Job losses across the North

THREE HUNDRED jobs will be lost as part of a water efficiency drive in the Six Counties.
Restructuring in the NI Water company will include the centralisation of services in Belfast, Ballymena, Craigavon, Altnagelvin and Omagh with many maintenance jobs being lost.
Rather than remaining staff attending regional depots to receive instructions, they will now receive their instructions electronically. Paddy Mackel of the public sector trade union, NIPSA, said that staff are extremely angry about the proposals.
A Japanese-owned electronics factory in Derry is about to let 33 out of its 400 strong workforce redundant after a reported slow-down in business.
The Coleraine AVX plant produces parts for mobile phones and computers. The company has said that it will hold talks with trade union representatives and that it “very much regrets” having to make the proposals.

Teachers: 1,200 jobs to go in Budget cutbacks

THE Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has said that the schools are being stripped of their assets as a result of the Budget cuts.
The TUI has said that a school in Dublin is to lose one teacher, four language support teachers, a library grant and €22,180 in funding.
TUI General Secretary Peter McMenamin said that cuts will affect 1,200 jobs in the education sector.
“The Government commitment to protect the weakest in society is rendered a total lie by the actions of the ministers collectively. Clearly the weakest and those without a powerful voice to raise their issues have been brutally attacked.”

Injunction on sparks’ pay case lifted

THE Dublin High Court has this week lifted an injunction that has prevented the Labour Court from hearing a case which could affect the pay of 10,000 electricians across the 26 Counties.
The Registered Employment Agreement (REA), which sets wages for electricians through agreements between employers and unions, is being challenged by a group of independent electrical contractors. The contractors are claiming that the REA system is unfair as they are not represented at REA negotiations and they cannot afford to pay recently-agreed pay increases of €1.05 per hour. They had secured an injunction to prevent the Labour Court from hearing their case against pay increases until a full legal challenge was heard.
If the contractors win their case this could affect not only electricians’ wages but also the wages of others employed in sectors governed by REA agreements.

School to stay closed during strike

A SCHOOL in County Down is to remain closed as a dispute between teachers and the South Eastern Education and Library Board continues as we go to press.
Teachers employed at the Movilla High School, Newtownards, have been on strike for over a week as a result of teachers refusing to teach a pupil who is believed to have assaulted a teacher. The South Eastern Education and Library Board subsequently docked the wages of teachers.
The striking teachers are represented by the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers which has made proposals to the board to make alternative arrangements for the pupils at the centre of the dispute. However, talks at the Labour Relations Agency have failed to resolve the dispute.