Archive for
The Development Agenda
Posted on August 30, 2017
Ahead of the annual Global Solidarity Summer School Theo Morrissey of the International Trade Union Confederation looks at how Sustainable Development can become a global reality and how trade unions can play their part
The trade union understanding of development runs far deeper than simply increasing national wealth: instead it focuses on improving quality of life and life chances for the majority of citizens.
Decent Work is central to achieving this goal. It is a key factor in the fight against poverty and inequality in all its forms and in how we achieve a Just Transition to a more sustainable economic model.
Permanent link | Categories: Agenda 2030 • Global Solidarity
How to Survive a Performance Management Review
Posted on June 23, 2017
How to Survive a Performance Review
Workers should be mindful that midterm reviews can be used to undermine their performance but help is at hand, says the FSU’s Gareth Murphy
I have been dealing with people undergoing performance management reviews for more than a decade.
It is hugely frustrating for workers when they find objectives are arbitrarily imposed and goalposts are moved. The tendency of some employers to mark people down, regardless of their work, is also a source of enormous frustration.
In my experience, elaborate bureaucratic structures can be used to force people into a rating structure that bears little resemblance to the team or group dynamic.
In a recent survey of a large bank in Ireland, both staff and managers were highly critical of their system. As one manager put it:
Permanent link | Categories:
A New Contract for a New Economy
Posted on May 29, 2017
Congress Equality Officer David Joyce looks at the likley impact of the Digital Economy on the world of work and how we can ensure a 'just transition'
Daily we are bombarded with propaganda that promotes the 'gig' economy as exciting and empowering. It is also referred to as the 'sharing' economy, implying that it operates in a manner that benefits all participants equally.
That is clearly untrue.
What is often overlooked is the fact that workers in this new economy are expected to renounce their rights to employment contracts, regularised working hours, social security and even job security.
In fact none of these standard protections seem to apply once the goods and services are delivered via an app or a web platform.
Permanent link | Categories: Digital Economy
Don't Hold the Front Page
Posted on April 26, 2017
Acting NUJ General Secretary
Ahead of World Press Freedom Day and as Ireland drops in the Press Freedom rankings, NUJ Acting General Secretary Seamus Dooley says yes, there is a crisis in the media and yes, we should be worried
Those who lament the passing of the traditional newspaper are in danger of sounding like a blacksmith bemoaning the arrival of the automobile.
The digital revolution has swept away old certainties and challenged our assumptions about ‘news’.The fact that everyone can become a reporter is empowering. No longer do you have to buy ink by the barrel in order to exercise power and influence.
Permanent link | Categories: Press Freedom • fake news • media ownership
A Victory for Respect, Solidarity, Trade Unions & the Beautiful Game
Posted on April 06, 2017
The Irish Women's National Football Team outside Liberty Hall
Ethel Buckley, SIPTU Services Divisional Organiser on how the Irish women’s national football team stood together to win a new deal from the FAI
!n the early hours of Thursday, April 6, SIPTU and Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI) representatives secured a landmark agreement with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) that our members believe will address their concerns and take their team to the next level.
This hard fought victory can be shared by all workers who are badly treated by their employer. It should give all trade unionists hope that with the right energy, enthusiasm and commitment we can prevail.
Permanent link | Categories: Women's Football • PFAI • Respect
Creating Workplaces that Protect Whistleblowers
Posted on March 23, 2017
Stephanie Casey, Transparency International
Stephanie Casey outlines how we can create a workplace culture that is supportive of whistleblowing. Stephanie is the Integrity at Work Programme Manager with Transparency International Ireland
Whistleblowing is acknowledged as one of the most effective ways to expose institutional wrongdoing.
But despite the pivotal role whistleblowers have played in exposing abuse in our financial sector, healthcare and law enforcement systems, they are routinely penalised by employers and viewed with suspicion by work colleagues.
The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 (PDA) offers hope to whistleblowers – and the public – that behaviour and attitudes towards those who speak up will now change.
The PDA was welcomed as a new standard for whistleblower legislation worldwide. Nevertheless, it alone cannot bring about much-needed institutional and cultural reform.
Permanent link | Categories: Whistleblowing • Transparency International
Europe Needs a Pay Rise
Posted on February 28, 2017
ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentinioutlines the reasoning behind the organisation's ambitious new campaign - a pay rise for workers across Europe
Wages in Europe have collapsed in the last decade.
The cause?
Globalisation, the financial crisis and, above all, the austerity measures that followed from the crisis. Wage cuts and the dismantling of collective bargaining and minimum wage systems have been the principle - and badly chosen - tools of economic adjustment.
Today, after almost a decade of pain for workers, we can say in sadness but absolute confidence that it hasn’t worked. Instead of recovery, we still face stagnation, high levels of unemployment, a fall in demand.
Permanent link | Categories: Pay Rise • ETUC
Workers Cannot Pay the Price for Brexit
Posted on January 27, 2017
Owen Reidy, Congress Assistant General Secretary
Assistant General Secretary Owen Reidy says Brexit negotiations are too important to be left to politicians in Dublin, London or Brussels. This article also features on the TUC's Touchstone Blog
The UK Supreme Court judgement has finally clarified the key role of parliament in triggering Article 50.
That judgement reinforced the centrality of elected politicians to decisions that will shape the future of the UK, as opposed to the Prime Minister assuming Royal Prerogative.
At least now MPs will have the opportunity to challenge and oppose the Prime Minister’s determination to leave the EU in a manner almost designed to inflict the maximum damage to Northern Ireland and its neighbours - economically, socially and politically.
Permanent link | Categories: Brexit • NI • Owen Reidy
European Pillar of Social Rights Offers New Hope for Social Europe
Posted on December 16, 2016
ETUC Confederal Secretary
The EU is slowly emerging from the worst economic crisis in its history.
One of major casualties of that crisis was the European Social Model, undermined and weakened by the official response to a meltdown in the financial system.
Fundamental social rights and public services have been sacrificed. But an EU focused only in the market will not maintain the support and trust of workers and citizens.
With a third of workers across the EU struggling to make ends meet, Europe urgently needs a new social pact.
We need more Social Europe.
We need a vision that is bold enough to redress the glaring imbalance in the current model, that restores the primacy of livelihoods and living standards in EU policy.
Permanent link | Categories: EU • Social Europe • European Pillar of Social Rights
(UPDATED) LEAKED CETA DECLARATION PROMISES LITTLE, DELIVERS LESS
Posted on October 14, 2016
UPDATED Oct 28: An agreement between the Belgian government and the regional Wallonian parliament removed the last obstacle to the official signing of the CETA trade deal between Belgium and Canada, which took place on October 30. The last minute agreement appears to make some concessions to the Wallonian parliament, particularly on the controversial ISDS 'secret court' system for investors (see below). The CETA deal will come into force on a temporary basis ('provisional application').
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