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Irish Independent
05-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
‘Irish working mothers are at a significant financial disadvantage' – unions back calls for full year's maternity leave
It is now official Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) policy, after a motion calling for 52 weeks of maternity pay north and south of the border was adopted by delegates at its biennial conference this week. The motion said current maternity pay arrangements fall short of international best practice. Tabled by the British Fire Brigades Union, it claimed there is a 'postcode lottery' effect where workers in some regions and sectors get markedly inferior benefits. Workers and self-employed individuals in the Republic of Ireland are entitled to a social welfare maternity benefit payment of €289 per week for 26 weeks. Some employers top up the entitlement. Employer group Isme supported measures to provide women with paid maternity leave, but said it should be supported by the social fund. Bulgaria offers approximately 58.6 weeks (410 days) of paid maternity leave 'Obviously a year's salary for someone not attending work would not be sustainable for the vast majority of employers, therefore this type of measure must be underwritten by the social fund,' said chief executive Neil McDonnell. He said Bulgaria offers approximately 58.6 weeks (410 days) of paid maternity leave. Mr McDonnell said 90pc of the mother's full salary is paid from its National Health Insurance Fund. 'Employers would not welcome an increase in PRSI, obviously, but if asked to pay for long-term maternity leave, it would be the only way to do so,' he said. 'A creche with four childminders or a hairdresser with five stylists could not afford to pay someone for a year who was not working. This is very obvious, and everyone including Ictu knows this.' Ictu spokesperson Laura Bambrick said the move would entail a hike in PRSI for workers, the self-employed and employers. She said Ireland compares very favourably to EU countries in terms of the duration of paid maternity leave benefits, at 26 weeks. 'But when comparing the payment rates for maternity benefit, Irish working mothers are at a significant financial disadvantage,' she said. Ms Bambrick said maternity benefit at €289 a week for 26 weeks (€7,514) is equivalent to just over nine weeks' full pay for the average employee nationwide. It is worth just under eight weeks for an employee in Dublin, where average gross pay is higher (€49,500) than the national average (€42,100), according to Revenue data. "For a full-time worker on the minimum wage (€526), maternity benefit replaces little over half their weekly wage,' she said. Unions will be holding their feet to the fire to deliver on these important work-life balance measures Ms Bambrick welcomed Programme for Government commitments on pay-related family leave. 'Unions will be holding their feet to the fire to deliver on these important work-life balance measures for working families,' she said. A Department of Children, Disabliity and Equality spokesperson said family leave entitlements have increased significantly over the past years. She said a 'Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families' commits that by 2028, parents in Ireland will be supported to look after their babies at home for the whole of their first year through a combination of paid family leave schemes. She said the combined durations of maternity, paternity and parent's leave and benefit now equate to 46 weeks' paid leave for a two-parent family.
Irish Times
03-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Shop stewards being targeted in companies opposed to union recognition, Ictu conference hears
The targeting of workers who serve as shop stewards in companies that do not want to recognise trade unions remains common, according to research presented at an Irish Congress of Trade Unions' (Ictu) conference in Belfast. In many cases, the survey overseen by Prof Niall Cullinane of Queen's University Belfast found, the mental health of those involved suffers. Almost half of respondents suggested the stress involved impacts sleep, causes a sense of burnout and makes it difficult to relax outside of work. Prof Cullinane said there were commonly accusations of hypocrisy on the part of employers who often argued workers had no need for representation by trade unions when they often employed consultants, lawyers or trade organisations to advise them and act on their behalf. 'There is no other area of business where you would have any form of contract formulated under duress but it somehow seems to be okay for employments relations to be conducted under duress,' he said. READ MORE Ictu campaigns officer Paul Gavan said 89 TDs elected in November's general election, including Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke, had signed a pledge during the campaign committing to support legislation that would provide for a right to collective bargaining and representation. He said it was time for those politicians to act on that promise. 'We have the numbers in the Dáil, we just need to hold those politicians to account,' he said as Ictu announced a petition to call for action on the issue. Meanwhile, Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha has been elected as the new president of Ictu. She succeeds Justin McCamphill of British and Irish teachers' union, the NASUWT. Ms Ní Sheaghdha, who has been Ictu's vice-president for the last three years, formally took up the role on Thursday, the final day of the organisation's biennial conference in Belfast. 'At a time of grave global uncertainty, Irish workers will need their trade unions now more than ever,' she said. 'As a trade union movement, we need to be clear that we will not accept the erosion and dilution of workers' rights. This includes the denial of a living wage, paid sick leave and flexible working arrangements, particularly as we face the looming threat of tariffs and other economic shocks.' Kevin Callinan of Fórsa, Siptu's Joe Cunningham and Kieran Chrisie of the ASTI were also elected to positions on Ictu's officer board or executive. The conference, attended by about 600 trade unionists from across the island, heard that Irish workers need to take action to support Palestinians because the Government and EU have failed on the issue. The conference backed a wide-ranging motion that included a call on the British and Irish governments to impose sanctions on Israel and act to stop the transfer of weapons to the country. It also called on Ictu to promote more workplace support for Palestine and its people, with speakers highlighting the impact of the Dunnes strikers' action in support of democracy in South Africa nearly 40 years ago. Sue Pentel, a member of Unison and Jews for Palestine, Ireland, said Israel had sought to hide behind accusations of anti-Semitism when faced with criticism of its actions in Palestine. However, she said it was not acting for Jews and that criticising the genocide it was carrying out was not anti-Semitic. There was repeated criticism of the British government's decision to criminalise the group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation after it daubed RAF planes with paint. The Irish Government was criticised for allowing arms to move through the country's airspace and the role of the Central Bank in facilitating the sale of Israeli bonds.
Irish Times
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Men must call out misogyny and gender violence, union conference hears
Every man must take responsibility for calling out incidents of misogyny, abuse and gender violence, US activist and author Dr Jackson Katz told an Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) conference. Progress on such issues was being rolled back at institutional level in the United States, and by online influencers, but there was pushback, he said. '[Men] need to be leaders,' Mr Katz told Ictu's biennial delegate conference in Belfast on Wednesday. 'Violence against women and other abuse is an issue for every man. And if you don't speak up when you see your friend, your team-mate, your classmate, your fellow union member, your fellow executive in the C suite talking about women in a way that's derogatory, or treating women in a way that's not respectful ... then, in a sense, isn't your silence a form of consent and complicity in his behaviour?' READ MORE Mr Katz – whose latest book on the issue is called Every Man – has worked with a range of organisations including the US military. However, he said improvements in culture over time were now being attacked as 'wokeism'. 'But I think progressive organisations like unions and conservative institutions like the military are more similar than different in terms of peer culture,' he told delegates. 'There's all kinds of reasons why men don't speak up, but when they see other men do it and model it, it makes it a little bit easier. And I think men in the union movement have the potential to have an incredible impact.' Wednesday's conference backed a number of motions on equality, as well as against domestic and other violence against women and girls. In his address Ictu general secretary, Owen Reidy, suggested the issues were of an ever-increasing urgency. 'We have seen the growth in right-wing populism the world over,' he said. 'The far right is also in the ascendancy in many parts of Europe and is, incredibly in some cases, becoming the norm, mainstreamed. Public discourse has got nastier and an aggressive misogyny has become more mainstreamed.' He noted that Ireland had encountered a growth in domestic violence, including sexual violence and rape against women. Both he and Mr Katz suggested the trends were closely linked. Sally Rees of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers speaking at the Ictu conference. Photograph: Kevin Cooper/Photoline Earlier, the conference heard from Sally Rees of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers about the conflicting reactions of men after a past pupil was found to have 'upskirted' her – taking videos over a 14-month period. 'One in three women will be sexually assaulted or harassed in their lifetime,' she said. 'You have not just the power and the means, but also a responsibility to your female colleagues and the women in your lives to change society and ensure that women and girls not only feel safe but are safe everywhere.'
Irish Times
02-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Apprenticeship pay a big problem for hitting construction targets, Ictu congress told
Sub-minimum wage rates for apprentices in the first years of their training continues to deter recruits to trades vital to the delivery of housing and infrastructure critical to the future economic prosperity of the country, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) biennial conference in Belfast heard on Wednesday. The conference backed a motion from the Connect trade union calling for the application of the National Minimum Wage to all apprentices. The union's Stephen Murphy said the average age of first year apprentices in building trades had steadily increased over the years and many now had significant financial obligations. Many were struggling, he said, while many more prospective apprentices couldn't afford to pursue their chosen career because they faced the prospect of earning about €7 an hour, or in some case less, under the terms of current regulations. According to research previously carried out by the union and CSO figures, the average age for starting an apprenticeship in the construction industry is 21, 13 per cent of those doing the apprenticeships have at least one child, 46 per cent are renting and 5 per cent will have a mortgage. READ MORE New pay rates for apprentices due to come into effect at the end of this month, start at €7.66 per hour, and it is year three of an apprenticeship before pay exceeds the current National Minimum Wage of €13.50 per hour. 'This is a huge challenge for the country,' said Connect general secretary Paddy Kavanagh. 'There's 80,000 skilled workers required to meet the current demands in housing, 80,000 new workers skilled, craft workers to to meet requirements in housing and infrastructure projects. 'How are we going to get them? It's not a question of bringing them in from other jurisdictions, because the apprenticeship standards don't match, so we have to train them in Ireland. The only way to do that is to make it attractive for people to become apprentices.' Mr Kavanagh said many employers in the sector agree pay rates should start with the National Minimum Wage as a baseline but say legislation is required as they would put themselves at a competitive disadvantage if they were to apply them unilaterally. The conference also backed a motion from Connect that called for the €600 figure on which statutory redundancy is calculated to be brought up to €1,015 in order to align it with average weekly wages. The union said Micheál Martin had overseen the introduction of the process and setting of the €600 figure as minister for enterprise 21 years ago when the understanding had been it would be regularly updated but this had never happened. It is time to do that, said Connect's Brian Nolan. Mick Nerney of the Financial Services Union said those facing redundancy need 'fairness and protection at a time they are struggling' while Siptu's Neil McGowan said thousands of private sector workers are set to be displaced by AI and the stature redundancy regulations would contribute to the financial hardship they would endure as a result. 'It is,' he said, 'a pressing issue for the union movement'. The conference also backed a move to establish a working group at the operation of the Workplace Relations Commission code on the right to request remote working. The code, which came into effect last year, and is due to be reviewed in 2026, does not require employers to grant remote or hybrid working but regulates how requests have to be considered. It has been repeatedly criticised by unions and those who had requests rejected as a box ticking exercise for employers. 'It is clear the legislation doesn't favour workers,' said Carol Scheffer of the Communication Workers Union. 'We need to look for a better code of practice.'
Irish Times
16-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Government needs to act to address ‘sugar rush' of corporation taxes, says Ictu
The Government should use this year's budget to invest more in major infrastructure and research so as to create a broader economic base and lessen dependency on revenue from a handful of multinational companies, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) has said. Speaking ahead of the National Economic Dialogue, an annual event taking place at Dublin Castle on Monday, Ictu general secretary Owen Reidy said the Government needed to act in order to end the State's reliance on the 'sugar rush' currently provided by corporation tax . While the economy was clearly doing well on the face of it, Mr Reidy said: 'We know that headline figures don't tell the full story of the Irish economy. 'We have an over-reliance on a handful of firms for corporation tax, significant wage inequality and major infrastructure deficits across housing, healthcare and transport. READ MORE ' Budget 2026 must mark a turning point by giving certainty and security to workers across Ireland. That means good jobs that pay well, a decent standard of living, as well as stronger public services. But it should also mean a shift in our economic model.' Mr Reidy said Ictu would be publishing submissions in the coming weeks outlining how it feels the Government should address the issues involved and 'start serious planning for the longer term'. Figures published in January indicated the amount of money paid in corporation tax to the State increased by 18 per cent last year to €28 billion. This excluded the €11 billion windfall arising from the Apple tax case. In contrast, some €35 billion was generated in income tax last year with €21.8 billion coming via VAT receipts and €6.3 billion from excise duties. This means corporation taxes accounted for about a quarter of all Government revenue last year. While the corporation tax take is expected to increase further this year, there have been repeated warnings about State finances being overly reliant on it. Speaking ahead of Monday's conference, which will be attended by representative bodies from across the economy and addressed by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and senior Ministers, Mr Reidy said: 'We'll be urging Government to create genuine economic certainty by investing in infrastructure and research, strengthening workplace democracy, reducing inequality and ending the fiscal gimmickry of the past.' He said action was needed given the current economic uncertainty. Meanwhile, Ictu has been arguing in recent months for a long list of changes to employment regulation as part of an action plan the Government is required to publish in relation to the European Union Directive on Adequate Minimum wages, which the unions hope will pave the way for far wider collective bargaining.
