Unions meet Minister over fair pay for North’s lecturers

University and College Union (UCU) members have met with Assembly Minister for Employment and Learning Reg Empey to see whether a resolution can be found for their dispute with education colleges across the north. The dispute has arisen following the Horisk report that stated the earnings potential for lecturers was significantly below that of schoolteachers and schoolteachers had significantly greater opportunities for promotion and the attraction of management or other opportunities.
The report recommended that action be taken to redress the deferential. The lecturers have had a series of one day strikes since January and are operating a widespread work-to-rule  across the 16 further education colleges in the north. Regional UCU official Jim McKeown described the meeting with Empey as very constructive and said “UCU will continue to pull out the stops to find a solution.” 

Hiring illegal migrants to be made a crime by EU

Ireland has been given six months by the EU to decide whether to opt in or stay out of a proposed EU law that would criminalise employers for hiring illegal migrants. The law was proposed by EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini and was endorsed by all European Commissioners at a meeting this week. The law will have the effect of creating a series of financial penalties, criminal charges as well as sanctions against employers who engage in black market employers.
If the law is adopted in this state, black market employers will be barred from tendering for public contracts or lose existing business and also forfeit government and EU subsidies. As well as this the rogue convicted employer will be required to pay the bill for repatriating the migrant worker to their non-EU homeland and settle any outstanding wages, taxes and PRSI.

Ambulance staff calling for strike ballot

Ambulance staff employed by the HSE in Cork and Kerry have called for a national ballot on industrial action following claims that the HSE have plans to privatise the state’s ambulance service. The claims were made after an expression of interest notice was posted on the Government’s e-tender website last Friday.
Following this, the HSE denied claims of plans to privatise the service and said that it is “simply formalising existing services around the country”. Eighty staff members in the Cork region attended a meeting in Cork this week and called on Siptu to hold a national ballot on industrial action because of plans to privatise the service without consultation.

SIPTU call for better protection for domestic workers

SIPTU have this week called for the establishment of a Joint Labour Committee to set minimum pay and conditions of employment for domestic workers. The union have called for this after a new Code of Practice to protect domestic workers was launched by Labour Affairs Minister Tony Killeen this week. Rhonda Donaghey of the Union’s Domestic Workers’ Support Group welcomed the launch of the code, but added that the Government should take this initiative onto the next stage by establishing a Joint Labour Commission which will protect workers’ pay and conditions by law.
The Code of Practice sets out minimum standards that must apply to all domestic workers and confirms the legal responsibility of employers towards their employees. The union hopes that this will help end some forms of abuse of domestic workers including excessive working hours and being permanently ‘on call’. ICTU have described the new code of practice as a “major step forward in defending the most vulnerable workers”.