A broad range of communities, community and youth organisations, trade unions, cultural groups, students and campaigning organisations from Dublin and beyond are coming together to participate in a Radical Spectacle. Assemble CITY HALL, Castle St. Dublin 2, 7 pm, Friday 10th December

On December 10th, a broad range of communities, community and youth organisations, trade unions, cultural groups, students and campaigning organisations from Dublin and beyond are coming together to participate in a Radical Spectacle.

The heart is literally being ripped out of our communities and this affects the country as a whole. The Spectacle will be an act of Creative Resistance to the redundant policies of a redundant regime.

This day is United Nations International Day of Human Rights around the world and is an appropriate moment to mobilise. The Spectacle’s participative, imaginative and heartfelt approach will demonstrate that there is another way to a more equal and a more just Ireland. The Spectacle says STOP this madness of punishing ordinary people for the mistakes of others.

STOP RIPPING THE HEART OUT OF COMMUNITIES.

The Spectacle is a creative invitation to the people of Ireland to challenge the way things are being done and to say that we should move forward by protecting and valuing the heart of communities in this country.

LET’S START NOW.

Our country needs a radical transformation based on values of equality, solidarity and accountability. We want you, your family, your neighbour and your community to come to the Spectacle to make this point. We are asking all groups who are not already participating to sign up, get on board and get your groups organised.

The Spectacle starts at City Hall, beside Dublin Castle at 7pm on Friday 10th December (groups will gather from 6pm). It will travel past the Central Bank, up O’Connell Street and return to the Central Bank via D’Olier Street with stops for brief performances along the way.

Show your support by wearing red (shirt, hat, scarf, etc.). We highly recommend bringing White heart-shaped Placards with messages of protest, hope or support rather than Party Banners or Flags.

If you or your group want to participate in the Spectacle and need more information contact any of the following:

John Bissett 087 9889132             

Rita Fagan 087 6319004 

 Fidelma Bonass 086 8217266

spectacleofdefiance@gmail.com

The meeting was attended by community group representatives and union leaders including IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody. The meeting was also attended by SIPTU general president Jack O’Connor, UNITE’s Jimmy Kelly and Congress general secretary David Begg.

The meeting took place because it’s believed that the community and voluntary sector has been identified by the Government as a significant target for further budget cuts.

 The Harvey report, published by IMPACT’s Boards & Voluntary Agencies branch in May, has indicated that the sector has already absorbed substantial cuts in 2009 and 2010, leading to a loss of an estimated 5,000 jobs.

Defending Communities

 The meeting led to a joint call for the protection of successful community-based programmes including the community employment programme and the full-time jobs initiative.

Defending the vulnerable

 Representatives also agreed that the incomes of lone parents and people with disabilities should be ring-fenced from any budgetary cutbacks and in the Government’s proposed four year plan. The group also rejected proposed controversial new programmes that require unemployed people to work for their social welfare payments.

Defending Workers Rights in the Voluntary Sector

The unions resolved to organise in response to the significant wage cuts that have been imposed on community sector workers, which ignore employment contracts and undermine established pay scales and conditions.

The unions will also challenge the continuing refusal of government departments and agencies to honour Labour Court decisions in relation to redundancy terms by restricting them to statutory redundancy only.

This will be achieved by further developing the formal relationship recently agreed with the Department of Finance in relation to resolving current issues in the community sector while a new industrial strategy will be developed to resist any further redundancies and job losses.

End Bank Bailouts

Save our Services

A future for our kids

Jobs & Growth

 The report estimates that up to 5,000 jobs – almost 10% of the sector’s workforce – will be lost while demand for services provided by the sector continues to climb as a direct result of the recession. It also says that voluntary organisations which are more critical of government policy are more vulnerable, as they are seen as an ‘easy option to cut.’

 The report, by independent research consultant Brian Harvey, was launched in Dublin today (Wednesday) by Shay Cody, General Secretary Designate of IMPACT. The report was commissioned by the union branch in order to examine the disproportionate effect of budgetary cuts in the sector, which provides a wide range of services to Ireland’s most vulnerable people and communities.  There are approximately 6,100 voluntary and community organisations in Ireland, employing over 53,000 people.  The estimated value of the sector to the economy is €6.5billion, while state funding is in the order of €1.89billion.   The report finds that the economic crisis, which broke in autumn 2008, presented fresh demands on voluntary and community organisations, “Not only in traditional areas such as the need to help people with cash, shelter, food and food parcels, but in new areas such as money-lending, debt and mortgage arrears, as well as unemployment.” 

Una O’Connor, secretary of IMPACT’s Boards and Agencies branch explained that the sector relies on a huge level of commitment and skill. “With limited resources, we have made this a strong and vibrant sector which supports a strong social economy. Inflicting cuts on the community and voluntary sector is nothing less than a betrayal of everything that we have achieved.” she said. Ms O’Connor works for the Sophia housing project in Dublin.   Ms O’ Connor added, “This report confirms that the ability of the sector to represent those most in need will be sharply reduced and that the civil society voice for a more enlightened social policy will diminish. It marks the greatest risk that the community and voluntary sector, which has been a model of best practice and expertise in so many fields, has ever faced.”

 During 2009 – 2010, when the state budget increased overall, budgets for voluntary and community organisations were reduced. On the state side, government spending rose by 6% in 2009 and is due to fall by 1.8% in 2010.  However, the voluntary and community sector cuts were between 18% and 20% over the same period.   The report says that while the cuts were lower in social and health services, they were much higher in the area of community development.  

Ms O’Connor said that a contraction in the voluntary and community sector of about 15% over the next two years is expected, “We know that voluntary and community organisations are trying to absorb cuts.   Most staff in these organisations have taken pay cuts similar to those in the public services or have gone on three day weeks.”   However, despite efforts to absorb cuts through pay cuts and reduced working hours, heavy job losses are expected, “In employment, we project a loss of almost 5,000 jobs, with an additional 1,100 posts at risk in Community Employment.   These are cautious and conservative projections.   These jobs are done by skilled professionals, with years of experience and commitment, vital qualities for modern social and public services.” 

Public services provided by the sector include social housing, services for people who are homeless, social services for children and older people, development aid, services for people with intellectual and physical disabilities, community development, services to people who are unemployed and disadvantaged communities.

Ms O’Connor said that community and voluntary organisations provide the ‘human face’ of public services to the most vulnerable people in our society, “These organisations have evolved into professional, quality services and are not a cheap alternative.” The report also highlights the risk of decline in volunteer activity in the sector, as the numbers of professional staff responsible for recruitment, training and retaining volunteers is also cut.

 
The report itself is in PDF format linked at the bottom of the statement, and can be linked directly here – http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/pub/general/HarveyReport2010.pdf

Campaigns

Reports

Updates

BVA Newsletter May 2010

Donations amounting to €516500 were agreed in 2009 and are detailed below. Since the fund was established in 1981 a total of €5,213,500 has been donated to qualifying projects.

2. The PSI projects for 2009 amounted to €280,000.

Projects included; Gender campaigns in the Southern Cone of South America, Pay equity in Brazil, Equity and Equality in the Andean Region, Young Workers in the Southern Cone, Health Sector reforms in the Southern Cone, Quality Public Services in Paraguay, Organising in the Congo, Union Development in Cameroon, Workers Rights in the Middle East, Union Rights in Turkey, A global project on women and migration in the Health Sector.

3. We carried over commitments amounting to over €193,000 for 2009 as follows: (i) Playing for life – €65,000 (year 3 of 3-5) (ii) Concern Pakistan – €20,000 (year 3 of 3 ) (iii) Uganda Union – €35,000 (year 2 of 2 ) (iv) Aiding Resources, Kenya – €6,500 (year 2 of 4 ) (v) Hope Foundation – €24,808 (year 2 of 3 ) (vi) Belvedere Calcutta – €2,000 (ongoing) (vii) Bethlehem Maternity Hospital – $25,000 (year 2 of 4 ) (viii) International Aids/HIV Union initiative – €20,000 (year 2 of 2 )

 4. We supported an application from a member of staff for support for an Indian NGO project for €1,500.

5. We had previously agreed to support a social housing project in Paraguay subject to the balance of the funding being secured elsewhere. This was confirmed and payment of €10,000 was made.

6. We agreed to support the Niall Mellon, South Africa project with a grant of €2,000 be made to a maximum of 5 members.

7. We supported a request from Concern for a donation of €10,000 towards a project they are running in Southern Chad. The project deals with livelihoods, water and sanitation in Southern Chad. It is helping refugees who have fled the fighting in the Central African Republic and also the host population from Chad. Concern aims to develop the capacity of the refugees to enable them to have livelihoods and provide for their own needs over time.

8. We received a request via Congress for support for the trade union movement in Burma. A donation of €10,000 was agreed.

9. We received a request from the Cork Branch for support for a SVP project in Sierra Leone. We have previously supported this and a donation of €1,000 was agreed.

 10. We also agreed to support a request from the President for a donation of €1,000 towards a Malawi project

newsletterspring10

                                             6:30pm                   

                              Monday 15th February  

                            IMPACT Head Office, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1

Agenda

Chairs report                           

Report from Assistant General Secretaries

Motions to branch

Motions to conference

Election of branch committee

To find out about getting involved in the branch, or if you want to propose a motion or for information about the AGM,  please contact Branch Secretary, Una O’ Connor at 087 2969626 or email impactbva@gmail.com

The HWDEC noted the following: 

1. The transformation approach presented by the unions would have avoided pay cuts and could have saved billions.  It is clear that, by indicating a willingness to explore alternatives and then by walking away, the Government acted in bad faith and placed the agenda of business before the interests of ordinary citizens.
2. The Government has attempted to justify its actions using these arguments against the union approach. 

•  
  • It was unworkable. (Despite the furore regarding unpaid leave, agreement was reached in each sector on arrangements that would have ensured no service disruption).
  • It didn’t produce the necessary savings (the costing of the various measures has not been disputed by the Government side and the total exceeds the €1.3b sought).
  • The savings weren’t permanent (but they would have been fully applied in 2010 and by approaching reform in an agreed but radical way it held out the real prospect of further savings in future years).

    Clearly the Government must also believe that it will get the reforms anyway! 

3. The burden of the fiscal adjustment contained in Budget 2010 falls almost exclusively on two groups – public servants and social welfare recipients.  To concentrate the effect on distinct groupings while failing to take any measures to tax wealth or to address high earners in the private sector is fundamentally unjust.  Tuesday’s report of the Mercer survey indicating that only 9% of private sector workers had suffered a cut in actual rates of pay has added to the sense of unfairness.  

Having started a campaign of vilification against public servants politicians must now think that this injustice will be tolerated by them. 

The Health & Welfare Divisional Executive decided: 

1. To mobilise members in a campaign of action of ensure that the pay rates effective on 31 December 2009 are restored.
2. To participate fully, in conjunction with IMPACT’s CEC and through the Public Services Committee of ICTU, in the coordination of similar actions of other public services unions to maximum effect. 
3.  To continue to work with the other health sector Congress unions to develop a ‘solidarity pact’ entailing commitments to each other of supportive action in the event of a particular union being targeted by an employer. 
4. To treat the HSE as an extension of Government given the fact that its Board is exclusively comprised of Ministerial appointees (and in the light of the HR National Directors message to staff after the talks collapse). 
5. To commence a programme of industrial action that will initially involve extensive non-cooperation, withdrawal from various processes and other disruptive activity (the details of which are being worked out). 
6. To meet again on 7 January 2010 to finalise the details of the instruction to members and to approve the serving of notice of industrial action that will begin on Monday 18 January 2010.
7. To convene a Special Divisional Council meeting that can be attended by two representatives (more if prior notification is given) of each Branch and each Vocational Group to take place on Tuesday 12 January 2010 from 11.00 am to 4.00 pm at a Dublin venue to be arranged.  The purpose of the meeting will be to prepare for the industrial action, the details of which will be known at that stage. 
8.  To consider further the scope of a ballot and the nature of the mandate sought in relation to the wider community and voluntary sector.  These members were not balloted.  It is considered that the existing ballot and mandate is still appropriate in relation to members in the HSE, public voluntary hospitals and the other Agencies that participated.

The unions said the deal abandoned by the Government would have saved billions of Euro while protecting – and in some cases extending – public services as resources and staff numbers declined over the next four years.

While the Government’s ongoing recruitment embargo delivered massive permanent savings, the deal between unions and government officials

 - now rejected by the Taoiseach – would have seen:

- No reduction in any services as a result of the temporary unpaid leave measure

-  A guarantee of “no impact on the length and structure of the school year or class contact” and an additional working hour by every teacher each week

- Explicit agreement on the redeployment of civil and public servants within and between organisations to ensure better delivery of priority services as budgets and staffing declined 

- A process to deliver an extended 8-8 working day in the health services, leading to longer opening hours “

- The introduction of new rosters in health

- including the introduction of new nursing rosters by January 2011 – leading to more flexible services and a further reduced overtime budget.   Ongoing reductions in the number of in-patient beds and increases in day care, outpatient and diagnostic capacity, in order to provide faster access to services at lower cost.  A greater range of health services in community settings so that more patients could receive treatment at home.  Reviews of health service staffing ratios and skills mixes to help improve patient care at minimal cost ” New value-for money and waste elimination programmes.

-  The introduction of shared services in health, local authorities, education and the civil services – in areas like finance, procurement, human resources and payroll. “

-The introduction of evidence-based performance measurement in health 

- The extension of competitive and merit-based promotions at all levels throughout the public services 

- Multi-disciplinary working and reporting arrangements in health

-” The supervision and substitution scheme for post primary teacher to be made more flexible

- New procedures for redeploying surplus teachers 

- A review of the teaching contract to remove impediments to teaching and learning 

- A comprehensive review and revision of special needs assistant employment terms and conditions to identify and remove any impediments to efficient and effective support for students with special care needs 

- Cooperation with the restructuring and rationalisation of the VEC sector ” Cooperation with rationalisation of state agencies in the local government sector.   Better management and standardisation of annual and sick leave arrangements. 

-  Changes to civil service opening and closing times and attendance arrangements ” The further development of on-line and e-services. The deal would also have included a new ‘transformation commission’ with independent leadership, charged with ensuring the implementation of the package.

Temporary savings measures – necessary because the transformation programme would not have delivered the required permanent savings in 2010 – were also on the table to ensure the necessary payroll savings in 2010. The savings would have come from an agreed progressive valuation of 12 days unpaid leave. The Government confirmed to unions on Tuesday (1st December) that it would do a deal based primarily on temporary unpaid leave once unions and management agreed to implement it in ways that avoided reductions in services. Agreement between unions and Government officials was subsequently reached in negotiations since Tuesday and at no stage did the Government side seek an alternative approach.

ICTU Public Services Committee chairperson Peter McLoone said the Government had abandoned a revolutionary approach to public service reform in favour of conflict. He said he now believed Finance Minister Brian Lenihan would likely carry out his threat to impose a second public service pay cut in next week’s Budget, as a prelude to a concerted attack on pay rates across the economy – starting with the minimum wage. Mr McLoone said it was now inconceivable that public servants would rally to public service reform after the Government had reneged on a deal and imposed pay cuts, which could total as much as 15% in less than a year. “The Government has rejected the prize of radical public service transformation with better services and billions in savings. We have reached an agreement that would have delivered this transformation with permanent savings, temporary measures to ensure the necessary payroll savings in 2010, and no reduction in services. But the Government has walked away. We are now going to see conflict instead of co-operation with change,” he said. Most of the unions involved in the negotiations have mandates for industrial action if the Government proceeds to introduce compulsory redundancies or cut pay rates or pension entitlements.