biennial report 2012

IMPACT BIENNIAL REPORT 2010–2012

Together,we deliver

DUBLINNerney’s Court, Dublin 1.T: [email protected]

CORKFather Matthew Quay, Cork.T: 021-425-5210 [email protected]

GALWAYUnit 23, Sean Mulvoy Business Park, Sean Mulvoy Road, Galway.T: [email protected]

SLIGO51 John Street, Sligo.T: [email protected]

impact.ie IMPA

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Produced by IMPACT Communications Unit,

Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1.T: [email protected]

Designed bywww.reddog.ie

Photographs contained in Annual Report

, SOS Campaign Andrew Downes Photography

Page 10, Brendan Howlin addressing Conference Dominic Walsh

Page 12, Laura Dooley, Youth Connect Conor Healy

Page 16, Drummers Conor Healy

Page 19, Stills taken from IMPACT video What Exactly is a Public Servant? by www.folksandfolks.com

Page 23, Central Executive Committee Conor Healy

Page 23, Eamonn Gilmore at Evelyn Owens appreciation Conor Healy

Page 24, Catriona Crowe Conor Healy

Page 28, Padraig Doherty, Physio Michael Crean

Page 33, Jacqui Kavanagh Michael Crean

Page 34, Martin Crehan, Focus Ireland Conor Healy

Page 36, Civil Defence Workers Leon Farrell Photocall Ireland

Page 39, Ruth Johnson, Archeologist Conor Healy

Page 39, Pam Byrne, Branch Librarian Kieran Clancy

Page 41, Special Needs Assistants’ Protest Paula Geraghty

Page 42, The Big Freeze, Municipal Employees Photocall Ireland

Page 45, IIT Branch at Div Conference Keith Heneghan

Page 46, Aideen Walsh, Cabin Crew Conor Healy

Incomes andworking conditions 3

Employment and the economy 3Croke Park agreement 3Defending Croke Park 5Leave standardisation 5Overtime, allowances and premium payments 5Review of sick leave 6Background to Croke Park 7Public service pay 7Voluntary and community sector pay 8Private sector pay 8Pensions 8Travel and subsistence 9Outsourcing and privatisation 10

Your rights at work 13

New industrial relations structures 13Trade union rights 13Agency workers 14Protection for whistleblowers 14Interns’ rights 15Working time 15

Your union 17

Recruitment and organisation 17New benefits for IMPACT members 17Branch information 18Training 18Communications 19Young workers 20Retired members 20Divisional and branch reorganisation 20Irish Congress of Trade Unions 21Supporting the community 21Europe and the world 21Developing world fund 22Finance and administration 22Staffing and remuneration 22Evelyn Owens 23

Civil service 25

PMDS 25Redeployment 25Decentralisation 26FÁS work placement programme 26Equal opportunities 26Employee assistance service 27Arbitration and disciplinary boards 27

Health and welfare 29

The future of the HSE 29Croke Park implementation 29Staffing and redeployment 30Registration of health and social care professionals 30Child and family support agency 31Internships 31Outsourcing 31Performance management 31Standardisation of hours and leave 31Regularisation of acting positions 31Travel and subsistence 32Framework agreement 32Paternity and marriage leave 32Succession management 32Community welfare service 32Medical laboratories 33Oral health services 33Industrial relations and consultation fora 33

Community andvoluntary sector 35

Local government,education and local services 37

Organisation 37Croke Park agreement 37Local government reform 38Irish water 38Driving licences 38Partnership 39Local Authority National Council 39Vocational groups 39

Education 40

Organisation 40Ministerial meeting 40Croke Park agreement 40Institutes of technology 40School secretaries and caretakers 41SOLAS 41Special needs assistants 41VECs 41

Municipal employees 43

Incomes 43Waste management 43Use of contractors 43Leave and banking time 44Dublin fire brigade 44Institutes of technology 44Dublin VEC 44

Services andenterprises 47

Sale of state assets 47Aviation 47Coillte 48Communications 48Community employment schemes 49Non-commercial state agencies 49Teagasc 49

Appendices 51

Appendix one:Mileage and subsistence 51Appendix two: Branch secretaries 53Appendix three: Central Executive Committee 55Appendix four: Divisional executive committees 56Appendix five: Staffing and remuneration 57Appendix six:ICTU committees and affiliations 59Appendix seven: Summary of accounts 60

Contents

2 IMPACT BIENNIAL REPORT 2010-2012

Action

IMPACT members protest against cuts at Roscommon hospital.

3IMPACT BIENNIAL REPORT 2010-2012

Employment and the economy

IMPACT has continued to support and participate in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ (ICTU) ‘better fairer way’ campaign for alternative economic policies to deal with the recession. Up to 100,000 people demonstrated against proposed austerity measures in a national demonstration organised by ICTU in November 2010, just prior to the announcement of the Government and EU-IMF-ECB troika memorandum of understanding. The ongoing ICTU campaign criticises the Government and troika austerity programme, particularly the timetable for returning to a balanced budget and the lack of a robust strategy for job creation and domestic demand stimulation. ICTU says ambitious job creation targets set out in the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs in early 2012 placed too little emphasis on tackling long-term unemployment and would not be met until Government addresses the demand deficit in the economy. Its policy document, which calls for investment to create jobs and stimulate domestic economic activity, is available on the ICTU website – www.ictu.ie. IMPACT also gave financial support to the new trade union-sponsored economic think tank, the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI), which was formally launched in March 2012 with a call for a €15 billion stimulus programme.

IMPACT welcomed the increase in the universal social charge threshold introduced in Budget 2012, which means 330,000 people earning less than €10,000 will no longer pay. During the election campaign, IMPACT published figures that showed those earning under €15,028 were hardest hit by the charge because they were formerly exempt from income and health levies. The changes also hit those earning under €26,000 very hard as they were formerly exempt from the health levy. However, ICTU, which had called for the change in its pre-Budget submission, expressed disappointment at the lack of wider Budget measures to tackle unemployment and said alternative tax changes to VAT increases could have eased the burden on lower income families. ICTU’s pre-budget

submission argued for an alternative to the Government’s austerity approach and emphasised the importance of income protection for the most vulnerable in society. It said Government revenue should be increased through economic growth and a gradual increase in taxation, starting with those on the highest incomes.

Croke Park agreement

Government support for the Croke Park agreement appears to be solid, while support for the deal among opposition parties and TDs has strengthened, as the agreement approaches its second anniversary in mid-2012. This is because public servants have so far delivered the savings and reforms required under the agreement, in exchange for commitments on pay, pensions and job security, and because IMPACT has committed effort and resources to building support for the agreement among politicians and opinion formers.

Although the union’s efforts have led to a reduction in the scale and volume of media criticism, there remains a strong media opinion in favour of scrapping Croke Park or elements of it, and imposing further pay cuts and compulsory redundancies. This means that the agreement must continue to deliver savings and reforms and that IMPACT must continue to actively explain and defend the agreement in order to protect pay, pensions, jobs, working conditions and the essential reforms being delivered under the agreement.

Croke Park requires public servants to co-operate with reforms and changed work practices aimed at prioritising and protecting services as €3.5 billion of payroll and pension costs are extracted by 2015. In return, there will be no further pay or pension cuts and compulsory redundancies will be avoided. The agreement places restrictions on the scale and scope of management changes under the agreement and contains important protections for staff as reforms are being implemented. There are

Incomes and working conditions


also important restraints on outsourcing. All aspects of the agreement are ultimately subject to binding arbitration through the Labour Court or civil service arbitration if management and unions fail to agree. The first annual report of the Croke Park Implementation Body, published in June 2011, said that the agreement had directly led to annual savings of over €680 million in its first year. This was made up of:

• €289 million in payroll savings (compared to a target of €223 million) arising from reduced staffing, cuts in overtime costs, and various efficiencies

• €308 million in non-payroll savings arising from greater efficiencies, work reorganisation and better use of resources including property rationalisation, improved procurement practices, and reduced purchasing costs

• Almost €86 million of savings fromcost-avoidance initiatives.

Like its June 2011 report, the national implementation body’s Summary of Progress, April-September 2012 gave details of additional reforms achieved and underway. It confirmed that progress is accelerating. In June 2012, the body’s second annual report will quantify the savings delivered in the second year and make recommendations on where reforms need to be accelerated.

The savings so far achieved, mostly from reduced staffing, have exceeded Government and troika targets. Public service staff numbers have fallen by around 20,000 and now stand at fewer than 300,000. This will fall to 282,500 by the end of 2015. Although these substantial reductions have put pressure on staff and services in a number of areas, staff redeployment measures have allowed thousands of staff to be redeployed, many of them across functional boundaries, to ensure that priority service areas are least affected.

The agreement demands a number of specific sectoral and cross-sectoral reforms. Some of these are designed to save money directly, others are tools to manage and prioritise services as staff numbers fall. Reforms so far delivered include leave standardisation measures, extended working hours, rationalisation of agencies, centralised and shared services, staff relocation and staff redeployment. As the deal approaches its second anniversary, significant savings are being delivered directly through reforms in organisations large and small. These include €50 million a year from the redeployment of surplus teachers, new rosters in medical labs (€7 million a year), changes in radiography services (€3.5 million a year), changed prison work practices (€20 million a year) and a 20% cut in local authority staffing. More examples are available on the IMPACT website and the implementation body’s website.

The agreement is also helping to restore Ireland’s international reputation by achieving savings and reforms without disruption to services through industrial action or the threat of industrial action. This was acknowledged in an October 2011 report by the OECD, which said the agreement had “contributed to social cohesion by providing a collectively agreed basis for reform in the [public] sector.”

The Croke Park agreement has contributed to social cohesion by providing a collectively agreed basis for public service reform.


Defending Croke Park

IMPACT stepped up its defence of the Croke Park agreement in 2012 following much ill-informed criticism of the deal around the time of the budget. While the union believes that public servants are on track to achieve the reforms and savings required of them, the union is determined to avoid a situation where ill-informed political pressure undermines the agreement. These are some of the behind the scenes activities:

• SeniorofficialsfromIMPACTandtheICTUPublicServicesCommitteehavemetkeyspokespeople from all the main political parties and members of all Dáil political groups.

• IMPACTgeneralsecretaryShayCodyand other union leaders gave written and oral evidence to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform in March 2012.

• IMPACThasinitiatedaregularinformationbulletin for Oireachtas members and councillors, which it also sends to a wider group of opinion formers in the public service, academia, politics and the media.

• IMPACTorganisedandstaffedCrokeParkinformationstandsatallthemajorpartyconferencesinearly2012.

• IMPACTofficialsandcommunicationsstaff are undertaking a series of meetings withkeyopinion-formingjournalistsandeditors.

• IMPACT’sCommunicationsUnitisorganisingbriefingsforgeneralnewsdeskjournalistswhocoverthestorybuthavelittle expert knowledge.

• TheCommunicationsUnitisalsodeveloping a bank of examples of Croke Park reforms for use in media, political and other PR work.

• IMPACTofficialsandspokespeoplehavefrequentlyappearedtoexplainanddefendthe agreement on a range of broadcast media programmes and key conferences. The union and its perspective have also featured strongly in print media coverage of Croke Park and related issues, and union staff and activists have penned a number of letters and articles in national newspapers.

Leave standardisationUnder the Croke Park arrangements, IMPACT successfully resisted attempts by local authority management to cut leave for all staff from April 2011. Management had sought to introduce the changes under the guise of public service leave standardisation, which is required under the agreement. Standardisation arrangements subsequently introduced across the public service at the beginning of 2012, following negotiations with IMPACT and other public service unions, left leave entitlements intact for the great majority of public servants. Leave was capped at 32 days a year for existing public servants and 30 days for new entrants and existing staff who take promotion. A small number of staff got an increase from 22 to 23 days leave.

The 32-day ceiling comprises all leave including annual leave and ‘privilege days,’ which have been abolished and subsumed into annual leave. In the few places it existed, leave associated with ‘business closures’ (like Christmas closing) is also included, but leave for local festivals was abolished in the few places it still existed. Staff whose leave is reduced will receive a one-off compensation of 1.5 times the leave lost. IMPACT said the package was a good outcome as it protected the majority of public servants while addressing untenably high levels of leave for senior managers, which had provided ammunition for critics of the public service.

Overtime, allowances and premium paymentsIn 2011, the Government announced its intention to reduce spending on overtime payments by 10% in 2012. This follows a reduction of 5% in spending on overtime achieved in the first year of the Croke Park agreement. Like earlier reductions in the cost of overtime, the 2012 reduction is to be achieved without a cut in overtime rates themselves.The Department of Public Enterprise and Reform (DPER) announced a review of allowances and premium payments across the public service in late December 2011, when all departments were required to report on the allowances they pay and make a business case for those they believe should continue to be paid to staff as they are hired, promoted or assigned to new duties. The outcome of the review, which aims to facilitate a 10% reduction in spending on allowances and premium payments by 2014, was awaited as this report went to print.


The review is not supposed to end all allowances and premium payments. The letter from the DPER secretary general, which announced the review, said that allowances which reflect “work of additional value” or the “arduous nature or unsocial hours” of certain duties and posts remain “valid, appropriate and cost effective.” But it said others might have been overtaken by developments in qualifications, duties, skills and “normal flexibilities now expected or required in public service employment.”

Since the end of January 2012, most allowances or premium payments paid to existing staff have been withheld from new entrants pending the outcome of the review. The same goes for staff promoted, newly assigned or transferred into work areas where allowances exist. The review is expected to lead to the permanent cessation of some allowances for new entrants, promoted staff or those assigned or transferred in to new work areas. Unions have been told that any changes will respect the Croke Park agreement and that there will be full consultation with staff representatives at central and sectoral level. IMPACT has told management that it reserves the right to refer any disputed cases to the Labour Court or civil service arbitration.

IMPACT’s communications with politicians and other opinion formers have outlined the reason that allowances and premium payments exist. The union has said that, by definition, the abolition of any allowance or premium payment would mean loss of earnings for the staff concerned and has stressed that the new entrants who are the main target of these changes are already being paid some 24% below the 2009 pay rates. The union has stressed the need to protect lower paid staff whose wage structure leaves them highly dependent on overtime, allowances or premiums.

Review of sick leaveIn late 2011, the Government signalled its intention to legislate to revise public service sick leave arrangements during 2012. It is expected that management will seek significant changes as unions have been told that the current cost of sick leave cannot be sustained. IMPACT has said it will prioritise arrangements for paid long-term sick leave when talks on the issue get underway. Current arrangements generally allow up to six months fully-paid leave for certified sicknesses, followed by six months on half pay, on a four-year cycle. IMPACT has told management that a blanket reduction in this would do little to address any abuse of the system, but would have a disastrous effect on those who suffer catastrophic and life-threatening illnesses regardless of their previous sick leave record.

It is anticipated that management will seek to reduce the amount of paid certified sick leave available, as well as seeking to reduce the amount of uncertified sick leave available, despite the fact that, on average, civil servants take less than two days of the allowable seven days uncertified sick leave each year. Negotiations were expected to start soon after this report went to print and, in the absence of agreement on the issue, it is likely that the Labour Relations Commission or Labour Court would become involved in seeking a resolution. IMPACT briefed TDs and senators on the issue in advance of negotiations. The union said that comparisons between sick leave levels in the public and private sectors were not always reliable and argued that management already had the tools to deal with any abuse of sick leave that may exist.


Background to Croke Park

IndustrialactionbeganattheendofJanuary2010onfootofthepaycutsintroducedatthe start of that month. The action stopped cooperationwithanynewworkpracticesor modernisation measures, introduced a ‘worktorule,’andblockedworkcarriedoutonavoluntarybasisoutsideofmembers’formalcontractsofemployment.Italsorequired members to refuse to cooperate withstaffredeploymentortakeonworkassociatedwithnewlyvacantpostsorunfilledpromotionalposts,andrefusetoperformhigherdutieswithoutthepaymentof appropriate allowances. On 8th March 2010,ICTU’sPublicServicesCommitteeannounced that there would be a second phase of the industrial action, which would include selective strikes and other forms of disruptive action.

On foot of this, renewed discussions between public service management and unionsgotunderwayinCrokeParkon12th March 2010. At the request of Labour Relations Commission (LRC) chief executive KieranMulvey,whochairedthenegotiations,the unions agreed not to escalate the industrial action while the talks were underway,butthework-to-ruleremainedinplace.Thetalksconcludedintheearlyhoursof30thMarch2010.IMPACTsubsequentlysoughtandreceivedclarificationsfromtheLRC on aspects of the proposals, before putting strengthened proposals to a national ballot of members concerned, who voted to acceptthedealbyamarginof77%to23%.Overall,publicserviceunionsvotedtoratifytheagreementbyamarginofalmosttwo-thirds in June 2010 and more unions have ratifieditsince.

IMPACTgeneralsecretaryShayCodyis a member of the national Croke Park implementationbodyandIMPACTofficialssit on appropriate sectoral implementation bodies.

Public service pay

Public service gross pay was cut by an average 14%, through direct pay cuts and the introduction of the so-called ‘pension levy,’ before the Croke Park agreement came into force. Pay for new entrants to public service recruitment grades were subsequently reduced by an additional 10% from the beginning of 2011, which means that new entrants to the public service are being paid almost a quarter less than in 2008. However, union intervention ensured that staff who had previously been in temporary or permanent public service employment would not be subject to the 10% additional cut if they were recruited to the same grade or a grade analogous to their previous employment. This includes those who have previously been on fixed-term contracts or who were on approved breaks in service like leave, temporary assignments or secondments. IMPACT is committed to reversing the pay cuts and the Croke Park agreement includes a mechanism for restoring the pay cuts when economic circumstances improve.

Figures published by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in December 2011 confirmed that over 75% of public servants are paid less than €60,000 a year and over 37% are paid less than €40,000 a year. Neither figure includes the so-called ‘pension levy,’ which reduced gross pay by an average of 7%. A recent OECD review found that Irish public service pay is on a par with OECD and EU averages when local purchasing power is taken into account (relative purchasing power is routinely used in international comparisons of pay in both the public and private sectors). It found that, far from being out of step with other countries as is frequently alleged, the relative purchasing power of Irish public servants is about average except for a very small number of senior grades.

Official figures show that in December 2011, just 6,791 public servants, or 2.2% of the total, had gross salaries of over €100,000 a year. Almost half of these are hospital consultants. This means that, whatever other reasons there may be for addressing high pay, relatively little money would be generated by further pay cuts at this level both because the savings would be net of taxes and charges of over 50%, and because there are simply too few public servants in this category.


IMPACT has vigorously opposed media and political calls for a freeze in public service increments. The union has argued that this would save far less than has been claimed and that it would hit those on low pay, especially young workers with mortgages, while leaving most higher-paid public servants untouched.

Voluntary and community sector pay

There have been significant job losses and pay cuts for community and voluntary sector staff on foot of substantial reductions in state funding for organisations in the sector. Although most staff in the sector are not covered by the Croke Park agreement, IMPACT has worked to minimise the impact of funding cuts on services and pay, including through the negotiation of changed work practices in a number of organisations.

Private sector pay

Although some private sector companies have imposed pay cuts in recent years, a 2011 report by the Central Statistics Office confirmed that most Irish companies use the instrument of pay cuts sparingly, if at all, with staff reductions and changed work practices the preferred methods of dealing with financial difficulties. The ‘services and enterprises’ section of this report outlines some pay movements in private and commercial semi-state companies where IMPACT has members.

The Government kept its election promise to reverse the €1 an hour cut in the statutory minimum wage. This was a priority campaign issue for IMPACT and ICTU after the cut in the pay floor was introduced by the outgoing Government in its last budget. Following legal challenges to employment regulation orders and joint labour committees, which set minimum pay and conditions in certain low-paid sectors, a series of legislative changes were proposed. The Government is engaging with ICTU on the detail of these.

Pensions

The value of defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes is under pressure across the economy. Poor investment performance, industry charges, expensive annuities and increased life expectancy all combined to erode the value of funded pension schemes and this has affected many IMPACT members in such schemes.

Although pensions are protected by the Croke Park agreement, public service pension arrangements continue to attract fierce and regular criticism in the media and among business organisations and some politicians. IMPACT continues to defend public service pensions arguing that, while political and media attention has rightly focussed on indefensible and unsustainable pension packages for a very few senior public servants, 78% of civil service pensioners receive annual pensions of €30,000 or less. Most of these pensioners are not entitled to receive a social welfare pension and all public servants make substantial contributions towards the cost of their pensions, the value of which was reduced by 4% from January 2011.

A new, less favourable, pension scheme for new entrants to the public service will mostly impact on those earning over €45,000 a year throughout their careers. The change will see new entrant’s pensions calculated on the basis of career average earnings instead of earnings at the time of retirement.


Other changes will see pension increases linked to inflation, rather than the pay of the grade from which pensioners retire, and a minimum retirement age of 68 for most new entrants. The changes, which were made a condition of the State’s deal with the EU-IMF-ECB troika after they were first proposed by the last Government, are expected to slash the public service pension bill by a third by the middle of the century. Public service unions gained concessions after they decided to engage with management in an industrial relations framework on the detail of the proposals. An outcome was concluded in the Labour Relations Commission, which was noted by the ICTU Public Services Committee.

The change in pension calculations will hit high earners hardest after unions sought and secured more favourable terms for those earning less than €45,000 when the original proposals were subjected to a Labour Relations Commission process in 2010. This will substantially reduce the impact of the changes for those who spend a sizable part of their career earning less than €45,000. Unions also achieved other important changes to the original proposals. Legislation is required to give effect to the new scheme and the bill introducing the changes includes a provision that would allow the minister to change the method of pension indexation for serving staff and current pensioners, although it was confirmed that there were no plans to implement this, at least during the lifetime of the Croke Park agreement. IMPACT and other unions have set out their strong opposition to any such change.

IMPACT called for a public service-wide solution to problems arising from errors in the way PRSI and pension contributions have been applied for some public sector workers, which were revealed by the Pensions Ombudsman early in 2012. The workers concerned were in temporary posts before April 1995 and later secured permanent employment without any break in service. They paid the higher level of PRSI and should have been switched to a lower rate when they became permanent employees. But, because many workers were not moved to the lower rate, they have now overpaid their PRSI but underpaid into their pensions.

In October 2011, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform confirmed that civil partners are entitled to the same benefits as other spouses in pension schemes that give benefits for spouses. To be eligible, the civil partner must meet the definitions set out in section 99 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act, 2010.

In late 2011, IMPACT’s Central Executive Committee expressed concern at reports that private pension brokers were telling public servants that their pension entitlements will be reduced in future, in order to sell them additional pension products. It informed members that this was speculation and said they should not be frightened into buying additional pension products.

Travel and subsistence

Civil service general council reports 1504 and 1505 set out agreed travel and subsistence rates for the civil service, which are generally applied across the public service. In 2009, the rates were reduced by 25% through legislation. No formal review of the rates has taken place since June 2008 when unions lodged a claim to the civil service conciliation and arbitration scheme for the implementation of the agreed rates. The claim was processed as far as the arbitration stage. However, the unions judged that the arbitrator was unlikely to find in their favour in the current climate, particularly as the Government had imposed the cuts through legislation. Therefore, the unions proposed a joint informal review of travel and subsistence rates in accordance with the normal criteria, which take account of motoring costs, hotel costs and foreign travel. The first informal review concluded that there should be no increase in the travel and subsistence rates but it is anticipated that a further informal review will take place.


Outsourcing and privatisation

IMPACT and other unions have insisted that detailed safeguards and procedures set out in the Croke Park agreement are followed whenever outsourcing is proposed. Union concerns about the potentially damaging impact of privatisation on jobs and service quality ensured intense scrutiny and discussion of the controversial issue during the 2010 negotiations that led to the agreement.

The issue re-emerged when a letter from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform urged civil service departmental heads to list possible outsourcing options. The letter noted that the Croke Park agreement contains provisions “that should be followed when management decides to involve a private sector entity in the provision of a new or existing public service.”

But IMPACT said this understated the rigour of the provisions in the agreement, which oblige management to:

• Use direct labour “to the greatest extent possible”

• Maintain wages and employment standards in all procurement policy

• Ensure no compulsory redundancies as a result of any outsourcing

• Consult with unions on “all aspects of the procurement process at key stages before decisions are made”

• Develop a service plan and an evaluation and comparison of in-house and outsourcing options, and an agreed plan to change in-house arrangements if necessary, before any outsourcing option can be used

• Include all relevant costs, not just pay rates, in this evaluation and

• Establish a mechanism for monitoring contractors’ compliance with employment law.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, addressed IMPACT divisional conference in 2011.

11IMPACT BIENNNIAL REPORT 2010-2012

IMPACT strongly opposed the outsourcing of domestic refuse collection in Dublin local authorities. The union argued against privatisation in negotiations with management and in the Labour Relations Commission and Labour Court, and produced a briefing paper for councillors in September 2011. This warned that privatisation would mean higher domestic charges and the end of waivers for low income households. It also warned that service quality would suffer with potential impacts on public health and the environment as increased charges led to more illegal fly-tipping, with increased financial costs to the council. The union warned that council proposals were weak on enforcing contract compliance and said the loss of council capacity to provide domestic waste collection meant a permanently weakened position in dealings with private providers.

IMPACT participated in the production of an Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) submission on Government proposals to centralise water services under one agency. The submission pledged ICTU to resist any proposal to privatise the water sector, criticised the failure to invest in water infrastructure, questioned the funding and charging assumptions in the department’s position paper, and argued strongly that local authorities should retain control of the water infrastructure. Despite Government pledges that it does not intend to sell water assets, unions believe its proposed new structures could facilitate future privatisation. The union has also joined forces with European trade unions in a campaign to gather one million signatures in a petition to recognise water as a human right and prevent privatisation of water services. The initiative is being taken under the European Citizen Initiative (ECI), a new procedure that would force European institutions to consider the matter once a million signatures are gathered.

The union spoke out against any Government move to sell Aer Lingus or Coillte assets, saying it would risk further damage to the economy. A sale of the Government’s 25% Aer Lingus stake would leave the state powerless to influence future route changes, stop an undesirable future change in ownership or prevent asset stripping. A sale of Coillte would raise questions about the future of Irish forestry, the ethical management of natural resources and public access to Coillte land.

IMPACT strongly opposed the outsourcing of domestic refuse collection in Dublin local authorities. The union argued against privatisation and produced a briefingpaper for councillors in September 2011.

IMPACT BIENNIAL REPORT 2010-201212

“ IMPACT backed YouthConnect to help empower young workers and promote the values of participation in schools, communities and unions.”

Laura Dooley, Youth Connect

Youth

IMPACT BIENNIAL REPORT 2010-2012 13

New industrial relations structures

IMPACT welcomed new simplified procedures for accessing the State’s employment rights and industrial relations services, which were put in place in early 2012. The changes cover the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT), the Labour Relations Commission (including the Rights Commissioner service), the Equality Tribunal, the Labour Court and the National Employment Rights Agency (NERA). A new website, a single complaint form, and a single point of contact for using the bodies have been established with the objective of encouraging the early resolution of disputes and vindication of employees’ rights, while minimising the costs involved for employees, employers and the state. Other structural and procedural reforms plannedfor 2012 include a single adjudication body withall appeals being made to the Labour Court. Anearly resolution service, which seeks the resolution of complaints rather than formal adjudication hearings or inspections, has also been put inplace. The new services can be contacted atwww.workplacerelations.ie.

Trade union rights

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) welcomed a Government confirmation that it will legislate to ensure that rights to collective bargaining in Ireland are brought into line with European human rights standards. The confirmation came from Ireland’s ambassador to the United Nations, who was speaking at a special session of the UN Human Rights Council in March 2012. The programme for government includes a commitment to reform the current law on collective bargaining to ensure compliance with recent European Court of Human Rights rulings, which were favourable to employees.

The unions’ campaign for stronger workplace rights was boosted early in 2012 when the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Committee on Freedom of Association asked the Irish Government to

carry out an independent inquiry into IMPACT’s allegations that Ryanair funded essential pilot training only on condition that the company was not forced to deal with the union. The international tripartite body said that, if true, the allegation would amount to a breach of its conventions and “would be tantamount to employer interference in the right of workers to form and join the organisation of their choosing to represent their occupational interests.” It said the Government should “establish the facts in this specific case” and, if necessary, “take the necessary measures to ensure full respect of the principles of freedom of association.”

The recommendation came in a detailed report on a complaint taken by IMPACT and ICTU, which was supported by international trade union confederations and opposed by Ryanair, the Government and employers’ body IBEC. The ILO is a United Nations Body made up of Government, employer and union representatives. The committee also urged the Government to ensure that Irish legislation protects against such action by employers and called on the Government to review current legislation “particularly in light of the Ryanair case” to ensure that international freedom of association and collective bargaining principles are respected in Irish law.

IMPACT opposed as “unnecessary and unworkable” a Fine Gael pre-election proposal to limit the rights of Irish air traffic controllers to take industrial action. This followed comments made by Simon Coveney TD in October 2010 in response to a series of stoppages by air traffic controllers in France, Spain and Belgium. The union pointed out that there had been almost no industrial action by Ireland’s air traffic controllers in the history of the state, and that the proposals would not protect Irish business and travellers from the effects of more frequent strikes in continental Europe. The proposal did not subsequently appear in the programme for government.

Your rights at work


In a January 2011 letter to EU commissioner Olli Rehn, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) denounced what it described as pressure from Commission officials to cut minimum wages and pensions, reduce wage ‘rigidities’ and make labour markets more flexible in Greece and Ireland. The ETUC had received reports from trade unions in Greece and Ireland about the role of EU Commission officials in implementing the EU-IMF-ECB programmes.

Agency workers

Following years of trade union campaigning with Irish governments and European institutions, the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Bill 2011 is intended to give agency workers broadly the same rights on pay and working conditions as permanent staff in the same organisations. The new law requires agency workers to be paid the same basic pay, shift premiums, piece rates, overtime premiums, unsocial hours payments and Sunday premiums as those normally paid to comparable directly-recruited staff. In most cases they will also have equal access to on-site facilities like canteens, car parks, crèches, toilets, showers and staff rooms, with no qualifying period before an agency worker is entitled to equal treatment. The new law also protects permanent staff as it limits employers’ ability to undermine pay and conditions by employing agency workers.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) opposed the element of the legislation that means the equal pay clause won’t apply to workers who are directly and permanently employed by an agency and receive at least half pay between assignments. As this report went to press, ICTU was continuing to engage with the Government on aspects of the legislation. The Government missed the 5th December 2011 deadline for writing EU agency worker legislation into Irish law. However, the EU principle of ‘direct effect’ means that agency workers placed in public bodies are now entitled to the rights set out in the original European directive, and the Government told employment agencies to make arrangements to ensure that the principles of equal treatment set out in the Bill were put in place for agency workers assigned on or after 5th December 2011. .

Protection for whistleblowers

IMPACT has actively campaigned for better protection for those who reveal financial and other wrongdoing in the workplace. The union has participated in a number of meetings with Government officials and has highlighted the issue in its internal and external communications. IMPACT welcomed the Government’s commitment to legislate to protect whistleblowers and its draft heads of bill, published early in 2012. But the union continues to press for full protection with fast access to redress for whistleblowers who are victimised by employers. IMPACT has called for the legislation to include a statutory code of practice setting out procedures for whistleblowing, including a clear process to deal with disputes between whisteblowers and their employers. The 2011 Criminal Justice Act allows employees to be prosecuted if they fail to report financial malpractice in their workplace, but the legislation’s protections against victimisation are weak and whistleblowers can themselves be prosecuted in some circumstances.

ICTU has produced a draft code of practice on whistleblowing. It also welcomed the Government’s legislative proposals but is pressing for changes including effective sanctions against victimisation. A number of branches responded generously to an IMPACT appeal on behalf of a member who was sacked after he revealed extensive fraud in his workplace. A Rights Commissioner subsequently recommended that he be reinstated after IMPACT took the case.

IMPACT has called for whistleblower legislation with full protection and fast redress for workers who are victimised for revealing financial and other wrongdoing.


Interns’ rights

In the summer of 2011, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) established web pages with detailed information on the rights of interns following the announcement of the Government’s JobBridge scheme, which plans to establish 5,000 work experience placements over two years in the public, private and voluntary sectors. The internships last for six to nine months and unions successfully lobbied to secure an additional weekly payment of €50 for participants on top of social welfare benefits. The scheme includes a number of safeguards to ensure that employers do not abuse interns or use the scheme to displace existing paid jobs. ICTU welcomed the scheme but said there should be no tolerance of employers who abuse it as a form of cheap labour. ICTU said there was evidence that some employers had sought to exploit young workers in work experience and intern programmes that have sprung up during the recession. Trade union intervention also led the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to confirm, in October 2011, that interns taken on by public service organisations should not displace existing staff or be used to fill vacant posts.

Working time

Trade unions across Europe have continued to campaign for the abolition of the individual ‘opt-out’ provision in the EU working time directive, which undermines the legislation’s effectiveness as a health and safety measure. As it prepared for the second phase of the European Commission’s consultation on the directive, the European Federation of Public Service Unions, to which IMPACT is affiliated, also called for the implementation of European Court of Justice rulings about on-call time at work.


Support

IMPACT’s small grants supported intercultural and education projects in Dublin’s north east inner city.


Recruitment and organisation

A decline in IMPACT membership to just over 61,000 members at the end of 2011 still left us well above end-2007 membership levels. Despite recruiting 2,000 new members in 2011, reduced public, voluntary and commercial sector recruitment and staffing meant total membership fell from its end-2010 peak of 66,500. The fall in membership was foreseen and the union has taken a number of steps to manage expenditure while maintaining and expanding services to members and strengthening recruitment and organisation activities to reflect the importance of maintaining union strength during the recession.

Although all the union’s industrial staff have responsibility for organisation and recruitment work in their areas, a number of assistant general secretaries were assigned a specific organising role from 2010 and work was subsequently carried out with a number of branches on a project basis. The union’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) adopted an organisation and development strategy, drawn up by deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan, which is now being rolled out. They include four national priority projects now underway to increase membership among special needs assistants, retired members, health and social care professionals and the community and voluntary sector. Two temporary organisers were appointed on a pilot basis to assist in the education area. Two membership support officers, appointed from the union’s existing administrative staff in 2011, have contributed to membership and organisation initiatives including monitoring membership trends, improving services to branches, the production of a branch information pack, raising the union’s visibility, and promoting union services to members and potential members in priority areas and more generally.

New benefits for IMPACT members

In January 2012 IMPACT launched a new range of benefits for members, which includes €4,000 critical illness or death-in-service cover, a free legal advice helpline, a free confidential counselling helpline, and free legal representation in bodily injury cases. The package, agreed with suppliers after a tendering process, substantially enhances the value of IMPACT membership. The union took the initiative because it wanted to reflect the fall in members’ incomes following the introduction of the so-called ‘pension levy’. Because IMPACT subscriptions are a percentage of salary, most members saw a reduction in their subs when public service pay cuts were imposed at the start of 2010. But the so-called ‘pension levy,’ which is effectively an additional tax on public servants, did not have the same effect because it was not a direct cut in pay rates.

New benefits for IMPACT members include €4,000 critical illness or death-in-service cover, free legal advice and confidential counselling helplines, and free legal representation in bodily injury cases.

Your union


At IMPACT’s 2010 conference, union branches backed a proposal to give the executive discretion to reduce the subscription to a rate not below 0.75% of basic salary, instead of the current 0.8%. It was felt that this would give scope to reduce the cost to members without undermining the union’s financial viability. But, while this would have reduced the union’s income by up to €750,000 a year, it would only amount to a modest 6 % reduction in union subs, or an average of €16.50 a year. So the executive explored alternative options, which would leave the sub unchanged but substantially increase the benefits of IMPACT membership. The union then undertook a random survey of members, who were asked whether they’d prefer a 6% reduction in subs or a range of options including free life insurance and free critical illness cover. The critical illness option emerged as the preferred choice. The executive then sought and received the support of the union’s five divisional conferences for this approach at their 2011 conferences.

The new benefits come in addition to the existing benefits of IMPACT membership, which include the job and income protection negotiated through Croke Park and similar agreements, and professional representation on redeployment and other workplace changes or when problems arise at work. Existing financial services, agreed between the union and private suppliers on salary protection and life, motor and travel insurance, remain in place.

Branch information

IMPACT’s launched a new handbook for branch officers in September 2011 and it was subsequently rolled out to branches. ‘BACK UP! Your IMPACT branch handbook’ contains information on the role of branch officers, AGMs, union conferences, ballots, members’ entitlements, communications, IMPACT structures, industrial action, employment law and the Croke Park agreement.

Training

In 2011, IMPACT’s training sub-committee prioritised training for workplace representatives and oversaw the development of fresh courses at two levels to meet the needs of emerging workplace representatives and more experienced activists. Each course is made up of four one-day modules, which are initially being delivered in five regions. The first level aims to equip new and emerging activists with the basic skills required to be a workplace representative and branch activist. The second level is more advanced and is designed both for experienced activists and those who have completed the basic training.

The roll out of the new basic course commenced in October 2011 with the objective of training around 60 emerging activists in four regions in its first phase. However demand for places outstripped these expectations and three additional courses were scheduled. Over 110 members have now completed or nearly completed the basic training. Their feedback has been extremely positive and an encouraging number of course participants put themselves forward for election to branch executive committees in early 2012. Others have taken on additional responsibilities, including officer positions. More basic training courses will be run in the autumn of 2012, when the second level training will also be launched.

The new training compliments existing branch and activist training activities, including the ongoing programme of nationally-provided training for branch officers. Other training courses provided centrally in the past two years included employment law, leadership, conflict resolution, communication skills and public speaking, equal opportunities and health and safety. IMPACT also developed training modules for branch representatives in different sectors to help them to ensure that the Croke Park agreement was implemented properly with protections for staff. The training was delivered to branches in all regions in 2010 and early 2011. A number of IMPACT representatives also participated in training organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.


Communications

The union’s Communications Unit continues to produce four issues of the IMPACT magazine Work & Life each year. The frequency of the union’s monthly members’ e-bulletin has been increased so that two issues are now published in most months. Originally designed for branch activists, the e-bulletin is currently sent to over 13,000 IMPACT members who have registered to receive it and the union plans to ensure that all members receive the bulletin in future unless they opt out. A redesigned website will be launched in May 2012 and over 26,000 members have now registered to access the ‘members-only’ pages of the IMPACT website.

The Communications Unit has driven the union’s campaign to explain and defend the Croke Park agreement (see page 5) and has contributed to a number of other priority campaigns and initiatives including the production of the branch information pack, new union training, recruitment campaigns, information on union benefits, conference organisation, and a range of campaigns including whistleblower protection and jobs and services in the community sector. It continues to manage the union’s media relations and again achieved substantial coverage for union activities and campaigns over the last two years.

The communications team organised the union’s information and lobbying campaign in advance of the 2011 general election. IMPACT’s website notched up over 10,000 downloads of the four main political party leaders’ responses to questions from the union, which sought commitments on workers’ rights, public services, minimum pay and the Croke Park agreement. The union’s election web pages proved extremely popular with members and other election-watchers and the party responses were reported in the national press. The union also produced window posters and crib sheets to help members quiz canvassers on the key issues. A number of special election e-bulletins were distributed to members.

IMPACTS’svideocelebratespublicservants.

As part of an international trade union campaign to defend quality public services, IMPACT produced a short video in June 2011 to celebrate the workof our diverse range of Irish public servants. A number of training videos were also produced in-house. A number of publications were produced by the Communications Unit including biennial and divisional reports, the Welcome to IMPACT booklet, promotional materials, the IMPACT desk calendar and wall planner, and the 2011 and 2012 IMPACT pocket diaries.

The Communications Unit helped a long-standing IMPACT member take a successful complaint against the Sunday Independent, which was upheld by the Press Ombudsman in March 2011. The newspaper was required to publish the Press Ombudsman’s finding that a 2010 article about trade union representatives was untrue and inaccurate. The article wrongly implied that the member got pay and “fat cat” expenses from her voluntary role on the governing council of Dublin Institute of Technology. IMPACT official Dessie Robinson, who was also named in the piece, got a published apology from the paper.


Young workers

IMPACT participated in the development and launch of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ (ICTU) YouthConnect project, which is now raising young peoples’ awareness of the role and activities of Irish trade unions and promoting the value of participating in schools, communities, unions and other organisations. Initially funded by IMPACT’s former Tax Officials’ branch, the programme was formally launched at the start of the 2011 school year with the publication of a teachers’ resource pack, which includes information for teachers, lesson plans, students’ information handouts and worksheets. Its five modules cover the world of work, unions and solidarity, rights at work and school, globalisation, and equality and inequality in society. An ICTU team of ‘schools champions,’ made up mainly of graduate teachers who are trained to present the resource pack to teachers and students, has received requests for participation from over 100 schools. ICTU aims to reach all 750 secondary schools over the next two years. A new YouthConnect website was also launched with news and information on the five module themes, a section for teachers, an e-zine and a platform for students to discuss and explore issues. The project was developed following extensive consultation with teachers and had input from the Irish Second-level Students’ Union (ISSU), Ireland’s representative body for second-level students, which IMPACT continues to support.

IMPACT established a youth committee early in 2010 with representatives from each of the union’s five divisions. The committee, which reports directly to the union’s Central Executive Committee, continued to contribute to the union’s publications on matters that affect young members. Committee members campaigned effectively against calls for a freeze in public service increments and had a number of letters on the subject published in the national press. Members of the committee also contributed to ICTU’s work with young workers, including campaign videos.

Retired members

IMPACT’s retired members’ vocational group continued to become more active and participated in demonstrations against cuts in pensioners’ incomes. The group wrote to all TDs about the impact of cuts in public service pensions, which were reduced by an average 4% in the 2011 Budget, and urged all public service pensioners to write to their TDs about the issue. New information was posted on the union’s website and a guide to pensions is planned. The union launched a new drive to increase its retired members’ group and branches were asked to appoint a person to encourage retired staff to remain in the union. New recruitment materials aimed specifically at retired members were published in 2011.

Divisional and branch reorganisation

Following consultation with the relevant branches, IMPACT’s Central Executive Committee is to bring forward proposals for the creation of a new education division at the union’s 2012 biennial delegate conference. It is intended that the Special Needs Assistants’ (SNA) branch will reorganise into four provincial SNA branches to improve services to members and ensure fair and democratic representation of SNAs within the new division.

IMPACT’s Limerick branch reorganised into two new branches covering health and local government and education. A new Irish Youth Justice Branch was also formed in 2011 with over 200 members working in young offenders’ detention centres including Oberstown and Trinity House. They were formerly part of the Dublin Care Services branch. The union’s Boards and Voluntary Agencies branch has developed plans to reorganise as a national branch serving workers in the community and voluntary sector.


Irish Congress of Trade Unions

Shay Cody, Kevin Callinan and Louise O’Donnell were elected to ICTU’s Executive Council in 2011. Shay Cody was also elected to ICTU’s General Purposes Committee and chairs its Public Services Committee. IMPACT assistant general secretary Dessie Robinson is an ICTU nominee on the board of the Health and Safety Authority. ICTU’s 2011 biennial delegate conference adopted an IMPACT motion on trade union rights. Details of IMPACT representation on other ICTU committees is set out in appendix six of this report.

At its 2009 biennial conference, ICTU established a commission, with international participants, to review trade union organisation in Ireland. The commission made its initial report to the 2011 ICTU conference and recommended a number of initiatives to strengthen union organisation through collaboration and the pooling of resources nationally and at sectoral level. In relation to the public sector, the commission said that the environment for unions would change, not least because Croke Park reforms were seeking a unified public service with significant redeployment within and across sectors. It said it was inevitable that trade union structures would have to change to deal with this approach and recommended that public service unions should begin to explore the organisational implications and consider amalgamations. It suggested that IMPACT and the PSEU should start the process because they had a broadly similar policy approach and represented workers doing similar work in different parts of the public service. The executives of the two unions subsequently organised a joint seminar and it is anticipated that there will be further engagement at executive level.

Supporting the community

IMPACT’s small grants fund for Dublin’s north east inner city donated €50,000 to intercultural and education projects in the area in both 2011 and 2012. Since its establishment in 2006 the fund has distributed over €300,000 in small grants to projects in the locality. A short publication about the fund and the projects it helps is available on www.impact.ie.

Europe and the world

IMPACT is affiliated to the international trade union federation Public Services International (PSI) and its European regional body the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU). IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan is a member of EPSU’s executive committee and the union is represented on EPSU sectoral committees for health and social services, local and regional government, and public administration. The union is an active participant in PSI and EPSU campaigns. The union is also affiliated to the International Transport Workers’ Federation and the European Transport Workers’ Federation. In 2010, the union’s European affairs sub-committee and Developing World Fund committee merged to form a new International Affairs sub-committee, which continues to meet regularly. IMPACT is represented on ICTU’s Global Solidarity Committee and contributes to its work and conferences. A number of IMPACT activists and members have completed ICTU’s Global Solidarity Champions training.


Developing world fund

IMPACT’s developing world fund donated almost €500,000 to trade union and education projects in the developing world in 2011 and will do the same in 2012. Over €5.5 million has been donated since the fund was established almost 30 years ago. All IMPACT members contribute to the fund, which receives 3% of the union’s membership subscriptions. Most of the money goes to medium and long-term projects aimed at supporting trade unions and community projects in the developing world. The projects are quite diverse and range from gender campaigns in the South America’s southern cone, pay equity campaigns in Brazil, workers’ rights initiatives in the Middle East to trade union rights in Turkey. Most large projects supported by IMPACT’s fund are managed and developed by the international trade union federation Public Service International.

IMPACT supported trade union, education and community development projects in Africa, South America and the Middle East.

Finance and administration

The IMPACT subscription is 0.8% of basic salary with a subscription ceiling linked to the minimum point of the local authority grade VI scale, which fell to €44,800 in 2010 following cuts in public service salaries. A number of branches and vocational groups also apply an additional levy to help them with their costs. Retired members can now retain union membership at a maximum cost of €96 a year.

Branches receive 10% of their members’ subscriptions together with a capitation grant based on branch size. Vocational groups are funded through block grants based on applications from the groups themselves, plus the direct reimbursement of expenses for attending negotiations.

Although IMPACT’s finances remain in a relatively healthy state, the union is putting measures in place to maintain membership services and control expenditure as income falls to reflect declining membership in the recession. Despite falling share values, the dispute fund continues to be in a very healthy state and reached €31 million at the end of 2011. A summary of the accounts for 2011, with comparative figures for 2010 and 2009, are published as appendix seven of this report. Copies of the full accounts for 2010 and 2011 are issued to all branches and are available to members on request.

The union’s membership database has continued to be developed and enhanced and more up-to-date membership data is available to branches, on request, in a range of electronic formats.

Staffing and remuneration

Details of IMPACT staffing, remuneration and membership of external boards are set out in appendix five of this report.


EamonGilmorelaunchedIMPACT’sappreciationof

EvelynOwens.

Evelyn Owens

Union staff, activists and members were saddened to learn that Evelyn Owens had died in September 2010. A committed trade unionist and tireless campaigner for women’s rights, Evelyn was well known to IMPACT members and staff as a senior activist in the Local Government and Public Service Union (LGPSU), which merged to become part of IMPACT in 1991. Evelyn was the first woman president of the union and later became the first female Labour Court chairperson and the first woman leas cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann, to which she was elected after being nominated to the Labour Panel by ICTU in 1969. At its 2011 conference, IMPACT’s Local Government, Education and Local Services division pledged to establish an annual commemorative event and IMPACT produced a short publication about Evelyn, which was launched by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore in early 2012.

Members of IMPACT’s Central Executive Committee and staffFront row (left to right):TomMurray,MichaelTomney,GerryMonaghan,ShayCody(generalsecretary),KevinO’Malley

(president),MargaretCoughlan,BobbyCarty,JoeMay.

Middle row (left to right): RuthRobinson,EamonDonnelly,KevinCallinan,JerryKing,EugeneDunne,AnnaLeonard,

IsabellMurphy,TonyDawson,PaddyQuinn,LouiseO’Donnell,MickScully,TeresaGriffin,PeterNolan.

Back row (left to right): MattStaunton,TonyMartin,MartinBridgeman,JohnPower,ShaneLambert,JoeSherlock,

ThomasMurtagh,PólO’Gaibhín,PaddyKeating.


“ People are beginning to talk openly about coming from tenement backrounds. They’ve forgotten this was a source of shame. People are proud of their ancestors who struggled through poverty.”

Archivist Caitriona Crowe

Values


Performance management and development system (PMDS)

Changes to the civil service performance management and development system (PMDS), agreed in late 2011 under the Croke Park agreement, come into force in 2012. The changes will simplify PMDS forms and move to an electronic system, hold management accountable for PMDS, ensure that business and individual goals are clear and aligned, and improve training and support for managers. They come with new guidelines to ensure that all staff are reviewed under the system, with sanctions for managers who fail to fully conduct PMDS for all staff. Further changes, under discussion with a view to implementation in 2013, will address fairness and consistency in the PMDS system. This will focus on the competency framework, ratings, the role of the reviewer, and the introduction of independent reviews.

IMPACT welcomed the changes as the union had long argued that PMDS was not being implemented properly or comprehensively. There was a particular problem with managers who failed to apply performance management to staff at the top of their scales. Except in the most exceptional circumstances, these changes introduce a maximum ‘two’ PMDS rating for managers who fail to complete PMDS for all their staff. A ‘two’ rating in the five-point PMDS system indicates that performance needs improvement and staff who receive it are not eligible to apply for promotion. The new approach acknowledges that the problem is in the application of PMDS, rather than the system itself.

In preparation for the next phase of the programme, IMPACT circulated a position document to all civil service branches in February 2012. This document sets out concerns about a number of issues including pre-determined percentages of ratings, the need for a fair and independent review process, consistent application of criteria across departments, and line-manager training. The union has emphasised the need to focus on improving performance rather than penalising under-performance and wants the system to take account

of exceptional personal or work circumstances, including target shortfalls in areas badly hit by staff reductions. Discussions on this are due to commence in the second quarter of 2012.

IMPACT welcomed changes to the performance management system. The union has long argued that PMDS was not being implemented properly.

Redeployment

In 2011, unions and management agreed new guidance on handling redeployment in the civil service. In line with IMPACT demands, the guidelines place a new emphasis on tracking where service demand is increasing and decreasing and matching skills to vacancies, which is particularly important for technical and professional staff. Discussions on a management ‘redeployment toolkit’ got underway in March 2012. The two major issues that need to be addressed are pay assimilation on conversion to general service grades and seniority arrangements.

By mid-December 2011 the number of staff on the PAS resource panel stood at 399, of which 190 were civil servants, 191 were from non-commercial semi-state bodies and 18 were from education. The number of redeployed staff was 79, of which 56 had transferred from one civil service body to another.

Civil service


The decentralisation programme envisaged 10,000 people moving from Dublin. Eight years later just 3,400 had decentralised.

Decentralisation

The Government formally cancelled the decentralisation programme in November 2011 although the programme, which IMPACT criticised in detail in its publication Why Decentralisation Isn’t Working, was already long discredited. In practice, this meant the immediate cancellation of decentralisation projects for which there was no permanent accommodation or staff in place. Projects with permanent accommodation and substantially-completed staff assignments were left in place and will be managed as regionally-based offices and departments as it would not be possible to reverse them without major costs.

Other projects, including those that have temporary accommodation or permanent accommodation but significant staff shortfalls, have been reviewed by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in liaison with the OPW and relevant departments. The outcome of the review was being considered by the Government as this report went to print.

The decentralisation programme announced in the December 2003 Budget statement envisaged 10,300 civil and public servants moving from Dublin to 53 locations in 25 counties. By the time its cancellation was announced eight years later, only 3,400 had decentralised. However, while offices decentralised under the programme account for less than 10% of serving civil servants, more than 50% of civil servants are based in pre-existing regional and district offices outside Dublin.

FÁS work placement programme

The Croke Park agreement requires full civil service support for FÁS programmes and initiatives to support and assist the unemployed, including the rollout of the FÁS placement programme. A union-management working group, established to oversee the operation of these schemes, met on several occasions. While there were no major problems in their early operation, difficulties arose over 30 JobBridge internships in the immigration service and 30 in the Garda vetting unit in Thurles. These had not been resolved as this report went to print.

Equal opportunities

The General Council’s equality sub-committee met in December 2011 and agreed to try to progress a number of issues during 2012, including e-working, a positive working environment, a review of civil service policies on gender equality and diversity, staff with disabilities, parental leave, career breaks and public holidays and the shorter working year scheme.

The General Council’s disability sub-committee continues to meet. The code of practice remains on the agenda of the sub-committee and the disabilities network, which meets on a regular basis. The sub-committee is to be reconstituted in 2012 because of personnel changes in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.


Civil service employee assistance service

Considerable progress was made on the establishment of a new civil service employee assistance service and competitions were held for the appointment of a manager, who has been appointed, and employee assistance officers. Arrangements for the appointment and transfer of employee assistance officers are also in place.

Arbitration and disciplinary boards

The members of the Arbitration Board, who were appointed until June 2012, were Turlough O’Donnell SC (chairperson) Gerard Barry (Government nominee) and Tom Wall (staff side nominee). Kieran McGovern was reappointed as adjudicator for the period June 2011-June 2012.

Inge Clissman SC was re-appointed as chairperson of the Civil Service Disciplinary Appeals Board for 2010-2011 and Tom Fallon was appointed deputy chairperson. IMPACT officials Tom Hoare and Christine Cully are among 13 staff side nominees to the board.


Participation

“ There’s an awful lot of work being done behind the scenes. It’s a challenge for the union to get that information to the members.”

Physiotherapist Padraig Doherty, an active member of IMPACT’s Kildare Health branch.


The future of the HSE

IMPACT has said it will work constructively with the Government and health service managers to establish a single-tier health service free at the point of delivery. But the union believes that a fair and high-quality service requires adequate resources, good management, and coordination across hospitals, primary care services and the community and voluntary sector.

Health workers and service users once again face confusion over health service structures and delivery as the health minister and Department of Health and Children appear to lack a formal cohesive strategy on what will follow the planned abolition of the HSE. As this report went to print, recently developed arrangements for integrated services appear to have been abandoned, along with regional structures for acute hospitals and primary, community and continuing care (PCCC). In yet another rearrangement of health service structures, the minister intends to create hospital trusts and establish seven directorates with responsibility for health service delivery. However, little detail has been made public about how the changes are to be implemented and this is fuelling uncertainty throughout the system.

The health minister has not met IMPACT since he came into office, despite numerous requests to discuss critical issues facing our members and health services users. In the absence of any consultation at political or official level, IMPACT’s Health and Welfare divisional executive intends to stimulate a debate on the future of health service provision in Ireland and inform members of the implications of Government policy for the health services as far as these can be ascertained. The uncertainty over Government policy makes it difficult and undesirable to tie the union to a particular policy position at this stage. Instead, the union is seeking expert inputs, from trade unions and other experts and stakeholders, on best practice and lessons from other jurisdictions.

Croke Park implementation

IMPACT national secretary Louise O’Donnell is a member of the Health Sector Implementation Body (HSIB), which meets on a regular basis to drive and verify the implementation of the Croke Park agreement in the health sector. A health sector action plan, required under the agreement, was submitted to the national implementation group without discussion or agreement with HSIB union members. The fact that management has outlined measures in its action plan does not mean it can automatically implement them as the agreement requires engagement with unions on the implementation of changes and reforms.

The main measures, identified by management as necessary to achieve the budgetary and staff savings required under Croke Park, are set out in the regional services plan and include the move to hospital clusters, rationalisation of ambulance control facilities, implementation of ‘Vision for Change,’ and the establishment of a new child and family support agency. Management also calls for the strengthening of primary care teams and the establishment of seven directorates, with an increase of 30% in the daily scheduling of patients and clients in primary care settings. It also envisages the introduction of a single assessment tool for elder care services, with a focus on enabling people to live independently in their own homes, and requires disability service providers to achieve savings of at least 2%.

Health and welfare


Health service staffing and redeployment

The Government target of reducing health service employment to 102,100 whole-time-equivalents by the end of 2012 is well on the way to being achieved. Although substantial staffing reductions have put pressure on staff and services in a number of areas, staff redeployment measures set out in the Croke Park agreement, which protects against further pay cuts and compulsory redundancies, have allowed staff to be redeployed, many of them across functional boundaries, to ensure that priority service areas are least affected.In November 2010, the then health minister introduced a targeted early retirement and voluntary redundancy scheme, covering management, administration and general support staff, which was to be completed by the end of the year. IMPACT immediately sought talks on the terms of the scheme and its timetable. Management agreed to Labour Relations Commission assistance on managing the vacancies that would arise, but refused go to the Labour Court on the terms of the package. A draft working document was drawn up in November 2010, which identified processes to be followed and set parameters for dealing with vacated posts. A template for seeking expressions of interest was also agreed and IMPACT won agreement over the redeployment of staff in receipt of acting allowances and criteria to be applied if work was redistributed. Just over 2,000 people left under the schemes and IMPACT continues to engage with management on the fall out. Along with ‘natural wastage,’ more staff retired in February 2012, the deadline after which pensions have been based on post-pay cut salary scales.

An independent adjudication report on the first ‘essential’ staff redeployments, issued after IMPACT took a number of individual appeals over redeployment to a new centralised location for administering medical card applications in 2011, helped establish standards for handling similar situations in other parts of the public service. It also made recommendations for handling future appeals against compulsory redeployment. The details are available on the IMPACT website.

Registration of health and social care professionals

At a major conference in May 2012, IMPACT will detail its plans to protect health and social care professionals as new ‘fitness to practice’ procedures are introduced in 12 health professions earmarked for statutory registration. The union is developing the provision of full support and effective representation for the practitioners concerned including social workers, social care professionals, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, clinical biochemists, dietitians and orthoptists. The union has a team of expert negotiators to advise and support members if ‘fitness to practice’ issues arise and has entered into an insurance arrangement to ensure the provision of any necessary legal representation for members facing ‘fitness to practice’ proceedings, hearings and appeals.

Social workers are the first of the 12 groups to become subject to statutory registration and IMPACT advised currently-qualified social workers not to register on the statutory social workers’ register when it opened in May 2011. Qualified social workers have been given two years to register. The union says the registration fee of €295, and €100 for students, is out of line with those for teachers and nurses who currently pay €90 and €80 a year respectively. The union has been told that the same level of fees will apply to other health professions when statutory registration is rolled out to them. IMPACT, which remains a strong supporter of statutory registration, has argued that the fees should be borne by employers for the present, particularly as social workers and other public servants have experienced large cuts in their incomes. Health minister James Reilly has said his department will engage with IMPACT over the issue; earlier representations from the union led to a change in plans to charge even higher fees of €380 a year or €175 for students. Meanwhile, IMPACT’s social workers’ vocational group has established a sub-committee to study a new code of conduct on professional ethics prior to engaging with CORU, the body established to regulate the professions.


Child and family support agency

The Government announced plans to establish a new agency to deliver services for the protection and welfare of children in 2013 and created a task force to propose a structure for the integrated agency. The task force is also addressing principles, best practice and standards for child and family support services, along with professional development and support. IMPACT has met the task force and will enter negotiations with management to protect conditions of employment and ensure staff representation. IMPACT hosted a major conference on the proposed new agency in November 2011, where speakers included the minister for children, the HSE’s national director of children and family services, and the chief executive of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council at CORU, the body established to regulate the professions. In July 2011, IMPACT welcomed new national ‘Children First’ guidelines for the protection of children against abuse and neglect.

Internships

IMPACT met the HSE to discuss internships and the application of the Government’s JobBridge scheme in the health sector (see chapter two of this report for more details on the scheme). The HSE is particularly interested in using the scheme in the health professions, particularly physiotherapy. Trade union intervention led the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to confirm in October 2011 that interns taken on by public service organisations should not displace existing staff or be used to fill vacant posts. This includes vacancies covered by the recruitment moratorium.

Outsourcing

HSE management is currently drafting a protocol on outsourcing to be followed when managers are considering outsourcing in accordance with procedures set out in the Croke Park agreement. The Croke Park protections are set out in the first chapter of this report.

Performance management

HSE management has said it intends to roll out a new performance management system in 2012, in line with the Croke Park agreement. This will first apply to staff at grade VIII and above across the clinical, administrative and analogous grades, with training provided for the affected grades. Management intends to review the scheme after 12 months to see if it is suitable to roll out to other grades. IMPACT has expressed a number of concerns at the proposals.

Standardisation of hours and leave

A number of meetings took place in the Labour Relations Commission, up to September 2011, in response to IMPACT’s claim that HSE hours and annual leave arrangements should be rolled out across the health sector. Management’s unacceptable view is that this would be cost-increasing and the only way to achieve standardisation would be to reduce HSE arrangements to the lowest standards in the voluntary sector. The matter was referred to the Labour Court and a recommendation is awaited.

Regularisation of acting positions

As part of the discussions on the Croke Park agreement, the HSE agreed to regularise staff in grades III to VII who had been acting for two years or more. This was to be done on a cost-neutral basis. This has been achieved for grades III to VII and IMPACT is currently pursuing the same outcome for equivalent grades.


Travel and subsistence

IMPACT forced the reversal of an October 2011 HSE decision to defer the reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs incurred by its staff. The u-turn came the day after the union wrote to health minister James Reilly urging him to instruct the HSE to think again. The Department of Health subsequently announced that travel and subsistence payments would be paid when they fell due after the minister met the HSE chief executive. Travel and subsistence payments are covered in more detail in the first chapter of this report.

IMPACT forced the reversal of an October 2011 decision to defer the reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs to HSE staff.

Framework agreement

Agreement to amend the framework agreement in accordance with previous Labour Court recommendations and the Croke Park agreement was reached in the Labour Relations Commission in August 2011.

Paternity and marriage leave

Agreement to roll out paternity and marriage leave to qualifying same sex couples has been reached.

Succession management

A pilot scheme on succession management for staff at grade VIII and above is being run in the north east. The programme involves group training, individual mentoring and project work and there is an IMPACT representative on the oversight group established to review the pilot prior to considering the feasibility of rolling it out nationally. Management has also said it is opening up the existing skills management programme to grades III and IV and will consider how the training needs of grades V, VI and VII can be met.

Community welfare service

Despite strongly expressed concerns about services to vulnerable people, the community welfare service transferred from the HSE to the civil service on 1st October 2011, when its staff became general grade civil servants. IMPACT’s position was that the union could and should continue to represent its members and the union set about creating a national Community Welfare Service branch to facilitate this. Strong representations to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, who decides on trade union representation rights in the civil service, gave some cause for optimism. But in January 2012 the union was told that both IMPACT and Siptu would cease to have representation rights for these members, who would instead be eligible to join the relevant civil service unions.

The news that IMPACT would lose our members in the community welfare service, some of whom had been active and loyal for decades, was extremely disappointing and the division will find it difficult to replace their skills, experience and dedication. IMPACT wishes our former members every success in their new employment and has encouraged them to become active in the appropriate civil service unions from April 2012.


Medical laboratories

A new agreement on revised out of hours payments for biochemists was agreed as part of the modernisation of medical laboratories under the Croke Park agreement. It included a once-off compensation for loss of earnings at 1.5 times the loss accrued over a comparable 12 month period. A proposal to outsource cold laboratory work was reversed following union intervention. The medical labs agreement, which was one of the earliest local reform agreements reached under the Croke Park agreement, will save taxpayers an estimated €7 million each year.

Oral health services

IMPACT represents a number of grades in the oral health area. Management invited the union to talks on the reconfiguration of dental services, which focussed on changes at senior dental practitioner level. IMPACT and the Irish Dental Association have had meetings with management whose priorities are the establishment of a national oral health office and inspectorate. Agreement has now been reached on the new structures including an oral health lead post, and management are moving to fill the posts.

Industrial relations and consultation fora

The National Joint Council for the health sector, which is chaired by Kevin Foley of the Labour Relations Commission, meets six times a year and deals with industrial relations issues not covered by the Croke Park agreement. It is also the forum for dealing with policies and procedures, a number of which have been agreed and circulated to IMPACT branches in the last two years. There is also a Joint Information and Consultation Forum, established to ensure that the HSE and other health employers meet the requirements of the EU Information and Consultation Directive.

JaquiKavanghworksintheNationalRehabilitation

Hospital.


“ People can get warm and dry and have something hot to eat.”

Martin Crehan works in Focus Ireland’s homelessness service.

Community


IMPACT’s membership in the community and voluntary sector has grown substantially since 2010, despite cuts in state funding that led to pay cuts and significant job losses. Although most staff in the sector aren’t covered by the Croke Park agreement, IMPACT has worked to minimise the impact of funding cuts on services and pay, including through the negotiation of changed work practices in a number of organisations.

IMPACT was among the unions that established a new ICTU Community Sector Committee in 2011. The committee has already begun to play an important role in coordinating campaigns and interactions with government. IMPACT is coordinating its approach with the full involvement of branches that represent workers in the sector. The ICTU forum has established a sub-group to deal with youth workers’ issues. IMPACT is participating in this process and liaising with funders to address funding shortfalls in youth projects and the implications for service provision.

IMPACT continues to deal with funding issues in individual organisations throughout the sector, negotiating on behalf of members to reduce the impact of cuts. The union secured improved redundancy terms for workers at People With Disabilities Ireland (PWDI), who were made redundant at the end of 2011 after the agency lost its state funding. The organisation, which was run by people with disabilities, their families and carers, provided a range of services to people throughout the country.

A report by independent researcher Brian Harvey, commissioned by IMPACT’s Boards and Voluntary Agencies branch in 2010, warned of up to 5,000 job losses, or almost 10% of the sector’s workforce, despite increasing demand for services because of the recession. It said that, while Government spending rose by 6% in 2009 and fell by 1.8% in 2010, the community sector absorbed cuts of between 18% and 20% in the same period. Harvey forecast a 15% contraction in the sector by 2012. He found that most organisations had tried

to absorb cuts, with staff in most organisations suffering reduced working hours or pay cuts similar to the 2009 public service reductions. A second February 2012 Harvey report, commissioned by the new ICTU committee with support from IMPACT and Siptu, outlined the continuing challenges faced by the sector. It found that the sector had suffered a 35% contraction and projected an estimated 11,000 job losses by the end of 2013, with a further 5,500 job losses by the end of 2015. The report criticised the arbitrary nature of funding cuts and said the level of contraction went beyond what happened elsewhere in Europe.

IMPACT and other unions met senior Government officials in January 2012 to highlight the severe funding and service issues faced by community sector organisations. The meeting followed union pressure to reconvene an informal forum, which had not met for almost ten months. The unions raised issues of funding cuts and outstanding agreements within the community and voluntary sector. These included supervisory costs in community employment schemes, the integration of partnership bodies with local authorities, Pobal funding reductions, community training centres and other issues. The forum continues to meet.

A recent report published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform outlines the value of the sector and the benefits of the delivery of certain public services through community and voluntary organisations. The report recommended changes to the existing funding model, a reduction in the number of funding transactions between the state and individual organisations, and the creation of a single funding body. The report said a consolidated funding model would mean greater clarity and accountability for results.

It is clear from the report that the reduction in spending is set to continue, albeit with an aspiration to a more focused or needs-based approach. Some of the measures proposed include the merging of organisations and more competition for funding.

Community and voluntary sector


Civil defence workers evacuate residents during the floods.Service


Organisation

The Local Government, Education and Local Services divisional executive committee continued its strategic focus on organisational issues. The union’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) acted swiftly on the division’s proposal, adopted at its 2011 divisional conference, to establish a separate education division to build on the successes of national education branches. Substantial preparatory work has been done and a CEC motion to establish the new division will be debated at IMPACT’s biennial conference in May 2012.

Jerry King became cathaoirleach of the division following the election of Tom Murray as IMPACT treasurer. Jerry was re-elected as cathaoirleach at the divisional conference in 2011, which saw a historically high number of women elected to the executive. Joan McCrohan and Patricia Whelan were elected as leas cathaoirleach and CEC member respectively. Following their appointment to positions within the union, they were succeeded by Shane Lambert and Joe Sherlock.

The division arranged a successful discussion forum with branches in the south and mid-west and intends to extend this to other regions. The Dublin Strategic Local Authority Network (DSLAN) continued to meet regularly, providing an effective communications forum for Dublin local authority branches and the union’s Municipal Employees’ division.


Local authority staffing has fallen from over 37,000 full-time equivalents in June 2008 to 29,500 in December 2011. A further 750 staff are believed to have left the service in the first two months of 2012. Savings of almost €740 million were achieved between 2008 and 2012. Commercial and domestic charges accounted for over 60% of local authority funding in 2012.

Despite the dramatic staffing reductions, the Croke Park agreement has enabled the maintenance of the majority of services to local communities. The recruitment and promotion moratorium continues to effect the operation of local services, with many now being maintained through the goodwill of local government and education workers cooperating fully with the implementation of Croke Park reforms. The division reiterated its position that there is no obligation on staff to undertake the duties of higher grades without proper recognition.

The Croke Park national implementation body established sectoral committees. IMPACT national secretary Peter Nolan is one of the union representatives on the Local Authority Implementation Committee (LAIC), which is chaired by former Public Service Executive Union general secretary Dan Murphy. The committee has met 21 times since its inception.

IMPACT stopped an attempt by local government managers to impose substantial cuts in annual leave for all local authority workers. The union referred the proposal to the Labour Relations Commission and, subsequently, to the Croke Park national implementation body. The agreement between public service unions and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that subsequently emerged is summarised in chapter one of this report. The union also stopped a management proposal on working hours, which would have seen almost 50% of IMPACT’s local authority members working extra hours from April 2012. The matter has been referred to the Labour Relations Commission. Management proposals to cut on-call payments were withdrawn after IMPACT rejected them.

Management proposals for ‘five-over-seven day’ shifts were also referred to the Labour Relations Commission where it was agreed that any such proposal would have to be discussed outside the context of the Croke Park deal. No further discussions have taken place.

Local government, education and local services


Agreement was reached on the implementation of a revised attendance management policy, which does not include earlier management proposals to alter arrangements for uncertified leave. Agreement was also reached on the introduction of fortnightly pay and the union ensured that arrangements were made to ease the financial effect of the transition from weekly pay.

IMPACT has sought to introduce a standardised flexitime scheme for all local authorities. It has been agreed that no further changes will take place in individual local authorities pending the outcome of national discussions. IMPACT’s Laois and Waterford City branches have referred imposed changes to the Labour Relations Commission. The Monaghan branch received a favourable Labour Court recommendation, which reversed unilateral changes to flexitime.

IMPACT did not reach agreement on management’s 2012 Croke Park action plan. The union’s divisional executive believed the proposals lacked sufficient detail and refused to entertain proposals to increase the working week. The 2012 action plan envisages further work on local government reform, shared services, procurement and the integration of the performance management and development system with promotion procedures and incremental progression.

Local government reform

Pat McLoughlin, former chairperson of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group, was appointed to chair a committee to oversee the implementation its 106 recommendations. Mr McLoughlin addressed IMPACT’s 2011 local government conference. Proposals to integrate Limerick City and County, Tipperary North and South and Waterford City and County councils are at different stages of development. In all three areas, single union negotiating units have been established by IMPACT to deal with the complex negotiations that arise. Assurances that the merger arrangements will respect Croke Park protections have been sought and received by the union.

Irish water

In 2011, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government commissioned consultants to make proposals on the future of Irish water services. The Government’s memorandum of understanding with the EU-ECB-IMF troika includes a commitment to establish an Irish water authority.

A departmental position paper, based partly on the consultants’ report, was produced in January 2012. IMPACT joined with other local government unions to make a comprehensive submission to the department during a period of public consultation. The union submission argued that water infrastructure should not be transferred to a new entity, but recognised the need for national strategic planning and investment in water services. The current proposals would ultimately lead to local authorities losing all involvement in water services in 2017, with serious knock-on effects for remaining local government services. Despite Government pledges that it does not intend to sell water assets, unions also believe its proposed new structures could facilitate future privatisation. The union participated in an ICTU seminar on the matter in March 2012 and will continue to make representations to protect our members in the sector.

Driving licences

The Department of Transport made proposals to remove driver licensing functions from local authorities, even though this did not form part of local government management’s 2011 Croke Park action plan. IMPACT objected to the minister and two meetings were held with senior departmental officials. The union has lobbied politicians extensively on the matter and believes that the proposals will result in a poorer service if they go ahead in their current form. Discussions are continuing.


Partnership

The division is represented on the Local Authority National Partnership Advisory Group (LANPAG) by Jerry King, Eugene Farrelly and Peter Nolan. Despite significant budget reductions in 2011 and 2012, employer and union representatives reached agreement on a revised approach to partnership that will greatly enhance the valuable work being undertaken at local and national level. A revised policy document entitled ‘A New Direction’ places greater emphasis on the ‘handling significant change’ agreement.

Local Authority National Council

The Local Authority National Council (LANC) continues to meet four times a year. The council comprises representatives of unions and management and regulates industrial relations in the sector. The union has submitted claims on long-term acting positions and parental leave to the council. IMPACT national secretary Peter Nolan is the staff side secretary to the council.

Vocational groups

The national secretary has met with a large number of vocational groups to process claims and matters on behalf of their members. These include the fire services committee, non-professional libraries group, county librarians’ group, information systems officers, social workers and veterinary officers.

Ruth Johnson, archeologist

PamByrne,branchlibrarian.

IMPACT stopped an attempt by local government managers to impose substantial cuts in annual leave for all local authority workers.


Organisation

IMPACT membership among Special Needs Assistants (SNA) has grown from 1,600 to 5,500 since the establishment of the union’s SNA branch in September 2007. Membership in other education branches, including school secretaries, institutes of technology and VEC branches, has also grown and IMPACT’s profile in the educational sector has increased significantly.

Following consultation with the relevant branches, IMPACT’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) is to bring forward proposals for the creation of a new education division at the union’s 2012 biennial delegate conference. It is intended that the Special Needs Assistants’ branch will reorganise into four provincial SNA branches to improve services to members and ensure fair and democratic representation of SNAs within the new education division. It is envisaged that the first Education Division conference will take place in May 2013 and will elect the cathaoirleach, leas cathaoirleach and other executive committee members. Transitional arrangements will operate in the year preceding the conference. There will be an interim Divisional Executive Committee, comprised of the serving education branch members on the Local Government, Education and Local Services executive plus one representative from each other branch with at least 100 education members. The interim executive will elect three members to serve on the union’s CEC.

Two temporary organisers were appointed on a pilot basis in 2011 to work on recruitment and organisation in schools. Initially the project focussed on schools visits but it later shifted emphasis to a large number of regional information meetings, particularly for SNAs. Attendance at the meetings and the continuing level of recruitment among SNAs has been encouraging.

Ministerial meeting

A delegation from IMPACT’s education branches met with education minister Ruairi Quinn on two occasions in 2011 to discuss various issues facing members in the sector and to warn on the impact of budgetary cuts in the sector. IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan briefed the minister on the union’s substantial growth in education and said he hoped for more future contact.


Under the Croke Park agreement, each sector is required to establish an implementation body and produce action plans for the implementation of the agreed modernisation measures. IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan is among the trade union representatives on the education sector implementation group (ESIG), which has an independent chair and representation from unions and management. The action plan produced by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) contains an elaboration of the various change agenda items set out in the agreement, broken down under the following categories: Teachers, special needs assistants, VEC staff (other than teachers and SNAs), institutes of technology (academic staff), institutes of technology (non-academic staff), universities and higher education institutes (academic staff), and universities and higher education institutes (non-academic staff). Among other things, the DES shared with IMPACT its assessment of progress and plans on shared services, procurement and student support.

Institutes of technology

Following the January 2011 publication of the Hunt report on a national strategy for higher education, IMPACT was part of a process to confirm the criteria for the establishment of technological universities. This involves the institutes of technology merging under agreed criteria to form the new institutions. While there has been progress on policy, practical changes are not envisaged in the short-term.

Education


The amalgamation of the Limerick and Tipperary institutes of technology went ahead on schedule in September 2011. IMPACT objected to the listing of some staff as surplus and this remains an outstanding issue. Claims for enhanced redundancy for a small number of temporary staff affected by the public service moratorium are still at conciliation in the Labour Relations Commission.

School secretaries and caretakers

IMPACT campaigned strongly after the November 2010 decision to apply the public service pay cut to our members employed by individual schools and VECs. The posts are indirectly funded through grants from the education department. Our legal advice confirmed that the pay cut was possible because of the way the pay cutting legislation had been framed. Following IMPACT’s meeting with the education minister, the forum established to discuss school secretaries’ and caretakers’ pay and conditions was reconvened after a gap of over a year. IMPACT welcomed the move but little progress has since been made.

SOLAS

Despite initial talks with the education department and others involved, there have been no concrete outcomes on the movement of FÁS staff into the VECs. The future of local Education and Training Boards await final legislation. The union made a submission on the draft heads of bill.

Special needs assistants

In a meeting with the education minister in September 2011, IMPACT outlined how the cap on SNA numbers was being unfairly implemented and outlined concerns about the effect of the re-designation of ABA tutor posts, which specialise in working with children with autism. The union also raised the issue of 475 posts that were being withheld by the National Council on Special Education. The union welcomed a December 2011 Government statement that there would be no further reductions in SNA funding allocation. There had been fears that the budget would bring further pain after significant cuts in SNA numbers

were announced in the summer of 2011. However, previous cuts meant that over 1,300 schools saw a reduction to their SNA support in the 2011-2102 academic year, with 700 whole-time equivalent SNA posts lost after August 2011. This followed the imposition of a cap of 10,575 posts in June 2011.

IMPACT’sSNAbranchprotestsatcuts.

IMPACT welcomed education department advice to schools on the reallocation of SNAs for the 2011-2012 academic year, which emphasised seniority and the retention of senior and full-time posts. The issue of SNA terms and conditions under the education department’s Croke Park action plan was referred to the Labour Relations Commission. IMPACT referred the issue of SNA redeployment to the Labour Court and lobbied intensively on the issue of SNA cuts. The union’s SNA branch was among participants at a July 2011 protest against the cuts, which was organised by parents of children with special needs at Leinster House.

VECs

The aggregation of 33 VECs into 16 local education and training boards is awaiting enabling legislation, which requires a consolidated act to replace all relevant existing legislation. A number of high level meetings have taken place and terms of reference for engagement have been drafted. IMPACT met members concerned during information meetings at each VEC headquarters.


Local government staff cleared up after the big freeze in 2010.Dedicated


Incomes

Croke Park reform plans in Dublin local authorities include proposals to restructure nearly all departments, with redeployment and further staff flexibility. While achievable, this is a major challenge to the union and its members. The union is paying close attention to the current national review of allowances amid concerns that proposals could impact on general operatives, whose low earnings have traditionally been supplemented by allowances and premium payments.

Reductions in staffing and local authority budgets have led to huge challenges in maintaining services to the public. It has also further affected the incomes of IMPACT members as both casual and rostered overtime has been cut by between 50% and 75% over the past 12 months. This resulted in the union pursuing loss of earnings claims, most of which were successfully resolved.

Waste management

Council proposals to privatise domestic waste services were the biggest single issue in the division in 2011-2012. In June 2011, Dublin City Council proposed a review of the service on the basis that it was no longer commercially viable. IMPACT challenged this view and an independent third party body was commissioned to examine the issues. Its report said the service was not commercially viable, but IMPACT did not accept the methods used to reach this conclusion. The council then said it would privatise the service from December 2011, a date later extended to February 2012. The matter was referred to the Labour Court who found in favour of the council. This ended 150 years of direct labour provision in domestic waste services, which were privatised on 16th February 2012.

The council’s management ignored motions passed by the elected councillors, which called for

the service to remain in-house following a major IMPACT campaign. Management’s dogmatic approach continued during negotiations on issues arising from the privatisation and, once again, an independent mediator had to be employed to assist the parties. Outstanding issues, including redeployment arrangements, have been referred to the Labour Relations Commission. It is likely that these will be referred to the Labour Court, which can make a binding recommendation.

Use of contractors

Departmental proposals to outsource work are monitored by unions and management under the contractors’ agreement and this usually results in agreement. The unions referred a proposed outsourcing of certain work in parks to the Labour Relations Commission’s conciliation service and it was agreed that the parties should discuss the contracts with a view to bringing the work back in-house. Union members identified three contracts that cost the council over €1 million a year, which could be undertaken by direct labour with substantial savings. But the council has been reluctant to engage fully with unions who are seeking a more effective and cost efficient service through direct labour. To this end, unions have proposed a process to deliver work practice changes to deliver savings. It is expected that management will agree to enter discussions.

Successful discussions between IMPACT and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown council’s roads sweeping department led to agreement on the introduction of seven day rosters, which transformed the loss-making service into a highly cost effective and efficient operation. While the agreement abolished overtime rosters, the new arrangements are more family-friendly and include shift payments. Local management had initially proposed to outsource weekend rosters.

Municipal employees


Leave and banking time

A number of issues agreed nationally have either been implemented or are being implemented. The removal of banking time will see general operatives working an additional hour on Fridays. In Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown council, union proposals for work to start earlier during the week were rejected in favour of adding an additional hour on Fridays. Dublin City council has agreed general operatives’ annual leave will be 24 days. The union is opposing Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown management proposals that general operatives should get just 23 days annual leave.

Dublin fire brigade

The union’s fire brigade section was successful in two landmark Labour Court decisions, which stopped Dublin City council imposing another €1.75 million cuts to the service in September 2011. The union also succeeded in gaining an extra day’s leave for members under the national leave standardisation agreement. In cooperation with management and the supplier, the union resolved problems that arose with fire fighters’ breathing apparatus.

Institutes of technology

Despite funding and staffing cuts, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) continues to provide a high standard of service to students and other service users. A staff and resource review is currently underway and will be followed by talks between management and unions. IMPACT expects these to result in a long-term staff agreement that protects members’ terms and conditions. A joint union-management group has been established to examine the scope for non-staff cost savings and potential savings have already been identified.

The union’s long-running campaign to secure contracts of indefinite duration for members employed on a sessional basis in DIT finally came to a successful conclusion. In a major breakthrough, the institute agreed that staff on temporary contracts for the nine-month academic year would get contracts of indefinite duration and would be transferred to full-time vacancies as they arose. The union is pursuing outstanding issues for sessional night staff. Agreement was reached to advertise various vacancies for general operative posts and it is expected that further vacant promotional posts will be advertised during the coming year.

Although the Government announced funding cuts for a new DIT campus in Grangegorman, the project is proceeding, with management seeking public and private funding. Unions have been pressing for the completion of a comprehensive review of staff requirements at the new campus and were pleased with staffing plans announced by the institute in February 2012. Unions are now seeking upskilling opportunities so that institute staff can fill new positions on the campus.

Funding cuts led management at Athlone Institute of Technology to make proposals for a major restructuring of caretakers’ shift arrangements, which could impact on earnings. Negotiations have yet to commence on this, although the institute has included the issue in its 2012 Croke Park action plan. IMPACT believes it can protect members’ terms and conditions in the negotiations.

Dublin VEC

Eleven porters and general operatives have left the service in the last year. IMPACT is working with management to ensure that members are kept informed and that redeployment is managed within the terms of the Croke Park agreement.


The union is paying close attention to the national review of allowances amid concerns that proposals could impact on general operatives.

MembersofIMPACT’sInstitutesofTechnologyBranchatthe2011divisionalconference.


“ We believe the company underestimated the unity and strength of cabin crew and the public support for our case… they have shown great determination. This and the support of their union, their families, their colleagues and others means we now have a satisfactory outcome.”

IMPACT official Christina Carney, 9th February 2011

IMPACT cabin crew member Aideen Walsh picturedduringtheJanuary2011disputeattheAerLingusHQatDublinAirport.Aideen is seen holding the letter informing her she had been taken off duties.

Strength


Sale of state assets

The intention to sell state companies formed part of the programme for government and the issue remains live in discussions between the Government and the EU-ECB-IMF troika. In early 2012, the Government announced its intention to sell almost €3 billion worth of state assets, potentially including some Coillte assets and the Government’s 25% Aer Lingus stake. It also said that the troika had conceded that some of this could be invested in job creation measures.

IMPACT is opposed to the sale of the Government’s Aer Lingus stake because Ireland is heavily dependent on its European and transatlantic routes for international connectivity. Although IMPACT accepts that the sale of the Government’s stake would not automatically stop flights on these routes, it would leave the state powerless to influence future route changes or to stop an undesirable future change in ownership.

IMPACT is equally adamant that privatisation of Coillte would likely result in asset stripping to achieve a quick return on a new owner’s investment. This would lead to substantial questions about the future of the Irish forestry, the ethical management of natural resources and private access to Coillte lands.

Aviation

PensionsThe multi-employer Irish Aviation Superannuation Scheme remained in serious deficit, which exceeded €700 million at one stage. A Labour Relations Commission process attempted to reach agreement on a proposal to rescue service to date for existing members of the scheme. In early 2012, Aer Lingus proposed a number of measures including a freeze in the scheme for future service, separate defined contribution schemes for Aer Lingus and DAA, switching to National Treasury Management Agency investment products, bespoke longevity swopping insurance, possible imposition

of co-ordination, and switching to the revised Government-imposed extended pension ages. Unions were awaiting independent actuarial advice on the matter as this report went to print.

In common with most defined benefit schemes, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) Superannuation Scheme went into serious deficit in 2012. Discussions facilitated by Ray McGee, former deputy chairman of the Labour Court, resulted in a memorandum of understanding that paved the way for staff to commence a 6% deduction matched by a management deduction increase that added €5.4 million a year to their existing 30.5% yearly contribution. The agreement included a cap on pensionable pay to 31st December 2013 and a cap on pensionable pay based on CPI to a maximum of 3% between 1st January 2014 and 31st December 2015. These measures, coupled with an agreement to give effect to the general round increases as recommended by the Labour Court in a binding decision, were accepted in a ballot of IMPACT members.

Aer LingusA dispute commenced in July 2010 when Aer Lingus unilaterally adjusted cabin crew rosters in advance of the final arbitration outcome on the implementation of increased cabin crew block hours set out the ‘Greenfield’ agreement. The Labour Relations Commission (LRC) issued its binding arbitration, setting the stage for a joint implementation process. It soon became clear that agreement would not be possible and a work-to-rule commenced. Early in 2011 matters came to a head when the company unilaterally published revised rosters and gave notice of its intention to impose them. Once this deadline was reached the company began to take crew off payroll as they refused to work the new rosters, and commenced ‘wet leasing’ aircraft to run its schedule at immense cost. The issue was resolved after a further LRC intervention and binding arbitration.

An agreement with Aer Lingus saw the Aer Lingus employee share ownership trust (ESOT) achieved the full repayment of its €21 million loan, which had been used to buy shares in the company. The

Services and enterprises


shares, which were worth €21,000 to staff with full qualifying service, were then issued. The ESOT was closed and it was agreed that ICTU general secretary David Begg would remain on the company board. Aer Lingus returned to profit in early 2011 which sparked a gain-sharing payment to all staff, as provided for in the ‘Greenfield’ agreement.

Pilots were in dispute over access to a five day on–three day off pattern in 2011 and were successful in reaching an agreement in June. Pay increases were negotiated for pilots in the Belfast and Gatwick bases. Agreements were also reached to improve pay and conditions for Belfast and Gatwick based cabin crew.

CHC Ireland Pay increases of 3.5% from May 2010 and 2.5% from May 2011 were paid.

Dublin Airport AuthorityThe Dublin Airport Authority cost-recovery programme, agreed in 2010, was implemented with a number of members leaving the company.

Coillte

IMPACT and Coillte management have been in discussions about a new pay and reward model since April 2011. This will be different and broader than the current scheme, which is based solely on annual increments. It is expected that IMPACT members will move to a scheme with annual pay increases based on company and personal performance, as well as the existing increments. Future pay increases will also be linked to an agreed list of comparative companies. As this report went to press it was expected that a ballot on the proposed changes could be conducted in late April 2012. IMPACT publically spoke out against any Government move to sell Coillte assets, saying it would raise questions about the future of Irish forestry, the ethical management of natural resources and public access to Coillte land.

Communications

IMPACT and other unions negotiated a recovery plan with management and it was accepted in union ballots. The plan aims to transform Eircom into a modern telecommunications company with a business strategy to sustain the highest possible number of jobs. It seeks €92 million in cost savings through a number of measures including a pay freeze until December 2013, the introduction of a nine-day fortnight (which effectively reduces pay by 10% for 18 months), restrictions in leave carried forward and a range of modernisation measures jointly identified by the company and its unions. The plan was accompanied by a statement from the company’s shareholders, STT and the ESOT, which committed them to the long-term future of the company if these measures are implemented.

IMPACT and other unions have sought assurances that Eircom management will honour its commitments under the rescue plan, including commitments on debt levels, investment, job security, pay and pensions, after the company made a High Court application to enter an examinership process. IMPACT supported examinership as the best way of reducing the company’s debts and putting its future on a firmer footing, but expressed disappointment that plans for 1,000 job losses over the next five years only emerged as part of the examinership application. Management told unions that examinership would have no direct impact on staff. All of the foregoing represents a huge challenge in a company that has undertaken numerous restructures since privatisation. However, IMPACT and the other unions believe the alternative could place their members in a much more precarious position.

Vodafone is proposing significant changes to its defined benefit pension scheme. The proposals are currently under discussion with IMPACT and the Communications Workers’ Union.


Community employment schemes

IMPACT’s Community Employment Supervisors’ branch lobbied TDs in an attempt to stop devastating cuts in the funding of schemes. The union also took part in a Dáil protest in December 2011, along with Siptu and affected community organisations. This followed the Budget 2012 announcement that funding for CE materials and training would be cut by two-thirds from the current €1,500 per participant to €500. A review process commenced with union agreement after a meeting with Minister Joan Burton and agreement that no supervisor or assistant supervisor would lose their job as part of this process.

Non-commercial state agencies

Many non-commercial semi-state agencies were targeted for amalgamation or abolition in the McCarthy report on the public service. The acceptance of the Croke Park agreement stabilised matters considerably. A sectoral implementation body was set up with IMPACT national secretary Matt Staunton taking one of the three union seats. Management outlined a target of reducing employee numbers from 12,200 to 10,000 in 110 agencies under the agreement.

Staff in these agencies are to be paired with civil servants for redeployment purposes. Between the civil service and these agencies Croke Park downsizing targets were easily reached for 2010 and 2011. Initially the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform refused to accept that the Institute of Public Administration was an agency to be considered part of the Croke Park Agreement. However following intense IMPACT pressure it was agreed to include this agency. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform announced his intention to proceed with the rationalisation of 48 state bodies by the end of 2012 and to review the position of another 46 by the end of June 2012. Precise details are yet to emerge.

Teagasc

Teagasc is implementing Croke Park reforms, which will generate annual savings of over €680,000 and a 25% reduction in staffing, while meeting an 80% increase in demand for training places. Staff reductions will be achieved by a voluntary early retirement scheme or redeployment to the civil service or other state agencies. IMPACT warned that the loss of an additional 109 posts could affect the agency’s support for Ireland’s agri-food industry, which is a key growth sector. Some 280 posts have already been lost in the organisation since 2008. IMPACT national secretary Matt Staunton delivered a major paper on the organisation’s Croke Park reforms at the March 2012 Industrial Relations News conference.

Many state agencies were targeted for amalgamation or abolition in the McCarthy report but the Croke Park agreement stabilised matters considerably.


Appendices

IMPACT BIENNIAL REPORT 2010-2012 51Appendix oneMileage and subsistenceMotor mileage rates (health boards)Effective 25th March 2009

Rates per mile

Officialmotortravelincalendaryear

Enginecapacity up to 1200cc

Enginecapacity 1201 to 1500cc

Enginecapacity 1501 and over

cent cent cent

up to 4000 miles 64.54 76.94 97.95

4001 miles and over 34.91 39.14 47.36

Rates per Kilometre





cent cent cent

up to 6,437km 40.11 47.82 60.88

6,438km and over 21.70 24.33 29.43

Motor Cycle AllowanceRates per mile


Enginecapacityup to 150cc

Enginecapacity151 to 250cc


Enginecapacity601cc and over

cent cent cent cent

up to 4,000 miles 23.29 32.34 38.16 46.01

44,001 and over 15.07 21.42 24.61 28.31

Rates per Kilometre





Enginecapacity601cc and over

cent cent cent cent

up to 6,437km 14.48 20.10 23.72 28.59

6,438km and over 9.37 13.31 15.29 17.60

Domestic subsistence rate Effective 25th March 2009

Nightallowances Dayallowances

Class of allowances

Normal rate

Reduced rate

Dention rate

10hrs or more

5hrs but less than 10hrs

A1 108.99 100.48 54.48 33.61 13.71

B2 107.69 92.11 53.87 33.61 13.71

1 Salary of €55,780 and above 2 Salary of €55.779.99 and below


Motor mileage rates (civil service) Effective 5th March 2009

Rates per mile





cent cent cent

up to 4,000 miles 62.94 74.42 95.05

4,001 miles and over 34.13 38.00 45.79

Rates per kilometre





cent cent cent

up to 6,437km 39.12 46.25 59.07

4,438km and over 21.22 23.62 28.46

Civil service reduced motor mileage rates

Rates per mile Enginecapacityupto1200cc



23.55 26.76 34.36

Rates per kilometre

Engine capacity up to 1200cc

Engine capacity 1201 to 1500cc

Engine capacity 1501 and over

14.64 16.64 19.49

Domestic subsistence rates (civil service)Effective 5th March 2009

Nightallowances Dayallowances

Class of allowances

Normal rate

Reduced rate

Dention rate

10hrs or more

5hrs but less than 10hrs

A 108.99 100.48 54.48 33.61 13.71

B 107.69 92.11 53.87 33.61 13.71


Agricultural Laboratories Benny Conaty, Central Meat Control Laboratory, Backweston Campus, Youngs Cross, Celbridge, Co Kildare.

AgricultureNo.1John McDermott, IMPACT, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1.

AirTrafficControlTristan Spillane, c/o Irish Aviation Authority, Ballycasey Cross, Shannon, Co Clare.

AMRO(CivilService) Patrick Canning, Malin Head Coast Guard, Malin Head, Co Donegal.

AMRO(Services&Enterprises) Paul O’Shea, Shannon Air Radio, Ballygirreen, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare.

An Bord Pleanala Christopher Byrne, An Bord Pleanala, 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1.

Architectural Engineering and Heritage Willie Cumming, Dept of Arts, Heritage & Gaeltacht, Custom House, Dublin 1.

Archives Brian Donnelly, National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8.

Aviation,Safety&Regulatory John Sullivan, Room 301, IAA, Aviation House, Hawkins Street, Dublin 2.

Ballinasloe Gerard Tully, Creagh Training Centre, Ballinasloe, Co Galway.

Boards&AgenciesUna O’Connor, 123 Ballinteer Close, Ballinteer, Dublin 16.

Cabin Crew Gillian White, c/o IMPACT, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1.

Carlow Ann Daly, Social Work Department, Health Service Executive South, St Dympna’s Hospital, Athy Road, Carlow.

Cavan local government Mairtin O’Loingsigh, c/o Cavan Town Council, Town Hall, Town Hall Street, Co Cavan Health Pamela Armitage, social work department, Cavan/Monaghan, Dublin North East, Drumlalee Cross, Cavan, Co Cavan.

CentralStatisticsOffice Brian Ring, Business Statistics Integration, Central Statistics Office, Skehard Road, Cork.

CivilServiceNo.1 Thomas Madden, 2 Clonulty, Ballydangan, Athlone, Co Roscommon.

Clare Carl Hale, Clare County Council, County Building, New Road, Ennis, Co Clare.

CLME Martin Haran, Malin Head, Inishowen, Co Donegal.

Coillte John Lyons, Codrum, Macroom, Co Cork.

Communications Joe Bonner, Eircom, Plan/Design Department, Telephone House, Marlborough Street, Dublin 1.

CommunityEmploymentSupervisorsPaddy Quinn, 3 Hill View, Mountrath Road, Portlaoise, Co Laois.

Conservation Rangers Roy Thompson, NPWS, 2 Conway Estates, Station Road, Kildare Town, Co Kildare.

Cork Josephine McCarthy, IMPACT Offices, Fr Matthew Quay, Cork.

CourtUshersMartin McCarthy, c/o Mr Justice Finnegan, The Supreme Court, Four Courts, Dublin 7.

DairyProduceInspectorsMartin Rea, Dairy Science Laboratory, Backweston Laboratory Complex, Youngs Cross, Celbridge, Co Kildare.

DoE Inspectors Darren Byrne, Environment Inspectorate, Department of Environment, Community & Local Government, Custom House, Dublin 1.

Donegal local government Marie Little, Housing Department, Donegal County Council, Public Services Centre, Donegal Town, Co Donegal. Health Angela McGinley, 15 Ard Ghlas, Long Lane, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

Driver Testers Martin Slattery, 12 Coulson Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin 6.

DublinCareServices Ruth Robinson, 52 Marsham Court, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.

DublinCityDenise Kirwan, Central Area Office, Dublin City Council, 51-53 Sean McDermott Street, Dublin 1.

Dublin Hospitals Eileen Byrne, Medical Records, Beaumont Hospital, Beaumont, Dublin 9.

DublinNorthHSE Siobhán Curran, Apartment 6, The Laurels, Grattan Wood, Donaghmede, Dublin 13.

DublinSouthHSEGina McDonald, HSE Eastern Region, Superannuation Section, 20-23 Merchants Quay, Dublin 8.

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Roisin Cronin, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Level 2, County Hall, Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

EnergySophie Preteseille, Dept of Communications, Marine & Natural Resources, Beggars Bush, Haddington Road, Dublin 4.

Failte Ireland Tony Dawson, Failte Ireland, Forster Street, Galway.

FGE Thomas Cowman, c/o IMPACT, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1.

Fingal Helen Gad, Fingal County Council, Housing Department Grove Road, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15.

ForensicScienceJudy Price, Forensic Science Laboratory, Garda HQ, Phoenix Park, Dublin 8.

Gaeltacht Peadar MacDiarmada, Roinn na Gaeltachta, Na Forbacha, Gallaimh.

GalwayTom Browne, IMPACT, Unit 23-24, Sean Mulvoy Business Park, Sean Mulvoy Road, Galway.

GovernmentSuppliesAgency Mick Dunne, Government Supply Agency, National Procurement Service, 17-19 Lower Hatch Street, Dublin 2.

GVO Professional Daniel Donovan, Valuation Office, Irish Life Centre, Abbey Street Lower, Dublin 1.

GVO Technical Derek O Brien, Valuation Office, Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1.

Health&SafetyAuthority John Kennedy, Rathuard, Ballysheedy, Co Limerick.

HighCourtandSupremeCourtOfficersSonia Murphy, Supreme Court Office, 1st Floor, The Four Courts, Dublin 7.

Housing Inspectors Vacant.

IAESAMichael Lenane, 21 The Green, Skerries Rock, Skerries, Co Dublin.

IALPA Alan Brereton, IMPACT IALPA Office, Corballis Park, Dublin Airport, Co Dublin.

InstitutesofTechnologyNorrie O Callaghan, Athlone, Institute Of Technology, Dublin Road, Athlone, Co Westmeath.

Irish Youth Justice Noel Sweeney, 16 The Heath, Inse Bay, Laytown, Co Meath.

KerryMary McCarthy, Primary Care Projects Office, Block 1, St Columbanus Hospital, St Margaret's Road, Killarney, Co Kerry.

Kildare Margaret O’Reilly, Kildare County Council, Housing Section, Áras Chill Dara, Devoy Park, Naas, Co Kildare.

Kildare Health Joanne Darcy Dempsey, Social Worker Department, St Mary's, Craddockstown Road, Naas, Co. Kildare.

KilkennyhealthSharon Young, Medical Records Dept, St Lukes Hospital, Kilkenny. Local government Jacqueline Kendlin, Finance Department, Kilkenny County Council, John’s Street, Kilkenny.

Land Commission Inspectors John Prendergast,Land Commission Office, Government Buildings, Cranmore, Sligo.

Appendix twoBranch secretaries


Laois Gerard Monaghan, Fire Prevention And Safety Service, HSE Area Offices, Arden Road, Tullamore, Co Offaly.

LegalOfficersMichael Collins, Chief State Solicitors Office, Osmond House, Little Ship Street, Dublin 8.

Legal Professional Brendan McMahon, Office Of The Attorney General, Government Buildings, Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2.

Leitrim local government Alan Martin, Planning Community & Economic Development, Leitrim County Council, Aras An Chontae, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim. Health Mary Dolan, c/o HSE Community Care, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim.

Limerick local government Sinead Burke, Limerick City Council, Housing Department, City Hall, Merchant`s Quay, Limerick.

Limerick health Maura Cahalan, 27 Oakleigh Wood, Dooradoyle, Limerick.

Local Enterprise David Orford, Tolka Area Partnership, Rosehill House, Finglas Road, Dublin 11.

Local Government Auditors John Collins, Killavallig, Kanturk, Co Cork.

Longford Anne Skelly, Knappogue, Clondra, Co Longford.

Louth local government Lorraine Quigley, Louth County Council, County Hall, Millennium Buildings, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk, Co Louth. Health Barbara Kelly, Logistics & Inventory Management HSE, Unit 6, East Coast Business Park, Matthews Lane, Drogheda, Co Louth.

Marine(CivilService)Eugene Wallace, Department of Communications, Marine & Natural Resources, Harbour House, Dunmore East, Co Waterford.

Marine(ServicesandEnterprise)Jennifer Doyle, Marine Institute Headquarters, Rinville West, Oranmore, Co Galway.

MayolocalgovernmentMarcella Moran, Mayo County Council, The Mall, Castlebar, Co Mayo. Health Cathy Blake, Accounts Department, Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar, Co Mayo.

Meath local government Eugene Farrelly, Duleek Civic Offices, Main Street, Duleek Co Meath. Health Michelle O’Reilly, 4 The Willows, Beaufort Place, Navan, Co Meath.

Meteorologists Patrick Clarke, Met Eireann, Glasnevin Hill, Dublin 9.

Monaghan local government John McGrory, Monaghan County Council, The Glen, Monaghan Town. Health Carol McGeough, HSE North Eastern Region, St Davnet’s Hospital, Monaghan Town.

MunicipalEmployeesThomas Murtagh, IMPACT, Nerneys Court, Off Temple Street, Dublin 1.

NationalEducationWelfareBoardJoanne Rafferty, National Educational Welfare Board, 16/22 Green, Street, Dublin 7.

NationalLibraryFrances Clarke, National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

NationalMuseum Emma Mary Kate Crosbie, 37 Galtymore Drive, Drimnagh, Dublin 12.

OCFA Colm De Burca, 29 Ryecroft, Br An Teampaill, Bri Clmalann, Co Chill Mhentain.

OffalyPatricia Mellsop, Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore, Co Offaly.

OrdnanceSurveySteven Pilgrim, Ordnance Survey Ireland, Airglooney House, Ballygaddy Road, Tuam, Co Galway.

OireachtasUshers Andrew Fitzgerald, Oireachtas, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

PAOB Karl Walsh, Research Division, Dept Of Agriculture & Food, Agriculture House 6W, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Placenames Conchubhar O’Crualaoich, Department of Communications Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs, 43-49 Bóthar Mespil, Baile Atha Cliath 4.

PostPrimaryInspectorate Noirin Hynes, Room 15, Department of Education & Skills, Block 3, Floor 1, Marlborough Street, Dublin 1.

PrimaryInspectorsMicheal Baiceir, Lissagurraun, Moycullen, Co Galway.

ProbationOfficersSinead Hunt, Dublin South Assessment Team, The Probation Service, Haymarket, Smithfield, Dublin 7.

Professional Accountants Stephen Boyd, Dept Of Enterprise & Employment, Internal Audit, 4th Floor Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

PropertyRegistrationAuthorityPatrick Curran, Knockatore, The Rower, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny.

PsychologistsSorcha O Toole, 4b Barberstown, Clonsilla, Dublin 15.

PublicationsandTerminologyPádraic Ó Farachtáin, Foras Na Gaeilge, An Gum, 24/27 Sraid Fhreidric, Thuaidh, Baile Atha Cliath 1.

Roscommon local government Marion Parker, Roscommon Co Council, Roscommon West Business Park, Circular Road, Roscommon. Health Frances McCann, Boyle Health Centre, Boyle, Roscommon.

SchoolCompletionProgrammeDympna Byrne, 8 Hazelwood Lane, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.

SchoolSecretariesPatricia Whelan, Avalon, Springhill, Killeshin, Carlow.

SpecialNeedsAssistants Helena Witherow, Corcashey, Convoy, Co Donegal.

SpecialEducationNeedsOrganisersMaire Aherne, National Council for Special Education, c/o Government Offices, Convent Road, Roscommon.

SligoSinead Costello, Eye Ward, Sligo General Hospital, The Mall, Sligo, Co Sligo.

SouthDublin Pamela Farrell, Library Headquarters, Unit 1, The Square Industrial Complex, Tallaght, Dublin 24.

StateEnterpriseNo.1 Lorraine Currivan, RPII, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14 .

StateLaboratory Claire Timbs, State Laboratory, Youngs Cross, Celbridge, Co Kildare.

Teagasc Professional John Kelly, Clonakilty Agricultural College, Darrara, Clonakilty, Co Cork.

Teagasc General Breege Foy, Teagasc, Abbey Road, Ballinarobe, Co Mayo.

TipperaryNorthLouise Ryan, Thurles Town Council, Slievenamon Road, Thurles, Co Tipperary.

TipperarySouthJacinta Cremmins, St Lukes Hospital, Western Road, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

VEC Emer Walsh, Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa, Tramore Road, Cork.

WaterfordCityAngela Power, 98 Clarke Road, Cork Road Estate, Waterford.

WaterfordCountyMary O’Brien, Waterford County Council, Civic Offices, Dungarvan, Co Waterford.

WaterwaysIrelandMichael McKiernan, Waterways Ireland, The Docks, Athlone, Co Westmeath.

Westmeath Yvonne Dowler, c/o St Mary`s Hospital, Mullingar, Co Westmeath.

Wexford Noel Stacey, Motor Taxation Office, Wexford County Council, County Hall, Carriglawn, Wexford.

Wicklow Georgina Franey, Bray Town Council, Civic Offices, Main Street, Bray, Co Wicklow.

WicklowHSE Ciara Mahoney, Greystones Health Centre, Victoria Road, Greystones, Co Wicklow.


Appendix threeCentral executive committee2010-2012

President Kevin O’Malley

Vice Presidents Margaret Coughlan Francis Byrne (until Jan 2011) Joe May Gerry Monaghan Pól Ó Gaibhin (from Jan 2012)

Honourary Treasurer Tom Murray

Honourary Secretary Alice Hennessy

Honourary Equality Officer Isabell Murphy

Civil Service Bobby Carty Eugene Dunne Andy Walsh

Health and Welfare Adrienne Byrne (until June 2011) Martin Bridgeman (from July 2011) Dolores Callanan (until June 2011) Tony Martin (from Sept 2011) Sophia O’Reilly (until July 2011) Ruth Robinson (from July 2011)

Local Government Frank Branningan (Jan 2011-June 2011) Eugene Farrelly (Jan 2011-June 2011) Jerry King Shane Lambert (from March 2012) Joan McCrohan (July 2010-Feb 2012) Patricia Whelan (July 2010-Feb 2012)

Municipal Employees Thomas Murtagh Michael Tomney

Services and Enterprises Tony Dawson (from July 2011) Pierce Dillon (until June 2011) Paddy Quinn Michael Scully

Immediate Past President John Power

There were 26 Central Executive Meetings held between June 2010-February 2012 (inclusive). Attendance at these meetings can be obtained from the general secretary’s office.


Appendix fourDivisional executive committee

Civil Service Division

Chairperson Eugene Dunne

Vice-Chairperson Andy Walsh

Executive Members Ellen Brennan, Bobby Carty, Marian Cody, Benny Conaty, Alan Duffy, Deborah Ivers,Denis McQuaid, Siobhan Ni Ghriofa, John O’Flanagan, Judy Price, Thomas Ryder, Philip Slattery, Sheila Smith.

Health & Welfare Division

Chairperson Martin Bridgeman

Vice-Chairperson Tony Martin

Executive Members Cathy Blake, Rosemary Bracken, Donald Gibney, David Hackett, Eamon Hannan, Anthony Kelly, Maeve McCarthy, Patricia Mellsop, Ruth Robinson, Denis Rooney,Matthew Tully, Ciara Wynne, Sinead Wynne.

Local Government Division

Chairperson Jerry King

Vice-Chairperson Shane Lambert

Executive members Tom Browne, Pat Considine, Eugene Farrelly, Declan Howard, Raymond Kennedy, Josephine McCarthy, Catherine Murphy, Pete Murtagh, Gina O’Brien, Sean Reid, Tara Robertson, Joseph Sherlock, Cait Shirran.

Municipal Employees’ Division

President Thomas Murtagh

Vice-President Michael Tomney

Executive members Michael Burke, Denis Cahil, Michael Clarke, Terry Crosbie, Stephen Curran, Francis Doyle, John Gaynor, Anthony Gibson, David Green, Damien Guilfoyle, Tony Jennings, Seamus Kavanagh, Francis McLoughlin, Michael McLoughlin, Patrick Morris, Declan O’Brien, Michael Ross, Edward Smith, Mark Wynne.

Services & Enterprises Division

Chairperson Michael Scully

Vice-Chairperson Paddy Quinn

Executive Members Joe Bonner, Grace Conlon, Edel Crummey, Evan Cullen, Barry Cunningham, Tony Dawson, Pierce Dillon, Ernest Donnelly, Brian Furey, Ken Hamilton, Ian McDonald, Paul O’Shea, Steven Pilgrim.


Staff changesAssistant general secretary Denis Calnan left the union on a career break in June 2010. Assistant general secretaries Josephine Fogarty and Janet Hughes left the union in April 2010 and September 2011 respectively. Ashley Connolly, Catherine Keogh and Phil McFadden were appointed as assistant general secretaries in July 2010. Sophia O’ Reilly was appointed as an industrial relations officer in September 2011.

The union intends to have eight staff working in organising roles, paid at local authority grade V level, by the end of 2012. Two temporary organisers were appointed on a pilot basis in 2011 to assist in the education area. A total of four organiser posts, including the two posts currently allocated in the education sector, will be assigned to organise special needs assistants. Two membership support officers, appointed from the union’s existing administrative staff on a pilot basis in 2011, are currently working on membership and organisation initiatives. An additional two organiser posts have been filled in the Dublin area.

Staff pay and conditionsThe pay and conditions of all IMPACT staff are formally related to local government grades. Administrative staff conditions are related to local government clerical and administrative grades III to VII. Industrial staff are related to the following grades: General secretary (Cork county manager); deputy general secretary (county manager, bottom grade); national secretaries (assistant county manager, lowest scale). Assistant general secretaries are paid the same as county secretaries. The full scales are available on the IMPACT website.

Although IMPACT staff are not covered by the legislation that introduced the public service pay cuts, senior officials opted to take a voluntary pay cut to reflect those imposed on their related public service grades. All officials and administrative staff appointed or promoted after January 2010 have been placed on amended pay scales that reflect the reductions imposed in the public service. In 2008, the then general secretary and his deputy declined to accept an increase awarded to their linked grades. Subsequently, along with other senior colleagues, they accepted the reduced rates that applied in the public service. The union’s Central Executive Committee decided to continue the salary link with the local authority structure as it believes that this is the appropriate contractual rate for the job. Nevertheless, the current general secretary decided to waive an additional portion of his salary upon appointment.

The IMPACT staff pension scheme is a contributory funded scheme and staff have paid a contribution of 9.5% of gross salary for many years. Like most other private funded schemes, the IMPACT scheme is in deficit. The scheme benefits aspire to match the main, but not

all, provisions of the public service pension schemes. However, benefits are not guaranteed.Staff travel and subsistence is paid in accordance with current civil service regulations. The relevant travel and subsistence rates are set out in appendix one of this report and the total expenditure on staff travel and subsistence is set out in appendix seven.

Staff membership of external boardsThe union’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) adopted new guidelines on IMPACT staff membership of the boards of external bodies on foot of four motions debated and remitted at the union’s 2010 biennial delegate conference. Under the guidelines, staff and IMPACT members continue to be eligible for appointment to state and other boards, but all significant appointments and renewal of appointments must be approved by the CEC and reported to members in this biennial report. Appointments of a personal, local or industrial nature made through the relevant union structures must be approved by the union’s general secretary. CEC approval for the appointment or renewal of the general secretary’s appointment to external boards is required in all circumstances and this is expressly provided for in the general secretary’s contract of employment. The CEC has an unqualified right to require a member of staff to withdraw from a board.

Director’s fees are paid in the case of some, but not all, public bodies. The IMPACT guidelines require that any fees paid to IMPACT officials should be assigned to IMPACT. As fees are taxed as remuneration it is not possible to pass on the full value of fees and only the net amount must be assigned to the union. The following staff members were members of external boards in the period covered by this report:

Christina Carney is chairperson of the HSE Type C Committee.

Shay Cody is a member of the National Competitiveness Council and the National Economic and Social Council. He chairs the Aer Lingus ESOT, which is in the process of being wound up, and is an alternate director of the Eircom ESOT.

Ashley Connolly became a member of the Audit Committee of Fingal County Council in 2011.

Peter Nolan was a member of the board of the Hospital Saturday Fund until 2011.

Dessie Robinson is an ICTU nominee to the board of the Health and Safety Authority, and is a board member of the Ballyfermot Partnership.

Appendix fiveIMPACT staffing and remuneration


StaffGeneralSecretary Shay Cody

DeputyGeneralSecretary Kevin Callinan

NationalSecretaries Eamonn Donnelly (civil service), Bernard Harbor (communications), Paddy Keating (general manager), Peter Nolan (local government), Louise O’Donnell (health & welfare), Matt Staunton (services & enterprises)

AssistantGeneralSecretaries Pat Bolger, Christina Carney, Richy Carrothers, Shay Clinton, Ashley Connolly, Christine Cully, Gerry Dolan, Johnny Fox, Brian Gorman, Stella Griffin, Tom Hoare, Hilary Kelleher, Catherine Keogh, Angela Kirk, Michael Landers, Marie Levis, Stephen Lyons, Phil McFadden, Brendan McKay, Philip Mullen, Padraig Mulligan, Geraldine O’Brien, Stephen O’Neill, Andy Pike, Dessie Robinson, Denis Rohan, Ray Ryan, Robbie Ryan

IndustrialRelationsOfficer Sophia O’Reilly

PersonalAssistanttotheGeneralSecretary Teresa Griffin

Executive Assistant Valerie West

MembershipSupportExecutives Bernie Aston, Julie Healy

Branch Organisers Joan McCrohan, Patricia Whelan

SeniorPersonalAssistants Linda Casey (local government), Elaine Elliott (services & enterprises), Carol Foster (civil service acting), Mary O’Neill (civil service-maternity leave), Jacinta O’Sullivan (health & welfare)

Personal Assistants Elizabeth Breen (career break), Judith Coffey,Noeline Deegan, Margaret Gorman, Eileen Grehan (part time), Jennifer Flaherty, Ailish Kearney (part time), Joan Kepple, Joan King, Rita Lidierth, Jennifer McKenna (part time), John Meehan, Carol Nevin (part time), Deirdre O’Brien, Anna O’Donoghue, Maureen Rooke (part time), Brid Ruddle, Jackie Spoonley, Jojo Taaffe (part time), Carol Timmons

Receptionists/Telephonists Margaret Jackson, Ann Tiernan (part time)

Communications UnitCommunicationsOfficer Niall Shanahan

Administrative Roisin Nolan, Martina O’Leary (part time), Patricia O’Mahony (part time)

AccountsFinanceOfficer Anna Leonard

SeniorAccountsOfficer Silvana del Valle Cardozo (career break)

AccountsAdministrativeOfficer Aideen Sharry (job sharing)

AccountsOfficers Mohamad Abdillahi Abdi, Margaret Butler, Mairead Hanratty

MembershipOfficer Siobhan Maguire

Post Room Brid Nic Aodha Bhui

General Assistant Frank O’Donnell

ServiceAssistants Maureen Crosbie, Svetlana Smytkov


ICTUExecutiveCouncil Kevin Callinan, Shay Cody, Louise O’Donnell.

ICTUGeneralPurposesCommittee Shay Cody.

ICTUPublicServicesCommittee Kevin Callinan, Shay Cody (Chair), Eamon Donnelly, Bernard Harbor, Peter Nolan, Louise O’Donnell, Matt Staunton.

ICTUGlobalSolidarityCommittee Bernard Harbor, Philip O’Connor.

ICTUDisputesCommittee Bobby Carty.

ICTUYouthCommittee Brian Furey.

ICTURetiredWorkersCommittee Christy Foster, Peter Sands.

ICTULiaisonGrouponDisability Pat Fallon, Gerard Monaghan.

ICTUWomen’sCommittee Adrienne Byrne.

ICTUEqualityNetwork Paddy Keating.

ICTUHealth,SafetyandWelfareCommittee Bobby Carty, Dessie Robinson.

ICTUCommunicationsStrategyTeam Bernard Harbor, Niall Shanahan.

North-SouthGroup Shay Cody.

PrivateSectorIndustrialCommittee Shay Cody, Matt Staunton.

SocialEmploymentSchemeMonitoringCommittee Geraldine O’Brien.

Other Affiliations

EuropeanFederationofPublicServiceUnions Kevin Callinan (Executive Committee), Louise O’Donnell (Health Committee), Peter Nolan (Local and Regional Government Committee), Eamonn Donnelly (Standing Committee on National and European Administration).

Eurocadres Peter Nolan (Executive Committee).

Institute of International and European Affairs Shay Cody, Bernard Harbor, Paddy Keating.

Affiliation to other bodies

Amnesty International, Dublin Council of Trade Unions, European Transport Workers’ Federation, Foundation for Fiscal Studies, Institute of Public Administration, International Transport Workers’ Federation, Irish Labour History Society, Irish Senior Citizens Parliament, Justice for Colombia (Ireland), National Irish Safety Organisation, National Women’s Council of Ireland, People’s College, Public Services International, Retirement Planning Council.

Appendix sixICTU committees and affiliations


General Fund for the year ended 31 December 2011 2010 2009 € € €

Income

Subscription income 12,486,241 13,102,044 13,485,974Investment income 299,792 304,492 341,831Other income - - 16,687Loan interest receivable 706 667 549Total income 12,786,739 13,407,203 13,845,041 Expenditure Administration, establishment and general expenses -10,083,667 -10,139,590 -10,576,341Other finance income/(costs) 118,000 -282,000 -282,000Decrease/-(increase) in provision for legal assistance 305,000 -350,000 - Surplus for year before tax 3,126,072 2,635,613 2,986,700Tax -82,298 -74,743 -68,728Surplus for year after tax 3,043,774 2,560,870 2,917,972 Statement of total recognised gains and losses Surplus for year after tax 3,043,774 2,560,870 2,917,972Net actuarial (losses)/gains: Defined benefit pension scheme -922,000 5,078,000 -1,319,000 Provision for ex-gratia pensions -4,468 12,100 424,580 Total recognised gains and losses 2,117,306 7,650,970 2,023,552 Movement in the General Fund for the year Original surplus brought forward 12,130,292 4,479,322 2,455,770Total recognised gains and losses 2,117,306 7,650,970 2,023,552Surplus at end of year 14,247,598 12,130,292 4,479,322

Appendix sevenSummary of accounts


Developing World Fund 2011 2010 2009 € w €

Income Subscription income 490,333 530,112 529,845Deposit interest 2 14 4,157Total income 490,335 530,126 534,002

Expenditure Projects -443,381 -456,841 -474,615Surplus for year before tax 46,954 73,285 59,387Tax - -4 -858Surplus for year after tax 46,954 73,281 58,529Surplus at beginning of year 157,315 84,034 25,505Surplus at end of year 204,269 157,315 84,034

Dispute Fund 2011 2010 2009 € w € IncomeSubscription income 1,634,442 1,767,040 1,766,151Investment income - Profit/(loss) on disposal of investments 706,209 -222,727 727,330 - interest on deposits, government stocks and dividend income 718,109 553,348 515,700 - Rent receivable 99,702 99,702 99,702Total income 3,158,462 2,197,363 3,108,883

Expenditure Commission on purchase of investments 6,411 75 15,940Investment consultancy fees 24,200 24,200 24,275Strike pay, legal and other dispute fund costs 211,787 35,338 131,038Depreciation 253,684 250,674 250,099Impairment of Irish equities - 507,007 - Total expenditure 496,082 817,294 421,352Surplus for year before tax 2,662,380 1,380,069 2,687,531Tax -175,728 -138,102 -125,191Surplus for year after tax 2,486,652 1,241,967 2,562,340Surplus at beginning of year 28,508,095 27,266,128 24,703,788Surplus at end of year 30,994,747 28,508,095 27,266,128


Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2011 2010 2009 € € €

Tangible fixed assets 9,964,560 10,145,383 10,467,776 Investments 10,388,907 10,373,415 11,029,147 Subtotal 20,353,467 20,518,798 21,496,923 Current Assets Debtors and prepayments 2,724,131 2,415,827 2,360,076 Cash on deposit and at bank 25,718,831 22,217,352 17,545,535 Subtotal 28,442,962 24,633,179 19,905,611 Creditors (amounts falling due within one year) -862,822 -1,512,815 -1,636,329 Net current assets 27,580,140 23,120,364 18,269,282 Total assets less current liabilities 47,933,607 43,639,162 39,766,205 Provision for liabilities and charges -2,486,993 -2,843,460 -7,936,721 Net assets 45,446,614 40,795,702 31,829,484 Represented by - General Fund 14,247,598 12,130,292 4,479,322 - Dispute Fund 30,994,747 28,508,095 27,266,128 - Developing World Fund 204,269 157,315 84,034 Total 45,446,614 40,795,702 31,829,484


General Fund expenditure analysis 2011 2010 2009 € w €

Building € € € Rent, rates and insurance 257,675 243,917 247,013 Light and heat 71,794 73,980 73,223 Security 52,664 54,708 52,844 Canteen and cleaning 100,792 103,239 98,417 Subtotal 482,925 475,844 471,497 Equipment Maintenance 86,374 48,612 49,194 Repairs and renewals 54,099 57,611 38,656 Information technology development 122,912 144,292 194,858 Membership system maintenance 78,282 85,868 - Depreciation 148,627 161,474 159,995 Subtotal 490,294 497,857 442,703 Staff Salaries and secondment costs 6,065,491 5,930,970 6,123,847 Pension scheme 808,000 948,481 400,550 Income continuance and insured pension costs 263,655 252,917 206,704 Recruitment expenses 8,462 32,190 35,584 Staff travel and subsistence 312,283 256,670 268,419 Staff training 29,902 12,325 22,520 Other employment costs 20,999 28,754 18,188 Subtotal 7,508,792 7,462,307 7,075,812 Communications Printing and stationery 163,524 130,882 138,976 Telephone 97,823 135,537 138,382 Post and delivery 31,247 67,020 100,293 Subtotal 292,594 333,439 377,651 Meetings and Conferences Affiliation fees 281,096 260,692 257,795 Vocational groups 6,768 9,835 4,116 Divisional meetings 88,404 128,420 108,368 Union/divisional conferences 110,313 85,788 98,067 ICTU meetings/ conferences 34,718 9,740 33,224 Other meetings/ conferences 59,838 67,768 72,083 International meetings/ conferences 325 6,992 3,431 Recruitment and organisation 3,922 382 15,044 Subtotal 585,384 569,617 592,128


General Fund expenditure analysis continued 2011 2010 2009 € w €

Promotion ICTU recruitment strategy - - 295,799 Miscellaneous public relations 20,611 23,972 61,842 Donations 8,100 8,000 8,000 Community development grants 50,000 51,000 57,800 Membership cards and badges 4,247 188 182 Annual report 12,906 20,185 15,736 ‘Work & Life’ 234,698 201,579 192,490 Books and journals 31,239 31,157 26,256 CEC approved projects 12,268 151,104 51,072 Publication: ‘21 years of social partnership’ - 465 -16 Public service pay campaign - 30,481 502,895 Union history - 17,258 20,000 Workplace promotional items 36,474 6,431 - ICTU Economic Research Unit 50,000 - - Subtotal 460,543 541,820 1,232,056 Membership services Benevolent grants 7,000 1,500 2,750 Scholarship 21,850 21,407 25,383 Members’ training 37,895 4,825 63,017 Refund of subscriptions 10,207 13,299 14,764 Death in service scheme - -41 328 Legal assistance - - 5,822 Membership database data entry 67,598 65,352 88,963 Subtotal 144,550 106,342 201,027 Fees Legal fees 70,934 87,019 133,748 Audit, accountancy and taxation fees 30,167 28,743 37,421 Consultancy and professional fees -187 24,216 - Bank charges 17,671 12,386 12,299 Subtotal 118,585 152,364 183,468

Total 10,083,667 10,139,590 10,576,341

Produced by IMPACT Communications Unit,

Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1.T: [email protected]

Designed bywww.reddog.ie

Photographs contained in Annual Report

Page 2, SOS Campaign Andrew Downes Photography

Page 10, Brendan Howlin addressing Conference Dominic Walsh

Page 12, Laura Dooley, Youth Connect Conor Healy

Page 16, Drummers Conor Healy

Page 19, Stills taken from IMPACT video What Exactly is a Public Servant? by www.folksandfolks.com

Page 23, Central Executive Committee Conor Healy

Page 23, Eamonn Gilmore at Evelyn Owens appreciation Conor Healy

Page 24, Catriona Crowe Conor Healy

Page 28, Padraig Doherty, Physio Michael Crean

Page 33, Jacqui Kavanagh Michael Crean

Page 34, Martin Crehan, Focus Ireland Conor Healy

Page 36, Civil Defence Workers Leon Farrell Photocall Ireland

Page 39, Ruth Johnson, Archeologist Conor Healy

Page 39, Pam Byrne, Branch Librarian Kieran Clancy

Page 41, Special Needs Assistants’ Protest Paula Geraghty

Page 42, The Big Freeze, Municipal Employees Photocall Ireland

Page 45, IIT Branch at Div Conference Keith Heneghan

Page 46, Aideen Walsh, Cabin Crew Conor Healy

IMPACT BIENNIAL REPORT 2010–2012

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