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Podcast on Proposed Nursing and Midwifery contract
Member of the SIPTU Nursing and Midwifery Sector Committee will meet today (Tuesday, 12th March) at 1130 in Liberty Hall to discuss the outcome of the enhanced nursing contract talks that took place in the Workplace Relations Commission last weekend.
Updates to follow.
Listen to podcast
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Nursing and midwifery contract talks conclude without agreement
SIPTU Health Division representatives have tonight (Sunday, 10th March) confirmed that talks, under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), on an enhanced nursing and midwifery contract, have concluded without agreement.
SIPTU Health Divisional Organiser, Paul Bell said: “Throughout the talks, management represented by the Health Service Executive, Department of Health and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform continued to maintain their position on fundamental issues concerning our members’ hours of work, rosters, redeployment, work location and assimilation to the new enhanced pay scale. All of these areas are of fundamental concern to SIPTU and our Nursing and Midwifery members.”
“SIPTU negotiators informed management, that their objectives in all of these key areas, all of which fundamentally undermine the terms and conditions of Nurses & Midwives, are firmly and unequivocally rejected and that the proposals are not fit for purpose.”
He added: “SIPTU representatives also confirmed that any management proposals aimed at deteriorating the terms and conditions of Nurses and Midwives will be firmly resisted by our National Nursing and Midwifery Sector Committee.”
SIPTU Nursing Sector Organiser, Kevin Figgis said: “It is our assessment that the totality of the proposals either provide little or no benefit for some Nursing and Midwifery grades and destabilise the entire concept of a workplace location and a structured rostered day.”
He added: “As there are no further talks scheduled, SIPTU Nursing and Midwifery Sector will meet this week for the purpose of agreeing on a communication strategy and secret ballot to allow SIPTU Nurse and Midwifery members have the final say on these proposals.”
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Time to Raise the Roof again
ANOTHER parliamentary report, more criticism of current housing policy. The Oireachtas Housing Committee’s recent report questioned: “whether Rebuilding Ireland can remain as the current blueprint for tackling the issues of housing and homelessness”.
This is a polite way of saying what most people concluded some time ago – government policy is not working.
The Government insists that the primary delivery vehicle for housing is the private sector. To this end, it must employ a range of subsidies to developers and private interests. This is not only costly; it has the perverse effect of driving up prices. And there is less money for policies that could really make a positive impact.
Let’s look at some of these subsidies:
- The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP)
This is the flagship scheme among a number of rent subsidies. These subsidies provide payments to tenants who cannot afford their rents in the private sector.
They will cost the state more than 3 billion over the next few years.
These payments are ultimately a subsidy to the landlord. Secondly, subsidies drive up rent as landlords can keep raising prices at the public’s expense. Third, in the long-term, they are more costly: it is cheaper to build public housing and rent it directly to the tenant.
On this last point, the Government doesn’t have to take our word here in Liberty. The Department of Finance’s own analysis last year concluded: “It is estimated that, based on the Local Authority areas analysed, the . . . cost of delivering units through mechanisms such as HAP, RAS and leasing is higher than construction and/or acquisition.” Enough said.
- The Land Development Agency
The purpose of this agency is to coordinate all publicly-held land with the purpose of developing it for house-building. In theory, this is a good idea. The State owns a lot of land and not just at local authority level. Land is also held by public agencies, including NAMA, Government departments, semi- states, etc.
A co-ordinating agency can create efficiencies and provide more land for house-building.
The problem is we don’t know what the Government intends to do with this land. The fear is that it will engage in a massive transfer to private developers who will build for profit, selling or leasing 10% or 20% of the houses back to the state – at market rates.
Land would be lost, affordability wouldn’t really be affordable and the costs to public authorities of leasing or purchasing would be higher than if they just built the houses themselves.
The Land Development Agency has the capacity to engage in the biggest transfer of public wealth to private interests since the bailout of bank creditors and the massive property disposals of public lands by NAMA.
- The House Building Finance Agency (HBFI)
This little-known agency was established by the Government to support smaller developers who couldn’t get bank loans. Recently, the Government made available 750 million to the agency to loan out. Some might argue this isn’t a subsidy since the agency will be lending at ‘market rates’. This is true. But look at the alternative.
The State can borrow at ridiculously low rates – one per cent – and this is likely to continue for some time as Eurozone governments continue to depress their economies through irrational austerity policies. The market, however, lends at 8%. The developer’s borrowing costs are thousands of euros more a year which is passed on in a higher mortgage.
This simple comparison makes the point – lending at ‘market’ rates only embeds high costs into house prices (while the bank earns more in interest payments).
In the end, it is the purchaser who pays the subsidy and the higher mortgage, with the developer making a tidy profit. If the State built the house itself, it could sell or rent it at a much lower price.
HAP, the Land Development Agency, the House Building Finance Agency – all these are just a few of the subsidies and incentives to private developers and the private housing sector.
The alternative is simpler and much less costly:
- Public land for public housing only – no sell-offs to private interests.
- The State to build houses for affordable rental and affordable purchase – without profit or speculation.
- And whether for rent or purchase – no means-tests.
- In other words, public housing for all.
It is time to Raise the Roof . . . again.
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WRC talks on enhanced nurse contract to continue tomorrow
Nursing and Midwifery talks under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission have tonight concluded without agreement on the Enhanced Nurse contract.
Management represented by the HSE, Department of Health and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has maintained a rigid position on fundamental issues concerning our members’ hours of work, rosters, redeployment, work location and assimilation to the new enhanced payscale all of which are of fundamental concern.
SIPTU has continually opposed management’s objectives in all of these key areas, all of which fundamentally challenge the terms and conditions of nurses & midwives employment.
At the conclusion of talks tonight, the Workplace Relations Commission invited parties to re-engage at 16:00hrs tomorrow (Sunday, 10th March).
SIPTU has accepted this invitation.
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Nursing Contract talks continue
Evening Update:
Members Update: Talks on enhanced nursing and midwifery contract continuing at Workplace Relations Commission.
Not clear if any further progress will be made tonight. pic.twitter.com/yvLNwrsGYY
— SIPTU Health Division (@siptuhealth) March 9, 2019
Update:
Members Update: SIPTU Health Division Officials working diligently through the latest amended draft contract for enhanced Nurse and Midwife role in WRC.
Serious challenges remain to be overcome in order to address serious & legitimate concerns of @SIPTU Nurses and Midwives. pic.twitter.com/EtSUryUubX
— SIPTU Health Division (@siptuhealth) March 9, 2019
Talks between unions and health employers on a new nursing contract adjourned last night (Friday, 8th Match) at 10.30pm. Talks will resume later today at 2pm at the Workplace Relations Commission.
No progress has been made on substantive issues. A new version of a draft contract is to be prepared by employers for today. Updates to follow.
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Nursing Contract Talks continue
SIPTU Nursing representatives have today (Friday, 8th March) confirmed that negotiations on the proposed new nursing contact will continue at 3.30pm at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
Updates to follow.
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SIPTU Nursing to attend WRC hearing this week
SIPTU Nursing representatives have today (Monday, 4th March) confirmed that negotiations between unions and officials at the Health Service Executive, Department of Health and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform have been referred to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Kevin Figgis, said: “SIPTU representatives have been contacted by the WRC to inform our union that a referral has been made by employers (HSE) seeking their assistance on the draft contract for enhanced nurses. SIPTU will not support a contract which seeks to destabilise a workforce, remove the concept of a recognised place of work or creates uncertainty for the workforce providing service.”
“It is incumbent that any flexibility required of the nursing/midwifery profession must be linked to the development of such policies as the implementation of SlainteCare and the development of community service, and not merely be viewed as an employer attempting to blatantly deconstruct existing working day or base locations.”
A general nursing meeting will be convened the WRC this week, followed by a mental health meeting.
SIPTU will be in attendance for both and further updates will be made available on the SIPTU Health App.
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A new weapon in the war against low pay
From next Monday (4th March), the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, becomes the law of the land.
This vital piece of legislation gives workers on flexible and low-hours contracts new rights and entitlements on working hours and pay.
Trade union representatives fought hard for this new law. The employers didn’t want to give an inch. The new law gives more certainty to the lives of tens of thousands of workers across Ireland, particularly in hospitality, home care, retail and catering sectors, but only if the employer actually implements it.
As trade union members, we know zero-hour and low-hour contracts give employers control over the lives of workers. This power imbalance makes it very difficult for workers to speak up, plan their lives or make ends meet.
Bad employers often use the threat of reduced hours to keep workers in line and to punish workers for being unavailable for work at very short notice. This legislation re-tips the balance and makes progress in giving workers back control.
Set down in law are minimum payments for workers if their employer fails to provide them with work or sends a worker home without pay having reported for duty. Workers are also now entitled to be guaranteed hours of work that reflect their normal working week.
The practice of putting workers on a low-hour contract while in reality, they work a much longer week is now effectively banned.
The best way to enforce this law in your workplace is to ensure that every worker is in the union.
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Nursing contract talks adjourn
SIPTU representatives have tonight (Friday, 1st March) said that talks between nursing unions and Department of Health, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and Health Service Executive (HSE) officials on the details of a proposed contract of employment for the new Enhanced Nurse post within have adjourned until Wednesday 6th March.
At the discussions, SIPTU representatives raised serious concerns about the scale of the changes in the proposed new contract and informed stakeholders that SIPTU members must be consulted on any changes in their terms and conditions.
Following the meeting, SIPTU Sector Organiser, Kevin Figgis said: ‘We had a full and frank exchange with the Government departments regarding the proposed draft contract. We outlined our strong views this document will not be acceptable to our membership in its current form and significant change is required.”
SIPTU Health Division Organiser Paul Bell, said: “Elements of the proposed draft are a retrograde step backwards for nursing and midwifery. We understand the employers will consider the points made by our team and we look forward to further engagement next week.”
SIPTU Health will provide further updates to our members in the coming days.