the Irish Engineering,Shipbuilding and Foundry Workers TradeUnion (IES&FTU). It recruited thearistocracy of labour and by the end of theyear had 4,500 members. The oncedominant, British based ASE had shrunk to1,762 members in what would become theIrish Free State. As Kennedy put it bluntlyin his Pensions Application, ‘We smashedup most of the English Trades Unions inIreland at that time’. Things were differentnorth of the Border. The IES&FTU made noinroads in Northern Ireland.

One of the mysteries of the IESFTU in itsearly days was how it was funded. Thedeeds on the premises occupied by theSED at 10 Lower Abbey Street wereprovided as collateral for a mortgage on theIESFTU’s new offices at 6 Gardiner Row(where its successor the TEEU stillresides). By coincidence, another tenant inAbbey Street was George Moreland CabinetMakers, a front for Michael Collins’‘Squad’. Once Collins died at Béal na

mBlath in August 1922 the only personwho might have shed light on the subjectwas Joe McGrath but he never divulgeddetails of Collins’ myriad financialtransactions. His role in the finances of therepublic are worthy of closer attention.Dismissed by the accountancy firm of CraigGardner for participating in the EasterRising he was recruited as Finance Officerby the Irish Transport and General WorkersUnion, an ideal position for launderingother funds. By 1923 he was the newState’s Minister of Industry and Commerce,as well as one of its leading businessmen.

In his Pension Application Kennedy statesthat the ITGWU ‘was not very favourableto us at all. As matter of fact from thestart of our Union they accused us ofbeing a political union and do so still’.The record suggests otherwise with theITGWU playing a leading role in havingthe IES&FTU accepted into the IrishTrade Union Congress and Labour Partyand working closely with it in theengineering strike of 1921.

In fact the most striking feature of theIES&FTU was its lack of politics beyond asimple desire to ‘smash up’ British rivals.It soon fell prey to the splits anddemarcation disputes that plagued craftunions at the time. But its birth isindicative of Collins’ extraordinary abilityto control and manipulate any group hesaw as either a threat or a potential assetto his objectives.

Further Reading:Martin Conlon W24SP10720Luke Kennedy W24B860Joseph Toomey WMSP 34 REF 2175Eamon Devoy and Padraig Yeates, 6 GardinerRow Irish Craft Unions in a Time of RevolutionPadraig Yeates, ‘Craft workers during the IrishRevolution’, 1919-1922, Saothar 33Padraig Yeates, A City in Turmoil: Dublin 1919-1921, Chapter Five

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TEEU HISTORY

The ‘Secret Service Unit’ of Michael Collins Operation in Irish Craft Unions

On Sunday, May 9th, 1920, apublic meeting was held in the

Abbey Theatre, Dublin, for craftworkers interested in setting up anIrish based trade union. Fitters,turners, boiler makers, moulders‘and kindred workers’ packed thehall to hear the debate. It was a timeof great change and political turmoilin Ireland, and many of the meninvolved in launching the new unionwere heavily involved in the IrishVolunteers, Irish Citizen Army andSinn Féin.

Most craft unions in Ireland at thetime were British based and they hadlittle sympathy with, or under-standing of the problems facing Irishmembers. They were reluctant tosupport what they regarded as‘political’ action, such as the generalstrike against conscription. Therewas also resentment among Irishcraft workers at the ease with whichunion cards were being issued inEngland because of the ‘dilution’ ofmany crafts between 1914 and 1918,when semi-skilled and unskilledworkers were employed in engin-eering to meet the demands of a wareconomy.

Countess Markievicz, the firstwoman to be elected to the BritishHouse of Commons, had becomeMinister for Labour in the new DáilÉireann government that haddeclared an independent IrishRepublic in 1919. She had beencalling for a consolidated Irish craftunion since her release from prison in 1917 for her part in the Easter Rising. Now she workedwith members of British basedunions such as Jack Redmond, who was District Secretary of theAmalgamated Society of Engineersand Joseph Toomey, the DistrictDelegate of the ASE, to create thenew union, which was called theIrish Engineering, Shipbuilding andFoundry Trades Union (IES&FTU).

Although initially based in theengineering trades, the IESFTU helddiscussions with Irish basedmembers of the Electrical TradeUnion and most of them joined inJune 1920. The IES&FTU alsoaccepted plumbers, blacksmiths andother trades. It developed a goodworking relationship with the IrishTransport and General WorkersUnion (now SIPTU), but fell prey todemarcation disputes among its ownmembers, always the curse of craftunions. In 1921 a row between theelectricians’ and the plumbers’sections about who should carry out

cable jointing took six months toresolve.

At the Inchicore works of the GreatSouth Western Railway, where theunion had its largest singleconcentration of members, a rowerupted when the iron moulders’section objected to being rep-resented by a brass moulder. Theirdelegate said they ‘were determinedto see that the moulders actedaccording to rule’. His memberswere particularly concerned because‘for over 20 years the [iron]moulders had been scab proof andwere probably the only sectionwhich had proper control over theirapprentices’. Ironically in manyworkplaces, including Inchicore,relations between the warringsections had been better when they were represented by separateunions.

In August 1921 the IES&FTUchanged its name to the IrishEngineering and Industrial Union(IEIU) and, despite difficultieselsewhere, it achieved a majorbreakthrough with the negotiation ofthe first working rule agreementwith the Dublin Master BuildingTrade Employer’s Association. Thisbecame the precursor of the NationalJoint Industrial Council (NJIC) forthe Electrical Contracting Industry,which negotiated minimum rates for the sector until the Irish Supreme Court declared RegisteredEmployment Agreements wereunconstitutional in May 2014.

Meanwhile the economic recessionin 1921 saw the IEIU involved in aseries of rearguard actions to defendpay and conditions that severelystrained unity of action betweendifferent trades. It was also dividedpolitically between members whosupported the pro-Treaty or anti-Treaty sections of Sinn Féin, as wellas those who wanted the union tosupport the Labour Party, which wasthe political wing of the Irish TradeUnion Congress (ITUC).

The IEIU executive did not allowcivil war politics to intrude on itsbusiness but in 1922 the GSWR menbroke away to form a new IrishGeneral Railway and EngineeringUnion, which later became theNational Engineering Union (NEU).In 1923 the majority of electricians,who continued to have demarcationdisputes with the plumbers, left toform the Electricians Trade Union(Ireland), to distinguish themselvesfrom the British ETU. However a

significant minority of electriciansremained in the IEIU.

These splits were perhaps inevitable.The idea of a dedicated Irish craftunion might never have emerged but for the national revolution and the work of enthusiasts such as Countess Markievicz, JackRedmond and Joseph Toomey. By1923 it must have appearedpremature but the most strikingaspect of the splits is not the usualwrangling over demarcation lines oraccusations of poaching, but the factthat members of these warringgroups did not return to the Britishunions. Having once tasted freedomthey did not intend to relinquish it.

The IEIU and ETU(I) continued towork together on the NJIC toestablish basic rates for craftworkers, as well as in the statepower company, the ESB. When theITUC split in 1945 it was theCongress of Irish Unions presidentMichael Mervyn, of the ETU (I),who chaired the working group thatdrafted reunification proposals,resulting in the creation of the IrishCongress of Trade Unions in 1959.

In the 1960s the IEIU and NEUbegan talks on a merger and adopteda joint rule book as early as 1966.However it was not until 1976 thatthey reunited in the NationalEngineering and Electrical TradeUnion (NEETU). Negotiations on amerger with the ETU (I) began in1988 and within two years led to the formation of the TechnicalEngineering and Electrical Union,showing that lessons had been learntfrom the earlier merger talks. TheTEEU is now the largest craft unionin Ireland. After seventy years thevision of the founding fathers hadfinally been achieved. If it was along learning process it finallyresolved the problems that hadbedevilled the crafts for generations.Today the TEEU is uniquelypositioned to lay the basis forinternational co-operation not alonewith the British unions from whichit had sprung, but similarorganisations across the globe.

Padraig Yeates,Labour Historian and Author

January 2015 fusion 13

TEEU HISTORY

TEEU going from local action to global action

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Stress is part of modern life and the twentyfirst century workplace. A certain amount ofstress in our lives is fine, even advantageous,making us more alert and aroused, morefocused on the task in hand and ready to riseto challenges. Too much stress has adevastating impact on many aspects of lifeincluding health and well-being.

The negative effects of stress are experiencedwhen the demands we are under outweigh theresources that we can draw upon. It’s notsimply the amount of stress that is theproblem; our own perceptions of our abilityto cope play a part. When we perceive thatthe pressure we are under is too much for usto cope with we feel stressed. Remember toothat what can be a source of stress to oneperson can be a challenge or even somethingenjoyable to another.

The modern workplace provides manysources of stress including work overload,frequent changes, role conflict or lack of roleclarity, relationship difficulties, lack oftraining, poor communication and unresolvedproblems.

Non-work related stressors cross the home-work interface and are experienced asstressful in the workplace. Someone stressedabout money or health worries will bestressed at work. In turn workplace stressorsare still felt when a person returns home.

Encountering stressors leads to the release ofstress hormones which enhance alertness andincrease blood pressure and heart rate - thefight or flight response. Long term orrepeated exposure to stressors impacts onmany areas of the body and brain leading tothe symptoms of stress.

Physical symptoms are broad and includefatigue, physical weakness, muscle spasm andbackache. Cardiovascular and breathingsymptoms may occur including acceleratedheart rate, high blood pressure and a tendencyfor rapid shallow breathing. Migraine andtension headaches and conditions such asirritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatiguesyndrome and night time teeth grinding areall linked to stress.

Behavioural changes include withdrawalfrom friends and family, emotional or

aggressive outbursts, loss of appetite andenergy and changes in sleep pattern withrestless or agitated sleep.

Emotional symptoms include emotionallyvolatility, depression, a sense of dread andincreased feelings of anxiety and irritability.

Concentration, problem solving and decisionmaking abilities can be negatively impacted.Under stress people become more accidentprone. In essence our limited ‘thinkingresources’ are commandeered to deal with thestressful situation leaving limited attention forday to day activities

Recognising the symptoms and sources ofyour own stress is important if you are tomanage it. This isn’t as easy as it sounds;sometimes the real sources of stress are notobvious. We often overlook how our ownthoughts, feelings or behaviours induce stress.Keeping a ‘stress diary’ and noting whatcauses stress, how you feel and act and whatyou do to help yourself feel better puts you ina good place to start developing healthycoping mechanisms.

Healthy Coping MechanismsHelp is available, don’t suffer alone, talk tosomeone.

Who you speak with depends on the source ofyour stress. Work related stressors may behelped by talking to your line manager, HRdepartment, team members or your union.MABS, the Money Advice and BudgetingService, are an excellent source of non-judgemental help with financial stressors.Family, friends, your GP and various help-lines are other excellent sources of support.

Change is an important coping mechanism,try and change the stressful situation you findyourself in but you can also try and changehow you respond to stress.

Two tactics for changing the situation are toavoid stressors which are unnecessary in yourlife and to alter those that are important andcentral.

Avoid spending time with acquaintances thatmake you feel stressed; only meet when youfeel you can cope with them. Avoid

becoming overwhelmed by all the things youhave to do, pare down your to-do list andeliminate unnecessary tasks.

Important and central sources of stress needto be attacked and altered. Seek help forfinancial stress to alter that situation. Alterstressful work situations by talking to yourmanager or colleagues, explain the problemand see what can be changed. Relationshipstressors can only be altered by voicing yourconcerns and talking with those involved.

If the stressful situation cannot be changedthen focus on trying to change how yourrespond to it. Changing your attitudes andexpectations can help you adapt to thesituation and regain your sense of control.Can you reframe the situation and see it froma different perspective? For instance if heavytraffic stresses you but cannot be avoidedthen turn it around and try to see it as ‘me’time a space to enjoy your favourite music.

Acceptance of what cannot be prevented orchanged is a difficult but important part ofcoping with stress. Acceptance, forgivenessand moving on are healthier than trying tocontrol the uncontrollable; it frees us ofnegative energy. Sometimes this can behelped by talking with a trusted friend orcounsellor.

Exercise reduces cortisol, one of the stresshormones, so regular exercise or even justgetting out walking on stressful days can behelpful. If you can do this in green leafyspaces all the better as research shows thatspending time in green leafy spaces also helpsreduce cortisol.

Build activities that help relaxation into eachday. Rhythmic exercise, yoga, deep breathingexercises, tai chi, meditation, listening tomusic and mindfulness are all excellent waysto relax.

Finally get a good night’s sleep; it is nature’srecovery time. Tips to improve sleeps include having a regular bedtime and nightroutine, keep your bedroom cool and get asmuch natural day light as possible andremove all light at night.

Isobel Butler, Organisational Psychologist

January 2015 fusion 15

HEALTH & SAFETY

WO R K P L AC E ST R E S SWO R K P L AC E ST R E S S

Collective Bargaining

If 2013 saw the celebration of the centenaryof the 1913 Lockout, it nevertheless markedyet another year for workers without thelegal underpinning of the right to collectivebargaining - the issue at the core of theLockout. Speaker after speaker at the lastICTU Biennial Conference, including TEEUGeneral Secretary, Eamon Devoy, demandedlong overdue action from the Coalition toimplement the pledge in the Programme forGovernment, included under pressure fromthe Trade Union movement, to finallyaddress this fundamental right.

Some light at the end of this century-longtunnel appeared in May when theGovernment announced plans for reform ofIndustrial Relations legislation, including theright of workers to engage in collectivebargaining. This initiative was given furtherimpetus by a complaint lodged with theInternational Labour Organisation (ILO) inGeneva by the Irish Congress of Trade Unionsand IMPACT.

In announcing their intention to move on thispart of the Government Programme, theDepartment of Jobs, Enterprise andInnovation (DJEI) said that proposals were:-

“to reform the current law onemployees’ right to engage in collectivebargaining (the Industrial Relations[Amendment] Act 2001), so as to ensurecompliance by the State with recentjudgements of the European Court ofHuman Rights”

Among the key questions to be addressedare:-

n Definition of Collective Bargaining (byTrade Union or “Excepted Body”)

n Procedure for Trade Unions (only) to bringa complaint to the Labour Court wherethe employer refuses to engage incollective bargaining

n Ensuring that internal/in-house “exceptedbodies” are genuinely independent andfree from employer influence

n New legal procedure of “interim relief” forworkers dismissed for pursuing theirrights under the proposed legislation.

n Similarly, enhanced protection for workerswho are otherwise victimised for invokingtheir rights in this area

n Prohibition of inducements or “bribes” byemployers to relinquish trade unionrepresentation

n Policies and Principles to be followed bythe Labour Court in dealing withcomplaints.

However, it’s early days yet and theGovernment is understood to be in a roundof consultations on the matter. As always, thedevil will be in the detail as proposals maketheir way through the legislative process.

Workplace Relations Bill 2014

Another piece of legislation making its waythrough the system, a bit further up the line,is the Workplace Relations Bill 2014.

Where proposals by the Coalition to reformthe Industrial Relation (Amendment) Act2001 concerns the fundamental right tocollective bargaining, this Bill deals with themachinery through which disputes andcomplaints in general are referred byworkers.

There are currently five bodies which dealwith workplace disputes and complaints,under both Industrial Relations (e.g.collective claims and disputes) and rightsunder Employment Law (e.g. UnfairDismissals Act ): - Labour RelationsCommission, Rights Commissioner, LabourCourt, Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT)and the Equality Tribunal. Some of these alsohear appeals - for example the EAT hearsappeals from the Rights Commissioner on arange of rights under employment law.

It is proposed under the 2014 Bill to replacethese five bodies (and also the NationalEmployment Rights Authority – NERA) withjust two: - a new Workplace RelationsCommission (WRC) and a reconfiguredLabour Court.

The job of the WRC is proposed to be to offerearly intervention/mediation on complaintsabout (legal) employment rights in the firstinstance, and failing that, adjudication byAdjudication Officers, who will includepresent Rights Commissioners for thebalance of their term of office.

The Labour Court is proposed to beexpanded from the current three to four“divisions” (grouping of chair/deputy chairplus employer and employeesrepresentatives who hear cases) and they actas an appeal court from the decisions of theAdjudication officers.

However, Industrial Relations disputes will bedealt as currently with the existing IndustrialRelations Officers (IRO’s) transferring acrossto carry out conciliation and the LabourCourt hearing and issuing Recommendationson IR disputes.

Other changes proposed include newenforcement and compliance procedures,uniform time limits (6 months) within which

complaints and disputes must be referredand a new system of appointments to theWRC and the Labour Court. However someother issues such as representation remain tobe clarified.

At the time of writing, the Bill is at the reportstage in the Dáil and is expected to becompleted by early 2015 withimplementation shortly thereafter.

While it has been stressed that there will beno change at all in worker rights underexisting employment laws, it remains to beseen how effectively the proposed new lawwill operate in practice to deal with workers’complaints and disputes in seeking tovindicate those rights.

“Whistleblowing”

One important law which did make it throughin 2014 is The Protected Disclosures Act 2014which has been acknowledged by theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation &Development (OECD) as the strongest“whistleblowing” legislation in Europe.

It is arguable that had such legislation beenin force earlier it might have assisted indeterring some of the instances of corporatemisconduct and their disastrousconsequences for our society with which weare all too familiar. Indeed some years ago atthe height of the “boom”, ICTUrepresentatives argued for its introductioninto Company law in particular, as well as forgreater duties on company directors tocomply with the law, but unfortunately theycould get little or no support at the time.

Now, following sustained lobbying by theICTU and others such as TransparencyIreland, the Act in place affords protectionfrom day one for all workers (includingcontractors, agency and work experience)who are threatened with, or actually sufferdetriment by their employer for “blowing thewhistle” on wrong-doing.

The type of wrongdoing covered under theAct includes such activity as criminaloffences, failure to comply with the law,threats to Health & Safety, misuse of publicfunds, public mismanagement,environmental damage and miscarriages ofjustice.

Key to attracting the protections of“whistleblowing” law is that the workerconcerned must have a reasonable beliefthat the allegations they are making are trueand must go through the procedure laiddown. This means that the worker mustconvey their concern to the employer(internal disclosure), legal or trade union

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LABOUR LAW

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN LABOUR LAW

adviser, a Government Minister or otherprescribed person/body.

There must also be a reasonable belief onthe part of the worker that they will bevictimised or penalised, as well as one thatthe employer would conceal or destroyevidence, or because they had taken noaction on a complaint about the matter inquestion.

If these basic criteria for a “protecteddisclosure” are met then, the employercannot penalise or threaten to penalise theworker. If the employer does proceed topenalisation in threat or actuality, then theworker can make a complaint to the RightsCommissioner, the Labour Court, or, ifdismissed, can apply to the Circuit Courtwithin 21 days of the sacking, for aninjunction seeking re-instatement or re-engagement in accordance with the terms ofthe Act.

This form of “interim relief” is an entirelynew protection and one which was arguedfor by the trade union movement.

Finally, in event of a claim of unfair dismissal

arising from a protected disclosure under theprovisions of the new legislation, a workercan bring a claim under the Unfair DismissalsAct. In those particular circumstances thereis provision that the normal “cap” oncompensation is lifted from two years pay toa maximum of five.

In summary, a law long in gestation buthopefully powerful in protection for worker“whistleblowers” covered by its provisions.

Transfer of Undertakings

Finally, among the raft of otherdevelopments and decisions during the yearwas one interesting “TUPE” case.

Stobart drivers, members of SIPTU andemployed at Tesco’s Ballymun Depotsucceeded in overturning a RightsCommissioners’ decision against them underTransfer of Undertakings law in a casedescribed by the specialist IndustrialRelations News as “Significant”. In ruling infavour of their appeal, the Employment

Appeals Tribunal (EAT) took the opportunityto summarise the law, citing the case as oneencapsulating “all the elements” concerningthe transfer of contracts. They noted, “interalia,” that there did not have to be any directlink between the first contract holder(Keelings) and the second (Stobart), for atransfer to take place. They also noted that,despite the fact that the assets, i.e. depot,facilities, trucks were actually owned byTesco, both Keelings and, following thetransfer, Stobart, used those assets in thecourse of the contract and even in suchcircumstances “it is settled law that thetransfer of undertakings directive wouldapply”. Accordingly they ordered Stobart tohonour the drivers’ collective agreement andto pay compensation for any losses incurredby the failure to adhere to that agreement.

This decision of the EAT is regarded as a fairlycomprehensive survey of the Transfer ofUndertakings Regulations in the area oftransfer of contracts from one operator toanother.(EAT Decision reference – TU29/2011 to TU46/2011)

Michael Halpenny, BL

January 2015 fusion 17

LABOUR LAW

Long standing members of the Limerick No 1 Branch CommitteeBro. John McDermot and Bro. Michael McNamara after receiving their scrolls from Bro. Frank Keoghan General President on behalf of the

National Executive Council to honour their exceptional contribution to the Union and its members over many years.

Members of the WicklowBranch (sub-branch of DublinNo1 Branch) receiving theirscrolls of honour forexceptional contribution tothe Union and its membersover many Years

L to R: Noel Masterson, Kevin Doyle Tony Linton, Frank Corr and Willie Walker.

fusion January 201518

REGIONAL REPORTS

REGIONAL REPORTSAchievementsDuring 2014 therewere considerableachievements in Region 6,including increases of between three and seven percent over three to two years at companies such asAbbotts in Sligo and Medisize in Donegal.

We have also secured new staffing levels and therecruitment of apprentices at employments suchas Thermo King, Galway and the maintenancedepartment of Mayo General Hospital.

Nevertheless, the past year has also presented veryreal challenges on a daily basis. For example, Bordna Mona management created a ‘lock-out’situation in response to our refusal to accept non-negotiated changes to our members’ terms and

conditions ofemployment and

work practices. Areturn to work was

negotiated with the assistance of the LabourRelations Commission and it is hoped to resolvethe outstanding issues through the good offices ofthe LRC in the coming weeks.

Recruitment and OrganisationThe TEEU has joined the JUMF (Joint UnionManagement Forum) for SAOLTA in the West andNorthwest. As part of this Forum the TEEU inRegion Six is currently setting up an internal subgroup to look at the possibility of establishingApprenticeship programmes within all thehospitals which are party to this group.

PlansThe Region has recently been given Nationalresponsibility for the Windfarm Industry. Goingforward our main goal is to organise this sector soas to eradicate the huge discrepancies in theTerms and Conditions of employment, both withinand between different companies. A long-termgoal is the establishment of a RegisteredEmployment Order for the industry oncethe promised legislation is finalised.

Promoting apprenticeships in allsectors where we are organised toaddress skill shortages thatthreaten to undermineeconomic growth.

REGION 6 DARREN ERANGEY

AchievementsThe year 2014 hasseen a welcome increase inthe number of Mechanical and Electrical contractingmembers returning to work and reactivating theirmembership in Region 5. In Limerick city two majorconstruction projects are underway at the Regeneron andUniversity of Limerick sites where we have organised.

The union represented members in Murphy Internationalworking on the Rural Aughinish Site in Co Limerick andsuccessfully secured the correct MECA rates.

Pay and pension restructuring talks have successfullyconcluded with a number of manufacturing companies inthe Mid-West and there are ongoing discussions withothers. The average pay increase is 2% for twelvemonths, with most agreements extending over two orthree years.

Recruitment and OrganisationThe union has seen a growth in the use of agencyworkers and self-employment contracts. The TEEU foundthat Hays Recruitment, which was engaged by Kirbys onthe Analog Limerick site, was failing to provideappropriate rates and pension entitlements for workers.Following a number of meetings these issues wereresolved.

The problem of bogus self-employment has also been

addressed. Manymembers take these

contracts because they have noalternative. Companies use this employmentpractice in the full knowledge that they aretransferring responsibility for PAYE/PRSI,Health and Safety and Insurance to ourmembers, who are no longer covered by theConstruction Workers Pension Schemeor enjoy the protection ofEmployment Legislation. We have evencome across these bad employmentpractices on Department of Education andHSE construction projects funded by the taxpayer. We must remain vigilant and support members preparedto challenge this employment practice, which most ofthem want replaced by regular employment contracts.

PlansThe key challenges for the Region are improvingunion density and membership retention. TheRegion will be undertaking a card check inthe coming weeks, as well as amapping exercise in conjunctionwith Region 3 in Co Tipperary, toidentify new recruitment andorganising opportunities in theprocess.

REGION 5 SEAN HEADING

AchievementsIncreases have beensecured for members inthe Region across the wholespectrum of the economy, except for Constructionand the Public Sector. The duration of payagreements range from 12 months to 37 months,with two years being the most common. In the foodsector increases have ranged from 2% over 12months to 5% over 27 months with companiessuch as Danone, Pepsico Ireland, BASF andGlaxosmithkline. Among indigenous firms in theRefrigeration and Services sector 2% has been thenorm to date.

Recruitment and OrganisingA major infilling campaign has begun in allcompanies where we have membership and hasresulted in significant increases to our numbers.Another important success has been therecruitment of members in the Wind EnergySector, the most recent being Enercon. Wesucceeded in negotiating a Single UnionRecognition and Negotiation Agreement with

Pepsico IrlCork and Glanbia in

Waterford at their new manufacturing plants.

PensionsWe continue to defend DB Pension Schemes andnegotiate top end DC Schemes. In a Pension restructuring deal with Novartis, DBwith less than 10 years to retirement will retaintheir benefits while those with more service willmove to a DC Scheme for future service. Thecompany has committed to making additionalcontributions to fund the new ‘risk reserve’requirements of the Pension Authority.

Upcoming Challenges2015 will be a challenging year for theConstruction/Contracting sector as long promisedlegislation to replace the REA system has yet to bepassed. When elected Chairman of theConstruction Industry Committee of Congress(ICTU) last month, Regional Secretary Pat

Guilfoyle said he would make enactment of thelegislation a priority, while working with otherunions to take full advantage of the upturn inemployment to recruit and strengthen ourorganisation in this sector. A new survey of pay andconditions is planned for the Pharma Chem sectorby the Consultative Committee.

The TEEU moved to a new, purpose built office inthe IMPACT Building on Father Mathew Quay,Cork. Records spanning over six decades weredeposited in the City Archives to ensure theunion’s contribution to the social and industrialfabric of Cork and Kerry are not lost to futuregenerations.

REGION 4 PAT GUILFOYLE

January 2015 fusion 19

REGIONAL REPORTS

Bristol Myer Squibb Cruiserath in County Dublin. While theannouncement last year that the existing Cruiserath facility is toclose by the end of 2015 the TEEU is now in a position torepresent the workforce and defend members’ interests in thechallenging environment ahead.

PensionsThe changes to the Aer Lingus pension scheme were agreed lastmonth and have come into effect from January 1st. Meanwhilepension negotiations are continuing at the Dublin AirportAuthority and are expected to conclude early in 2015.

Future PlansWhile Region 1 has a healthy and active membership, the taskof recruiting and organising new members remains a prioritythat is continually impressed on shop stewards and other unionactivists. Our aim is to ensure we are well prepared to exploit allopportunities for improvements in pay, terms of employmentand working conditions for members with every profitableemployer as the economic recovery continues. Building uniondensity and the stronger bargaining position that comes with itis the key ingredient in our industrial strategy.

REGION 1. IAN McDONNELL

AchievementsPay increases of up to 5.5% have been negotiated at workplaces overrecent months with the norm equating to 2% per annum. Companieswhere increases have been negotiated include Premier Periclase inDrogheda, Abbott in Sligo, Mondelez in Dublin and Wellman in Meath.

New claims are being lodged as agreements run out with targets of5% per annum in companies as old agreements run out.

These claims will include some companies whereincreases were secured as recently as lastyear. One of the largest has been at theDublin Airport Authority for 6%. This hasbeen made in conjunction with SIPTU andwill be heard at the Labour Court inFebruary.

Recruitment and OrganisingThe Region has organised members atnew workplaces where the TEEU did

not have a presence before. Theseinclude the maintenance sectionof the Westin Hotel Dublin and

REGION 2. ARTHUR HALL

Achievements2014 saw the first signs of economic recovery inthe Region and a reactivation of Recruitment and Organisation,leading to increased membership.

Two large construction projects opened at the Glanbia facility, Belview, andthe SSE Power plant, Great Island, New Ross. Following complaints frommembers employed by Archandas on the Great Island Site that they werepaid €4.63 below the national mechanical craft rates, the TEEUintervened and secured the full rate with arrears for over 100 members.In addition the TEEU ‘fight back’ campaign against non-compliantcontractors saw two pay cuts reversed through the threat of industrialaction.

In the pharma and health sectors the Region secured pay increases worthtwo per cent per annum and significant increases in staffing rates atcompanies such as MSD Clonmel, Glanbia and Danone.

Diageo closed both its Waterford and Kilkenny breweries in 2014 but theTEEU took Dalkia, the maintenance provider, to the Labour Court andsecured a doubling of the redundancy package and the application of

TUPE to two members, doubling their servicecalculation.

Unfortunately Honeywell Turbo Technologies announced over 70compulsory redundancies last year but the TEEU secured agreement thatthese would fall mainly on management/non-union employees.

The TEEU is currently engaged in pay negotiations with HoneywellAerospace, Medite, Rexam Beverage Can Ltd and HTT. Talks at the latter are taking place under the auspices of the LRC.

The TEEU has enjoyed a high success rate for members with the RightsCommissioners, Employment Appeals Tribunal and Labour Court.

PlansA major project this year is to build on successes in 2014, including a new agreement at SmartPly in Belview where, in conjunction withSIPTU, we secured a Labour Court award of 5% over 30 months atSmartPly and engagement at this site is in progress. The TEEU will also continue its ‘fight back’ campaign against non-compliantcontractors in the South East.

REGION 3. PADDY KAVANAGH

AchievementsPay increases have been negotiated for our members inIrish Distillers (at the Midleton and Dublin plants),Pfizers, Newbridge, MSD Rathdrum and Alstrom. Aftera three year battle, we secured the final phase of T16for our members in Henkel and negotiated a further6% three year productivity and performanceagreement.

At Bord Gáis Éireann all employees have received verysubstantial dividends after the sale of their ESOPshares. Although Bord Gáis Energy has beenprivatised this has had little impact on ourmembership levels as the vast majority of them workin Networks, where we continue to enjoy significantgrowth.

New members have also been recruited across theRegion. Firms concerned include Siemens Health Care.

Meanwhile, all new Vestas Wind Energy employees havejoined the TEEU. A rate of €28.60 per hour for Team

Leaders has been negotiated.

The Lift and Escalator Industry has stabilised withcompanies concentrating on service and modernisation.

There are signs that new installations are increasing. Despitethe loss of the Registered Employment Agreement, there havebeen no attempts to interfere with wages which are between10% and 22% above the NJIC rates.

In the Alarm Industry, the Private Security Authority iscurrently considering the application of a licensing system toAlarm Engineers and appropriate qualifications.

Recruitment and OrganisationDuring the coming months the union has plans in the Regionto recruit employees at Siemens Health Care who have yet tojoin the TEEU. The union will also be supporting members inthe fight to prevent Local Authorities, the HSE and theHospitals’ sectors from outsourcing work.

Future PlansThe Region will be seeking new rates at Vestas Wind Energyfor Supervisors, concluding pay negotiations at Diageo,RWEnpower, Avery Weightronix and Lagan Cement.

It will be concluding a new agreement and securing payincreases at the Bank of Ireland.

Also, it will be representing members being TUPE’d over fromMITIE to Sodexo.

The TEEU Women’s Forum, a networkopen to all TEEU women members, met atthe 2014 Biennial Conference in Kilkennyto discuss the important topic of‘Overcoming Barriers to Equality andCareer Development in the Workplace’. Theforum meeting was addressed by a numberof speakers who highlighted key issues ofrelevance to women today.

Orla O’Connor, Director of the NationalWomen’s Council, spoke about aresurgence of interest in equality forwomen and highlighted challenges andpriorities to be addressed in the fight forgender equality.

The disturbing findings of a recent EUsurvey that found one in five womenexperienced some form of sexual orphysical violence were outlined and it wasproposed that women in Trade Unions canhelp make this issue of gender basedviolence a mainstream priority to tackle inthe coming year.

The continued male dominance of thepolitical arena was highlighted anddelegates heard the National Women’sCouncil sees greater participation ofwomen in local and national politics asbeing an important step towards genderequality. The women’s forum itself providesan opportunity for greater involvement inunion decision making and influencing andone of the outcomes of the forum sessionwas the election of two women delegatesto the TEEU National Executive.

Political decisions past and present impacton the economy and the forum heardresearch findings which highlight howincome and gender inequality have beencentral to the impact of austerity whichhas had a disproportionate impact onwomen with children.

Other important issues addressed includethe ongoing need to secure reproductiverights for women; the lack of affordablequality childcare accessible to all familiesand the need for greater flexibility andwork, family and life balance. This issue ofwork-life balance was explored in greaterdepth by the final speaker who highlightedreasons why this should not simply be seenas a women’s issue.

Esther Lynch, ICTU Legal and SocialAffairs Officer, led a lively discussion onconflict in the workplace and the need todevelop guidelines for raising issuesinformally in the workplace. Delegateswere reminded that nearly every workplacepolicy states ‘you should raise the issueinformally in the first instance’, however

often raising issues ‘informally’ can giverise to a range of problems. Delegatesagreed and highlighted challenges andproblems they had experienced orwitnessed. It was agreed by all that ifpeople felt more comfortable andconfident about how to raise issues earlyand informally problems might be solvedsooner instead of escalating.

Guidelines would need to address threemain steps: n Preparing and planning for the

discussion including reading up on thetopic, speaking to the union and beingclear about what you want to say andachieve from the discussion.

n Secondly guidance on how to start theconversation in a constructive andinformal manner including the use ofappropriate phrases, a problem solvingapproach and the use of activelistening.

n Finally guidance on bringing theconversation to a close with an agreed,recorded outcome.

The forum strongly recommended thatguidance such as this should be developedand adopted by the TEEU.

Sharon McGuinness, Assistant CEO Healthand Safety Authority, explored genderissues in the Occupational SafetyStatistics. The industries with the highestlevel of fatalities employ less women whichobviously translates into a lower level ofwork place fatalities amongst womencompared to men. Whilst analysis of thestatistics on Occupational illness revealssimilar patterns for men and women insome areas they also highlight muchhigher rates of stress, depression andanxiety amongst women compared to men.Recent Canadian and Danish researchwhich has shown increased risk of breastcancer in nightshift workers was alsoalluded to.

Forum delegates felt central toempowering women in the workplace is to empower them in the TEEU both to join and become more involved. Theyrecommended a number of proactive steps in this regard, in particular ensuring issues of concern and relevanceto women’s feature on the agendas ofunion management meetings.

The HSA speaker highlighted that womenare more likely than men to developmental health illnesses related toworkplace stress, bullying, work pressureand the conflict of caring and workdemands. Delegates agreed that a strong,proactive stance must be taken inaddressing the impact of mental healthproblems resulting from work place issues.

Delegates concluded that greater writtenguidance in the form of simple ‘How todeal with………’ would lead to greaterempowerment of women members indealing with many issues. Often membersgive up because they are so unsure abouthow to start and clear, simple writtenguidance on why they need to gatherevidence and what that evidence should bewould empower them to pursue the issueand feel supported in doing so.

To find out more about the TEEU women’sforum or to get involved please contact:info@teeu.ie

fusion January 201520

WOMEN’S FORUM

TEEU Women’s Forum meets in Kilkenny

January 2015 fusion 21

BOOK REVIEW

Brian MacMahon, Robert Tressell, Dubliner: Author of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Kilmacud - Stillorgan Local History Society, Dublin 2014. Information and sales: tresselldublin@gmail.com

The year 2014 was the centenary year of many importantevents, not least it was the centenary of of the firstpublication of one of the most influential English books onsocialist thought in modern times, The Ragged TrouseredPhilanthropists. This book was Robert Tressell’s one and onlynovel, first published in a severely edited form in 1914.Since 1955 it has been produced in a format more in

The RaggedTrouseredPhilanthropists

keeping with the author’s original manuscript. Over theyears, such is its continuing popularity; it has been re-published not only in English but also in otherlanguages and it has never been out of print.

Robert Tressell was the pseudonym of Robert Noonan,house painter and sign-writer who was born in Dublin in1870, died in Liverpool in 1911 and buried in apauper’s grave. Robert Noonan worked in Hastings from1901 to 1910; it is one of five Cities / Towns in whichhe is known to have lived. Hastings in the south ofEngland is unique in that it is in the guise of“Mugsborough’’ that it was used as the town in hisnovel. Hastings as a community is very well aware ofthis aspect of the town’s history and has a very activeRobert Tressell Society.

Brian MacMahon’s book is very well researched and in10 concisely constructed chapters, it should maintainexisting interest and to perhaps create new interest inthe R.T.P. book and its author, placing an emphasis onhis birthplace. The utilisation of a skilled familyhistorian, Fiona Tipple was a very positive approach toassimilating sources in this sector relating to theNoonan-Croker-Zumbuhl family history and is typical ofthe researched based information contained in thisbook. It should be remembered that the R.T.P. coremessage is about condemnation of existing systems/injustice’s/inequality, etc. Brian quotes relevantpassages from the R.T.P. itself and from critiques andtributes that have been made over the years since thebooks first publication.

To conclude, this book is a very good and informativeread with new well-researched information, it serves toremind us that in some respects R.T.P. is as relevantnow as it was when first written.it should be noted thatprofits from the sale of this publication go to Barnardos.

John Gibbons

John Gibbons is a retired member of Dublin No.2 Branch,having worked in the Irish Lift and Escalator sector. A shopfloor union member and activist for most of his working life,currently he is a first year history student in UCD.

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fusion January 201522

NEW BENEFITS

1 Protect Your Job

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3 Ensure Safety, Health andWelfare at Work is notcompromised

4 Secure your full Legal Rights atWork as a minimum

5 Improve your Pay andConditions at Work

6 Have a voice in your workplace

7 Access our Education andTraining opportunities at workor if you’re unemployed

8 Access our ComprehensiveLegal Aid and Advice Scheme

9 By providing information andsupport through one of 6Regional Centres, 28 BranchesNationwide, Website andPublications

10 Negotiate professionally andsuccessfully with the assistanceof our team of Full TimeOfficials

10 GOODREASONS

TO JOIN THETEEU

As a member of the TEEU

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TEEU - New Membership Benefitsfrom the 1st October 2014

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Accidental Death €10,000

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loss of limb (24 / 7 cover) €4,000 (up to)

THESE BENEFITS APPLY TO ALL MEMBERS WHO AREMORE THAN 6 MONTHS IN MEMBERSHIP AND

LESS THAN 6 MONTHS IN ARREARS

The economic collapsevisited on this country bycasino capitalism fuelledby greedy speculatorssupported by anunregulated andirresponsible bankingsector imposed seven yearsof austerity on workingpeople. These austeremeasures included cuts inpublic spending affectingthe most vulnerable in oursociety and cuts in pay andterms and conditions forworkers across the publicand private sectors.

Our members have alsosuffered increases in directtaxation and indirecttaxation i.e. UniversalSocial Charge, Property Tax and proposed WaterCharges which furtherdecreases their take homepay, reducing disposableincome affecting theirability to meet mortgagerepayments, rents and education charges etc.It is now time to fight backand end this cycle ofausterity.

ESB workers have not hada pay increase since 2009and have had pay cuts inthat time.

Workers in Iarnrod Eireannhave not had a pay increasesince 2007 and havesuffered a pay reduction to be restored after twentyfive months.

An agreed pay pause, inESB, expired in March2014 after which the

unions lodged a claim onthe Company for a 3.5%increase in pay per anumnfor the next three years.

The Company is attemptingto link the pay claim toproposals it has regarding a“New Reward Model”. Themodel concerned allows forso called “market facing”terms and conditions withindividual market basedcontracts for all staff in duecourse.

The Company is quotingSection Six of the “CostBase Agreement” coveringbusiness integration tolegitimise its proposalshowever, the proposals areclearly outside the scope ascontained in Section Six ofthis Agreement.

The integration of ESBsubsidiary companies intothe ESB parent company,thereby creating one singleESB, will as a consequencerequire negotiations aroundcommon terms andconditions of employmentand this is allowed for inSection Six of the

agreement. However it isthe Unions’ positon thatsubsidiary companies’ staffbe assimilated into theparent company on termsand conditionscommensurate with core ESB staff in duecourse.

As far as the pay claim isconcerned it is a stand-alone claim standing on itsown merits, and must beaddressed as such.

The Unions will consider allavenues open to them toprogress the two issuesseparately, i.e. the payclaim and businessintegration, to a satisfactoryconclusion.

As already mentionedworkers in Iarnrod Eireannhave had their pay cut fortwenty five months andhave not had a pay increasesince 2007. It is thisUnion’s intention tovigorously pursue a payincrease for our membersin this Company when that period of time haselapsed.

ESB Worker DirectorElections

It is with great pleasure weannounce that Sean Kellywas re-elected to the ESBBoard.

Sean was this Union’scandidate in the recentelections and was electedon the first count, toppingthe poll. His next term ofoffice will commence inJanuary and we wish himwell in his efforts torepresent the interests ofESB workers.

January 2015 fusion 23

POWER & RAIL

NATIONAL POWER & RAIL

Jimmy NolanNational Organiser Power & Rail

TEEU – Guidelines for Members on the use of

GPS Vehicle Tracking/ Monitoring Devices and Systems

Technical, Engineeringand Electrical Union

TEEU HEAD OFFICE 6 Gardiner Row, Dublin 1Tel: 01 874 7047 Fax: 01 874 7048 Email: info@teeu.ie or Website: www.TEEU.ie membership@teeu.ie (membership issues)

For advice or assistance simply contact any of the following, quoting your membership number:

TEEU REGION 1 – Dublin / North East 6 Gardiner Row, Dublin 1Tel: 01 874 7047 Fax: 01 874 7048 Email: region1@teeu.ie

TEEU REGION 2 – Dublin / South East 6 Gardiner Row, Dublin 1Tel: 01 874 7047 Fax: 01 874 7048 Email: region2@teeu.ie

TEEU REGION 3 – South / East 83 Lower Yellow Road, WaterfordTel: 051 857 030 Fax: 051 857 036 Email: waterford@teeu.ie

TEEU REGION 4 – South / West The Old Firehouse, 23 Sullivan’s Quay, CorkTel: 021 431 9033 Fax: 021 431 9038 Email: cork@teeu.ie

TEEU REGION 5 – Mid. West 15 Anne Street, LimerickTel: 061 319 669 Fax: 061 412 434 Email: limerick@teeu.ie

TEEU REGION 6 – North / West Forster Court, GalwayTel: 091 533 606 Fax: 091 533 607 Email: galway@teeu.ie

TEEU ESB National Office 6 Gardiner Row, Dublin 1Tel: 01 874 7047 Fax: 01 874 7048 Email: esbmembers@teeu.ie

Or any of our 28 Branches Nationwide, located in:

Athlone Carlow Cork Drogheda Dublin DundalkGalway Kildare Kilkenny Kerry Limerick NorthwestPortlaoise Tipperary Waterford Wexford Wicklow ESB Branches

For Branch information, see our website www.TEEU.ieand select ‘Contact TEEU’.

TEEU – Organising Workers for a Better Future

A5 TEEU - Vehicle Tracking2:Layout 1 26/01/2012 10:06 Page 3

COPIES AVAILABLE FROM ALLOFFICES

EQUALITY & DIVERSITYA GUIDE FOR TEEU WORKPLACE REPRESENTATIVES

TECHNICAL ENGINEERING & ELECTRICAL UNION

TECHNICAL ENGINEERING & ELECTRICAL UNION6 Gardiner Row, Dublin 1. Tel: 01 8747047 Fax: 01 8747048 Email: info@teeu.ie Website: www.teeu.ie

A5 - Equality Guide Cover:A5 Manual.qxd 25/04/2012 16:39 Page 2

TEEU Publications for Shop Stewards and Members

Relations with other TradeUnions (domestic)

ICTU -ConstructionIndustryCommitteeThe working relationship with the majority of theunions at the CIC at both national and local levelhas never been stronger. The exception beingUnite, the British based union who constantlyrefuse to accept the established Spheres ofInfluence of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.The TEEU has just been through a bitter battlewith Unite following their attempts to organiseelectricians in the Electrical ContractingIndustry, which we won and that ended in asigned undertaking by Unite that they will desistfrom organising electricians in the Republic ofIreland in future. They have since organisedmembers of the bricklayers union and despitethe strict Spheres of Influence rules withinCongress, they have refused to return themembers concerned to BATU. This recentlyplaced the other unions affiliated to the CIC inthe position of having to refuse support for anapplication for an ICTU all-out picket.

UCATT (NUSMWI) (Carpenters, Painters &Sheetmetal WorkersUnion)A number of meetings have taken place betweenthe TEEU EMC Negotiation Team, UCATTPresident and General Secretary (UK) and Irishrepresentatives of UCATT to discuss thepossibility of a transfer of engagements of theUCATT members in Ireland to the TEEU.

These negotiations are taking place at two levels:o With the Executive Council of UCATT in

London in relation to the financial aspectsof the potential transfer.

o With Irish representatives on the detail ofhow both organisations would merge e.g.structures, staffing, rule amendments etc.

In the meantime representatives of the Irishmembership of UCATT has made known torepresentatives of their London based ExecutiveCouncil, their preference to transfer theirmembership to the TEEU.

OPATSI (Plasterers Union)The Executive Council ofOPATSI has also expressedan interest in transferringtheir engagements to the TEEU. A presentationon TEEU structures has been made to membersof their Executive Council, the feedback isextremely positive and they have sought a formalmeeting to explore options.

BATU (Brick andStonelayers Union)Notwithstanding the fact thatBATU have engaged innegotiations on a potentialtransfer of their engagementsto SIPTU, our working relationship on the groundhas never been stronger with our officialsworking closely together.

Energy ServicesUnion (ESB Officers &Staff Association)The ESU has held separate meetings withSIPTU, TEEU and Unite, to explore their optionsfor an amalgamation or Transfer of Undertakingsto one of these three unions. We are awaitingfeedback on their intentions in this regard.

SIPTU (Services,Industrial,Professional Trade Union)A Trade Union Federation (TUF) was establishedbetween SIPTU and the TEEU 10 years ago. Itcomprised three elements:

o To improve the Level of Services tomembers;

o To improve the organising ability of bothunions;

o To foster friendly relations between theconstituent unions.

This was coupled with a Spheres of InfluenceAgreement and a disputes resolution mechanismwhich, while not used recently, has stood the testof time.

Throughout the last 12 months there have beenseveral meetings between SIPTU & TEEU aboutcloser co-operation in a number of areas. Themost significant recent outcome is an agreedSingle Table Bargaining Protocol in themanufacturing sector in all circumstancesinvolving threatened plant closures, proposed pay or remuneration cuts and/or collectiveredundancies.

International / Global Protocols, affiliations & Co-operation

IndustriALL (Global Union)In the last 18 monthsTEEU has affiliated toIndustrAll Global Unionwhich is an amalgamationto a number of inter-national federationsIncluding the International MetalworkersFederation. IndustriALL represents 50 millionworkers in 140 countries in the mining, energy

and manufacturing sectors and is a force inglobal solidarity, taking up the fight for betterworking conditions and trade union rights aroundthe world.

IndustriALL challenges the power of multi-national companies and negotiates with them ona global level. IndustriALL fights for anothermodel of globalisation and a new economic andsocial model that puts people first, based ondemocracy and social justice.

We participated recently at their ExecutiveCouncil meeting in Geneva and in their Lift &Escalator Industry Conference in Vienna.

Building & Woodworkers International (BWI)Representatives from BWI andthe TEEU have been workingclosely together since AmbetYuson, General Secretarysupported our Global PowerTrade Union Congress in Dublin in Septemberlast year.

I had the privilege of being a guest speaker atthe BWI European Conference held recently inDublin. The TEEU was also represented lastmonth at the ILO Conference in Geneva. Theobject of this meeting was to ensure that major contractors working on the FIFAstadium in Qatar, including contractors fromIreland, are prepared to embrace appropriateterms and conditions of employment includingbest practice health & safety standards on thecontract. The unions from each country of originwere also present to mark the contractors andensure future health & safety standards areimplemented and maintained.

Global Power Trade Union Congress The first ever Global Power Trade Union Congresswas held in Dublin in September of last yearthrough a tripartite arrangement between theAustralian ETU, the Danish Dansk El-Forbundand the TEEU. Being in Dublin, the majority ofthe organisation fell to the TEEU and it turnedout to be a great success. There wererepresentatives from 35 organisations rightacross the globe. This included such countriesas New Zealand, Australia and Russia on oneside of the world and Canada, USA and Mexicoon the other, with many European countries alsoparticipating.

Since then we have had successful campaigns,in the lift industry in Australia and elsewhere,the power industry in Greece and have achievedthe release from jail of the members of theExecutive Council of the Mexican ElectriciansUnion.

The Second Global Trade Unions Congress washeld in Denmark last September sponsored byDansk El-Forbund and some of the achievementsincluded mapping the industry from a technologyperspective, considering many specific health

fusion January 201524

UNION RELATIONS

Relationship with other Unions - International / EU Activity

January 2015 fusion 25

UNION RELATIONS

and safety issues, renewing relationships andbuilding new relations with further likemindedelectrical unions across the globe.

United Association ofPlumbers, Pipefitters,Steam Fitters SprinklerFitters, Service Techni-cians and Apprenticesof the US, Canada andAustraliaHaving established international links with ourelectrical union colleagues across the globe, howwe might connect with our mechanicalcounterparts became a consideration. However,in September this year an unexpected solutioncrossed my desk.

I was contacted by Ms. Anne Anderson, the IrishAmbassador to the United States, based inWashington DC seeking to confirm that the TEEUis the union that organises Plumbers here inIreland. She then introduced me to Bill Hite,General President of the UA. After considerabledialogue both Brian Nolan, National ConstructionOfficial and myself were invited to Chicago asguests of the UA at their Tripartite Conferencethat was comprised of 450 Delegatesrepresenting client companies, contractors andthe union with delegates from US, Canada andAustralia.

In Brief:

o The United Association has been inexistence for 125 years and organisesall mechanical trades, such asplumbers, pipe fitters, sprinkler fitters,welders and HVACR technicians.

o The UA represents 387,000 membersin the US and Canada while thePlumbing Employees Trade Union(PETU) from Australia attended as anaffiliate.

o 280 Local Unions in U.S. alone: 330Training Centres in U.S. and Canada(encompassing 8,000 Welding Booths)(an additional 8 Training Centres inAustralia) and 60 Portable TrainingRigs (mobile training trailer units)throughout Canada and the UnitedStates.

o They employ 10,000 trainers and havean annual training budget of circa.$250Million per annum.

o All members are employees of theunion and are hired out to contractorsunder a Standard of ExcellenceAgreement.

o The wage rates vary between $46.70to $90 per hour and the union operatesexemplar pensions, medical andmortgage schemes for their memebrs.

o The Union runs their own 5 yearApprenticeship Programme.

The UA promote extremely high standards oftraining and are keen to promote these standardsthroughout the trades internationally.

They are anxious for the TEEU to establish stronglinks with the UA and sent a delegation to ourrecent BDC in Kilkenny, comprised of Bro. TerryUrbanek, International Representative assignedto General President Hite, Sister Laurie Shedrick,National Coordinator for Health & Safety andBro. Jim Pavesic, Asst. Director of Training allfrom the US and Paddy McCrudden from thePETU in Australia.

Since then a Federation Agreement has beennegotiated between the two unions based on thepolicies and objectives of the International TradeUnion Confederation (ITUC), these include globalorganizing, up-skilling workers to meet futureskill needs and ensuring good occupationalhealth and safety. These policies and objectivesform the basis of our future relationship betweenthe UA and the TEEU.

As part of this Global Federation Agreement aJoint Venture Training Company will beestablished the detail of which has yet to benegotiated and agreed.

Eamon DevoyGeneral Secretary

TEEUMEMBERSHIP

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For a full list of benefits for membersgo to www.teeu.ie and click on

the Members Services linkand the Members Benefits link

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The TEEU has long been recognised asIreland’s Largest Craft Unionrepresenting Mechanical & ElectricalCraft workers throughout theConstruction & Contracting Industriesand never have two groups of Workershad so much in common.

Mechanical & Electrical Craft workersalong with their Apprentices havealways worked together on sites (veryoften in the same company) and nowthey are standing together to protecttheir rates of pay as prescribed by theirNational Collective EmploymentAgreements.

Every day we receive calls from Unionmembers who want to take a standagainst a Contractor, Sub-Contractor ora Recruitment Agency because they arenot paying the correct rate, travel orSick Pay/Pension and Death-in-Serviceentitlements.

The Union gives the commitment tostand alongside these members untilWe successfully achieve our aim ofprotecting the National CollectiveEmployment Agreements and theWorkers to whom they apply.

The fight back needs to continue togrow and the key component to this isensuring that all Mechanical &Electrical Workers and especially theirApprentices are in the Union. TheTEEU proudly profess that Union Craftworkers are the best and you shouldensure that the worker beside you is inthe Union too. If they are not in theUnion, we have to ask what are theyand what do they stand for?

Here are four things you can do to playyour part in protecting your Agreement;

1. Make sure that All Your Colleaguesare members of the TEEU or tellthem to join today (www.teeu.ie)

2. Consider playing a bigger role in theFight Back through our Mechanicalor Electrical ConsultativeCommittees (Email;construction@teeu.ie).

3. Report any Contractor, Sub-Contractor or Recruitment Agencythat does not offer employment onthe terms of the National CollectiveEmployment Agreements for theMechanical & Electrical ContractingIndustries so that we can tacklethose job offers that are less than the

PROUDLY STANDING TOGETHER

MEBSCA – Mechanical Contracting

Rates of Pay.

1st Year Out of Time €20.632nd Year Out of Time €20.923rd Year Out of Time €21.064th Year Out of Time €21.185th Year Out of Time €21.316th Year Out of Time €21.42

Apprentices1st Year €5.732nd Year €8.613rd Year €12.914th Year €15.49

ENJIC - Electrical Contracting

Rates of Pay

1st year out of time €20.74

After 1 years’ service €21.01

After 2 years’ service €21.15

After 3 years’ service €21.26

After 4 years’ service €21.38

After 5 years’ service €21.49

Apprentice1st Year €6.222nd Year €9.333rd Year €13.484th Year €16.59

Construction Industry

Rates of Pay.

Craftsmen €17.21Construction OperativesA 97% €16.69B 91% €15.66C 88% €15.14D 80% €13.7716 Years 40% Grade D €5.51 17 Years 50% Grade D €6.89

Apprentices1st Year €5.732nd Year €8.613rd Year €12.914th Year €15.49

Union Agreement (ConfidentialHotline 01-8719 903).

4. Contact the Union to let us know ifyou are Unemployed so that We cantackle jobs offering terms andconditions that are less than thoseprescribed by the National CollectiveEmployment and get you back towork the Union way.

Finally, YOUR role is crucial toovercoming the attempts by RogueEmployers to undermine your UnionAgreement and when you stand upagainst a non-compliant Employer be

sure of one thing“that as Unionmembers, Weproudly standtogether”.

For moreinformation on the Mechanical &Electrical Contracting Industry contact:

Brian Nolan

National Construction

Tel: 01 8719 911

Email: brian_n@teeu.ie

Members being presented with QQI/FETAC Level 6 Awards Industrial Electrical Systems at their company: ICS Europaks, Limerick

From L to R: Sean Heading TEEU Education & Training, Pat Fogarty ManagingDirector, recipients: James Burke, Justin McSweeney and Patrick Kenny,

accompanied by Colm Loughlan Maintenance Manager.

The Union secured a 5% increase in basic pay for the members’ who successfully completed this course and for their co-operation

with revised work practices.

fusion January 201526

CONTRACTING

At the request of the General Secretary I was privileged to haveparticipated on behalf of the TEEU in the ILO and BWI

Conference on Working Conditions of Migrant Workers in Qatarwhich was held at the ILO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland onWednesday, 22nd October, 2014.

The objective of the conference was to utilize the platform of the ILO and the framework of the ILO international standards for tradeunions and multinational companies operating in Qatar to work

together co-operatively to find concrete andrealistic solutions to improve the labourstandards of migrant workers in Qatar.

The Qatari Ambassador to Switzerland alsoparticipated in the conference

The Unions that attended expressed theirdissatisfaction at the lack of progress bythe Qatari government in ensuring theimplementation of the Contract Provisions asdrawn up by the ITUC and Human RightsWatch. The Delegates also called for theimplementation of the ITUC recommend-ations on the Rights of Migrant Workers inQatar.

Pat Guilfoyle

January 2015 fusion 27

WORKERS’ RIGHTS

REDCARD

FOR FIFA

No World Cup without Workers’ Rights

The Youth & Apprentice Conferencewas attended by 30 participants fromacross the membership in everyregion of the Union making this thebest attended Y&A Forum to date.

For the overwhelming majority ofthese participants this was their firstinvolvement in the Y&A Forum andthe conference benefitted greatlyfrom their presence.

The Y&A Forum were brought throughbackground and history of the groupalong with the need for on-goingparticipation of our current Y&Amembers and new recruits.

Alan Douglas delivered a presentationon the current efforts of the group inrelation to campaigns within theTEEU (Axe the Tax on TrainingCampaign) and he gave some detailson other campaigns within the tradeunion movement (We’re not leavingand ScamBridge) all of which aredirected towards Youth employmentissues. Alan also explained about theTEEU role within ICTU Youth.

Martin McMahon (SOLAS) deliveredhis presentation on theapprenticeships system and theimpending changes through thecurriculum review before outlining the

fusion January 201528

YOUTH FORUM

Conference

2014

Report

TEEU Youth & Apprentice Forum

post apprenticeship options that arenow available. He made some timefor questions and answers which thegroup availed of.

A round table discussion took placewith the group on the future effortsand needs of the Y&A Forum withseveral outcomes;

n The TEEU should continue thefight against the unjust studentcharges being applied toapprentices and the Y&A Forumshould assist in its success.

n We should increase the level ofinformation and contact with Y&Amembers of the Union in order toeducate them on the Union.

n The Y&A Forum should meetregularly as a group in 2015 witha view to highlighting issues orparticipating in events of interestto Y&A Members that should besupported.

Note; 21 of the Group forwarded theirdetails so that they could becomeinvolved regularly.

Following the discussion, nominationswere sought from the group for thepositions of Chairman and Secretaryof the Y&A Forum.

Following the nominations of Bro.Alan Douglas and Bro. ChrisMcCormack they were unanimouslyendorsed by the group as Chairmanand Secretary respectively.

Bro. Douglas and Bro. McCormack willrepresent the Y&A Forum on the NEC.

We then broke for lunch and in theafternoon we brought the group to theKilkenny Activity Centre where thegroup took part in team buildingexercises including a paint ballcompetition.

Some of the group attended theConference dinner that evening.

The group are currently formulating aschedule for 2015.

Team building exercise (drilling) at Youth and Apprentice Forum

January 2015 fusion 29

HEALTH & SAFETY REP’S

The TEEU in conjunctionwith the Irish Congress ofTrade Unions (ICTU) and theHealth & Safety Authority(HSA) is planning somesignificant safety initiativesin 2015.

If you are an elected SafetyRep and wish to keepabreast of thesedevelopments pleasecomplete the attachedform and return the:

Education & Training TEEU Head Office6 Gardiner Row Dublin 1.

Calling all TEEU Elected Health & Safety Representatives

P l e A s e P r i n t :

NAME:

ADDRESS:

COMPANY NAME:

COMPANY ADDRESS:

TELEPHONE NO: EMAIL:

NUMBER OF WORKERS REPRESENTED BY YOU

HAVE YOU UNDERGONE

SAFETY TRAINING BEFORE WITH THE TEEU OTHER

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN

ATTENDING A TRAINING COURSE WITH THE TEEU

ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

YES NO YES NO

YES NO

At European level the concerns are driven bythe proposals of a European Commissionappointed body, the High Level Group onAdministrative Burdens, chaired by aconservative German politician, EdmundStoiber and the European Union’sProgramme for Regulatory Reform (REFIT).Following the publication of a REFIT report,the European Commission announced itsintention not to proceed with proposedhealth and safety directives formusculoskeletal disorders and displayscreens, the hairdressing sector,environmental tobacco smoke andnew carcinogens and mutagensdirectives.

In Ireland, trade unions areconcerned at the cuts in theHealth & Safety Authority’s(HSA) budget grant – downby over 30% since 2009 –and the cut in the Authority’sstaff from 197 to just over150. The result has been adramatic drop in the number ofinspections, with just 11,500inspections being carried out in 2014. Thiscompares to over 16,000 inspections in2008. The number of inspections plannedfor 2015 has yet to be announced.

Speaking at the recent National Irish SafetyOrganisation annual conference, EamonDevoy said that “without inspection there isno health and safety”. He said that the cutsdo not auger well and he is “more concernedthan optimistic” about the future for healthand safety.

Accidents: causes, consequences and costUp to the end of November, 49 people werekilled in workplace accidents. While farms, asector in which 27 people have died so farthis year, are by far and away the mostdangerous workplace, so far this year sevenworkers have been killed in construction siteaccidents.

Last year (2013) 47 people were killed inworkplace accidents, 11 of them inconstruction. Two of the deaths were theresult of direct contact with electricity. Ayear never goes by without a fatality linkedto electricity. As Mr Devoy said at a recentsafety meeting “Each year we (the TEEU)lose at least one member as a result of aworkplace accident”.

Fatalities are just the tip of the accidenticeberg. Every year over 6,000 accidents arereported to the HSA. However it is estimated

that only about 50% of accidents in whichworkers are absent from work are reported.Every year over 11,000 occupational injurybenefit claims are made and the CentralStatistics Office Quarterly Household Surveyfor 2012 reported that there were over17,000 workplace accidents and over27,000 cases of work-related illnesses inwhich workers were absent from work forfour days or more.

The top two causes of accidents are manualhandling, which accounts for about one-

third of all reported accidents andslips / trips / falls, which account

for about 20% of accidents.The HSA’s analysis of thereported accident figures

shows backinjuries are

the mostcommon

outcome ofworkplace accidents,followed by finger andleg injuries.

While industrial relationsdisputes attract huge amountsof media attention and comment, the fact isthat the number of days lost due toworkplace accidents and work-relatedillnesses far outstrips the number of dayslost due to industrial relations disputes.Central Statistics Office figures for 2011show that 1,186,641 workdays were lostbecause of work-related accidents andillnesses. While 14,965 workdays were lostbecause of industrial disputes in 2013, overthe period from 2006 to 2012 the averagenumber of days lost each year because ofindustrial disputes was 11,924.

Occupational health and safety is clearly afar bigger problem for businesses thanindustrial disputes. The HSA estimates the cost to the Irish economy at €2.8bn.What the figures do not take account of says the HSA’s chief executive, MartinO’Halloran, is the human cost. As he puts it “families are deprived of the loved ones and experienced gravely changed economic circumstances”.

Community service ordersThe great fear of the European Trade UnionConfederation is that the body of legislationintroduced to protect workers fromworkplace injuries and illnesses will berepealed. At a recent trade union seminar inRome there were calls for updatedlegislation on carcinogens, mutagens andmusculoskeletal disorders. In Ireland theconcern is that cutbacks will impact oninspections and that health and safetystandards will fall.

During 2014 only one new significantmeasure to protect workers’ health andsafety was enacted. The regulation, theEuropean Union (Prevention of Injuries inthe Healthcare Sector) Regulations 2014, isintended to protect healthcare workers fromwhat are known as ‘sharps’ injuries. TheBiological Agents regulations were repealedand brought up to date by the Biological

Agents Regulations 2013, which wereadopted at the end of 2013.

Every year the HSA prosecutesemployers who breach health andsafety regulations. A prosecutionunder the provisions of the Safety,Health and Welfare at Work Act2005 and regulations made under

the Act is the ultimate arm in legaltoolbox for protection of workers’ health

and safety. The purpose of prosecution istwo-fold: to punish offenders and deterothers from offending.

In recent years the courts have handed downa number of suspended prison sentences,but more recently the courts are beginningto impose community services orders onthose found guilty of offences.

In a recent case, which arose following anaccident in which a bar worker, who wastravelling in a goods lift in a pub, wascrushed to death, a director of the companywho owned the pub and a shareholder in thepub (who played an active role in themanagement) pleaded guilty to charges ofrecklessly placing at risk the safety ofworkers. One man pleaded guilty to a chargelinking his conduct to the death of the barworker. Each man was ordered to do 200hours community service. It is interesting tocontrast this sentence in a case involving adeath, with the sentence in a case in whicha businessman who defrauded the Revenueof over €600,000 was ordered to carry out220 hours of community service.

TEEU CONCERNED ABOUT EROSIONOF HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTECTIONAs the European Trade Union Congress expresses concern at the erosion of workers’

health and safety protections, the TEEU’s general secretary, Eamon Devoy hasexpressed concern for the future of Health and Safety in Irish workplaces.

fusion January 201530

HEALTH & SAFETY

These agreements confer on transnationalcapital powers to directly challenge thedemocratic right of governments to regulateand to legislate in the public interest. Thelatest proposed treaty to embody theseinvestor ambitions is the EU-US trade dealknown as the Transatlantic Trade andInvestment Partnership (TTIP).

The primary aim of TTIP is not to stimulatetrade through removing tariffs between theEU and the USA, as these are already atminimal levels. The main goal of TTIP is,by the admission of the parties, to removeregulatory ‘barriers’ which restrict thepotential profits to be made by trans-national corporations on both sides of theAtlantic.

Yet these ‘barriers’ are in reality some ofour most prized and hard-won socialstandards and environmental regulations,such as labour rights, food safety rules,regulations on the use of toxic chemicals,digital privacy laws and even new bankingsafeguards introduced by the EU to preventa repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.

In addition to this deregulation agenda,TTIP also seeks to create new markets byopening up public services and governmentprocurement contracts to competition fromtransnational corporations, threatening tointroduce a further wave of privatisations inkey sectors, such as health and education.Most worrying of all, TTIP seeks to grantforeign investors a new right to suesovereign governments in front of ad hocarbitration tribunals for loss of profitsresulting from public policy decisions. Anotorious example is that of the Frenchservices provider suing the Egyptiangovernment for increasing minimum wages,thereby reducing its expected profitmargins.

This ‘investor-State dispute settlement’(ISDS) mechanism effectively elevatestransnational capital to a status equivalentto the nation-state itself, and threatens toundermine the most basic principles ofdemocracy in EU member states. But evenif the ISDS provision is removed, TTIPposes a grave threat to the welfare ofcitizens in the EU and US at many levels.That is why the largest union in the world,

IG – Metall is opposing it, as is AFL-CIO inAmerica.

TTIP is therefore correctly understood, notas a negotiation between two competingtrading partners, but as an attempt bytransnational corporations to open up andderegulate markets on both sides of theAtlantic in order to further accelerate thetransfer of wealth to the richest 1%.

The treaty is being negotiated underconditions of the strictest secrecy.Corporations draft and share thenegotiating texts, but MEPs and nationallegislators are denied access in the nameof national security. On the basis of leaks,we know that TTIP would build on existingtrade and investment rules by incorporatingthe most toxic elements of the existingthousands of treaties and grantingexpanded powers to transnational capital tochallenge public interest policies andpractices, eliminating or putting at riskrights for which workers and unions havestruggled over many decades.

A recent International Labour Organisation(ILO) study, which unfortunately does notcover Ireland, shows that TTIP would leadto a reduction of the labour share (theshare of total income accruing to workers),reinforcing a trend that has been a definingcharacteristic of both the EU and USeconomies over the last four decades. Theflipside of its projected decrease is anincrease in the share of profits, indicatingthat proportionally there would be atransfer of income from labour to capital.The largest transfers will take place in UK(7% of GDP transferred from labour toprofit income), France (8%), Germany andNorthern Europe (4%).

TTIP would also lead to a loss of labourincome. France would be the worst hit witha loss of 5,500 Euros per worker, followedby Northern European Countries (-4,800Euros per worker), United Kingdom (-4,200 Euros per worker) and Germany (-3,400 Euros per worker). This would becoupled with serious job losses. The ILO calculates that approximately 600,000 jobs would be lost in the EU.Northern European countries would be themost affected (-223,000 jobs), followed

by Germany (-134,000 jobs), France (-130,000 jobs) and Southern Europeancountries (-90,000).

The Centre for Economic Policy Research(CEPR) report for the EU Commission wasunable to predict any net impact onemployment levels from TTIP, but didrecognise that at least 1.3 million EUworkers would lose their jobs as a result ofthe labour displacement arising from TTIPunder the Commission. CEPR calculatesthat TTIP will cause at least 1 millionpeople to lose their jobs in the EU and USAcombined.

Based on these findings, the Commission’sown internal impact assessment acknow-ledged that there would be “prolonged andsubstantial” adjustment costs as a result ofthe displacement of labour caused by TTIP.At a time when unemployment rates inEurope already stand at record levels, theCommission further recognised that thereare “legitimate concerns” that thoseworkers who lose their jobs as a result ofTTIP will not be able to find otheremployment.

With these concerns in mind, the TEEUpassed a resolution at its BiennialConference in November, calling for thescrapping of TTIP.

We need trade, and trade needs rules, butwe don’t need these rules. Proposals totinker with the detailed language of thesetreaties ignore their fundamental purpose -that of advancing investor rights over socialneeds. So please raise the issue in anyorganisation that you are part of whetherit’s a political party, a residents’ associationor a civil society group. Tell your friendsabout it. There will be some aspect of thetreaty that would affect them directly orsome issue in which they are interested.Inform yourself further on the issue –there’s lots of material on the web. Time isshort but we can stop the TTIP - the stakescould not be higher.

Frank Keoghan, General President TEEU

January 2015 fusion 31

STOP TTIP

Over recent years, an expanding web of regional and bilateral agreements, havebeen built on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules to construct investmentregimes which enforce the right of corporations to pursue maximum profit whileremoving and undermining restrictions which seek to regulate corporate activitiesin the interest of public health, worker and consumer health and safety, publicservices and the environment.

Scrap TTIP now!

Over recent years, an expanding web of regional and bilateral agreements, have been builton WTO rules to construct investment regimes which enforce the right of corporations topursue maximum profit while removing and undermining restrictions which seek to regulatecorporate activities in the interest of public health, worker and consumer health andsafety, public services and the environment.

These agreements confer on transnational capitalpowers to directly challenge the democratic right ofgovernments to regulate and to legislate in the publicinterest. The latest proposed treaty to embody theseinvestor ambitions is the EU US tradedeal known asthe Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership(TTIP).

The primary aim of TTIP is not to stimulate tradethrough removing tariffs between the EU and the USA,

as these are already at minimal levels. The main goal of TTIP is, by the admission of theparties, to remove regulatory ‘barriers’ which restrict the potential profits to be made bytransnational corporations on both sides of the Atlantic.

Yet these ‘barriers’ are in reality some of our most prized and hard won social standardsand environmental regulations, such as labour rights, food safety rules, regulations on theuse of toxic chemicals, digital privacy laws and even new banking safeguards introduced bythe EU to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.

In addition to this deregulation agenda, TTIP also seeks to create new markets by openingup public services and government procurement contracts to competition fromtransnational corporations, threatening to introduce a further wave of privatisations inkey sectors, such as health and education. Most worrying of all, TTIP seeks to grant foreigninvestors a new right to sue sovereign governments in front of ad hoc arbitration tribunalsfor loss of profits resulting from public policy decisions. A notorious example is that of theFrench services provider suing the Egyptian government in for increasing minimumwages, thereby reducing its expected profit margins.

This ‘investor State dispute settlement’ (ISDS) mechanism effectively elevatestransnational capital to a status equivalent to the nation state itself, and threatens toundermine the most basic principles of democracy in EU member states. But even if theISDS provision is removed, TTIP poses a grave threat to the welfare of citizens in the EUand US at many levels. That is why the largest union in the world, IG – Metall is opposing it,as is AFL CIO in America.

TTIP is therefore correctly understood, not as a negotiation between two competingtrading partners, but as an attempt by transnational corporations to open up andderegulate markets on both sides of the Atlantic in order to further accelerate the transferof wealth to the richest 1%.

The treaty is being negotiated under conditions of the strictest secrecy. Corporations draft

S C R A P T T I P N O W !

It is imperative that you check the weatherforecast before you do any long walk and getthe most accurate, localised information. Anideal source is the Norwegian websitewww.yr.no backed up by the Met éireannforecast. The weather can be verychangeable, sudden and extreme on highground.

If the weather turns bad, it can be fatal to beup there, especially if you are ill–equipped oralone. So you should come down to lowerground as soon as you can. Always let yourhead rule your heart! Remember, even atwisted ankle can slow or disable yousufficiently in bad conditions to inducehypothermia

The best option for people starting out hill-walking is to choose your days carefully whenthere’s settled weather and begin with a fewless challenging, shorter walks before youtackle anything serious. An alternative is tojoin a walking club – there’s a list of clubs onthe Ireland Walking Guide website – in orderto become accustomed to the vagaries ofmountain weather before venturing out onyour own.

It will give you an opportunity to avail oftraining, such as a map and compass courseand you’ll also pick up the local skills andknowledge of more experienced walkers,especially if you’re just getting started; as wellas getting to know some popular routes thatyou can walk again.

It sounds obvious, but people still get intotrouble on the hills because they don’t takeessential gear with them such as:

rWalking boots with good ankle support.These are essential. Always wear clothingsuitable for the outdoors and carry sparewarm clothes at all times. Jeans andcotton should be avoided (they will notdry, causing loss of body heat and energy).

rA waterproof jacket and over-trousers,warm hat and gloves are essential,irrespective of the weather on startingout. Walking socks may cost €20 butthey’re worth it!

rCarry a rucksack for spare clothing, foodand a hot drink for the walk plus somespare energy snacks such as chocolate orenergy bars.

rMaps, map case and compass; and knowhow to use them!

rRemember, don’t rely solely on a GPSdevice,

r charged mobile phone,r small first aid kit, whistle, and a head

torch (with spare batteries).rplastic survival bag.

If you’re thinking of going onto higherground, set off early; best have more timethan you need, you don’t want to run out oftime to complete your route - especially ifconditions take a turn for the worse. It getsdark earlier, often as soon as 4-5 pm inwinter and it can often take longer to getdown than it does to go up. If you arewalking alone:

rTell others where you’re going and yourestimated return time.

rLeave contact details.rDon’t rely on being rescued, it’s up to you

to be prepared and keep yourself safe.

Walking with others is the safest way oftackling higher ground, but there are stillsome rules to group walking partiesincluding:

rDon’t split up, keep together; obey theleader if there is one

rWalk at the pace of the slowest, weakestgroup member.

It may be worth joining a walking orrambling group where you’ll pick up localskills and knowledge of other moreexperienced walkers, especially if you’re justgetting started. You’ll also get to know somepopular routes that you can walk again.

If you are alone, always remember that thetemperature decreases, even on a fine day,by 1 degree Celsius for every 100m of ascent.It’s always colder the higher you climb, sowatch for signs of hypothermia:

rDisorientationr Shivering, tiredness and exhaustionrPale complexion, and loss of circulation in

hands or toesrDiscarding of clothing even if it’s cold

If you suspect hypothermia, you shouldprevent further heat loss and gradually tryto get warm, insulate from the ground, seekshelter, put on extra dry clothing, eat highenergy foods and seek help as soon aspossible. And, no alcohol!

In case of a serious accident or emergencydial 999 and ask for the Gardai first thenMountain Rescue. Give as much detail aspossible such as; current location, casualties,rescue hazards, equipment available.Remember, Mountain Rescue is a voluntaryservice and should only be contacted in agenuine emergency.

Some providers do not give mobile coverover extensive areas of mountain, so youmay need to raise the alarm by:

rWhistle – the signal for rescue is six longblasts in a minute, stop for a minute, thenrepeat 6 long blasts.

rTorch – same sequence of flashes aswhistle blasts.

Don’t just give a few blasts - you need tocontinue because rescuers can use whistlesand torchlight as a direction finder. It cantake several hours for your alarm signals tobe recognised and for mountain rescue toreach you, so keep warm, stay calm and trynot to panic.

Going into the mountains is exhilarating,but you need to be prepared for suddenchanges in weather, have the right gear, andknow what to do in an emergency. TheMountaineering Ireland website has a verygood section on hill-walking so, don’t bediscouraged; get out there!

Frank Keoghan is General President of theTEEU and a hill-walker. He is a hike leaderwith the Hill-walkers Club and the IrishRamblers.

fusion January 201532

LEISURE ACTIVITY

HILL-WALKING FOR PLEASURE - SAFETY ON THE HILLSThe Irish mountains are always open and they’re free, so you can enjoythem at any time of year and there’s a hill to suit every age and level offitness. But as more people take to the hills, there is a danger that acasual approach might lead to accidents. Particular care should be takenif you venture out in bad weather, or more likely, the weather changeswhile you’re out there. You can stay safe by being well prepared andknowing some basic outdoor skills.

The author interrupted whilechecking his compass!

On the Twelve Bens in Connemara.

After more than six years of austerity, 2015marks an important new beginning for the

Irish economy. As an overdue recovery beginsthe take hold, a number of challenges remain asdoes the need to learn from mistakes of the pastand avoid a repetition of some failed policies andchoices previously made.

In our latest commentary on the Irish economy,the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI)has pointed towards a continuation of solidGross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2015and 2016. We anticipate that the overall level ofactivity in the economy (GDP) will increase by3.4% in 2015 and 2.7% 2016; growth rates thatare considered to be strong in the context of pastperformance and relative to that being achievedby other European economies. Looking behindthese headline figures, we expect growth to bedriven by a recovery in spending by households– an area of activity in the domestic economythat has been depressed since the emergence ofthe economic crisis given the effects of successiveincreases in taxes, decreases in earnings, cuts inwelfare and increases in charges.

A recovery in domestic spending, coupled with aslow recovery in investment levels across theeconomy, are also having welcome, and overdue,effects on the numbers employed andunemployed. In 2015 we expect employment toincrease by more than 2% (between 35,000 and40,000 new jobs) with a similar effect occurringduring 2016. Simultaneously, unemploymentcontinues to fall, although our expectation thatit will equal 9.6% of the labour force (all thosewho are or could be at work) in 2016 will stillmean that is stands at double the rate recordedbefore the crisis.

Economic growth, recovering consumerspending and labour market improvements areall assisting the government’s finances. Thecountry is still borrowing money each year, witha budget deficit (the excess of spending overincome) of 2.8% of GDP likely in 2015 and 2% in2016. However, the size of this borrowing hasbeen greatly reduced over recent years and forthe most part the borrowing is now paying forworthwhile investment projects which will boostgrowth and pay for themselves in the long run.

Of course after the dramatic events and changesof recent years, it is important to remember thatIreland is entering into a new phase of itsdevelopment – rather than just getting back towhere we were prior to 2008. Apart from thefact that the economy and society weexperienced across most of the 2000s wasunsustainable (and crashed with significantconsequences for us all), there are features ofIreland in early 2015 that are results of the crisisand mark out a different context for many of thepolicy choices ahead.

Among these, in no particular order, are thelegacy of a much increased national debt whichnow stands at over €210 billion and derivedfrom the collapse of the taxation system as theeconomy collapsed in 2008/09 and the decisionto rescue almost all of the commercial banks.Relative to 2007, the national debt has morethan quadrupled and in 2015 more than €5billion is being spent on paying interest(servicing) that debt. The crisis has also left uswith a big unemployment problem, and inparticular a large long-term unemploymentproblem where a cohort of workers have beenwithout work for more than 12 months. Whilemany will return to work as the economy picksup, there remains a group of workers with lowerlevels of skills who will need focused retrainingand assistance to move from long-termunemployment and get back to work. Withouttargeted and well-resourced policy initiatives werisk recreating the long-term unemploymentproblems of the 1980s.

Emigration and the loss of, in particular, youngpeople across the country has been anotherlegacy. It has been estimated by the CSO that anet 80,000 native Irish people have left ourshores to work abroad in recent years. Overall,the numbers emigrating have been much higheras workers from various parts of the EUreturned home as the economic crash unfolded.Building a recovery, and a society, that isattractive for these emigrants to considerreturning to also has to be a priority.

Within households, austerity and the economiccollapse has also left an impact with high debtlevels for some and widespread challenges formany households to make ends meet. IndeedCSO data suggests that more than one in fourhouseholds are cutting back on some of thebasics. These households have also beenimpacted indirectly by the continued cuts topublic services in health, education andelsewhere over recent years.

All of this implies that we have some choices toconsider as Ireland recovers during 2015. Mostof all, we have to realise that as both an economyand a society that we cannot go back to thesituation we were in a decade ago. While forsome that was ‘a good time’, for us all is was thefoundations of a difficult and far-reachingcollapse whose legacy will remain with us forsome time. Overall, that implies the need to builda better Ireland – one with deeper economic andliving standards roots. Hopefully during 2015we will, as a society, begin to think more aboutwhat that model of a new Ireland might looklike. As a trade union supported think-tank theNERI will be one of the players setting out ourthoughts on that new and more sustainableIreland.

January 2015 fusion 33

THE ECONOMY

THE ECONOMY –where is it at and where it is going?

Dr Micheál Collins is SeniorResearch Officer at the NevinEconomic Research Institute (NERI).The Institute, with offices in Dublinand Belfast, is a research organ-isation which, at its core, has a visionof the achievement of a better, fairer society. It aims, through theprovision of world-class researchand analysis, to contribute towardsthe construction of alternativeperspectives and possibilities thatwill lead to the creation of aneconomy that works for society. It issupported by a number of unionsaffiliated to the ICTU including the TEEU. Latest reports andpublications are available atwww.NERInstitute.net

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is ameasure of the value of all the activityin the economy on an annual basis.While not a perfect measure,increases in GDP signal that theeconomy is expanding/ growing.

ETOS6 GArDiner rOw,

DuBlin 1

Telephone:01 872 6021

Email:info@etos.ie

Web:www.etos.ie

l TEEU WORKPLACE

REPRESENTATIVES EDUCATION

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SAFETY & TECHNICAL TRAINING

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EDUCATION, TRAINING & ORGANISATIONAL SERVICES

Course Title: TEEU Stage I – QQI Level 5Venue: Head Office, 6 Gardiner Row, Dublin 1Dates: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 March 2015

Who should attend?TEEU Shop Stewards and Branch Officers from Regions 1 & 2.Learners who successfully complete this course will beawarded a QQI Level 5 award in Trade Union RepresentationSkills.

Course Title: TEEU Stage I – QQI Level 5Venue: TEEU, Regional Office, CorkDates: 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 April 2015

Who should attend?TEEU Shop Stewards and Branch Officers from Region 4.Learners who successfully complete this course will beawarded a QQI Level 5 award in Trade Union RepresentationSkills.

Course Title: TEEU Stage I – QQI Level 5Venue: TEEU, Regional Office, LimerickDates: 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 May 2015

Who should attend?TEEU Shop Stewards and Branch Officers from Region 5 & 6.Learners who successfully complete this course will beawarded a QQI Level 5 award in Trade Union RepresentationSkills.

Course Title: TEEU Stage I – QQI Level 5Venue: TEEU, Regional Office, WaterfordDates: 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 September 2015

Who should attend?TEEU Shop Stewards and Branch Officers from Region 3.Learners who successfully complete this course will beawarded a QQI Level 5 award in Trade Union RepresentationSkills.

Course Title: TEEU Safety RepresentationVenue: TEEU, Head Office, 6 Gardiner Row Dublin 1Dates: 30 April, 7, 14, 21, 28 May 2015

Who should attend?TEEU Safety Representatives, Safety Committee members ,Shop Stewards and Branch Officers from Region 1 & 2.

Course Title: TEEU Safety RepresentationVenue: TEEU, Regional Office, CorkDates: 6, 13, 20, 27 May, 3 June 2015

Who should attend?TEEU Safety Representatives, Safety Committee membersCommittee, Shop Stewards and Branch Officers from Region 4.

Course Title: TEEU Stage II Workplace Negotiation Skills – QQI Level 5

Venue: TEEU, Head Office, 6 Gardiner Row, Dublin 1Dates: 14, 15, 16, 17 April 2015

Who should attend?TEEU Shop Stewards and Branch Officers from Regions 1&2.Learners who successfully complete this course will beawarded a QQI Level 5 award in Workplace Negotiation Skills.

Course Title: TEEU Stage II Workplace Negotiation Skills – QQI Level 5

Venue: TEEU, Regional Office, LimerickDates: 6, 7, 8, 9, October 2015

Who should attend?TEEU Shop Stewards and Branch Officers from Region 5.Learners who successfully complete this course will beawarded a QQI Level 5 award in Workplace Negotiation Skills.

Course Title: TEEU Stage II Workplace Negotiation Skills – QQI Level 5

Venue: TEEU, Regional Office, CorkDates: 3, 4, 5, 6 November 2015

Who should attend?TEEU Shop Stewards and Branch Officers from Region 4.Learners who successfully complete this course will beawarded a QQI Level 5 award in Workplace Negotiation Skills.

Course Title: TEEU Organisers Course – QQI Level 5Venue: TEEU, Head Office, 6 Gardiner Row, Dublin 1Dates: 12, 13, 14, 15 May 2015

Who should attend?TEEU Shop Stewards and Branch Organisers/Officers, fromRegions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6. Learners who successfully completethis course will be awarded a QQI Level 5 award in OrganisingSkills.

Technical Engineering and Electrical UnionEducation and Training Programme 2015

APPLYING FOR A COURSE PLACE:

Shop Stewards, Safety Representatives/Committeemembers and other workplace representativesmust forward their name, contact details and thecourse they wish to attend and the contact detailsof the person in their employment to whom theunion should write to seek their paid release toSean Heading at training@teeu.ie. Courses willonly go ahead if a minimum number ofRepresentatives (8) have confirmed and securethe appropriate release from their employer. TEEUEducation and Training will provide all coursematerials, lunch and refreshments.

EXPENSES:

The TEEU will arrange and provideovernight accommodation for WorkplaceRepresentatives who are selected andinvited to attend courses outside of theirRegion. Standard rail and bus fares will bereimbursed to those Representatives whoattend a course in a city in which theydon’t work or live on production oftickets. Representatives who travel by carmay claim the value of the relevant railor bus ticket.

Further information:

For further details ofthese courses andother education andtraining for TEEUWorkplaceRepresentativesplease go towww.teeu.ieor contact yourRegional Office orBranch.