IPPN

ICTU call to 'soften' cutbacks

Published: 19 November 2008

The economist said there was no economic rationale behind increasing class sizes when it was widely acknowledged education is the key to future growth.

"What sort of madness dictates we abandon a lifesaving vaccine that costs just €10 million?" he said.

"Minister Harney should halt the crazy co-location plan that will cost taxpayers upwards of €400m.

"It is also obvious that it is unjust to impose an income levy solely on labour. Business must also be asked to help shoulder the burden."

Mr Sweeney pointed out that all the major economies, from the US to Britain, are looking at economic stimulus packages to breathe life back into their economies.

"The Irish Government needs to start thinking at that level," he said.

"The forthcoming Finance Bill is Government's last opportunity to reverse the most damaging and unjust of these cuts."

Trade union demands

Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) recommendations on the budget:

1. While ICTU welcomes the Government exemption of those on the minimum wage, it needs to ensure that people do not start paying as soon as they earn 1c over and above that rate. Equally, ICTU believes the levy should be on an escalating scale for high earners above €100,000.

2. Business must also be asked to shoulder the burden. It is not equitable to impose an income levy on labour â€” which already pays higher taxes â€” and completely exempt corporations.

3. Reverse the education cuts.

4. Reverse and revisit some of the decisions made with regard to health spending, including the abandonment of the programme of cervical cancer vaccination for teenage girls.

5. Revisit the issue of medical card coverage.

6. If the minister is looking for spare funds, abandon the destructive and costly co-location programme.

7. Reverse the cuts in funding for the country's equality and human rights infrastructure.

8. Terminate all tax breaks around property.

9. With the threat of deflation, take action in the spring budget to stimulate the economy.

10. Consideration should be given to cutting the standard rate of VAT by 2%.

Unions ready to seal 3.5pc pay deal that beats inflation

Published: 18 November 2008

Source : Irish Independent

THE country's biggest unions are expected to ratify the draft national pay deal today, giving workers an average of a 3.5pc pay rise that is likely to beat inflation next year.

As the economy worsens, experts have revised their predictions on inflation and expect the wage agreement will mean much-greater rewards for employees than unions anticipated.

Inflation was running at 5pc when the social partners began negotiating the pay deal and most unions were unenthusiastic about the pay terms that were on the table.

They initially rejected a 5pc offer over 21 months in the summer but negotiated 6pc, and 6.5pc for the lower paid, over the same timeframe in September.

Balloted

The final deal, which is still being balloted, is worth around 3.5pc a year.

However, as inflation has dropped to 4pc, economists revealed they expect it to drop further next year, with the consensus estimating it may hit 1.7pc and 2.1pc in 2010.

This would put the 3.4pc a year pay deal 1.7pc ahead of inflation during 2009.

A total of 391 delegates from the main private and public sector unions are expected to endorse the wage agreement at a special conference in Dublin.

They will vote on behalf of their 620,000 members on the deal that spans 21 months at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions meeting in Liberty Hall.

Following weeks of balloting, the majority of union members have backed the draft deal -- including members of the country's biggest union, SIPTU -- whose vote is crucial.

The agreement gives most workers a pay rise of 6pc over 21 months, or 3.4pc a year, in two increments, although anyone earning less than €11 an hour will get an extra 0.5pc.

This means the average pay rise per year is 3.5pc per worker.

Public sector workers must endure an 11-month pay freeze before they can get the first 3.5pc increase in September next year, which will be followed after nine months by a further 2.5pc. But an estimated 300,000 private sector workers have already served the mandatory three-month pay pause for their sector.

This means they will be immediately entitled to the first 3.5pc increase.

They will get a further 2.5pc after six months for the remaining 12 months of the deal.

SIPTU will have 77 votes at today's conference while the public sector union Impact has 35 delegates.

Unite, which voted 'no' to the deal, will have the second-biggest delegation at today's conference, with 37 delegates, but has failed to sway majority opinion.

When balloting began, the union attracted support from individual activists from the SIPTU, the NBRU, and ASTI for its 'no' campaign.

The union has warned that most employers will use an 'Inability to Pay' clause that is part of the deal to avoid paying the increases.

Yesterday, the Irish Exporters Association (IEA) warned that many employers who trade internationally would not be able to pay the 6pc rise and would use the clause due to exchange rate losses, bad debts and drops in business and consumer demand.

The main union in favour of the deal has pushed it as the best it could get in the circumstances and claimed that it will actually rise above inflation during its 21 month timeframe.

Admitted

SIPTU general president Jack O'Connor admitted the transitional agreement to the Towards 2016 pay deal is "by no means the best deal" ever achieved in the history of social partnership.

But he said the negotiators did not "leave a cent behind in Government Buildings" for their members, due to the economic downturn and widening government deficit.

Although enthusiasm for the deal was muted among the unions at first, it is now expected to exceed the predicted inflation next year.

Today's special conference in Liberty Hall in Dublin will be attended by 26 of the main unions in the country.

Employer group IBEC is expected to give its verdict on the wage agreement early this week.

- Anne-Marie Walsh and Shane Hickey

Protest at education cutbacks

Published: 18 November 2008

Source : Irish Times

PETITIONS CALLING for the reversal of the education cutbacks were delivered to Taoiseach Brian Cowen's constituency office in Tullamore, Co Offaly, on Saturday.

Over 3,000 teachers, parents and members of boards of management protested against the cutbacks. They marched through the town to O'Connor's Square for a rally which was addressed by a number of speakers.

Irish National Teachers' Organisation president Declan Kelleher said parents, teachers and management in primary schools would continue to oppose the cutbacks. INTO general secretary John Carr called on the public to let Government TDs know of their opposition to the cuts. TDs would have to get the message, he said.

Thousands join march over school class sizes

Published: 18 November 2008

Source : Irish Independent

Thousands of teachers descended on the Taoiseach's constituency over the weekend to deliver an angry message to Brian Cowen over Budget cutbacks in education.

Up to 4,000 primary and secondary school teachers and parents stormed O'Connor Square in Tullamore, Co Offaly, roaring slogans to show their anger at the Fianna Fail Budget.

The last time O'Connor Square saw such crowds was on May 16, when the Taoiseach belted out his rendition of the late Frank Sweeney's 'The Offaly Rover'.

But May 16 seemed like a lifetime away on Saturday afternoon as teachers marched towards Brian Cowen's constituency office in Tullamore and hand-delivered petitions from local schools calling for the cutbacks to be reversed.

It was the second of four protests building up to a national rally in Dublin planned for December 6. Teachers from Carlow, Kildare, Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Longford were among those who made the journey to Tullamore.

It also preceded a meeting of the Federation of Parents Councils in Christian Brothers' and other Catholic Secondary Schools (FEDCBS) in Portlaoise yesterday.

Up to 100 parents attended that event to voice their concerns on the education cutbacks and were addressed by Fianna Fail TD Sean Fleming, Junior Minister John Moloney and Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan.

President of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) Declan Kelleher told the rally in Tullamore that parents, teachers and boards of management would continue to oppose the cutbacks, which would "seriously damage" the future of thousands of children.

"We are united in our opposition to these cutbacks on an already underfunded primary education service. Government must be persuaded to change its position," he said.

The INTO also warned that every TD in the country would "get the message" that they would not be re-elected unless the cutbacks were reversed.

Anxious principals exchanged stories on how many teachers they would lose because of the proposals.

Principal of Rathdowney Church of Ireland NS Jean Treacy told the Irish Independent that the Co Laois school was going from three teachers to two from September.

This means the 48 children from junior infants to sixth class will be split into two classes. "We'll have four classes each, it's nearly an impossibility. It's scandalous. We were only beginning to move in the right direction and we're going back to where we were years ago.

"Children are only going to get the one chance at primary school education and we want to deliver the best we can to them and to do our utmost but it's making life very difficult."

Ms Treacy said teachers felt "cheated" by Fianna Fail's election promises to reduce pupil-teacher ratio. "It's all lies, they couldn't be trusted."

- Eimear Ni Bhraonain

'Rat-infested' school fails to gain funding approval

Published: 18 November 2008

Source : Irish Times

A PRIMARY school in Co Galway has been described by its own principal as a "rat-infested fire trap".

Elizabeth Mulry, the principal of Eglish National School in Ahascragh, Co Galway, said she could not believe that any of the 60 primary schools which had been approved for capital spending this year could be in a worse condition than her own.

Last year, Ms Mulry threatened to take the 49 pupils out of the school because slates were continually flying off the roof.

She said about half of the pupils began getting hives and headaches when they returned in September because there was no natural ventilation as the roof was sealed and the windows could not be opened.

"If the Minister [for Education, Batt O'Keeffe] could point out a single school in a worse condition than this one, I'll stop shouting," she said. "If there is another school where the walls are cracked, where there is mould and damp everywhere, windows held together with nails and wire, where neither the storage heater, the toilets or the taps work properly and there are mice and rats, the principal of that school should get in touch with me and I will offer him or her my sympathies," she said.

The 109-year-old school has two classrooms and two prefabs, one used as a classroom, the other as a multipurpose room. The Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney's father, Michael, attended the school between 1928 and 1937 and several of Ms Harney's cousins are taught there now.

Ms Mulry believes the school is in such a decrepit state that it should be demolished and a new building erected. Any attempts to repair the existing structure is "throwing good money after bad".

The school's board of management submitted a proposal to the Department of Education last year for a new school, and parents have bought a two and-a-half acre site adjacent to the present site for a new building.

The board estimates that a new school can be built within three to four months at a cost of €630,000.

The school was given €20,000 to repair the roof last summer because slates kept falling off in windy weather.

Ms Mulry said the roof was in such a bad state of repair that workmen had to use scaffolding because the beams were too rotten to support their body weight. The repair work stopped the slates falling off and also stopped the leaks, but sealed the roof.

The school called in Rentokil last year to deal with rats in the playground, but mice were also discovered in the classrooms before the Halloween break.

The chairwoman of the parents' association, Bridie Harney, who is not related to Mary Harney, said parents were "extremely concerned and very worried" about their children.

"We are at the point where we are saying, 'which is more important for our children - their health or their education?' " she said.

A Department of Education spokeswoman confirmed an application had been received for a new school. She said the project was being considered in the context of its multi-annual school building and modernisation programme. "However, in light of current competing demands on the capital budget of the department, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression of this project at this time," the spokeswoman said.