NIPSA is balloting members atthe Electoral Office for North-ern Ireland (EONI) over plans toclose six regional offices inBallymena, Banbridge, L’Derry,Newtownabbey, Newtownardsand Omagh.

Under management proposals,Ballymena and Newtownards of-fices will close later this year withthe remaining offices shutting inearly 2017.

This decision is driven by cutsto the EONI budget that has seena reduction of more than 25%since 2010 with a further 17%forecast to be lost by 2020.

Management have confirmed

they did consider other options,such as retaining some of the of-fices but the necessary savingscould not be made unless all sixoffices close and staff are cen-tralised into Belfast.

NIPSA official Dooley Harte toldNIPSA News: “Current plans toclose the offices will mean thatlocal jobs and local services willbe lost from rural areas. At a timewhen we should be working toprotect and enhance our democ-racy, to increase voter participa-tion and ensure elections are freefrom political influence, the clo-sure of regional electoral servicesis short-sighted and a false econ-

omy.”The regional electoral offices

not only organise and superviseour elections but deal with voterregistration, provision of electoralidentity cards and provide out-reach in schools to increase voterregistration among young people.

Mr Harte continued: “ElectoralOffice management have con-firmed to NIPSA that the decisionto close offices is based on fund-ing cuts, not on improving servicedelivery. There have been andcontinue to be significant cuts tothe budget, imposed by theNorthern Ireland Office, and wecall on the Secretary of State to

personally intervene to protectour members and our democraticprocess.”

He added: “On May 5, our polit-ical representatives will go thepolls calling on the public to usetheir vote. We call on these samerepresentatives to support thestaff in regional electoral officesby calling for the necessary fundsto be made available to protectlocal democracy, local jobs andlocal services.”

Ballots were issued to NIPSAmembers on April 26 and, accord-ing to union sources, it is hopedindustrial action will begin in lateMay/early June.

NIPSA members at the BSO warehouse,on the Boucher Road in Belfast, are tobe balloted over whether to take indus-trial action.

The move follows more than two yearsof negotiations between the union andmanagement at the Business ServicesOrganisation.

The warehouse employees, who are re-sponsible for fulfilling orders fromTrusts across Northern Ireland, are someof the lowest banded workers in theBSO.

Without agreement, the workers had a‘pick rate’ imposed on them of 35 picksan hour. NIPSA never agreed to this, ar-guing that it was unattainable in the longterm and detrimental to members’ health.

One member told NIPSA News: “Theregime that has been put in place has allthe worst aspects of Amazon and Wal-mart. The pressure – even if you reachthe target on any given month – is hor-rendous. I have difficulty sleeping atnights.”

Tommy Brownlee, the NIPSA official re-sponsible for the area, commented: “It isdisgraceful that management havepushed staff to this action. They aremonitored in three different ways andeven going to the toilet is an issue.”

He added: “This harassment must stopand members be allowed to work in asupportive environment.”

Ballot papers will be sent to membersfor return in the middle of May.

NIPSA NEWSThe newspaper of the leading public sector trade union Tel: 02890661831 www.nipsa.org.uk April 2016

Download your membership application here: http://www.nipsa.org.uk/About-NIPSA/Join-US/Application-Form

Ask door-stepping politicianswhere they stand on our public services and jobs

SEE SPECIAL 2016 ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS NEWS FEATURE ON PAGES 8 & 9

Ballot for industrial action at EONI

Under-pressure BSO warehouse workers face ballot

FOLLOWING detailed talks lasting severalmonths with Unite, the union that repre-sents NIPSA staff, agreement has beenreached on a revised structure withinNIPSA Headquarters.

These intensive negotiations have resultedin the reduction of the most senior positionswithin the union from four to three with thesuppression of both Assistant General Secre-tary posts and the creation of an additionalDeputy General Secretary post.

In addition the pay of the Assistant Secre-tary and Higher Executive Officer posts hasbeen increased to reflect the duties carried outby those in these posts on behalf of members.

As a result there have been amendments tothe job descriptions of both grades of staff aswell as the implementation of a PerformanceManagement System for all staff members.

The implementation of these new structuresalong with the impending restructuring of theNI Civil Service from 12 to nine departmentshas given me an opportunity, in my role as theGeneral Secretary, to examine how bestNIPSA can best provide its services duringthis challenging time.

The following outlines the revised structuresand allocation of responsibilities.

Deputy General Secretary Kieran Bannonwill move to the Public Officers’ Group and willtake strategic and day-to-day responsibility forthat section of the union, including Health,Housing, Libraries NI, Local Government, Fur-ther Education and Education.

Given the significant issues in the EducationAuthority both now and for the foreseeable fu-ture, Kieran will take on day-to-day responsi-bility for the Education Authority and theFurther Education Sector. In doing this, he will

be supported by two Assistant Secretaries.These Assistant Secretaries will be Kevin Mc-Cabe who will retain responsibility for HealthService and the Voluntary and CommunitySector. Paddy Mackel will take on day-to-dayresponsibility for Housing, Local Governmentand Libraries NI.

Deputy General Secretary Bumper Grahamwill move to the Civil Service Group and willtake strategic responsibility and day-to-daymanagement for that section of the union andbe responsible for all pay issues and CentralWhitley issues.

Bumper will be supported by three AssistantSecretaries. Tony McMullan will move to thepost with day-to-day responsibility for the De-partment of Agriculture, Department of Enter-prise, Trade and Investment, Department ofFinance & Personnel, Invest NI, OFMDFM, NIAssembly, HSENI, Typist and IT issues. RyanMcKinney will move to the post with day-to-day responsibility for the Department of SocialDevelopment, Department of Employment andLearning, Department of Education, Depart-ment of Health Social Services and PublicSafety and NI Water. Antoinette McMillen willmove to the post with day-to-day responsibilityfor the Department of Environment, Depart-ment for Regional Development, PSNI, De-partment of Justice, Public ProsecutionService, Department of Culture Arts & Leisure.

Both Bumper and Kieran will also be allo-cated a number of internal matters for whichthey will have day-to-day responsibility for (asoutlined below).

Given the impending departmental changes,the revised responsibilities are set out belowin Appendix 2 to reflect the new NICS depart-ments.

The post of Finance Officer (Higher Execu-tive Officer) was upgraded to Assistant Secre-tary level. In addition to responsibility forNIPSA’s Finances and NIPSA PensionScheme for NIPSA staff, Martin Murphy hasalso taken on additional responsibility forMembership, Branch Organisation, Confer-ences, Buildings and Insurance

While this will mean a significant change fora number of staff I believe this will ensure weremain fit for the future and in best deliveringservices to our members.

These changes were implemented fromMarch 21, 2016, but I am sure you will appre-ciate that it will be necessary for officials tohave a short handover period to their newareas.

Given pressures within Local Governmentand to address the needs of this sector, it hasbeen agreed as a temporary measure to put insome additional resources to that area. A sep-arate circular was issued to Branches in theLocal Government Sector.Appendix 1Kieran Bannon:Legal ServicesMembership ServicesWelfare FundCommunications (including NIPSA News andWebsite)Bumper Graham:PensionsMembership/Recruitment/OrganisationTrainingConferenceIT/ContractsAppendix 2NICS Officials and areas of responsibility totake account of new departmentsTony McMullan:Department of Agriculture, Environment andRural AffairsDepartment of HealthDepartment of FinanceThe Executive OfficeAFBIITCCNorthern Ireland AssemblyRyan McKinney:Department of CommunitiesDepartment of EconomyDepartment of EducationNI WaterAntoinette McMillen:Department of JusticeDepartment of InfrastructureInvest NIPSNIPublic Prosecution Service

Page 2 NEWS

THE May 5 Assembly Elections give eachand every NIPSA member and their fami-lies the opportunity to engage in the politi-cal process by using their vote. Nowmore than ever public services are underthreat. As a public servant you will beacutely aware of this and the pressuresthat you as an individual working in thedelivery of public services is under.

While every member is entitled to votefor whatever candidates they chose at theballot box I would ask that you considerposing at least some of the questionswhich are included in the centre spread ofthis edition of NIPSA News to the candi-dates standing in your constituency.

At a time when there are more than20,000 people in need of social housingand on the housing waiting list I wouldquestion whether it would not have beenmore productive and a better use of the£700m in the Fresh Start Agreement toutilise this money to build affordable so-cial homes. Such a move would havegone a long way to address this issue forthousands of families who are in housing

stress or are homeless. In the last couple of weeks we have wit-

nessed how David Cameron and the cabi-net of millionaires have been able to takeadvantage to some degree of off-shoringtheir investments and savings. We nowhave lots of politicians rushing to publishtheir tax returns in an attempt to convinceus all that they are paying their taxes infull.

However, despite calls for big businessand corporations to pay their UK taxes infull, this continues not to be the case. Onthe other hand, tens of thousands of jobsin HMRC have been slashed over the lastfour years – yet the same governmentwho cut their jobs is now criticising HMRCfor not collecting appropriate taxes frombusinesses and others.

This is also likely to happen here withour own politicians whenever they wonderwhy public services are being reduced. Infact, they need to join the dots and realisethat with several thousand fewer civil andpublic servants available to deliver publicservices, such services will be reduced.

The ‘doing more with less’ mantra needsto be challenged and challenged hard byNIPSA, the wider trade union movementand by civic society.

One such reduction in public services ishighlighted on the front page of this news-paper – as soon as the Assembly elec-tions and the EU Referendum are out ofthe way, it is proposed to close six Re-gional Electoral Offices and centralise allthe work in Belfast.

Members in the Regional Electoral Of-fices, as part of the campaign to save theirjobs, will be taking industrial action overthe coming weeks. I can assure thosemembers that NIPSA is fully behind themin their dispute and will do whatever is re-quired to ensure they have the full re-sources of the union behind them to winthis dispute.

The same can be promised to the mem-bers in the BSO Warehouse on theBoucher Road in Belfast who are alsobeing balloted for industrial action.

Alison Millar,General Secretary

Use your vote and hold the politicians to accountEDITORIAL

NIPSA NEWSNIPSA Harkin House, 54 Wellington Park,

Belfast BT9 6DP, Tel: 028 90661831 Fax 028 90665847or email: alison.millar@nipsa.org.uk Editorial contact details: Bob Milleremail: bob.miller@nipsa.org.uk

Correspondence should be sent to the above address.Unless otherwise stated, the views contained inNIPSA NEWS do not necessarily reflect the

policy of the trade union NIPSA.

NIPSA restructuring and allocation of postsBy Alison Millar,

General Secretary

Page 3NEWS

NIPSA has described NI HealthMinister Simon Hamiton’s imposi-tion of a consolidated 1% pay in-crease for 2016-17 withoutconsultation with health servicetrade unions as an “affront” to itsmembers.

According to the union, the pay in-crease does not address a funda-mental pay imbalance between NHSworkers in Northern Ireland and theircounterparts in the rest of the UK.

NIPSA Assistant Secretary KevinMcCabe told NIPSA News: “Ourmembers have fallen behind their fel-low workers in the rest of the UK afterhaving no pay increase for the pasttwo years.

“Minister Hamilton’s decision to im-pose the Pay Review Body’s 1% risefor 2016-17 without consultation is anaffront to our members. The HealthMinister needs to fully engage withhealth service trade unions and endthis pay injustice.”

A LONE piper played a lament as several hun-dred people gathered in Belfast city centre toremember murdered prison officer AdrianIsmay.

There was a minute's silence but nospeeches at the vigil on Tuesday, March 23, or-ganised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions(ICTU).

As the 52-year-old's friends and family laidhim to rest, just a few miles away those whodid not know him but were touched by the bru-tal nature of his death paused to reflect.

Trade union officials, some carrying banners,were joined at the front of Belfast City Hall byscores of office workers and shoppers whostood with their heads bowed and arms folded.

The lunchtime vigil lasted just a few minutes,but organisers hope it will have sent a strong

message to the violent dissident republicanswho planted the deadly booby trapped deviceunder the prison officer's van on March 4.

Peter Bunting, ICTU assistant general secre-tary said: "We held the silent vigil to allowworkers and trade unionists to illustrate oursupport and solidarity with the family and toshow our abhorrence at the brutal murder ofAdrian Ismay, who was an ordinary worker.

"Having a vigil also condemns in thestrongest possible terms his murder and illus-trates that many, many people, particularlyworking class people, are against the murderand mayhem that is being perpetrated by dissi-dent republicans against ordinary public sectorworkers.

"It is about us standing together publicly."

The government was told to thinkagain after the House of Lords in-flicted a triple blow to the govern-ment’s controversial Trade UnionBill.Last month, members of the House ofLords voted to defeat the governmentthree times inside three hours duringthe report stage debate for the Bill.The votes concerned substantialamendments to the Bill over electronicballoting for strike votes, central gov-ernment-imposed caps on facility timefor union reps in local public servicesand restrictions on the funds used byunions for political campaigning.Peers delivered a very clear verdict,with the government defeated byheavy margins (majorities of 139, 88and 148). Several Conservative peersmade principled speeches in supportof the amendments, voting against thegovernment or abstaining.

This followed a previous governmentdefeat on the Bill in the House ofLords in January, when peers voted toestablish a committee to look into theissues around union political funds.TUC general secretary FrancesO’Grady described the defeats as “abad day for the government” and saidthat they should be the “nails in thecoffin” of the whole Trade Union Bill.She said that the government hadtried to force the Bill through Parlia-ment, ignoring objections from allsides of the House. “The governmentneeds to think again and withdraw thisdamaging and divisive Bill,” sheadded.More debate and amendments are ex-pected to follow at the third reading inthe Lords, expected to take place inmid-April, before the Bill returns to theCommons for MPs to debate their re-sponse to peers’ amendments.

Pensionsgold platingmore likefool’s goldACCORDING to NIPSA, the North-ern Ireland Assembly has acted“like sheep driven by the West-minster shepherd” in voting to cutthe value of the first year of thenew public service pension pots.

Local representatives voted for themove despite every MLA having re-ceived a detailed briefing paper fromNIPSA which called on them to op-pose the devaluation.

In a debate lasting a little over 10minutes, with only a handful of con-tributors, MLAs voted to apply aminus 0.1% cut to the value of thefirst year of the Career Average Re-evaluated earnings (CARE) pots,under the various 2015 public sectorpension schemes that have a re-val-uation based on prices.

The main schemes for NIPSAmembers are the NICS ALPHAScheme, NILGOSC 2015 Schemeand the HSC 2015 SuperannuationScheme. The impact for membersin the HSC Scheme is not negativeas this scheme has a revaluationfactor of CPI + 1.5%, the uplift willtherefore be 1.4%.

The devaluation is due to the factthat the preceding September CPIfigure is used and for September2015 it was minus 0.1%. NIPSA ar-gued at the time against the use ofCPI and in the briefing document toMLAs warned that given currentglobal economic conditions the po-tential is there for further years ofnegative CPI figures.

Those in receipt of public servicepensions will see no increase topensions in payment. The value oftheir pensions will from 1 April re-main unchanged.

Trade unions in vigil formudered prison officer

NIPSA banner unfurled during vigil of murdered prison officer Adrian Ismay

Imposed 1% payincrease ‘affront to members’

‘Think again’ on anti-unionBill, says TUC’s O’GradyARMS SPENDING:

Global militaryspending rose in2015 to nearly £1.2trillion, accordingto the StockholmInternational PeaceResearch Institute.

The institute saidthat the first in-crease in severalyears was drivenby the Syrian andIraqi wars againstISIS and the Saudi-led assault onYemen.

The US still ac-counts for 36 percent of world armsspending withChina a distantsecond. Saudi Ara-bia outspent Rus-sia for third place

Deadly spendinghits £1.2 trillion

NIPSA is seeking clarification after it wasrevealed that the embargo on recruitmentand substantive promotion within the NICivil Service was being lifted.

The policy has been in place since Novem-ber 2014. News came in a communication tostaff from the Head of the NICS on April 4.

While welcoming the move, NIPSA GeneralSecretary Alison Millar pointed out that theunion wanted to “pick up with ManagementSide regarding the impact that this will have,particularly as members move into the nine

new departments”. She told NIPSA News: “NIPSA is acutely

aware of the impact VES has had on mem-bers and with almost 3,000 posts [havinggone] out of the system, this is having a signif-icant impact on the delivery of services.

“Members are also reminded that this is ahealth, safety and well-being issue and theyshould not take on additional work because ofthe impact of VES.”

In the communication to staff, the NICSHead said the lifting of the embargo would be

unlikely to lead to a significant number of staffbeing posted quickly from existing lists nor in-deed a mean there would be an im

In the communication, the NICS Head cau-tioned that the lifting of the embargo would beunlikely to result in significant numbers of staffbeing posted quickly from existing lists norlead to an immediate high volume of new re-cruitment/promotion competitions.

It is understood NIPSA has sought a meet-ing to clarify matters.

IT IS not just the trade unionmovement that has concernsabout the Conservative govern-ment's laissez-faire attitude tothe British economy, writesMichael Robinson

On March 2, manufacturers' or-ganisation, the EEF, issued a pressrelease which foretold the crisisnow evident in British steelmaking.

In it, EEF supported calls on thegovernment "from UK Steel, manu-facturers and unions to reverse itsopposition to higher tariffs for un-fairly traded steel", and noted "theUS Department of Commerce hasslapped prohibitive provisional tar-iffs of 266% on Chinese cold-rolledcoil".

The response of the US was con-trasted with the apparent timidity ofthe EU, which has put provisionaltariff measures of between 13.8%and 16% in place.

But then we learned (in a blogfrom Oxford Economics ProfessorSimon Wren-Lewis) that "the EU

have been trying to raise tariffsagainst Chinese steel producers forthree years, but have been blockedby a coalition of countries led bythe UK".

Professor Wren-Lewis continued:"The UK Business Minister, SajidJavid, has been quite explicit aboutthis - he prefers cheap steel, be-cause it helps other parts of UK in-dustry. It may also have somethingto do with wanting to curry favourwith China because of other mat-ters."

Unfortunately, the Conservativegovernment remains wedded to a

neo-liberal model of economics. Inthis, markets are left "free " from"state interference" and will, appar-ently, self-regulate and "correct"themselves, as though operatingwithin a closed economic ecosys-tem.

This viewpoint is even legislatedfor in the (UK) Enterprise Act 2002,which specifically limits interventionin the market by the state, ongrounds of "public interest," to onlythree areas: attempted takeovers indefence, water or media compa-nies.

The professor has a more realis-tic view on such matters: "One setof producers (in China) are trying toeliminate their competitors by flood-ing the market at a loss becausethey have the 'deep pockets' of astate behind them."

It is difficult to argue with his con-clusion: "This is not Javid upholdingthe principles of a free market, butinstead allowing a large state to riga market."

NIPSA seeks clarificationafter NICS embargo lifted

Page 4 NEWS

NIPSA Branches staged anumber of leafleting eventsacross Northern Ireland onSaturday, March 12 as partof the union’s Public Serv-ice Defence Campaign.

Activists took to thestreets of Belfast, Derry, Lis-burn, Magherafelt, Portad-own, Newtownards,Coleraine, Strabane andNewry, engaging withpassers-by on several keycampaign issues.

These included WelfareReform and cuts, the BelfastTrust’s campaign againstthe closure of day centres,the threatened closure ofstatutory residential homesand the privatisation ofHousing Executive stock.

One activist told NIPSANews: “This was done toalert the general public tothe many threats facingpublic services and to re-mind people that if we donot fight to maintain theseservices, they will be lost.”

Defence campaigners leaflet NI towns

Tories too busykowtowing to China tosave industry

Bookies strike indispute over paySTAFF at bookies SPGraham walked outon several dayswhich included theCheltenahm Festivaland Grand NationalDay to demand a liv-ing wage from theiremployer.

Unite membersvoted to strike afterthe firm failed to passon Stormont’s 50 percent rise in employ-ers’ national insur-ance contirbutionsallowance meant toboost wages andgrowth.

At time of going topress the row re-mained unresolved.

NIPSA General Secretary Alison Millar hasclaimed the policies outlined in ChancellorGeorge Osborne’s March 2016 Budget wereevidence of the Tories ongoing “class-dri-ven hostility” towards public servants andpublic services.

She noted that despite the Chancellor’s re-cent boast that better than expected economicforecasts had left him greater ‘flexibility’ onspending, the mood music had changed shortlybefore the Budget amid claims that Osborne’shand was being forced by global uncertainty tostick rigidly to the ‘austerity agenda’.

Ms Millar said: “We are all so used to such‘spin’ that we know most of what is said issolely about personal/party political advantage.As this is a Budget that is months away fromthe Brexit referendum and a forthcoming battlefor the Tory party succession, such motivation

is even moreclearly in play.

“Outside theWestminsterbubble, how-ever, most peo-ple care littlefor these nar-row ambitions.We see clearlythe continuing

class-driven hostility underlying the war onpublic servants and public services.”

She pointed out that this was clearly seen inthe proposed imposition of a 1% pay freeze forpublic sector workers until 2020 as well as afurther £3.5bn in cuts, including a freeze onworking age benefits.

Ms Millar continued: “As we have empha-sised before, these tax credits are paid tothose in work whose wages are too low – i.e.whose employers fail to pay an appropriatewage. The local economy is dominated bysuch malpractice. “Recently, the JosephRowntree Foundation (JRF) reported on thescale of poverty here, outlining how there waslower pay and employment levels than the restof the UK and detailing how over a quarter ofworkers earn below the living wage with a fifthof working-age households receiving tax cred-its.”

She said that nothing contained in Osborne’sBudget provided a “sustained challenge tosuch economic facts”.

Ms Millar continued: “Indeed, behind therhetoric about changes on tax-free personal al-lowance and the threshold at which the top rateof tax is paid, research published recently bythe Resolution Foundation, highlighted that themajor beneficiaries of these changes will bewithin the richest members of society.

“Again the Budget shows who matters tothose in power by the Government giving a giftto their corporate paymasters (cutting the taxcorporations pay on their profits to 17% by2020) while simultaneously announcing cuts inpayments to disabled people of £1.2 billion.”

She claimed that the Budget showed thatthere needed to be a “re-strengthening” of theunion’s Public Services Defence campaign “tooppose the destructive consequences this ide-ologically-driven economic strait-jacket has onour members, their families and society”.

Page 5NEWS

EACH year, April generally heralds a raftof legal changes. This April sees the in-troduction of the National Living Wage,which is in effect a higher National Mini-mum Wage.

Workers aged 25 and over will be entitledto the National Living Wage rate of £7.20 anhour from the first pay reference period be-ginning on or after 1 April 2016.

Generally all those who are covered bythe National Minimum Wage, and are 25years old and over, will be covered by theNational Living Wage. These include:l employees;l most workers and agency workers;l casual labourers;l agricultural workers; andl apprentices who are aged 25 and over.

The penalty for non-payment of the Na-tional Living Wage will be 200% of theamount owed, unless the arrears are paidwithin 14 days.

The maximum fine for non-payment willbe £20,000 per worker. However, employerswho fail to pay will be banned from being acompany director for up to 15 years.

A worker should see the increase in theirpay automatically from April if they currentlyearn less than £7.20 an hour.

The advice is that if you don’t see the dif-ference in April, you may want to speak toyour employer, if you are a member of atrade union contact them.

The National Living Wage is a statutoryrate and should not be confused with thevoluntary Living

Wage, which is higher and based on thebasic cost of living in the UK. The presentrates for the Living Wage are £9.40 an hourin London and £8.25 an hour in the rest ofthe UK.

Another change in April is no change, asthe statutory rates for maternity, paternity oradoption and shared parental leave arefrozen at the rate of £139.58 a week or 90%of the employee’s average weekly earningsif this figure is less than the statutory rate.

The rate of statutory sick pay has alsobeen frozen at its current weekly rate of£88.45.

To be entitled to these statutory payments,the employee’s average earnings must beequal to or more than the lower earningslimit, which is also frozen at £112 a week.

There are increases in the various limits toemployment tribunal awards and statutoryredundancy payments. The increases reflectthe increase in the Retail Prices Index of0.8% from September 2014 to September2015.

From 6 April, the maximum amount for aweek’s pay for calculating a redundancypayment or for various awards, including thebasic or additional award of compensationfor unfair dismissal increases to £479 from£475.

The minimum amount of compensation forunfair dismissal rises to £5,853 from £5,807.The upper

limit on such compensation rises to£78,962 from £78,335, although few suc-cessful claimants receive such a sum.

The maximum guarantee pay during layoff or short-time working is frozen at £26 aday. As this applies for up to five days in anythree-month period, the maximum remainsat £130.

Budget byand for therich slammed

‘Chancellor Osborne shows class-driven hostility’ towards public servants and services

FOLLOWING the decision to move the CivilService and Public Officers Group Confer-ences to the autumn as part of a cost-sav-ing measure, it has been agreed the twoGroup Conferences will take place on No-vember 9 and 10, 2016 in the WellingtonPark Hotel, Belfast.

The Public Officers’ Group Conference

will be held on November 9, with the CivilService Group Conference being held thefollowing day on November 10.

Papers for the submission of motions aswell as the election of Officers and Execu-tive Committees will be issued later thisyear and branches will be notified of thedates in good time.

Group Conferences dates agreed

National LivingWage and Aprillegal changes

Governmentgiving a gift totheir corporatepaymasters‘ ‘

Page 6 NEWS

Homelessness taskforce needed to prevent more deathsNIPSA has called on localpoliticians to organise atask force to address thescourge of homelessnessin Northern Ireland.

The March 21 call fromthe union came followingthe latest death of a roughsleeper in Belfast. A total offive homeless people havedied on the city’s streets inthe last few months.

General Secretary AlisonMillar, speaking soon afternews broke of yet anotherdeath, told NIPSA News:“We awoke this weekend tohear of the death of anotherhomeless person on thestreets of Belfast. Whilethe issue is a complex onewhich requires the interven-tion of many agencies, it isimportant that the necessarysteps are taken by all in thestatutory and voluntary sec-tor to ensure that the neces-sary resources are put intoservices to ensure that suit-able accommodation is

available where these vul-nerable adults feel safe andsecure and that they havethe necessary support inplace.”

She continued: “There isobviously something seri-ously wrong when peopleare dying on our streets.Cuts to the budgets of theagencies dealing with theseindividuals are, in part, partof the problem. I wouldtherefore call on the Assem-bly to address this issue im-mediately before anothervulnerable adult or youngperson dies on our streets.

“It is not acceptable thatthese deaths continue and Iwould call on all politicalrepresentatives to organisea high level and urgent taskforce to address this issueand support the many work-ers and volunteers on theground who work tirelesslyto support those who arevulnerable and in urgentneed of intervention.”

HOMELESSNESS acrossNorthern Ireland is a growingproblem, and the recent tragicdeaths of five homeless peopleon the streets of Belfast havebrought into sharp focus theurgent need for action.

Whilst someone dying on ourstreets without a home is themost stark representation ofhomelessness, inequality andpoverty, the worrying reality isthat this is just the tip of theiceberg.

There are thousands of peo-ple without a home in NorthernIreland, with the most recentHousing Executive figures con-firming that more than 20,000people presented as homelesslast year.

On top of this, there are thou-sands more “hidden home-less” for whom we don’t havefigures; these are the people

sleeping rough, staying withfriends or relatives, staying inB&Bs, or even in their cars.

This is a complex problemthat demands an understand-ing of the issues that relate toit. Simon Community NI be-lieve that the next governmentcan bring an end to homeless-ness, and are calling for a com-mitment to endinghomelessness to be at the cen-tre of the next Programme forGovernment.

Our manifesto sets out ourvision for ending homeless-ness, and by sharing this withyou we hope that you will sup-port the three actions outlinedbelow by asking politicians,when you meet them throughyour work situation or on thedoorstep when they visit yourhome, to commit to the SimonCommunity NI vision and

champion these messages forpeople living in their con-stituency who may be home-less, or at risk of becominghomeless. Action 1 – Clear, unambiguousparty commitment to the out-come of ending homelessness;Action 2 – Making the endingof homelessness one of the

Government’s top 10 prioritiesin the Programme for Govern-ment;Action 3 – Production and de-livery of a cross-Departmentalstrategy to achieve the endingof homelessness by 2021.For more information visitwww.simoncommunity.org orphone 0800 171 2222

Ending homelessness must be a top political prioritySimon Community NI’s Patrick McGettigan on why the charity is calling on the Northern Ireland Executive to prioritise ending homelessness in its next Programme for Government.

Simon Community NI presented an overview of homeless-ness in Northern Ireland to some NIPSA HQ staff and activistsrecently. However, we are happy to discuss the issues at anytime with either individuals or groups. Please contact wendymacartney@simoncommunity.org if you require furtherinformation5

Page 7NEWS

NIPSA has held a special seminar looking at theissue of migration in both its global and local con-texts and exploring common misconceptions aboutthe issue.

The seminar was held in Volunteer Now, Belfast, onFebruary 26 and came against the backdrop of growingconcerns about increasing numbers of racist attacksand hate crimes in Northern Ireland.

Currently, there are 244 million migrants worldwide,out of which 20 million are refugees, constituting 3.3%of the global population.

Migration, in general, makes a very important positivecontribution to social and economic development bothin the countries of origin and in the countries of destina-tion. However, one cannot ignore the cost of migrationto developing countries in the form of a brain drain aswell as the plight of individual migrants who often be-come victims of human trafficking, sexual and labourexploitation as well as racist crime in their host coun-tries.

It is unfortunate that public debate around immigra-tion in the UK has become increasingly toxic and immi-grants are being demeaned and demonised in both theright-wing press and mainstream media.

The ongoing refugee crisis and the potential of aBrexit from the EU have intensified xenophobic andnegative attitudes towards immigrants.

The seminar looked at the public perception of thesize of the migrant population as a percentage in theUK – a perception that was shown to be grossly over-estimated. The public’s average guess was 31%,whereas it is actually around 13% (according to anIpsos Mori research carried out in 2014). In NorthernIreland, the total migrant population stands at 4.3%.

Interestingly, the public perception of who the mi-grants are also reflects our current fears, for example,refugees were mentioned disproportionately by over30% of respondents, whereas in reality refugees onlymake up about 5% of the migrant population. This hasbeen termed “imagined immigration”, which is charac-terised by complex cause and effect, as we usuallyoverestimate certain groups because they worry us.

Interestingly, the level of acceptance of migrants alsodepends on the type of migration, i.e. professionals vs.unskilled, income, age and region. However, it has

been found that newspaper readership is much morelikely to be significantly related to concern about immi-gration than any other measure. It does not necessarilyprove a causal effect, however one can’t ignore thatthere is a reinforcing interaction between the public,politicians and the media.

The event then focused on some myths which are ingeneral circulation about immigrants.

The mantra, “I’m not racist, but…” is usually followedby a statement about immigrants stealing jobs, socialhousing, claiming benefits they are not entitled to, put-ting undue pressure on public services and generallycontributing nothing. The presentation challenged thosemisconceptions with localised information in relation tothe number of migrants, social housing allocated tothem as well as the economic and social benefits ofgreater diversity.

It was also stressed that there is a need to continu-ously challenge negative stereotyping and promote thepositive contribution immigrants are making to oureconomy and to society in general.

The seminar also gave an overview of the interna-tional situation regarding refugees and forced migra-tion, noting that the vast majority of the almost 60million refugees are hosted in neighbouring countries orare internally displaced.

A single camp in Ethiopia (a country with a populationof 94 million) held as many refugees as all which cameto the EU (population of 508 million) last year.

The session then moved to the response by the UKgovernment and the public, noting the positive effectthe latter had on the former in terms of increasing thenumber of refugees accepted into the country.

It then looked at current and incoming laws and poli-cies that make the UK a ‘hostile environment’ for thoseattempting to seek sanctuary, noting with particular con-cern the current criminalisation of movement and theproposals to remove the meagre support to asylumseeking families.

The session concluded with some of the positivesteps taken by the local administration here, such asextending free accredited English classes to allrefugees and keeping legal aid for family reunificationcases.

NIPSA has slammed theEducation Authoritymove to cut specialneeds nursery provisionfrom 4.5 hours to 2.5hours a day, claiming itwas an attack on themost vulnerable of chil-dren.

General Secretary Ali-son Millar said: “It is adisgrace that the mostvulnerable children –many with complexneeds – are being tar-geted for reduced earlyyears education, whichis internationally recog-nised as a key milestonein improving educationaloutcomes for all childrenand, most notably, thosechildren who have com-plex needs.”

Speaking after the re-duction in hours was an-nounced in early March,she told NIPSA News: “Ihave already received anumber of queries fromworried staff who workas classroom assistantsand nursery assistantsin the 39 special needsschools about what thismight mean for their fu-ture employment.

“I am angry that staffhave heard this an-nouncement over the air-waves and through themedia. This is no way totreat staff who deservemore from the EducationAuthority and the Educa-tion Minister.”

Ms Millar added:“NIPSA will rise thisissue directly with theEducation Authority and,if necessary, the Educa-tion Minister with a viewto overturning this deci-sion which is not goodfor children and notgood for those dedicatedstaff who look after themdiligently through the in-formative years of thechildren’s lives.”

NIPSA anger at cuts tospecialneeds nursery provision

@nipsaVisit the union’s website forall the latest updates at:http://www.nipsa.org.uk

Migration seminarexplodes mythsand media scares

Page 8 2016 Assembly Elections

‘I’m a public se why should I v

Dear Candidate,With an Assembly election imminent,you and a range of parties and candi-dates will be knocking on my door andposting manifestos and materials tome. But as a public sector workerwhat have you done for me and myfamily since the last Assembly electionand why should I vote for you now?

Opposing austerityWe know that the main ideological

driver of economic and social policysince 2010 has been an assault onpublic sector workers and public serv-ices called “austerity”. The austerityagenda has had a devastating effecton the local economy – whether in itseffects on wages, pensions, jobs, serv-ices and the scale of poverty here. l Where do you stand on austerity? l How have/will you oppose it at Stor-mont?

Fighting for tax justiceWhile the electoral debate is domi-

nated by claims of a lack of resources,the UK loses more than £120 billion ayear through tax avoidance, evasionand non-collection emphasising its no-

toriously light-touch approach to vigor-ous tax regulation and enforcement. l What will you do to support tax jus-tice i.e. will you support a sustainedpolicy of providing the necessary re-sources and regulation to combat taxavoidance and evasion? l How will you ensure that corpora-tions pay the correct amount of tax at arate that reflects the benefits they gainfrom operating in an environment builtfrom public money?l How will you defend the block grantby opposing a lowering of corporationtax that inevitably reduces it?

Defending the public sectorPublic services and public sector

workers provide the spine of society.Local political agreement at StormontCastle/House among the Executiveparties and in the Fresh Start Agree-ment proposed thousands of publicsector job losses. Why should I votefor any party that endorses making meand thousands of others like me redun-dant?

If the language around these joblosses refers to them being “voluntary”– what of the current local job losses

which are inv drawal of fun workers emp and voluntary portant servic Northern Irelal What will y losses? l If it is feasi million for red party not adv used to deal such as hous cial aims?

Prot Also within

Agreement is off of our ass (Northern Ire (Translink) an l What will y sets in public l What will y that public sp services (via protects work purse from th ously enforce fusal to deal w

PRIOR to the last UK General Election we em-phasised that those who sought votes from ourmembers should be challenged on the full rangeof issues that affect them.

While in that election campaign, we were awareof the limited influence even a united block ofMPs from Northern Ireland might have amid 600-plus Members of Parliament – diminished furtherwhen the predicted hung parliament did not ma-terialise – in the context of an Assembly election,there is a chance to challenge candidates on arange of issues over which the Assembly doeshave devolved responsibility.

In addition in multi-member constituencies thetransfer of votes can be crucial. Let’s force can-didates to worry that their election may dependon transfers won or lost over their attitudes topublic services and public servants.

We ask that you as a member write to candi-dates in their electoral area along the lines setout right and/or they can raise the issues withcandidates and those canvassing for their voteover the next few weeks in the run-up to the As-sembly elections.

The letter template can be downloaded at:http://www.nipsa.org.uk/Campaigns/Public-Ser-vice-Defence/Public-Expenditure-Cuts/Letter-to-your-MLAs

In addition to having written to your prospective candidates you may also wish

Page 92016 Assembly Elections

ector worker… vote for you?’

voluntary due to the with- ding? This is the case for loyed in the community

y sectors who deliver im- ces to the community in

and. you do to oppose these job

ble to borrow up to £700 dundancies – why is your

vocating such a sum is with a key social need sing or other broader so-

tecting our assets

the Stormont House s the threat of the selling

sets – such as water land Water), transport nd the Port of Belfast.

you do to keep these as- c hands?

your party do to ensure pending on goods and

procurement contracts) kers’ rights and the public

he outset through rigor- ed social clauses and re- with firms that are tax

avoiders or have any history of unionblacklisting?

PrivatisationWe regard privatisation and out-

sourcing as an experiment that hasbeen tested and failed over a 30-yearperiod. It has been proven that costsrise, services worsen, unaccountableprivate companies profiteer and staffare undermined. l What will you and your party do tosafeguard our existing public servicesfrom privatisation/outsourcing?l What will you do to defend the NHSand stop the creeping privatisation ofour health and social care system?

Employment lawThe growth of inequality in society,

the extent of employment insecurityand the diminution of rights at workhave been facilitated by weaknesses inUK employment law – particularly as itrelates to trade union activity. Giventhat our employment law is a devolvedmatter:l How will you oppose moves that fur-ther deregulate the necessary protec-tion of workers within our employment

law?l How will you fully use the devolvednature of employment law to end cur-rent abuses in relation to zero-hourscontracts, the failure to enforce theminimum wage, diminished employ-ment rights at work etc… and establishemployment protections at the highest(International Labour Organisation)standard rather than support a race tothe bottom?l How will you support the necessaryprotections in our devolved employ-ment law that will guarantee the rightsof workers to organise within a tradeunion and gain from relevant collectivebargaining agreements?

Social security protection not welfare ‘reform’

The idea of protecting people from “thecradle to the grave” was regarded as akey part of the welfare state. By con-trast, “debate” is now dominated by de-monising and attacking those in need. The vast majority of people who rely onsocial security provisions are low andmedium paid workers. Most of theother social security benefits are paidto people who have worked all their

lives or who are unable to work due togenuine illness. Abuse of the social security system isminimal and pales into insignificancewhen compared to the practices ofwealthy private corporations whichavoid and evade their tax responsibili-ties.l What will your party do to support agenuine social security system fundedfrom progressive taxation and opposethe current ‘welfare reform’ agendafrom Westminster and Stormont?

Pensionsl Do you support the latest HMT at-tack on public sector workers and theirentitlement to redundancy compensa-tion as per their contracts of employ-ment?

Assembly reforml What are you/your party going to doto stop the abuse of the legislative con-sent mechanism that was created toprevent sectarian maladministrationenforced by (single) party strength yethas been abused to block reform onmatters that have no cross-communityelement within them?

to question them while they are door-stepping in your area...see pointers below

YOUNG women with voca-tional qualifications earn15% less than men withcomparable qualifications,according to new analysispublished by the TUC.

The analysis of official fig-ures shows that men aged be-tween 22 and 30 with avocational qualification aboveGCSE level will earn, on aver-age £10 per hour.

But women with the samequalification level will earn only£8.50.

The gender pay gap foryoung women with vocationalqualifications (15%) is nearly athird higher than for youngwomen with academic qualifi-cations (10.5%) and is signifi-cantly above the overallgender pay gap (8.5%).

The TUC says one of themain reasons young womenearn less than their malepeers is because they workpredominantly in sectorswhere pay is poorer.

The analysis shows that in2015, just one in 40 vocationalqualifications in construction

were awarded to women. Andthey received just 10.8% of vo-cational qualifications in engi-neering and manufacturing.

This contrasts with voca-tional qualifications in healthand care, where women domi-nate with 63.6% of qualifica-tions.

TUC General SecretaryFrances O’Grady said: “Youngwomen with vocational qualifi-cations experience a hugegender pay gap.

“Many are still pursuing ca-reers in ‘traditional’ industriesthat offer lower wages.Whereas in better-paid sectorslike engineering and construc-tion they remain a rarity.

“Unless we challenge gen-

der stereotyping and discrimi-nation from the outset, the sit-uation is not going to improve.

“Unions, employers and gov-ernment must work together toprovide better careers advicein schools and to support andimprove training opportunitiesfor all young people.”

The TUC wants schools tochallenge traditional genderroles at an early stage and foryoung people to be madeaware of the returns from dif-ferent qualifications and ca-reers.

“We also recommend men-toring programmes for womenin industries in which they areunderrepresented,” said MsO’Grady.

THREE out of four working mothers say theyhave experienced pregnancy and maternitydiscrimination, new research suggests.

The Equalities and Human Rights Commis-sion (EHRC) says this is the equivalent of390,000 women, experiencing negative and po-tentially discriminatory treatment at work eachyear.

The research, carried out in partnership withthe Department for Business, Innovation andSkills, shows that despite 77% of working moth-ers reporting potentially discriminatory or nega-tive experiences, only around a quarter (28%)raised the issue with their employer, only 3%went through their employer’s internal grievanceprocedure, and less than 1% pursued a claim tothe employment tribunal.

The survey of more than 3,000 mothers and3,000 employers shows a range of reasons forthis including the financial cost of pursuing aclaim, fear of negative repercussions at work,lack of information about their rights, and stressand tiredness. Since the introduction in 2013 oftribunal fees of up to £1,200, the number of sexdiscrimination cases has dropped by 76% andpregnancy-related cases fell by 50%.

Astonishingly, in this day and age, the majorityof employers (70%) thought a woman shoulddeclare at recruitment stage if they were preg-nant, and a quarter thought that it was reason-able to question women of childbearing age atinterview about their plans to have children. Inaddition to this, three in four (77%) mothers thatwere unsuccessful in their job interviews under-taken while pregnant (where the employer hadknown about their pregnancy) felt it had affectedtheir chances of success.

The EHRC called on the government to: ltake more effective steps to prevent employersasking during the recruitment process about awoman’s pregnancy or her intention to havechildren;

l  explore the feasibility of a collective insur-

ance scheme to support small and medium-sized employers to provide enhanced pay andcover for maternity leave, based on a successfulmodel used in Denmark;

l  make changes to the employment tribunalfee system to ensure that fees are not a barrierto accessing justice for pregnant women andnew mothers; and

l  consider increasing from three to six monthsthe time limit for a woman to bring an employ-ment tribunal case involving pregnancy and ma-ternity discrimination.

EHRC deputy chair Caroline Waters said: “Wewant to make workplaces fairer for everyoneand get rid of outdated practices like askingwomen during job interviews whether they in-tend to have children.

For businesses to thrive, they need to harnessthe talents, skills and experience of all employ-ees."

The commission has called on employers,regulatory bodies and the voluntary sector tomake vital changes needed to improve ... Britishworkplaces so they are the best they can be foreveryone.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said:“It’s disgraceful that tens of thousands ofwomen are forced from their job each year dueto pregnancy discrimination and that most strug-gle to enforce their rights.

“Women who have lost their jobs should nothave to pay £1,200 to take a case to an employ-ment tribunal.

“The government should also recognise thevital role unions play in combatting pregnancydiscrimination. This report shows that employerswho work closely with trade unions have greaterawareness of pregnant women’s rights and bet-ter policies to support them.

She urges "every working woman to join aunion to make sure they are represented andtheir voice is heard".

Working mothers-to-beface discrimination

Vocational greaterthan GCSE

Academic greaterthan GCSE

All

Men’s pay £10 £12 £11.20

Women’s pay (% pay gap)

£8.50 (15%) £11.50 (10%) £10.30 (9%)

Gross hourly pay for workers aged between 22 and 30, by educational qualification, 2015:

Huge pay gap for young women with vocational qualifications

Page 10 NEWS

SOME 200 delegates gathered in Mullingarfor the 2016 ICTU Women’s Conference onMarch 3 and 4.

NIPSA was represented by Tina Creaney,Vice-Chairperson of the NIPSA Equal Opportu-nities Committee, Valerie Shields, Chairpersonof Branch 535 and NIPSA Assistant SecretaryGeraldine Alexander.

Themed 100 years of struggle, delegates de-bated a wide range of motions and heard fromguest speakers on the history of women’s fightfor equality.

Opening the conference, ICTU General Secre-tary Patricia King spoke both about the ad-vances made on gender equality to date as wellas the challenges that remained. She said thatgender inequality remained a “persistent featureof life on this island,” pointing out that womenwere disadvantaged in work, still carried a dis-proportionate responsibility for unpaid care workand were severely under-represented in the po-litical, economic and administrative systems.

In contrast, women were over-represented insectors were pay was low and work precarious,with some 65% of those earning the NationalMinimum Wage being female.

“Women are the ‘managers of poverty’ in lowincome households,” Ms King continued, “andform the majority of part-time workers, North andSouth. We are all too familiar with the growingcasualisation of work that has become endemicin sectors such as hospitality, retail, educationand care.

“The Dunnes Stores dispute highlighted someof the worst examples of bad employer behav-iour, where the company controlled workers’hours to suit its needs.

“We cannot underestimate the value of thestand taken by those brave Dunnes Storesworkers. There is no doubt in my mind that wewould not have seen the comprehensive Univer-sity of Limerick review on low hour contracts hadthe dispute not happened.”

She described the lack of affordable, qualitychildcare as “one of our largest infrastructuraldeficits”, meaning that parents across IrelandNorth and South faced “some of the highestchildcare costs in Europe”.

“In Northern Ireland, Congress argued that if achildcare strategy is to succeed then the North-ern Ireland Executive must consider legislativemeasures such as those applying elsewhere."

Ms King also referred to the Gender Pay Gapin her speech. She told delegates that the latestEurostat figures showed the gap stood at 8.8%in Northern Ireland and 14.4% in the Republic,adding, “Interestingly, it stands at 17.7% in theUK (2015).”

Histo strug them

Source: ONS Labour Force Survey figures for 2015.

Page 11NEWS

She pointed out that much of Northern Ire-land’s progress was explained by the increasingnumbers of women working in the public sector,“where equality of pay is more prevalent, whilein private sector occupations women earn lessthan men.”

Delegates were told Ireland was also out ofline with European standards with regard to eco-nomic decision-making, which called for 40% fe-male participation on non-executive boards.

Ms King commented: “Only state boards haveshown improvement in the representation ofwomen at one-third, compared to private com-pany board representation at 9%. This figure isjust 5% among Ireland’s Top 500 companies ofwhom 43% have no women at all on theirboards. This is despite the fact that women ac-count for nearly half of the current paid work-force.”

Patricia King also admitted to delegates thatthe trade union movement had “a lot of groundto make up” on the issue.

“Well over half our membership is female,while our leadership roles are predominately oc-cupied by men.”

However, she said the movement could “takegreat heart” from the success of the civil mar-riage equality referendum and called on dele-gates to “work even harder” to support the civilmarriage equality campaign north of the border.

Ms King continued: “Gender equality is moreimportant now than ever but our official trackrecord is bad. The commitment of those inpower to address these issues is questionable.The most effective way to advance genderequality is through organisation in our work-places.”

Pointing out that an essential step in reducinginequality was to lift workers out of the low paytrap she called for all workers to earn as a mini-mum “no less than the Living Wage, on properlystructured banded hour rosters”.

She added: “That would be a real gain for fe-male workers and a big step forward for equal-ity.”

In her contribution, ETUC Confederation Sec-retary Montserrat Mir spoke about the genderequality agenda at EU level as well as the ETUCresponse.

Ms Mir paid particular tribute to those Irishwomen who had dedicated their lives to fightingfor equal opportunities, and for better lives forfuture generations.

She noted that cuts in social investments, aswell as in gender and equal opportunities poli-cies, had led to “a step backwards” in a numberof EU countries including Ireland North andSouth, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy and a

number of countries in Eastern Europe. However, she claimed the response to these

developments was “not national… but Euro-pean”.

Ms Mir told delegates: “The ETUC is the voiceof all European unions, and works to ensure thatthe voices of all women in the EU are heard andlistened to. With this objective, we have urgedthe European Commissioner responsible forgender, Vera Jurova, to draw up a new Euro-pean Strategy for Gender Equality.

“We have the support of the ETUC affiliates,and the majority of EU governments have sentletters to the Commission calling for a new strat-egy.”

Other speakers at the two-day event includedMary Muldowney, who talked about the role ofwomen in 1916, and Margaret Ward who gave ahistory of the struggle for women’s suffrage.

The Conference debated a number of motionson social exclusion and inequality, includingNIPSA’s motion on Women and the Economy.

The NIPSA motion, which was unanimouslyadopted, highlighted the fact that household in-comes, poverty rates and the labour market hadall worsened in Northern Ireland over the lastfive years.

The movers of the motion flagged up the factthat paid work was not “an equal experience forwomen and men” as women tended to be con-centrated in low-paid and part-time jobs.

The motion stated: “79% of female employeeswork part-time, many on zero hour contractswith neither job security nor decent conditions ofemployment, unable to access tax credits mostneeded by the poorest families.

“Two-thirds of those earning the minimum

wage or below are women and women on aver-age earn 12.5% less than men. Cuts to workingTax Credits/Universal Credit systems have ahigher impact on lone parents, mainly women,than on any other group.”

The motion also claimed that Welfare Reformwould mean that women would be further disad-vantaged.

It continued: “Not only have women lost out onsocial security relating to pregnancy and chil-dren, but women have also lost more than menas a result of housing benefit reform, the changefrom RPI to CPI in the uprating of benefits andthe benefits cap.”

The motion also flagged up how cuts to serv-ices – Sure Start Children’s Centres, sexual andreproductive health services and domestic vio-lence refuges – had likewise impacted heavilyon women.

The movers of the motion called on govern-ment to:l Carry out meaningful equality impact assess-ments before spending decisions were made;l Monitor the impact of their decisions had onwomen and revise policies when it was clearthat there was a disproportionate impact thatcould not be justified;l Introduce a dedicated women’s employmentstrategy to address the dominance of women inlow paid work and recognises social infrastruc-ture and the value of women’s skills and labour;andl End public sector pay freezes and caps; intro-duce stronger legislation on equal pay audits,greater pay transparency and better quality part-time and flexible work opportunities.

ry of women’s ggle is keye of conference

NIPSA and PCS colleagues share a table at the conference

Page 12 NEWS

EMPLOYERS have a responsi-bility for the health and safetyof their employees while theyare at work.

This is governed by legislationand the pertinent provisions aresummarised below.

Duty of careYour employer owes you a duty

of care and this includes:l Making the workplace safe.l Preventing risks to health.l Ensuring safe working prac-tices are set up and followed.l Making sure the ventilation,temperature, lighting, toilet, wash-ing and rest facilities all meethealth and safety requirements.l Checking the correct workequipment is provided and prop-erly used, inspected and main-tained.l Avoiding potentially dangerouswork involving manual handling.If manual handling can’t beavoided, it should be reduced tothe lowest level possible and theyneed to take precautions to re-duce the risk of injury.l Providing protective clothing orequipment relevant to your em-ployment. The employer must en-sure that the personal protectiveequipment is maintained in goodrepair and is cleaned or replacedas often as necessary.l They also have a duty to reportcertain accidents injuries, dis-eases and dangerous occur-

rences, usually to the Health andSafety Executive for Northern Ire-land.

Risk assessmentsYour employer has a duty of

care to ensure as far as reason-ably possible, that your health,safety and welfare are protectedwhile you are at work. Thisshould start with a risk assess-ment to spot potential health andsafety hazards. This should bedone by a “competent person”with health and safety training.For a workplace of more than fiveemployees, a record of the as-sessment must be kept. The as-sessment must also identifypreventative or protective meas-ures to control the risk.Making the workplace safe

To ensure that work premisesprovide a safe and healthy place

to work, your employer should:l Make sure that the area isproperly ventilated with clean andfresh air.l Suitable and sufficient lightingmust be provided.l Keep temperatures at a com-fortable level throughout thepremises so that employees canwork and move about safely.l Keep the work place andequipment clean.l Workstations must be suitablefor the workers who use them,and the work which is carried out.If the work can be done sitting,suitable seating must be pro-vided.l Keep the equipment in goodworking order. Where appropri-ate, there must be a planned sys-tem of regular maintenance.l Make sure that floors are suit-

able and not slippery. Theyshould be kept free from obstruc-tion or contamination likely tocause slipping.l Ensure that walkways, stairsand traffic routes are safe to use.What should you do if youhave an accident at work?l Make sure you record any in-jury in the accident book. Youremployer should have an acci-dent book that all accidents arerecorded in. l If necessary, make sure youremployer has reported it to theHealth and Safety Executive. Thismust be done in instances ofdeath, major injuries, dangerousincidents or any other injurywhich stops an employee fromcarrying out their work for morethan three days.

If you have had an accident atwork or are suffering from an in-dustrial disease such as deafnessor due to the exposure to danger-ous substances, you should con-tact NIPSA to request a LS2 formto allow an assessment of yourcase by MTB Solicitors, which isfree under the Legal AssistanceScheme for personal injuries.

Equally this scheme covers alltypes of personal injury casesand is also open to family mem-bers of individuals with NIPSAmembership.

NIPSA’s latest Policy and Re-search booklet, titled ‘Key to theLock’, underlines the importantrole trade union recognition andcollective bargaining plays inbuilding a just and decent society.

Speaking at the publication’slaunch earlier this year, authorJohn McVey spoke of the gap thathad opened up in income distribu-tion over the last few decades. Hereferred in particular to evidencerevealed in the best selling book‘The Spirit Level’ about the perni-cious effects inequality had on so-cieties.

He said it was precisely thisanalysis that had seen a “colossalcounter-attack” on ‘The SpiritLevel’ and its authors from forceson the right. “All of the well-fundedthink-tanks, all the corporate presswent for them and their researchwith a frenzy.”

But why? The reaction was be-cause these forces wanted to killoff any idea that there was an al-ternative to neo-liberalism.

‘The Spirit Level’ authors, hesuggested, were guilty of the ulti-mate heresy for neo-liberals – “therejection of the idea that ‘inequalityis the price we have to pay for athriving economy’.”

Mr McVey said the idea thatpeople still recognised an injustice“when they see it” and that onemeans of achieving a fair societywas through the trade unionmovement was an “explicit threat”to those “chasing areas of public

life from which to ex-tract profit”.

For neo-liberals, headded, this madetrade unions “publicenemy number one”.

He continued:“That’s why the dis-mantling of collectiveprotection was – andis – deliberate. It’swhy a free-at-the-point-of-use NHS re-mains the ultimate,richest prize, why ourenemies are insa-tiable and why at aUK level they are al-ready coming for more in theshape of the 2015 TU Bill.”

Locally, Mr McVey underlinedthe importance of recognising“both the facts of and potential ofour devolved labour laws” and oftrade union vigilance.

He warned: “…the people whoare very adept at shaping such anagenda may see the post-Electionperiod and its landscape – newDepartments, new Councils, a sin-gle Education Authority, sharedservices, electronic Human Re-sources and so on – as theirchance to sweep away a lot of in-herited Industrial Relationsprocesses. We need to be readyfor this – and we need to shapethe agenda.”

To do this, it will be vital to en-sure that the trade union voice is“protected and developed” under

any new arrange-ments. He suggestedtwo key ways of en-hancing trade unions’ability to fight eco-nomic quality wouldbe “by simplifying thestatutory procedurefor trade union recog-nition and putting inplace arrangementsfor sector-wide collec-tive bargaining”.

Mr McVey claimedthat making, for exam-ple, trade unionrecognition a compul-sory part of any public

sector investment would be a“springboard” to grow the move-ment, meaning that unions wouldbe shaping appropriate terms andconditions “from day one”.

He cited the example of TitanicBelfast built with £60m of publicfunds which he claimed had been“gifted to the global private invest-ment company Harcourt Develop-ments”.

“Our Organising Unit tried to or-ganise workers there. They tried toengage the Chief Executive andleafleted the building but werewarned that if this carried on,NIPSA would be ‘removed’ fromthe Titanic building and its envi-rons.

“So the radical change we arearguing for in this booklet is that ifour money is used anywhere – inan investment such as Titanic, for

example, unions are guaranteed apresence.

“It’s irrelevant how small thosenumbers might be in some areas –it’s the key to the lock – in placeswhere we are currently locked out.It makes unions an entity workersare aware of in their working lives– that potentially can become acore and future part of their work-ing lives.”

Mr McVey emphasised the im-portance of unions thinking strate-gically stretching for the decadesthat lay ahead.

He said: “Planting these seedsis about thinking long-term. Forthe same reasons that investing intrade union education and organ-ising for the next 10 and 20 yearsare essential. We have to offermembers a meaningful contrastwith the sound-bite politics of shal-low self-interest and attentionseeking that leaves most peoplecold.”

He continued: “What happens ifwe don’t set and control thisagenda from a grassroots level?What happens if a movement ofour size neglects training and edu-cation on such matters fordecades?

“The answer is we get stuck withthe obsessions of the media bub-ble – not in a profound debate onthe nature of the in-out referen-dum on the EU for example – butreduced to witnesses of an elitistsoap opera of one old Etonianpitched against another.”

Chancery House, 88 Victoria Street, Belfast BT1 3GNTel: 029 9032 9801 www.mtb-law.co.uk

By TanyaWaterworth

Accidents at work...what to do?

Unlocking our potential as a trade union

NIPSA President Carmel Gateshas claimed there is huge pub-lic support for opposing wel-fare cuts.

She made the comments dur-ing her opening address to dele-gates attending the SocialSecurity Agency conference atthe Balmoral Hotel, Belfast, onMarch 14.

The SSA conference – the 17th– was the final time the event willbe staged.

Ms Gates told the conferencethat NIPSA activists had taken tothe streets of Belfast, on Satur-day, March 12, to leaflet the gen-eral public informing them aboutthe damage welfare cuts will haveon society in Northern Ireland.

She noted: “We got a tremen-dous response from the public forour actions and even from ourown members who received theleaflets.”

Ms Gates pointed out that

NIPSA members had a hugestake in the welfare cuts agendaas both employees of the stateand as participants who use pub-lic services.

She warned: “The Governmentwill come after our members andwill try to reduce their existingworking T&Cs and in the futureany further compensation termsand redundancy paymentsschemes.

“The latest Voluntary ExistScheme was not as attractive asprevious ones but it offers excep-tionally more attractive compen-sation terms than ones in thefuture.”

And she predicted that the Gov-ernment would offer no negotia-tions in future redundancy roundsbut simply target members ofstaff telling them that was on offeras “they are pushed out of thedoor.”

The President also claimed that

the economy was “being soldabroad” by local political leaders,who are offering Northern Irelandas a cheap tax destination forcompanies to set up businessesreliant on cheap labour.

She said: “Ministers will try andattract tax evaders and avoidersfrom other countries to set uphere. There will be a battle for ourservices, our jobs and our fu-tures. We will have to be pre-pared to fight these battles.”

Ms Gates went on to accuselocal political parties of giving upin fighting against cuts to welfareservices.

Referring to the SSA’s mergerinto the newly-constructed De-partment for Communities, shewished union activists well andexpressed her hope that NIPSAactivists would continue to fightfor their members with the same“vigour and passion” that theyhad shown within the SSA

CONFERENCE guest speaker ProfessorEileen Evason began her contribution bythanking NIPSA-SSA for inviting her tospeak at the conference.

Noting that the Social Security Agencywould soon be moving into the Departmentof Communities, she stressed the challengeto staff of maintaining the high standards ofservice delivered to the people of NorthernIreland.

She told delegates that she had been im-pressed over the years with the expertiseand commitment members of staff hadshown and their ability to make policieswork.

Prof Evason also pointed out that she wasalso very aware of their care and concernfor claimants, which was being driven out ofthe system in GB.

Reflecting on the process which led to heragreeing to lead the Working Party on miti-gation, she said: “Put briefly, last Novemberit was clear that the choice was betweenkeeping our institutions going and the legis-lation going through with mitigations or thelegislation going through without mitigationand things starting to fall apart.”

She said that it was on that basis and withreluctance that she had agreed to do the re-port.

Turning to the report itself, Prof Evasonoutlined the three main strands: supplemen-tary payments and other measures under-pinned by full exemption from the bedroomtax; a robust structure to provide independ-ent advice and representation together withmeasures to ensure sanction did not bringthe hardship witnessed in GB; and meas-ures relating to tax credits/universal creditand various community strategies.

Concluding her contribution, Prof Evasonexpressed the hope that NIPSA would ad-vise her of any concerns it had in relation tothe implementation of the report.

DRAWING on her years of experience sincejoining the SSA, chairperson Tina Creaney tolddelegates that staff operated at the coalface inproviding “those in societal need” with the as-sistance and help they deserved.

She said: “As NIPSA activists we have not beafraid to stand up when these services have comeunder attack whether by governments, politiciansand sectarian threats.

“We have seen many changes over the yearswith the introduction of streamlining which havemade our jobs even more difficult and this still con-tinues.

“The union’s Executive has strived to make lifebetter for our members by supporting, fighting andlistening to our members. It isn’t easy and we allknow when it goes wrong, the blame will get backto us.

“But do not let that stop you from standing up

and being a voice for our members.”Ms Creaney, a member of Branch 4, also

warned delegates that Stormont’s Fresh StartAgreement would leave members facing “newstruggles and challenges”.

She told conference: “We are losing experiencedstaff members via the Voluntary Exit Scheme andfacing new workplace regimes with added work-loads.

“We are seeing our members being hit by sanc-tions, increased working hours and attacks onwork-life balance.

“This is why we need a strong and fightingunion. NIPSA needs to continue to stand up andfight for its members, public services and the com-munities.

“Our members’ voices need to be heard and weneed to get more activists to help steer our unionto battle for our rights and jobs.”

TONY McMullan, moving Motion 12 on behalfof the SSA Committee, joked that both he andBilly Lynn were members of ‘Wrinklies AgainstAusterity’, though pointing out that they were“not old… just experienced!”

He reminded delegates that many years ago be-fore NIPSA came into being “we didn’t have goodindustrial relations in the Northern Ireland CivilService”.

“We didn’t have the right to be consulted aboutissues that affect members every day – terms andconditions, accommodation issues, and workingpractices.”

He noted that the old DHSS, predecessor toboth DSD and DHSSPS, was the first Departmentin the union to have a Seconded Officer, a DeputySection Secretary and a dedicated one-day annualconference.

The union now had facility time for activists, con-sultation rights, and the right to represent mem-bers in all grievance and disciplinary cases – infact, he described the current set-up as “the mosthighly developed industrial relations machinery inthe NICS”.

Mr McMullen claimed there was nothing in thecurrent arrangements “that we should have anydifficulties with”, but cautioned that some membersof management were “stuck in a time warp”.

“They are clearly uneasy at having to demeanthemselves by having to engage, consult and ne-gotiate with Trade Union Side representatives.”

He said this showed itself with managers insome cases giving “but the most cursory attentionto our views” and in trying to “stifle our interest”.

These people, he added, “need to cop on… thedays when our union was ignored are gone andgone for ever. The days when we did not go intomeetings with management on anything but equalterms are gone and gone for ever.”

Mr McMullan continued: “To be fair most of thesenior management do recognise our role and dogenuinely consult and negotiate as appropriate butthere has been an increasing tendency for man-agements at lower levels to behave like this.”

And he called on senior management to addressthis tendency and bring “rogue managements toheel”.

Page 13SSA conference

Prof Evason praises staffcommitment and ability

We need a strong and fighting union

Top brass must bring ‘rogue managements to heel’

‘Vigour and passion’needed to fight cuts

Page 14 NEWS

HEY BUDDYBRANCH 733 was made aware of thetremendous work being carried out byAlice Pulman in Malawi and decided tocome together along with some friendsand support this and other projectsthroughout the country.

Subsequently, we have decided to travel toMalawi from September 22 to October 5 tohelp build an extension to an orphanage,among other activities.

Alice’s decision to start up the orphanagebegan a number of years ago when she wason a gap year before attending university.

She had paid a substantial amount ofmoney to volunteer in Malawi and taught chil-dren while the regular teacher was away fromthe classroom. Apart from the fact that theclasses were in excess of 170 pupils, Alice didnot feel she was experienced or qualifiedenough to teach the children.

After a few weeks Alice found herself feelingunder-utilised and as she was only workingfrom 6am to 1pm, she was searching for addi-tional projects to get involved in.

After making a number of enquires sheeventually decided to visit a project being runby a very special woman called Marcy, whowas feeding 400 children from food she wasgrowing on her own land and at her own ex-pense.

Very quickly Alice developed a strong bondwith Marcy and the two knew they were goingto work well together in the future. It did nottake long before Alice decided to complementthis wonderful work by providing the childrenwith some sort of shelter from the searingheat.

It was then decided to build the orphanageand in just 10 weeks, Alice had the buildingerected, by using money left to her followingthe death of her grandfather. Tilinanu orphan-age was born and today it houses 34 girlsaged six to 20.

Alice continues to develop a number ofother projects across the sector including aneducational programme aimed at raising thestandards among the children of Malawi. Thisinvolves the rewriting of the curriculum in part-nership with the Malawi government.

There are also currently six pop-up healthclinics which deliver services to patientsacross a vast area from a single ambulance. Itis hoped to develop this initiative further, de-pending on raising the necessary funds. Theultimate aim is to have self-sufficient medicalcentres which will be operated rotationally by

visiting doctors and nurses.Alice is continuing to work with the Malawi

government in putting together a curriculumthat reflects the educational needs of children.This includes a review of teaching methodsand a recognition that additional funding isneeded to ensure classroom sizes are signifi-cantly reduced.

While Alice is totally committed to working inMalawi, it is her intention to move on from allcurrent projects by 2020. The plan is to leavethe current projects so that they are self-sus-tainable which is why we as a branch are sokeen to be involved with her projects.

While spending time working on some of theinitiatives outlined above, it is our intention tofund and help to build an extension to the al-ready existing orphanage. The plan is to pro-vide the materials and to pay localtradespersons a living wage for the entire timeit takes to build the extension.

The idea is that if we leave it to the locals tobuild the extension there will be a sense ofpride and ownership by the entire community.It will also mean that the local economy will beboosted by the wages being spent every weekin local businesses.

We also have plans to explore the possibilityof providing a bicycle – the local mode oftransport used to taxi persons around. Theprinciple will be that the village will share own-ership of the bicycle and a number of personsoperating it will be paid accordingly.

Any profits that are generated will then beused to support the village and its people invarious self-sustaining projects. We are hope-ful that this will ensure things such as boreholes for water, generators and/or solar lampsor electricity or tin covers on the roof ofhouses can be bought and maintained.

There are a number of other projects thatwe will be visiting with a view to determiningwhat, if any, support we might be able toooffer. These include a centre for persons witha learning disability, a hospital for new-bornabandoned babies and a hospital run almostsingle-handedly by an Irish woman six hoursdrive from Malawi’s capital Lilongwe.

We also plan to visit a number of villages tomeet and work with the locals as well as visit-ing a school that has an enrolment of 850-pluspupils. To achieve all this we have alreadyraised significant amounts of money as wellas paid for items out of our own pockets.

We are asking all NIPSA members to sup-port us in any way they can and we will share

details of our journey as we go along as wellas on our return. To help you can attend anyof the functions we are running, details ofwhich can be found on our branch 733 Face-book page.

If you wish to donate directly, please go toour go fund page athttps://www.gofundme.com/nipsa-malawi-trip.We had some difficulties with this previouslybut the problem has now been resolved.

There are a number of other ways memberscan support us:l Go to one of our functions, details of whichcan be found on our Facebook page atBranch 733.l Get involved in our campaign to buy a brick.We will also take a message of support alongwith us to Malawi and bury this along withother items in a time capsule in the founda-tions of the extension. For further informationplease contact any of the persons listedbelow.l Donate items that we could auction either atone of our functions or online.l Collect clean clothes that are in good condi-tion, bag them and we will coordinate their col-lection.l Hold a function such as a quiz, coffee morn-ing or something similar, donating any fundsraised.l Or come up with something that we havenot considered and tell us about it. We willoffer any support we can to any event beingorganised.

If you would like any further information,please feel free to contact us through Face-book or email or chat to one of the personslisted below.

Can you spare a quid?BRANCH 733 has two requests tomake to each and every member ofour union across the entire NIPSAfamily, writes NIPSA rep Brian Smyth.The first is that members donate aminimum of £1 each and gather atleast two bags of unwanted clothesthey have at home. Why we’re makingthis request of members is set outbelow…

Branch 733 wants thank the manyindividuals who have helped us so far andexpress thanks in advance for any help youmight be able to offer us.For further details please contact any ofthe following people:Brian Smyth on 07725445261 or atBrian.smyth@southerntrust.hscni.netCara Murchan on 07894624652 or atcara.murchan@southerntrust.hscni.netGerardette McVeigh on 07590444313 or onGerardette.mcveigh@southerntrust.hscni.netLoughlinn Duffy on 07920875539 or onLoughlinn.duffy@southerntrust.hscni.net

Brian Smythwith AlicePulan (wear-ing scarf)with support-ing membersfrom Branch730

NIPSA’s annual Union LearningConference – which this yearhad the theme of ‘Austerity andits Effects on Union Learning’ –was held at the Wellington ParkHotel, Belfast, on March 21.

Opening the conference, Gen-eral Secretary Alison Millarthanked the Union Learning Rep-resentatives (ULRs) for their com-mitment and the work they hadcarried out over the previousyear.

She also welcomed Depart-ment of Employment and Learn-ing (DEL) Minister StephenFarry’s announcement that thebudget for Union Learning wouldnot be reduced for another year,describing this as “very positivenews for ULRs” in the light of cutsto budgets in other areas.

She said this was a recognitionby the DEL Minister of the invalu-able work carried out by ULRs“especially in times of austeritywhere training budgets are thefirst to be seen as an easy targetto reduce or even eradicate”.

President Carmel Gates alsothanked ULRs for all their workand commended them for thevery important role they per-formed for NIPSA members.

A number of other speakersoutlined how training and learningcould be productive and benefi-cial for both the organisation andthe individual.

ICTU’s Kevin Doherty spokeabout the many opportunities fortraining and education within thetrade union movement. He toldULRs that there was a “hugepride” within trade unions aboutrepresentatives upskilling and re-engaging in learning opportunitiesand that this was something thathad been “welcomed and devel-oped over the years”.

Colin Neilands, from the Forumfor Adult Education Northern Ire-land (FAENI), spoke to the con-

ference about adult learning fromboth a Northern Ireland and Eu-rope-wide perspective.

Meanwhile on the issue of adultlearning, the conference heardthat focus groups from a range oforganisations had come togetherto help produce a manifestowhich will be launched in ad-vance of the local elections.NIPSA is delighted to have beeninvolved in helping to produce thedocument which can be accessedat www.communityni.org/news/learn-ing-life

With the closure of the Educa-tion Guidance Service for Adults(EGSA) and the Workers Educa-tional Association (WEA), it ishoped that this manifesto willkeep adult learning to the fore inNorthern Ireland.

The final speaker of the daywas John Conaghan, from Care-call, who spoke about the bene-fits of learning from a health andwelfare perspective and abouthow it could be used as a meansof helping an individual back towork, deal with issues such asstress, mental health problems aswell as other health-related mat-ters.

He told conference that it washard to quantify the great valuetraining and learning had in in-creasing confidence, motivationand self-worth within the individ-ual. This, in turn, would he sug-gested translate into increasedmotivation at work and – ulti-mately – increased productivityand accuracy at work for the em-ployer.

If you want more informationabout Carecall, contact JohnConaghan on j.conaghan@care-callwellbeing.com or phone himon 028 90725438. You can alsovisit their website www.carecall-wellbeing.com

During the day certificates werealso presented to NIPSA ULRs

who had successfully completedtheir ULR Stage 1 and Stage 2training.

A certificate for ‘Union LearningRepresentative of the Year’ wasawarded to Charlotte Pollockfrom the Belfast Health and So-cial Care Trust (BHSCT) for heroutstanding work and commit-ment.

Charlotte successfully set upICT Essential Skills courses formembers in her organisation inconjunction with Belfast Metropol-itan College (BMC) and the UnionLearning Co-Ordinator RoisinGraham.

The conference also saw theelection of the inaugural UnionLearning Committee. These 10ULRs along with two representa-tives from the General Council,Public Officers and Civil ServiceGroups will form the Committeethat will meet in June.

More training news - page 16

Page 15NEWS

ULRs praised for theirsterling contribution

THE Open University offersmany opportunities for peo-ple who wish to furthertheir personal developmentacross various subjectareas. They offer a tailoredplan of what an individualmay wish to achieve de-pending on personal com-mitments, finances andoverall outcome that is tobe achieved. More information aboutwhat is available can be ac-cessed through the OpenUniversity website or bycontacting your ULR. TheOpen University website iswww.open.ac.uk or find outmore about the OU fromJanette Nhangaba on 02890245025janette.nhangaba@open.ac.uk

If you are interested in being a ULR or want to know moreabout what the role involves, please contact Roisin Graham onroisin.graham@nipsa.org.uk

The TUC has published two studies show-ing how trade union reps save money.

They come as the Trade Union Billmakes its way through Parliament, withmeasures that would allow the govern-ment to restrict facility time for unionhealth and safety reps in the public sectorand restrict the ability of workers to strikeover safety issues.

The Bill would also allow agency work-ers to be used during strikes, thereby cre-ating potential risks.

Based on a University of Bradfordanalysis of official figures, The benefits ofpaid time off for trade union representa-

tives shows that for every £1 spent onpaid time off for public sector union repsto represent their members, taxpayers getat least £2.31 back in savings.

A second report, The union effect: howunions make a difference on health andsafety, shows that the UK’s network of100,000 health and safety reps help re-duce injuries and ill-health at work andsave the economy millions of pounds.

It reveals that: l workplaces with a union presence havea 24% lower rate of injuries than non-unionised workplaces;

l workers with a health and safety com-mittee are more than twice as likely tohave been given health and safety train-ing in the previous year than workerswithout one; and l where staff have safety reps they havea voice and are more willing to raise is-sues.

In addition, it shows that safety reps areestimated to save society around £181million by cutting the time lost from work-place injuries and the more than 286,000days that would have been lost to work-related illness.

Research reveals union reps’ cost-effectiveness

Trade Union Education and Training Programme

April ~ July 2016

Course Title Dates Venue

NIPSA Reps Stage 1 10 Thursday’s, 21st April to 30th June(Note: this course will not run on 2nd June)

NIPSA HQ Belfast

Certi�cate in Employment Law (TU Reps Stage 2)

10 Mondays, 18th April to 4th July(Not running on Bank Holidays – 2nd and 30th May)

Belfast BURC

Health and Safety Stage 1 10 Thursdays, 5th May to 7th July Belfast BURC

Health and Safety Stage 2 10 Thursdays, 5th May to 7th July Belfast BURC

Union Learning Reps Stage 1 5 Tuesdays, 26th April to 24th May Belfast BURC

Union Learning Reps Stage 2 5 Tuesdays, 7th June to 5th July Belfast BURC

Social Media for Trade Union Reps 5 Fridays, 3rd June to 1st July Belfast BURC

Training Course ApplicationForm TC1

1. Surname: Mr. Mrs. Miss. Ms.

2. Forename(s): (in full)

3. Branch No. 4. Membership No.

Part 1

Part 2

5. Home Address:

Postcode:

Contact Work Home Mobile

6. Telephone:

7. Email:

8. Do you work? (tick applicable)

9. Employer:

(in full)

Postcode:

Full Time Part Time Job Share Term Time

1. Course applied for: Date(s):

3. Special requirements:

4. Previous NIPSA Courses attended: (Please give year if possible)

5. History of union membership: (NIPSA and other unions)

Applicants Signature: Date:

Counter Signature: (Branch Secretary/Chairperson) Date:

LOCAL Government represen-tatives from Armagh, Ban-bridge and Craigavon DistrictCouncil (pictured above) re-cently attended a training ses-sion in Craigavon Civic Centreorganised by the NIPSA Train-ing Department along with theLabour Relations Agency.

Following the impact of the Re-view of Public Administration inLocal Government, NIPSA offi-cials and representatives haveseen an influx of issues relatingto Transfer of Undertakings andProtection of Employment(TUPE) and staff transfers.

The training was delivered byMark McAllister from the Labour

Relations Agency and co-facili-tated by NIPSA Training OfficerNaomi Connor. It focused on anumber of issues including therights of employees before andafter TUPE transfers and the ne-cessity for employers to engagein meaningful consultation andnegotiation with recognised tradeunions throughout the process.

Branch Chair John Farrell, whoattended the training, told NIPSANews: “Branch representativesare dealing with a range of TUPEissues following the implementa-tion of new Council structure.These issues are of real concernto NIPSA members and we wel-come the opportunity to learn

more about TUPE. “It also provides us with the op-

portunity to go out and speak withmembers on the issues affectingthem on a day-to-day basis. Thisis one of a series of initiativesbeing undertaken by the BranchCommittee to effectively engagewith members and deal with theirconcerns.”

NIPSA Training Officer NaomiConnor said: “It is vital that rele-vant, up-to-date, quality training isprovided to branches and repre-sentatives. It gives NIPSA repre-sentatives and officials theopportunity to upskill on areas ofemployment legislation and real-life, day-to-day issues that are of

concern to members.”She added: “It is something

which branches are availing ofmore and more and that can onlybe of tangible benefit to NIPSAmembers.”

Natalie Aspin, from NIPSA Or-ganisation and Recruitment, alsoattended the event and spokeabout opportunities to recruit non-members into the union. In par-ticular, she stressed theimportance of using local issuesas an effective recruitment tooland welcomed the opportunity towork with the Branch Committeeon the issue in the comingmonths.

TUPE training ‘a great success’

Page 16 NEWS