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Labour Court talks continuing this evening
Live update
Intensive talks continuing this evening in the Labour Court. Updates on @SIPTU Health App.
— SIPTU Health Division (@siptuhealth) July 4, 2019
“It is our hope that we can talk today about the implementation of our members’ agreement. The Labour Court assisted the parties yesterday in getting into a space where we think we can make some progress but at the end of the day this will be a difficult set of negotiations.
The Labour Court is the key to how we progress further and whether we have something to bring back to our members that will be satisfactory.” – SIPTU Health Divisional Organiser, Paul Bell on his way into day two of Labour Court hearing.
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Labour Court hearing on health dispute adjourns.
SIPTU representative have today confirmed that the Labour Court hearing aimed at resolving the dispute in the health service has adjourned for the evening.
SIPTU Health Divisional Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “After a long day of deliberations members the court has adjourned for the evening and will reconvene tomorrow morning (Thursday, 4th July) at 1030 a.m. Our engagement today centred on a technical matter concerning our collective agreement. This matter was resolved to our satisfaction.
He added: “Overall, SIPTU representatives believe that the hearing today was constructive. We look forward to working within the process to resolve this dispute in a way that benefits our members and protects public health services.”
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Full Labour Court hearing underway
Members’ Update
SIPTU representatives are today (Wednesday, 3rd July) attending a full Labour Court hearing on the implementation of a job evaluation scheme.
Speaking before the hearing, SIPTU Health Divisional Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “SIPTU representatives expect to get a fair hearing of our pay justice claim for our members seeking job evaluation and those working in the chef grades. We could not reach a conclusion through the Workplace Relations Commission. At this stage we have to have confidence that the Court can assist the parties in reaching an acceptable resolution.”
He added: “Our message to members’ is simple. Stay strong. Stay focussed. We are in a process. We have confidence that we can come through the process, and whatever comes out of this, SIPTU members will have the final say.”
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National health care assistants forum launched
SIPTU representatives have today (Monday, 1st July) welcomed the launch of a report into the role of health care assistants (HCA) at the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin. Conducted by the Health Service Executive (HSE) in collaboration with union representatives and public health service stakeholders, it is the first review of the role of the HCA’s in more than a decade.
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Marie Butler, said: “The role of our members has significantly developed into all areas of care and health services over recent years. This review sets out many important recommendations, including the immediate establishment of a permanent national forum for HCA’s which will transition into a full-time HCA office in the HSE within two years. This forum will act as a conduit for all issues of concern for our members including their education, qualifications and professional registration. Our sector committee has been relentless in shaping and influencing the future development of the HCA role and support for its integration into local care teams.”
Chairperson of the SIPTU Health Care Sector Committee,Ann Marie Tibby, said: “The launch of this review and the establishment of this HCA forum is the result of many years of hard work by members to get our issues firmly on the agenda. Crucially, this review recommends that our title is protected to safeguard the development of our role as a key occupation within the health service.”
Link to report here
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Measure wellbeing – not just GDP
You can’t eat Gross Domestic Product (GDP), yet it is the indicator that economists pay closest attention to. GDP gained currency during WWII as a way of keeping track of war production, and has since remained the dominant measure of economic output. More than that, it has become a byword for living standards.
Looking across countries, economic output per person, or per capita, adjusted for price differences is still a reasonable proxy for average material living standards. At least up to a point. It is not necessarily a good indicator of individual happiness, or of societal wellbeing, however. The main problem isn’t with measuring GDP per se, but that maximising it has become the over-riding target for economic policymakers.
They have lost sight of the fact that increasing economic output should be a means to an end, not an end in itself. The over-riding priority should be to maximise the welfare and happiness of the greatest number or people while ensuring everyone has a basic, decent standard of living. Unfortunately, there is no consensus around how these should be measured.
Among others, the OECD has for years been pushing a wellbeing agenda, exploring how best to measure it. They emphasize non- economic factors that ordinary people really care about, like personal security and work-life balance, as well as how these differ across population groups, and how sustainable they are.
Together with Joseph Stiglitz and Jean-Paul Fitoussi, pathbreakers in this field of research, the OECD’s Chief Statistician, Martine Durand, has since 2013 chaired a High- Level Expert Group to drive this ‘Beyond GDP’ agenda. They aim to develop and highlight better measures for well-being, making for more enlightened policymaking.
A good example is life expectancy. Usually, we look at how long people can expect to live, at birth or at a later age, differentiated by gender. The OECD Experts go a step further. They find that life expectancy also differs by education level. In every country. And the difference is bigger for those aged 25 than for those aged 65. This means the gap is growing over time. In every country.
65-year-olds with the equivalent of a junior cert education in the US can expect to live about three years less than those with a third-level degree. For 25-year-olds, this ‘longevity gap’ is nearly eight years! But in Italy, the same gaps are only two and four years, respectively. So, the fact that GDP per capita is higher and growing faster in the U.S. doesn’t mean that people are living longer or better than in Italy.
In fact, a member of the OECD Expert Group and Nobel prize winner, Angus Deaton, calls ‘deaths of despair’, particularly among the white working class, have been so dramatic that overall U.S. life expectancy has actually been falling for three years running. Across vast swathes of ‘Trump country’, suicides, drug overdoses and alcohol-related liver disease are ravaging communities that the economic recovery, as measured by GDP, has completely left behind.
We all know Denmark is a relatively equal country, but it is also proof positive that narrower gaps between rungs of the social ladder make it easier to climb. OECD re- search shows that someone born into a family in the poorest 10% of Denmark’s population can be expected to need two generations to earn an average income.
The same child born in Ireland would need five generations!
These are just some examples of what’s emerging from this important research agenda. And, policy- makers are starting to pay attention. Last month, New Zealand’s Labour-led government ushered in the world’s first wellbeing budget, focused on tackling child poverty and mental illness.
Wouldn’t it be great if when Paschal Donohue announces Budget 2020 in October it had been fully equality-proofed, tackling our housing and health crises, and making citizens’ wellbeing its over-riding priority?
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SIPTU Health strike deferred to allow for Labour Court talks
SIPTU representatives have today (Friday, 28th June) confirmed that strikes in 38 selected hospitals planned for next week (2nd, 3rd and 4th July) have been deferred pending the outcome of a full Labour Court hearing set for Wednesday, 3rd July on the implementation of a job evaluation scheme.
SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “At the request of the Labour Court, SIPTU representatives have agreed to defer strike action scheduled to start next Tuesday to allow for a full hearing to take place with no preconditions. The unity and strength of our members on picket lines this week has demonstrated our determination to achieve a just resolution to this dispute. Ultimately, our members will decide on the outcome of any recommendations that emerge from negotiations at the Labour Court, by way of a secret ballot.”
He added: “On behalf of our members, SIPTU representatives would also like to thank hospital patients and members of the public for the huge support shown to 10,000 health workers on picket lines this week and throughout this dispute.”
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Preliminary hearing at Labour Court underway
A preliminary hearing is underway this morning in the Labour Court. Updates will follow.
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SIPTU accepts invitation to Labour Court hearing tomorrow morning
SIPTU Health representatives have accepted an invitation to attend a preliminary hearing at the Labour Court tomorrow morning (Friday, 28thJune) at 11.30 a.m. to discuss the dispute involving 10,000 health service workers over the implementation of a job evaluation scheme.
SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said; “All issues were examined and exhausted today at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and no meaningful progress was made. At the request of the WRC, we have accepted an invitation from the Labour Court to attend a preliminary hearing tomorrow with no preconditions.
The planned three days of strike action due to take place next week (on 2nd, 3rd and 4th July) have not been deferred.”
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WRC talks continuing…
Talks ongoing at the Workplace Relations Commission.
Word from around the country is that SIPTU members are united and determined to win pay justice and the public is behind us.
Three strike days planned for next week (Tuesday, 2nd July – Thursday, 4th July)
Contact your local strike committee for arrangements or email ask@siptuhealth.ie