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New survey finds poverty pay rates forcing Early Years educators out of jobs
The inaugural Early Years Professionals’ survey has found that 90% of educators are questioning their future in the childcare sector with low rates of pay the main issue.
In a sector with an annual turnover of staff of 25%, childcare services are struggling to retain qualified, experienced workers with the survey finding the problem may worsen with more than half of all those working in the sector actively looking for a different job.
Other key findings include that 94% of childcare workers cannot make ends meet on their pay, while in a sector which overwhelmingly employs women 66% don’t receive paid maternity leave.
The survey was carried out during June 2019 by Dr Amy Greer Murphy, a social scientist who uses qualitative research to understand inequality and the impact of public policy on social and health outcomes.
She said: “Over 3,200 individuals responded to the survey including educators, room leaders, owner-managers, managers and assistant managers. The findings of the survey highlight the difficulties facing Early Years professionals in Ireland today. We gathered responses from workers all around the country who stated overwhelmingly that they felt undervalued and underpaid.”
Greer Murphy added: “This indicates the need for government to engage with employees in the sector to ensure their working conditions are improved and to guarantee the children in their care get the best experience possible.”
Early Years educator, Claire Casey, said: “In common with all other Early Years teachers, I have sacrificed a lot in order to work in the profession which I love and which I believe is vitally important to the country.”
SIPTU Head of Organising and Campaigns, Darragh O’Connor, said: “The results of the survey reveal not only the major issues facing Early Years educators but also their solutions. The educators are saying they will have to leave their jobs if their conditions do not change.”
He added: “In response the SIPTU Big Start campaign is calling on the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to reform the Early Childhood Education and Care sector. The first step is for the Government to invest in the sector by ensuring the minimum rate of pay for workers is the Living Wage.”
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SIPTU Health members overwhelmingly endorse Labour Court recommendations on job evaluation scheme
SIPTU members working as health service support staff have voted by 95.65% to 4.35% in favour of a Labour Court recommendation aimed at resolving a dispute over a HSE job evaluation scheme.
The result of the vote was announced today (Wednesday, 18th September) in Liberty Hall, Dublin. In a separate ballot, chefs working for the Health Service Executive (HSE) also voted overwhelmingly by a margin of 98.1% to 1.9% in favour of acceptance of the terms of a Labour Court recommendation concerning a dispute related to a grading process that could see an improvement to their payment and conditions.
SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell said: “It was never our members’ desire to engage in strike action but after months of obstruction were left with no option but to express themselves and their frustrations. Their strength and resolve is the reason we are here today with this emphatic result and a mandate to pursue phases 3 and 4 of the job evaluation scheme for support grades and a satisfactory conclusion to an agreed process for chef members.
We expect that the Government will respond positively and quickly to these ballot results and that our members will receive the payments due to them without any unnecessary delay.
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SIPTU calls on Revenue to end employment limbo for workers in St. Vincent’s Centre, Cork
SIPTU representatives have today (Tuesday, 17th September) called on the Office of the Revenue Commissioners to intervene in an effort to lift workers of St Vincent’s Centre in Cork city out of employment limbo.
SIPTU Industrial Organiser, Sharon Cregan, said: “It is unacceptable that loyal workers who provide such a vital community service should be left to remain in employment limbo while management sit on their hands. Our members also are being denied vital access to basic social welfare entitlements, such as dental and optical benefits. This injustice has been rumbling on since 2017. Staff were advised, on foot of HIQA recommendation that the service was to be de-registered and that the Health Service Executive (HSE) would assume responsibility of the centre pending the implementation of a different service provider.
“Over a year later, in September 2018, it was announced the COPE Foundation were proposed to take over the St. Vincent’s Centre and TUPE legislation would apply, protecting our members terms and conditions. Since then, no substantial progress has been made. Our members’ are now demanding that the Revenue Commissioners step in. We have the intolerable situation now where staff pension contributions are being deducted from the staff’s salaries continuously since March 2017 and in the possession of the HSE but at the same time being advised by the pension scheme administrator that their scheme is “closed off”.”
She added: “We were also advised that the HSE and the Sisters of Charity were to enter a mediation process and we have heard nothing since. It is our understanding that there is a case before the High Court in respect of defining the “actual employer” since the religious order stood down in March 2017. What makes matters more stressful for members is that the COPE Foundation cannot be ‘engaged’ as the employer until a definitive judgement is made.”
St Vincents, a Section 39 organisation, was previously governed by the Sisters of Charity. A proposal for the workers to be transferred to the COPE Foundation was put forward in the Autumn of 2018 following an interim arrangement with the HSE.
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Sunday Read: No-deal Brexit crisis deepens for workers
A previously suppressed British government report has predicted that a no-deal Brexit would cause chaos to cross border trade in Ireland, drive firms out of business in the North and generate civic unrest and disruption to road transport.
The Operation Yellowhammer no-deal planning document also suggests that the automatic application of EU tariffs and regulatory requirements on goods crossing south across the border will severely disrupt trade.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has also warned of potentially devastating job losses across the country particularly in the agri-food sector where thousands of workers are members of SIPTU.
Congress has said that the threat of Brexit has caused huge uncertainty for workers North and South of the Border and has examined in detail this threat to jobs and business in its report “Preparing for Brexit – ICTU Proposals to support jobs and workers”.
Its key recommendations are:
- Establish a Short-Time Work Scheme to preserve jobs in firms at risk
- Establish a Brexit Adjustment Assistance Fund to upskill and retrain workers at risk while they are still in employment
- Ensure that the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is able to support workers made redundant because of Brexit
- Involve both social partners in all Brexit-related preparations.
The author of the report, ICTU Policy Officer Ger Gibbons, said a Short-Time Work scheme “is intended to preserve jobs at firms temporarily experiencing low demand by encouraging work-sharing, while also providing income support to workers whose hours are reduced due to a shortened work-week or temporary lay-offs.”
A crucial aspect of such schemes is that the contract of an employee with the firm is maintained.
In Germany, a short-time work scheme had a significant impact on preserving jobs during the financial crisis.
The OECD states that short-time work schemes have played an important role in limiting job losses during the recession in a number of OECD countries. Congress General Secretary Patricia King said “we have asked Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphries to ensure that representatives of various Government departments are convened to ensure that such a scheme is developed urgently”
Another suggested measure is a Brexit Adjustment Assistance Fund. Gibbons said that Congress has been calling for the establishment of a Brexit Adjustment Assistance Fund (BAAF) to support workers whose jobs are most at risk from Brexit.
This instrument could be modelled on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGAF) and the US Trade Adjustment Assistance Programme (TAA) but with the crucial difference that it would support workers currently in work rather than those who have been made redundant, as under the EGAF and the TAA.
For some workers, this up-skilling and retraining could take place in tandem with participation in a Short-Time Work Scheme. Congress also recommends that the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is able to support workers made redundant because of Brexit and the necessity to involve both social partners in all Brexit-related preparations.
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SIPTU Nursing Sector launch Pink and Blue power campaign
This week, SIPTU Nursing Sector launched the Pink & Blue Power campaign, a potentially life-saving breast and prostate assessment service for members of the SIPTU Nurse & Midwife Income Continuance Plan with Cornmarket.
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Kevin Figgis, said: “Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in women in Ireland with 1 in 9 women diagnosed at some stage in their lives. Prostate Cancer is the second most common cancer in men in Ireland with 1 in 7 men diagnosed during their lifetime. Following a high level of cancer claims in the Plan, SIPTU Nursing & Midwifery Sector, together with Cornmarket, negotiated this benefit on behalf of members.”
He added: “As a result, in 2019/2020, eligible members can avail of this service as an added benefit of their SIPTU Nursing & Midwifery Income Continuance policy. Thousands of eligible SIPTU Nurse & Midwife members will be invited to attend their assessment, on area by area basis. Invites will be posted directly from the policy provider to members based on where they work.”
How the service works:
The service has been built by an excellent team of medical professionals, specifically for female members under age 50 and male members aged 40 – 65. There is currently no official national prostate or breast assessment service available in Ireland for these age groups (BreastCheck, the national breast cancer screening programme is only available for females over age 50).
The initial GP assessment only takes 15 minutes, but it could save a life. The cost is fully covered under member’s policies’. Assessments can be booked easily online once invites are received.
For members who require further investigation, they will get a rapid referral to the participating private hospitals. The cost of the follow-on consultation and any scans or biopsies required will also be covered, if a member doesn’t have health insurance.
Book an appointment here
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Health workers September pay boost
This month, SIPTU members working in the health service will receive a 1.75% pay boost. The rise will also go to workers ‘section 38’ organisations including large voluntary hospitals.
The increase, which takes effect from 1st September, was negotiated by SIPTU and other unions as part of the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA).
This is the second pay adjustment to be implemented this year. The pay of public servants who earn who earn less than €30,000 a year went up by 1% in January, while those earning over €30,000 benefited from a reduced contribution to the ‘additional superannuation contribution,’ which replaced the so-called ‘pension levy’ under the PSSA.
There were also two increases – each worth 1% – in 2018. Next year will see a further adjustment to the additional superannuation contribution in January, and a 2% increase is due in October 2020.
To view the new HSE pay scales click here
Summary of income improvements
- 1st January 2018: 1% pay adjustment
- 1st October 2018: 1% pay adjustment
- 1st January 2019: Additional superannuation contribution threshold up from €28,750 to €32,000 (worth €325 a year). 1% pay increase for those who don’t benefit (ie, those earning less than €30,000 a year)
- 1st September 2019: 1.75% pay adjustment
- 1st January 2020: Additional superannuation contribution threshold increased to €34,500 (worth €250 a year). 0.5% pay increase for those who don’t benefit (ie, those earning less than €32,000 a year)
- 1st October 2020: 2% pay adjustment
- 31st December 2020: Agreement concludes.
New entrantsThe term ‘new entrants’ refers to people who started work in the health service after 2011, when inferior pay scales for new staff were imposed by the Government without agreement.
Although those inferior scales (worth 10% less at every point of each scale) were abolished at unions’ insistence under the 2013 Haddington Road agreement, ‘new entrants’ continued to have longer pay scales than their longer-serving colleagues, with two lower pay points at the beginning of each scale.
Some grades also saw the abolition of certain allowances for new entrants.
The PSSA established a process involving the Public Service Pay Commission (PSPC) which, following detailed discussions and inputs from SIPTU and other unions, resulted in a solution of the pay scale issue in 2018.
This was at least two years earlier than the PSSA originally provided for.
Under these measures, ‘new entrants’ will skip two points – the fourth and eighth – on each pay scale. SIPTU representatives welcomed this outcome because it ensures a fair outcome for ‘new entrants’ regardless of their length of service.
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Sunday Read: The Red Hand of union solidarity
Trade union badges first became commonplace with the rise of the ‘New Unionism’ of the 1890s among the previously unorganised dockers, carters and general workers in Britain and Ireland.
In order to ensure union members were given preferential treatment at the dock gate, a badge was issued to each member for a fixed period and then withdrawn in exchange for a different badge but only to those who cleared their contribution cards.
At the time of the Lockout, the four provincial emblems were being used in rotation by the ITGWU: the red hand of Ulster in 1913; the three crowns of Munster in 1915; the Connacht arms within a blue circle in 1917; and the harp of Leinster in 1918.
The most famous ITGWU badge was the red hand with the letters ITWU and the date of 1913. This was the emblem of resistance in the Lockout and was adopted as a cap badge by the Irish Citizen Army.
It also became immortalised in the song Who Fears to Wear the Blood Red Badge by the Scotsman Andrew Patrick Wilson that was published in the Irish Worker in October 1913.
In 1919, the ITGWU Executive decided to permanently use the red hand badge, which had become synonymous with the union in the public mind due to the events of the Lockout.
Song: Who Fears to Wear the Red Hand Badge
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Lockout Series: Remembering the women of 1913
What women’s voices do we hear from the Lockout narrative? Perhaps the best known, in 2013 terms, would be that of Rosie Hackett, the meek-looking and tiny Jacob’s biscuit factory worker, trade unionist and protester.
For long an unsung hero of the Dublin Lockout and the 1916 Rising, her place in history has now been assured by the successful campaign to name a Dublin bridge after her, even though some claim her actual involvement in the Lockout was relatively minor.
Long after her death in the 1970s, Rosie’s campaign was helped by the fact that she is a female, working class hero at a time when labour and gender history is in an unusually popular phase, just as her achievements were not perhaps recognised in the past as they should have been because of her class and gender.
Constance Markievicz could be viewed as the counter to Rosie Hackett.
Born into a west of Ireland Anglo-Irish family, the Gore- Booths, Markievicz for many years was the female icon of 1913 and 1916 – a gun-toting hero who became the first woman elected to the British House of Commons, and was also elected to the Dáil serving as the first Minister for Labour.
Unlike Hackett, Markievicz’s role was always emphasised; she was noteworthy because she had been a young lady of high society, making her debut to Queen Victoria in 1887. She was also part of the dominant narrative of 20th century Irish history – nationalist republicanism.
Perhaps the shine on Markievicz’s star as an icon for Irish women hood and nationalism is fading as we witness a welcome upsurge in the popularity of labour history; perhaps, too, in this up- surge, her class plays against her.
There were many women, prominent or otherwise, we could mention in connection with 1913. The hundreds of women directly involved, the thousands whose families were in crisis as a result, who had to struggle to make ends meet during a time of extreme hardship.
Some of their stories were resurrected by the 1913 Alternative Visions oral history project researchers, who collected oral accounts of the legacy of the Lockout.
Suffragist and trade unionist Louie Bennett was among those who worked on the relief effort at Liberty Hall during the 1913 strike and Lockout in Dublin. She also called for financial support for strikers’ families, through the Irish Citizen.
Bennett, an inspirational character, founded the Irish Women’s Reform League, which investigated, among other issues, women’s working conditions.
Or the republican trade union activist and actress Helena Molony, who was an official of the IWWU for more than 20 years.
During the Lockout, Molony employed her acting skills to disguise James Larkin as a clergyman, bringing him into the Imperial Hotel, while posing as his niece, for Larkin’s famous balcony address to the crowd in Sackville Street, which resulted in the ‘Bloody Sunday’ police baton charge. She also addressed meetings about the Lockout.
Then there’s Delia Larkin, the sister of Big Jim Larkin, herself a towering figure in the trade union movement, another general secretary of the Irish Women Workers’ Union.
Larkin, who launched the IWWU, not only ran the food operation in Liberty Hall, but also was involved in trying to foster strikers’ children to families in Liverpool. Delia’s place in Irish history is assured, neatly behind her brother, James – as his tombstone in Glasnevin symbolises. On the front of the tombstone James Larkin’s attributes are mentioned, while the side bears the legend “and his sister Delia”.
It says a lot about how society values a woman who was a wonderful organiser in her own right, and the leading woman trade unionist of her day. Our schools history curriculums have paid scant attention to these women, even Markievicz.
One of the more valuable lessons we might learn is that unless we make a conscious effort to document the achievements of our female trade unionists, past and present, we are losing opportunities to point to women activists as role models.
This article was written by social historian Dr. Ida Milne.
Dr Milne is a historian who uses oral testimony to explore her research interests. With Dr. Mary Muldowney, she organised the 1913 Lockout Alternative Visionsoral history project, training trade unionists and community activists to collect oral histories in their workplace and communities.
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A Victory for Support Grade Workers
As we prepare to ballot, let us reflect on the objectives of our PAY JUSTICE campaign, how far we have come by working together and what the NEXT STEPS in our campaign can achieve for you and thousands of members of our union.
The Recommendation comes at the end of a hard fought campaign in which you, the members, demonstrated your determination by taking strike action last June.
This action was taken after deep consideration, as a last resort, after the Government attempted to deny SIPTU members who were successful in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Job Evaluation scheme payment until 2021 and 2022.
Due to our members taking to the picket line intervention was made and after over 10 days the Labour Court determined that the objectives pursued by SIPTU representatives be addressed starting in September 2019.
Labour Court Recommendation at a Glance
SIPTU shop stewards have been the key factor in making the Support Staff Job Evaluation a reality for thousands of members across the country. Our campaign had two pillars:
- Payment in 2019 to members successful in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of a Job Evaluation Scheme
- A commencement and closing date for Job Evaluation for members in Phase 4
These two key objectives have been addressed and secured in Labour Court Recommendation 22066
To see LCR22066 in full click here.
Phase 1 and Phase 2
Should the Labour Court Recommendation be accepted, payments due to members successful in Phase 1 and Phase 2 will commence 1st September, 2019.
Phase 4
A commencement date for evaluation of members in Phase 4 will commence immediately on acceptance of the Recommendation.
In recognition of the timeframe to conclude Job Evaluations accurately and fairly, the Labour Court has recommended the cut-off date for completion of these evaluations and any payments due to members to not go beyond 1st January, 2021.
For Payment, For Progress. Vote in Favour of Pay Justice
As the Labour Court Recommendation delivers on the key objectives of our Pay Justice campaign we recommended that members VOTE IN FAVOUR of the recommendation.
A YES VOTE will help us move to the next phase of the campaign where thousands of members will receive increases in pay and thousands more will enter a process that allows for their jobs to be evaluated.
Public Service Stability Agreement
SIPTU members will also receive a pay boost of 1.75% this September due under the Public Service Stability Agreement and a further 2% increase in October 2020. This is in addition to upgrades and increases due to our members in all phases of Job Evaluation.
New Entrants
New Entrants agreement not effected by Labour Court recommendation.
Use your vote
SIPTU members in 38 hospitals and health care facilities will be voting on Labour Court Recommendation 22066 from Monday 12th August 2019 until Wednesday, 18th September, 2019.
Please contact your local Shop Steward and/or SIPTU representative for ballot details.