13 August 2009 Edition

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Nuacht na nOibrithe

Unions ballot over diamond dealers’ job cuts plan

TRADE unions SIPTU and the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) are to ballot for industrial action on the redundancy deal on offer for the 207 workers who are to lose their jobs at diamond manufacturer Element Six in Shannon, County Clare.
The redundancy deal is a fraction of what was on offer six months ago.
SIPTU branch organiser Mary O’Donnell said:
“We must save as many jobs as possible but we also need far better terms for anyone facing redundancy in the present bleak environment.”
TEEU regional secretary Pat Keane said:
“We will exhaust every avenue to resolve the dispute locally if we can and use all the avenues open to us prior to taking industrial action, provided that management adheres to local procedures.”

 

HSE defers sacking 21 nurses after union meeting

FOLLOWING a meeting with the Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO), HSE management have agreed to defer the cessation of 21 fixed-term and temporary nursing contracts in the Midland Regional Hospitals to allow for discussions and risk assessments to take place.
INO industrial relations officer Lorraine Monaghan of the INO said that the INO had no doubt that the risk assessments would reveal dangerously low staffing levels in the hospitals as there had been a considerable reduction of nursing and midwifery staff over the recent months.
“The effect of taking a further 21 staff out of the three Midlands hospitals would most certainly have had a detrimental effect on patient care and ultimately lead to fatalities.”
The INO has postponed a ballot on industrial action pending the outcome of local discussions and risk assessments.

 

32 nurses cut at Letterkenny in ‘cynical’ move

 THE Health Service Executive has been accused by the Irish Nurses’ Organisation of being “cynical” and “immoral” in Letterkenny General Hospital in County Donegal which is losing 14 nurses this week and another 18 by October because they had less than one year’s service and no statutory rights.
Irish Nurses’ Organisation industrial relations officer Noel Treanor said:
“It is unquestionable that this is the reason why these nurses have been let go.
“They will get no redundancy package because they were not here over two years but also they cannot appeal their contract termination because they will have been here less than one year.
“It is a cynical and immoral cut by the HSE but to pretend that the HSE operates any differently is misguided.”
The INO, SIPTU and IMPACT are in talks with the HSE to try and source other jobs for those nurses being let go at Letterkenny.

 

Bar workers robbed of owed wages

THE Mandate trade union has criticised the Spawell licensed premises in Templeogue, Dublin, for failing to pay its staff members for two weeks after a robbery of the nightclub in July.
The union says that workers in the Spawell have endured a series of difficulties with regard to pay for several months now and it is time that the company sorted out their issues once and for all.
In January 2009, workers were forced to take a 25% reduction in their hours and have recently been issued pay cheques that bounced.
The company has told staff that they cannot be paid as a substantial robbery took place on 25 July, leaving no profits to pay them!
Mandate organiser Eddie Cassidy said:
“The company has behaved in a very irresponsible and unprofessional manner.
“Rumour has it that the company is going through a difficult period but so are the workers at this moment in time. The least they can expect is honesty and payment for work completed.”


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