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Only a massive state intervention can prevent a deep recession
Posted on March 27, 2020
Dr Tom McDonnell and Paul Mac Flynn NERI
18 March 2020
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Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Posted on February 17, 2020
Sexual harassment can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Yet all too often, it happens in the workplace. Congress Social Policy Office DR LAURA BAMBRICK shares some of the findings of a recent Congress survey of trade union members’ experience of sexual harassment at work.
Ahead of the International Day to End Violence against Women on November 25, a UN-designated day which kick-starts 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions conducted an online survey of more than 1,300 union members with experience of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace.
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What life is really like living in a Direct Provision Centre - one woman's experience
Posted on January 13, 2020
It's estimated that there are more than 6,000 asylum seekers living in controversial Direct Provision centres across Ireland, with around 1,400 in emergency accommodation such as hotels and B&Bs. In her blog Nigerian born, Elizabeth Adeyemo describes her experiences living in a Direct Provision Centre in Mosney, County Meath for seven years. She graduated from Maynooth and is studying for a Masters Degree at DCU. Elizabeth calls Mosney "a decorated prison" but also says she loves this country and like other immigrants longed to be free to work, to build, to contribute and give their children a chance.
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The Belfast Pogrom - extract from Labour,Gender and Class in the Struggle for Irish Independence 1917-1923
Posted on November 12, 2019
The Belfast Pogrom Sectarian violence had been a recurring problem in Belfast since the mid-nineteenth century and provided an unsettling undercurrent that disrupted the city’s public life in almost every generation.
It had a particular impact on the development of the Labour movement, yet as recently as 1911, James Connolly the newly arrived Belfast secretary of the ITGWU and the longstanding local advocate of socialism in the city, William Walker of the ASCJ had agreed that sectarian violence was a thing of the past in an otherwise extremely bitter debate on whether the future of Irish Labour lay in aligning itself with Irish nationalism or integration in the British labour movement.
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The Marriage Bar : A Ban on Employing Married Women
Posted on October 14, 2019
The Marriage Bar required single women to resign from their job upon getting married and disqualified married women from applying for vacancies. They were in common use up until the 1970s, which means that there are women alive today with first-hand experience of the Bar.
ICTU Social Policy Office DR LAURA BAMBRICK explains the Marriage Bar and how Congress would like to hear from women whose contracts ended on marriage, in order to record their memories of this important part of labour history.
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A Short-Time Work Scheme would help us battle the worst effects of Brexit
Posted on October 07, 2019
Dr Tom McDonnell, Senior Economist, Nevin Economic Research Institute
Every economic downturn is unique but often involve some form of demand-side or supply-side shock.
A ‘demand-side’ shock occurs when businesses and households collectively reduce their spending in the economy. Good examples include stock market or property crashes that lead to a general loss of confidence in future economic prospects. Supply-side shocks tend to be more damaging to the economy over the long-run. This is because they can affect a country’s long-run productive potential and its ability to grow into the future. Good examples include increases in energy prices or in the cost of trade, or political turmoil and prolonged uncertainty, that chokes-off investment in capital goods and new technology.
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Centenary Conference of the International Labour Organisation
Posted on September 25, 2019
Dublin Castle was the setting for a recent conference celebrating the centenary of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) themed around the 1944 Declaration of Philadelphia. The principal author of the Declaration was Irishman Edward J Phelan who had a distinguished career with the ILO and was credited with shaping its values.
Congress was represented by General Secretary Patricia King, Liam Berney Industrial Officer and David Joyce, Policy Officer and Deirdre O’Connor member of the Executive Council of ICTU.
The opening address was given by President Michael D Higgins, who expressed his concern at “new emerging trends in work, and his belief that “we are now witnessing increases in precarious employment, contract working, and ongoing casualisation of labour”.
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High drama in the House of Commons - but Boris Johnston is not the first PM to confront rebel Tories.
Posted on September 04, 2019
Last night saw extraordinary events in Westminister, 21 Tory rebels taking a stand, one of them even crossing the floor in front of Prime Minister Boris Johnston to join the Liberal Democrats, and a crushing defeat for the British Government.
In a few hours of high drama, MP’s voted by 328 to 301 to seize control of the parliamentary agenda in an effort to avoid a no-deal Brexit. In a night of historic proportions, even Charles Stewart Parnell was invoked by pro-Brexit MP Jacob Rees-Mogg during a fractious debate.
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Partnership between ICTU and NUI Galway to explore Labour Movement’s Revolutionary role in the struggle for Irish Independence
Posted on August 08, 2019
The ICTU has established a partnership with NUIG this year to mark the Labour Movement’s role in the Struggle for Independence. A number of satellite events will be held in Athy, Belfast, Cork and Dublin. These are being organised in conjunction with local trades councils and other organisations, including University College Cork and Ulster University.
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is part funding events and promoting them as part of its Decade of Centenaries programme.
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My new life as a young Syrian refugee in Ireland
Posted on May 08, 2019
My name is Taqwa Alhariry. I am a 27-year-old student, who escaped the savage war in Syria to live in Ireland with my mother and sisters.
I came here with my two sisters, Sarra (19), Maisa (22) and my mother Fatima. We were later joined by my third sister Amira (17), who came from Turkey, and we now live together in Enniscorthy, County Wexford. A fourth sister, Shaima is living in Belgium. We are originally from Daraa city in Syria and I am currently studying Cambridge English in Dublin so as I can enter a university in Ireland.
I originally came from Syria and used to live with my family in Daraa city.
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