NIPSA Reports
NEWSPAPER OF NORTHERN IRELAND’S LEADING PUBLIC SERVICE TRADE UNION
OCTOBER 2012 Tel: 028 90661831 www.nipsa.org.uk
Lakewood strikers secure victory after 14-week action
NIPSA has praised the “determination
and courage” shown by striking night
supervisors at Lakewood Regional Secure Care Centre after they won their
battle to stop the South Eastern Health
& Social Care Trust imposing unacceptable changes to their work rota.
health cuts agenda.
Because of the indefinite industrial action,
the strikers secured agreement on a limited
number of addition shifts and a guarantee of
75 hours training and personal development
as well as proper arrangements for supervision factored into their working hours.
NIPSA and the Trust also agreed to set up
It follows 14 weeks of strike action
a joint working group to oversee the implethroughout which the night supervisors main- mentation of the return to work agreement
tained a twice-daily picket of their Bangor
that ended the action.
workplace.
According to the union, this hard-won vicThe strikers were unwavering in their optory shows other public servants and trade
position to the proposed new shift arrangeunions that public sector cuts can be sucments which would have required them to
cessfully resisted.
take an inordinate number of additional night
Although a deal was reached in August on
shifts and extra weekend work.
the precise wording for a return to work
NIPSA congratulated the strikers for stand- agreement that all but settled the dispute,
the Trust later sought to renege on that
ing up to an employer intent on pursuing a
agreement and called a halt to the negotiations. However, the night supervisors and
negotiators continued to address the Trust’s
concerns constructively and produced proposals that put the talks process back on
track, leading ultimately to an agreement
which ended the strike.
Negotiations resumed on September 10,
after the night supervisors produced a revised rota that addressed the Trust’s criticism
of the previous rota.
There was agreement on the new rota
bringing the dispute one step closer to a settlement. However, while agreement was
reached over the number of team meetings
held each year, there was some obstruction
about the precise agreement reached on August 16 covering the use and purpose of
training/development hours.
NIPSA official Philip Boomer told NIPSA
Reports: “The manner in which the striking
night supervisors conducted themselves
throughout this dispute and the courage they
displayed in maintaining a solid 14-week
strike was magnificent and deserving of the
highest praise.
“The strikers showed they would not be
deterred in their efforts to achieve a just and
equitable conclusion to the dispute by an intransigent and bullish management that unnecessarily prolonged the strike by its
obdurate approach to the negotiations.
“The strike itself showed how public sector
cuts can and should be defeated and sends
a message to other NIPSA members who
are facing cuts in jobs, terms and conditions
and services.”
YOUR NIPSA
MEMBERSHIP
PLUS
CARD 2013
Thousands march
against austerity
NIPSA members joined with thousands of
trade union members in the private and public sector to demonstrate against the ConDem and Stormont imposed austerity
measures.
The demonstration, on Saturday, Oct 20, organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions
was superbly supported by NIPSA members
who took the lead at the front of the march.
Manufacturing workers, NHS staff, teachers
and representatives of the Fire Service were
among those taking part.
The government has argued the cuts are necessary to tackle the deficit.
The rally began with a march from the Art Col-
NEWS INDEX
lege past City Hall to Custom House Square.
The event was planned to coincide with protests
in Glasgow and London.
The organisers said the protest was not just
about sending a message to the coalition government in Westminster, it was also about decisions taken at Stormont.
The unions want child poverty, job cuts, welfare reform and corporation tax to be tackled.
They said they hoped local ministers were listening.
The ICTU's Northern Ireland Committee represents more than 250,000 members in 36
trade unions across Northern Ireland.
In a statement ahead the march, the ICTU
INSIDE STORY ON PSNI AND
AGENCY WORKERS
Page
said the rally would "send a message to our
MLAs and our MPs from all political parties that
we the people are firmly opposed to the failed
policy of austerity which destroys lives and futures."
In October, the Stormont Assembly voted in
favour of the Welfare Reform Bill, supporting
the biggest shake up of social security benefits
in decades.
The changes will impact on thousands of people in Northern Ireland, affecting those in receipt
of payments such as disability living allowance,
housing benefit and employment support allowance.”
CON-DEMS FORGE AHEAD WITH
Story and pictures - see pages 4
DARD KEY ISSUES
2/3 PENSIONS BILL CHANGES Page 5 DEBATED
Page 7
NIPSA is once again
providing members
with a free NIPSA
Membership Plus
Card for 2013.
This time we are
moving to a cardonly online
registration scheme,
which vastly
increases members’
access to great
offers and discounts.
By registering
online, members can
avail of 1,000 offers
across Northern
Ireland as well as
more than 500 in the
Republic of Ireland.
To access these
offers you must
register online, full
details of how to do
so will be on the
informaton card in
the December issue
of NIPSA Reports.
The easiest way to
register will be
through the NIPSA
website
www.nipsa.org.uk
where members can
access the
Membership Plus
pages via the home
page.
As the December
issue of NIPSA
Reports goes direct
to members using
home addresses
(where available),
members should go
to the NIPSA website
and ensure they have
provided the union
with up-to-date
contact details.
It is still not too late
to register for this
year’s card and thus
benefit from all the
offers available
online.
UNION SUBMITS EVIDENCE ON
Page
WELFARE CUTS
8
Why we should oppose ‘jobs for
the boys’ culture within the PSNI
NEWS
Page 2 NIPSA Reports
THE ‘retiring and rehiring’ controversy has seen some very
predictable commentary from
political parties. However, for
NIPSA members who work in
the PSNI, the issue is not about
former RUC officers, it is about
future delivery of policing.
The significant change that policing was undertaking meant that despite much frustration both
members and their representatives
were keen to give management
space to allow the new arrangements to bed in.
There were a number of false
claims where a complete end to the
NIPSA represents more than
use of agency workers and associ1,200 PSNI support staff. Until
ates was predicted, often in re2008, these members of staff were sponse to political and internal
civil servants seconded into the
pressure yet it was also never dePSNI from DFP. Since that date
livered.
they have been directly employed
It was also never the case that
by the Policing Board.
NIPSA expected temporary
NICS pay, terms and conditions
arrangements to become permaare the norm within the Police
nent. It seems government austerService. When the RUC was disity measures then intervened, to
banded in 2001 and the Patten
solidify this arrangement.
severance arrangements were unThe Government, and many pubveiled, support staff could not
lic sector managers, see outsourcapply.
ing as one way of dealing with
Many NIPSA members have
reduced budgets.
therefore seen service in the RUC
There are also some who wish to
and PSNI – a fact missed by some undermine the public sector and repoliticians who want to focus on tit
duce pay, pensions, leave and
for tat reality avoidance.
other entitlements. The PSNI has
For some time now NIPSA mem- opted for this ‘solution’, arguing that
bers have complained of missed
outsourcing allows for more flexibilcareer opportunities because of for- ity.
mer police officers returning to supBut NIPSA members in the servport roles.
ice are not convinced, and fear that
Boycott Starbucks
the tax dodgers
THE revelation that the Starbucks coffee chain
has paid no UK taxes for three years is a national
scandal with profound implications for local
traders across Northern Ireland, says the ICTU
Assistant General Secretary, Peter Bunting.
Speaking to a meeting of trade union activists
ahead of the anti-austerity march and rally on
Saturday, October 20, Mr Bunting said: “The retail and private sector service sector has been
particularly badly hit during this recession. Hundreds of small businesses and thousands of
workers in shops, bars, hairdressers and cafes
have lost their jobs as over a quarter of retail
spaces in Belfast and across Northern Ireland lie
empty.
“We in the trade unions warned the government of the consequences of wage freezes and
mass redundancies in times of inflation, and
every day proves us right. The Austerity policies
of this Tory-led administration are creating havoc
in the private sector.
“But there is another reason why locallyowned small businesses are going under – they
are being forced out of the game by the unfair
competition from multinational corporations
such as Starbucks who use tax avoiding scams
which are perfectly legal but fundamentally immoral.
“Consumers should realise that every time
they buy something from a company which
skirts its civic duty and pays no taxes, they are
taking business from a good local employer who
pays the taxes which pays for the education and
health of their workers.
“Starbucks represent the deliberate detachment from all social decency which is too typical
of tax-avoiding corporations – exactly the antisocial behaviour encouraged by the Tories who
refuse to take on Starbucks, while laying the
blame and the boot into welfare claimants and
low-paid workers.
“Ethical consumerism begins at home. Support local cafes and bars, and send Starbucks
and other tax dodgers a clear massage – Unless
you contribute to society, this society has no
cash for your coffee.”
REMINDER...Make sure your contact details are
correct... membership update details on back page
NIPSA Reports
NIPSA Harkin House, 54 Wellington Park,
Belfast BT9 6DP, Tel: 028 90661831 Fax 028 90665847
or email: [email protected]
Editorial contact details: Bob Miller
email: [email protected]
Correspondence should be sent to the above address.
Unless otherwise stated, the views contained in
NIPSA Reports do not necessarily reflect the
policy of trade union NIPSA.
www.nipsa.org.uk
granted leave for a Judicial Review
hearing. This will take place on December 14.
Assistant Secretary Ryan McKinney told NIPSA Reports: “We have
made our position abundantly clear
in all our discussions with the Chief
Constable and have even pointed
NIPSA
him
in the direction of Derbyshire
opposed to
Constabulary where the Chief Con‘revolving
stable there has ruled out privatisadoor’ policy
tion.
on jobs for
“We are meeting with Policing
former PSNI
Board members to try and convince
officers
them to scrutinise the justification
and rationale that the PSNI are
outsourcing will allow more ex-potitlements.
using for outsourcing.
lice officers to return into roles that
On October 1, NIPSA lodged
“It had also been necessary to
they are capable of carrying out
legal papers in the High Court
publicly highlight how outsourcing
and thus undermine their hard-won seeking leave for a Judicial Review
facilitates the rehiring of mainly
terms and conditions.
of the Chief Constable’s decision to
male
ex-officers to the detriment of
There is also real concern that al- award a £180m contract to Recurrent
support staff, most of whom
lowing private security companies
source NI.
are women.
to deliver essential policing funcThe outsourcing will see up to
“We are convinced too that there
tions will fatally undermine the pub- 1,000 people working within the
lic service ethos of the
service alongside NIPSA members. needs to be a strategy for bringing
organisation.
Indeed, NIPSA members will be ex- young workers into the service on
permanent contracts with NICS
There is a recent worrying
pected to train the staff Resource
terms and conditions.”
glimpse of what could lie in store
NI provides!
He added: “Every effort is being
when the GMB union had to take
However, NIPSA’s legal team
made by NIPSA representatives to
legal action against Resource NI
was successful, on October 5, in
stop the PSNI sell-off of policing
just to ensure they paid police seconvincing Justice Treacy that an
curity guards their legal holiday en- arguable case existed and he
jobs.”
OPINION
Want to protect your job, your pay
and your pension? Here’s how…
LET’S have a look at the range of
threats that NIPSA members across the
public sector in Northern Ireland are
facing. Leave aside for the moment the
job losses, the redundancies, the pay
restrictions, dilution of public service
pension scheme provision and the additional contributions members are
being forced to pay for inferior pension
schemes. We will come back to these
issues.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive, despite the almost universal recognition of the excellent work to improve
housing conditions in Northern Ireland, is
under fire and there is an agenda to dismantle the Executive and transfer its assets to the voluntary sector.
It doesn’t matter if it’s not broke or doesn’t need major fixing. The vultures will
soon be circling if the DSD Minister and
the enemies of public authority housing
have their way.
In the Local Government sector,
Magherafelt Council has privatised the
leisure service operation at the new
Greenvale Leisure Centre. Two years ago
NIPSA predicted that this new leisure facility was being set up for transfer to the private sector. Unfortunately we were not
able to prevent this. Time will tell if the
public are satisfied by the new private
service delivered by PULSE.
The staff who have been recruited including some of the redundant council
staff now “enjoy” lower rates of pay – a reduction of more than £2 in the hourly rate
of pay.
The public service stalwarts on Magherafelt Council will argue that the old leisure
operation was making a loss and that the
private sector option is better all round.
No-one from any of the political parties on
the Council made the argument that public
services including leisure services cost
money. That includes councillors from
those parties that claim some sort of socialist and anti-privatisation credentials.
The contract for operating the new
North Down leisure facility in Bangor has
just been awarded to the private sector
behemoth, SERCO. So the North Down
Council, senior officers and politicos alike
didn’t think they could run such a new
state-of-the-art facility which houses the
only Olympic standard swimming pool in
Northern Ireland.
The only opposition to the privatisation
of this facility came from the Green Party
and one unionist councillor. There wasn’t
even, like Greenvale in Magherafelt, an attempt at an in-house bid. They went
straight for the privatised option.
The danger is this attitude is contagious.
Belfast City Council is examining the privatisation of the Waterfront Hall. It is looking at transferring land and property to
local community organisations, under the
guise of an empowerment agenda and we
can be certain if this happens then the
burden on local community groups to keep
the facilities running will be too great to
bear as the council pleads unaffordability
when subsidies are cut.
Transforming Your Care, the major initiative in the Health and Social Care sector, will involve the wholesale hand-over of
domiciliary care – that is the home help
service – to private operators. This is the
same for residential older people’s homes
and there already is a plan for a private
mental health facility in Northern Ireland.
NIPSA has responded to the proposed
legislation which would facilitate this.
In the Northern Ireland Civil Service, the
staff catering subsidy was withdrawn and
a new cleaning specification and contract
were drawn up. The result is that SERCO
have been awarded the cleaning and
catering contract and already compulsory
redundancies have started.
In a further sign of the rush to privatise,
DSD has decided to privatise its “soft”
services (messengerial and related functions). This will mean the transfer of
around 200 posts to the private sector.
In all of these developments private
companies will be given access to areas
of activity from which they were previously
excluded – profit can now be made and
shareholders, both private and corporate,
can be assured that increased profits will
materialise from the transfer of public
monies to these private companies.
But there won’t be any additional jobs –
there will be fewer and there will be redundancies. There won’t be jobs with better
terms and conditions of employment, but
you can be certain, as in Magherafelt,
wages will be lower, there will be lessened
or no pension provision and worsened
terms and conditions of employment.
This fetish with the private sector must
be challenged. No privatisation proposals
must go unchallenged. Privatisation
means less public space, less public property, less public provision and less public
accountability. It represents a process of
claiming for private and individual interests
any publicly-owned asset and turning it
into a new centre for profit making.
But for the moment let us return to the
cuts, the wage restrictions and the dilution
of pensions. These are intricately tied up
with the privatisation agenda.
You remember Danny Alexander’s slip
that public sector pension costs must be
drastically reduced if the private sector is
going to increase its interests in bidding
for the running of public services.
Lower wages and diminished pension
provision along with poor terms and conditions of employment and no trade union
presence make for a very attractive environment for enhancing profits.
The simple message for NIPSA members and public servants generally is that
if you want to protect your job, your pay
and your pension, then you have to fight
not only against pay restraint and against
the attack on pensions but you also have
to actively oppose privatisation in all its
forms.
Of course virtually every serious threat
to the interests of NIPSA members and
their families arises from the neoliberal
dogma that the accumulation of capital
and the maximisation of profit for the few
is more important than community solidarity, equality, fairness and economic justice.
This ugly hydra has an insatiable
hunger and is intent on devouring everything in public or common ownership.
Everything must be shaped to satisfy its
greed.
Welfare benefits for the unemployed,
the disabled and the sick are cut to allow
for lower taxes on millionaires and lower
corporation taxes for the big corporations.
Reduced employment protection rights
and weaker or non- existent trade unions
are needed to remove as many obstacles
as possible in this quest for maximum
profit.
That is why we need to persuade every
public service worker to join a trade union;
why we need to increase our membership
density and improve our overall organisation, both locally and centrally.
A strong union, a strong NIPSA, is essential if the interests of members, their
families and their communities are to be
protected.
Brian Campfield,
General Secretary
Rehiring in the police: the full story
www.nipsa.org.uk
By Barry McCaffrey
thedetail
Length of time between retirement and re-employment /NIAO
WHEN the RUC was disbanded in 2001 and replaced with the PSNI more than 5,000 officers
collectively benefitted from a £500m severance package.
However a new report by Northern Ireland Auditor General
Kieran Donnelly has shown that nearly one in five of those
who took the Patten severance package were later re-employed by the PSNI as civilian workers.
The report shows that:
n In total the PSNI has spent £106m hiring `temporary’ staff
via one employment agency since 2004.
n During the last decade some 2,740 agency staff have accounted for 1.5m working days inside the PSNI.
n The PSNI used only Grafton Recruitment from 2004,
failed to properly oversee costs, and then saw the annual
spend with the agency rise from £2m to £18m over four
years;
n That 63 former police officers employed by the Historic
Enquiries Team are contracted via limited companies, a
well-known tax-avoidance route.
The majority of former PSNI officers were re-employed a
year after leaving the force.
1,071 former PSNI officers who were re-employed as
agency workers accounted for more than half of the overall
figure, being employed for an average 779 days – almost
twice as long as `civilian’ agency workers.
Analysis of days worked between Patten and non-Patten retirees
However 54 were re-employed within one week; 19 were
taken back the day after they left the PSNI and two were reemployed even before they had left.
But the length of period which former officers were employed by the PSNI as agency staff has also raised concerns.
Auditors found that 166 former officers were employed for
more than three years; 37 for more than five years and four
longer than seven years.
While some of this work involved investigative police work,
the majority was administrative, driving and transcribing.
However while the auditor general found that the PSNI
was justified in its use of agency staff, he was critical of the
lack of effective procedures employed by senior police management to ensure proper accountability and best value for
money for the taxpayer.
NEWS
Grafton Recruitment Agency.
The PSNI claimed this was done to reduce costs but instead it led to Grafton’s contract rising from £2m to £18m by
2008.
However auditors found that no costings for the contract
were ever produced.
In fact auditors found more than £44m in fees and salaries
was paid to Grafton for temporary staff in just four years, before any competition process for the contract was ever put in
place.
Auditors found that the change to the Grafton contract had
been signed-off by a PSNI Recruitment Manager.
The manager was only authorised to approve contracts
valued at up to £100,000, but auditors found that the increase in the first year alone of the Grafton contract had
been £4.6m.
In 2007 Grafton tendered for another four year contract to
PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggot and colleagues
supply more agency staff to the PSNI.
While Grafton’s business case for the potential contract intensive… PSNI considers it disproportionate to conduct a
cluded £5.4m in fees for agency staff, a further £57m relathistorical
review of all posts and gradings to calculate what
ing to salaries (representing more than 90% of the overall
savings
could
have been made.”
costs) was never included in the budget.
However auditors found that prior to 2011 the PSNI had
no corporate policy or procedure governing the employment
of agency staff with decisions being taken at local discretion.
“As a result, the number of agency posts increased from
just over 100 in 2002 to more than 800 by 2007 when, in our
opinion, their use appeared out of control.”
In 2007 agency staff employed in PSNI command outnumbered permanent staff by 2 to 1.
Auditors were unable to review financial data prior to
2005, as the PSNI has a policy of routinely destroying paAmount paid to Grafton in respect of temporary and permanent
pers after seven years.
staff supplied to PSNI/NIAO
Changes in employment regulations meant that some
temporary staff who had been recruited by Grafton before
the legislation was introduced became known as “associates”.
PSNI STAFF AVOIDED TAX
The cost to the PSNI of employing “associates” was 10%
over
and above the normal rate of employment of other temIn March auditors discovered that the PSNI was paying
porary
staff.
64 agency workers through the use of limited compaHowever
the NIAO expressed concern that to date the
nies, a well-known legal tax avoidance route.
PSNI
has
failed
to carry out any equality impact assessment
Sixty-three of the 64 temporary staff being paid by the
of
its
continued
use
of `associates’.
PSNI through limited companies are employed by the HisThe
Police
Ombudsman
has also expressed concern that
torical Enquiries Team (HET).
he
cannot
investigate
complaints
against civilian staff who
The one remaining individual was employed by the PSNI’s
work
with
police
officers
in
the
course
of their policing funcCrime Operations Department.
tions.
While the practice is not illegal, Auditor General Kieran
Donnelly said he was “unaware of any other public sector
body in Northern Ireland currently engaging in this practice.”
The PSNI defended the practice claiming there was “no
additional charge to the public purse on the use of limited
companies… this is about taxation.”
However in May 2012 Chief Secretary to the Treasury,
Danny Alexander, warned there was “absolutely no place for
tax avoidance in government.”
The audit report showed that the PSNI blamed the Department of Finance, Northern Ireland Audit Office and Her
Majesties Revenue, Customs & Excise (HMRC), who it
claimed had provided “no central guidance” to the force on
the use of limited companies.
However auditors reminded the PSNI that the widely circulated policy document: “Managing Public Money Northern
Ireland” clearly states:
“Public sector organisations should avoid using tax advisors or tax avoidance schemes as any apparent savings can
only be made at the expense of other taxpayers or other
parts of the public sector”.
Auditor General Kieran Donnelly concluded: “While it is
clear that PSNI is not engaged in tax avoidance, it did unwittingly become associated with such schemes when it undertook to provide staff for HET through the Grafton contract.”
Both the Policing Board and NIAO asked the PSNI for information on the former occupations of agency staff.
However the PSNI claimed such information “was not held
in a central PSNI database, and to obtain such information,
a complex and time consuming comparison would have to
be undertaken between temporary worker lists and the PSNI
pension role and HR (human resources) data.”
PSNI USE OF AGENCY STAFF
`OUT OF CONTROL’
Grafton recruitment of permanent and temporary staff to
PSNI/NIAO
AGENCY NOT PROPERLY COSTED
In the first three years after its formation the PSNI used
three employment agencies to recruit temporary staff.
However this was abandoned in 2004 when it decided,
with approval of the Northern Ireland Office, to only use
Page 3 NIPSA Reports
Auditors found that in many cases, agency staff had not
been hired to fill any specific vacant post within the
PSNI.
Instead, temporary posts appeared to have been created
as opportunities to provide skills that local police commanders felt were necessary.
Auditors found that by March 2007 the use of agency staff
“appeared to be out of control” with almost 700 employed by
the PSNI.
Many posts were not subject to adequate evaluation.
A review of one PSNI department identified how more
than half of agency staff were being paid at a higher grade
than the post warranted.
Despite this the PSNI declined to carry out an overall review of overpayments to agency staff.
The PSNI told auditors: “there was no justification for a
widespread review which would have been very labour in-
Positions held by temporary workers within PSNI/NIAO
REDUCTION IN AGENCY
STAFF NOW TAKING PLACE
Mr Donnelly said there was clear evidence that the PSNI
had reduced its reliance on agency staff over the last
five years, with numbers decreasing from around 800 in
2007 to 400 by March 2012.
The majority of that reduction took place during a six
month period last year when, following high profile political
criticism of the number of agency staff employed by the
PSNI, the number was reduced from 647 in April to 372 in
August.
However Mr Donnelly warned that continuing financial
pressures meant that the PSNI would continue to rely on the
use of agency staff.
Despite the significant reduction in agency numbers, former police officers still make up three quarters of the 400
temporary staff currently employed by the PSNI.
Former police officers make up two thirds of temporary
staff employed in the command unit; 92% in Crime Operations as well as 56% of temporary staffed employed in HET.
“Given the unprecedented loss of skilled and experienced
officers, there remains a business need for temporary staff,”
Mr Donnelly said.
“That some of them should bring policing skills with them
also appears necessary.
“Temporary staff offer value for money but their use needs
to be properly managed and controlled.
“Arrangements to achieve this have improved but the way
that the PSNI has gone about procuring, appointing and
managing temporary staff has not always met the high standards of governance and accountability expected of public
bodies in Northern Ireland.”
Keep up to date and visit: http://www.nipsa.org.uk/Home
Why we are on the streets
Page 4 NIPSA Reports
ONE recent headline grabbing story was that of US presidential candidate, Mitt Romney who dismissed 47% of
the electorate (due to their dependence on state support
of one kind or another) as not worth bothering about.
Much closer to home, such extremism is not theoretical
but central to Government ideology as shown by the UK
Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announcing
that a further £10bn would be taken from the welfare budget.
This is in addition to a proposed programme of cuts that the
independent Institute of Fiscal Studies has already described as “unprecedented”.
What this represents is a declaration of war on the less
well off in society. Behind the propaganda, this extremism is
designed to drive a wedge between those in work and those
on social security benefits. It ignores the reality of millions of
low and middle income families, including the ‘working poor’
who only survive because of child tax credits and housing
benefit and who will now lose out as a result of these “reforms”. This has to be recognised not as reform but as an attack on both working and non-working families. At the heart
of the Tory Party’s welfare agenda is the belief that anyone
who is unemployed or on any type of benefit is entirely responsible for their own predicament and therefore should
only be supported, if at all, in a hostile, short term and mini-
NEWS
malist manner. Is this the message we want to convey to
our fellow citizens – to family members, our neighbours,
those workers now facing redundancy in FG Wilson?
The Coalition Government’s formal “strategy” as predicted
over two years ago by the trade unions and many eminent
economists, has been a disaster and has now resulted in a
double dip recession. But the Government’s real mission is
wider. It is to transform the UK economy and society into
one which serves, to an even greater extent, business and
private shareholder interests – particularly those of the City
of London and its “treasure islands” of tax avoidance. The
“tax cut for millionaires” budget of 2012 could not have made
this clearer.
A recent TUC report exposed how, for the vast majority of
employees, take home wages, as a proportion of the economy, shrank over the last 30 years. Furthermore, at a time
when the pension provisions of society as a whole are under
attack (eroded by private companies withdrawing from/diluting pension provision and government diminishing the value
of public sector pensions), the pension pots of the top FTSE
100 Directors have increased by astronomical amounts. Is it
any wonder, therefore, that inequality and the damage it
brings has been and is increasing?
Despite this “wages grab” and pension theft, media head-
www.nipsa.org.uk
lines deliberately blame the victim, using offensive terms
such as “work shy” and “spongers”. It has been some time,
however, since the real villains of the piece - the captains of
finance who increased their own personal wealth as they
brought the world economy to the edge- were exposed in the
media. Incredibly, their partners in economic crime, neo-liberal free market zealots, are still wheeled out as experts to
advise us how to escape the recession that their recommendations created and then deepened.
The only sensible response from the great mass of the
population is to say “enough is enough”. This means,
whether you live in Greece, Spain, the USA, the Republic of
Ireland or the UK, it is time to stand up and say “no” to the
austerity agenda.
On Saturday, 20th October, in London, Glasgow and
Belfast, trade unions and community activists once again
take to the streets to highlight the disastrous policies of the
UK Coalition Government and to call for a reversal of failed
neo-liberal economics. The economic and social measures
we demand can be funded by using the £120 billion in taxes
currently avoided, evaded or uncollected in the UK. This will
create decent jobs, get people back to work and deliver a
fairer society. Help us achieve these goals by joining the ongoing protests agianst austerity.
www.nipsa.org.uk
NEWS
Page 5 NIPSA Reports
Coalition forges ahead with pensions bill changes
THE legislative process is well under way to make
changes to public service pensions.
While individual schemes – such as the Civil Service,
Health Service and Local Government schemes – will require scheme-specific regulations, the Public Sector Pensions Bill will ensure that the Government’s core attack on
public sector pension schemes is legislated for. This includes:
n Linking retirement age to the State pension age,
n Treasury controls over the future costs of schemes,
n Arrangements for scheme governance, and
Union raises
issues over DARD
HQ relocation
NIPSA has asked the DARD to explain why an
Equality Impact Assessment was not carried out before the decision was taken to relocate the departmental HQ to Ballykelly.
Union representatives have also outlined to management the deep sense of anger and upset felt over
the move by NIPSA members based currently at
Dundonald House and the Rivers Agency HQ in Hydebank.
Members of management were told at a meeting of
the DARD Ad Hoc Whitley HQ Relocation Community in September that members were also “deeply
disappointed” at the manner in which the location
was chosen as well as at how the announcement
was made.
According to NIPSA, members were equally concerned about their “employment position, career development and work status” within the department.
During the September meeting, union officials
raised a number of issues and questions, including:
n The fact that one location was announced without
any screening process and EQIA being undertaken,
n What rationale was there for choosing Ballykelly?
n Was there a need to relocate all existing business
areas?
n The need to undertake a survey of all DARD staff,
including those working for the Forestry and Rivers
Agency, was underlined,
n The establishing of a link with Forest Service’s relocation to Co Fermanagh,
n Involvement ultimately of other NICS departments
and the need for a similar staff survey,
n That consideration should be given to DARD staff
over DARD vacancies elsewhere and other NICS vacancies,
n The need to address as soon as possible the impact on specialised grades within DARD,
n That business areas did not block or prevent the
release of staff, and
n The impact of other NICS staff not willing to transfer into DARD.
Management Side confirmed at the meeting that
non-mobile staff, including part-time staff, would not
be required to re-locate to Ballykelly. In respect of
other members of staff, NIPSA reminded the department of the Minister’s assurance that no staff would
be forced to move.
Management replied that everything possible
would be done to accommodate existing staff.
A memo was later issued to all staff setting out the
rationale behind choosing Ballykelly as a location
for the departmental HQ.
Another meeting of the ad-hoc committee was
held on October 1.
At the meeting, NIPSA insisted on an explanation
for the department’s failure to undertake an equality
screening and an Equality Impact Assessment, before choosing Ballykelly.
The department acknowledged this was a serious
concern and the union is currently waiting on an explanation.
A number of other issues were discussed relating
to a survey of staff, the impact of the relocation on
technical and specialised grades and the Elective
Transfer process.
Reports of requests being blocked were also discussed as was the need to involve all NICS departments through corporate HR.
On the business case, NIPSA officials were advised that a draft should be available for the union’s
“consideration and comment” by the end of March
2013.
Following the meeting, NIPSA Official Noel Griffin
said: “This is a major initiative that will ultimately involve all NICS departments. NIPSA remains totally
committed to protecting the interests of members
directly affected by the relocation.
“We have agreed a schedule of meetings to be
held each month over the next 12 months to ensure
ongoing and timely consultation on all aspects.
“Meetings of members will also be held frequently
and I encourage all relevant members to attend the
next meeting scheduled for November 14 at
12.15pm in The Pavillion, Stormont.”
n Treasury directions on future scheme cost assessments
which could see either further reductions in scheme benefits or yet more contribution increases for scheme members.
NIPSA is working along with PCS and a number of other
unions to highlight the damage the Bill will do to scheme
membership and sustainability along with the serious impact it will have on members’ rights.
While this is a Westminster Bill it requires the Northern
Ireland Assembly to give its approval to have the terms of
the Bill applied to public sector pensions that come under
the control of Northern Ireland departments.
Not only does the Bill give considerable powers to the
Treasury, it also makes provision for changes to the age of
retirement.
This, if passed in the Assembly through the legislative
consent process, will hand powers to the Treasury which
should rest with the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly.
NIPSA along other unions such as PCS are determined
to raise these issues both Westminster and at the Assembly.
NIPSA response to GP
out-of-hours proposals
NIPSA recently joined other stakeholders in responding to the consultation document covering the new GP
out-of-hours strategic framework issued by the Health
and Social Care Board.
time.
n The union said the proposed package should include detailed consideration of workforce planning, staffing, funding
for new technology and the training and retention of key staff.
n
NIPSA raised serious concerns that a combination of one
In considering the document, NIPSA made a number of obcall centre with one telephone number for GP out-of-hours
servations:
could have significant staffing implications for admin recepn NIPSA fully supported and acknowledged that the HSCB
tionists. The union also expressed unease about a system
remains focused on providing safe and effective GP out-ofthat will have fewer GPs and rely more on a triage system.
hours services while working with staff, the public and staken In terms of implications for staff, the union called for more
holders to develop and shape the future provision of the
consideration to be given to the question of sharing call hanservice. To do this, it said the HSCB must acknowledge the
dling workloads among call centres at busier times which
direction of travel now proposed under Transforming Your
may involve increasing the number of call handling staff at
Care (TYC) and the setting up of Integrated Care Partnertimes of high demand and reducing to one call centre at times
ships (ICPs) in primary and community care.
of low demand such as
n NIPSA said it fully supported
overnight.
the objective outlined in the
n NIPSA expressed its desire
2005 Strategic Framework
to see the service developed in
which was to provide a comprea way that best meets patient
hensive primary care out-ofneeds and pointed out that it
hours emergency service
had a particular interest in conproviding access, when approsidering the potential to
priate, not only to general medbroaden service provision,
ical, general dental and
whereby the staff and the infracommunity pharmacy services,
structure could be used, for exbut also to community nursing,
ample, to provide call handling
mental health and other social
for other services such as socare services. It was the
cial services contacts during
union’s view that this approach
out-of-hours periods.
remained relevant and should
n NIPSA said this was timely
not be diluted because of reas the union was currently nestructuring or current financial
gotiating a new regional out-ofpressures. It added that the
hours social work service linked
service aim should be to conto the DHSSPS Social Work
tinue with a comprehensive,
Strategy. However, the union pointed out that that strategy
safe and efficient out-of-hours service to the population of
was also predicated on the need to ensure there was greater
Northern Ireland.
co-operation in terms of multi-agency working.
n The union noted that GP out-of-hours provider organisaIn its conclusion, NIPSA said it could not support the model
tions in Northern Ireland dealt with more than 500,000 conas
currently proposed for a number of reasons. These intacts a year with indications that this will continue to increase.
cluded:
It also noted that the demand for GP out-of-hours services is
n The regionalisation of the service was at variance with the
higher in Northern Ireland than in many areas of the UK.
proposals under TYC to develop a local, responsive primary
n England and Wales have set up call handling and call
care service and needs.
triage services such as NHS Direct and NHS 24 in Scotland.
n The union pointed out that some of the developments and
This is in addition to other services such as walk-in centres.
The union noted that these are additional to the core GP out- proposals within TYC had somewhat overtaken the thinking
of-hours services. Northern Ireland does not have such facili- behind the document.
n NIPSA expressed concern that some of the data used in
ties yet a regional approach is being proposed. NIPSA
the drawing up of the proposals related to 2005 and pointed
pointed out that this represented a clear disparity and could
out that Trusts had bettered and developed their systems and
not be viewed as resource neutral.
protocols since then.
n NIPSA noted that GPs were not contractually required to
n The union also expressed unease at the proposed regional
work out-of-hours, and that many support staff worked on a
part-time sessional basis (in addition to an often full-time day approach as it involved fewer GPs and more reliance on
time commitment). NIPSA agreed that recruitment, retention, nursing triage. NIPSA pointed out that the provision of one
call centre with one number for the GP out-of-hours service
training and development of staff would present on-going
could
well have a detrimental impact on admin receptionists.
issue for a workforce that mainly works out-of-hours and part-
Union responds to NISCC reform document
NIPSA was recently invited to respond to a consultation document put out by the Northern Ireland Social
Care Council over proposed reforms to its model of
regulation – moving from the current misconduct approach to a “fitness to practice” model.
cherry-pick evidence and exclude relevant evidence that
favours registrants; and
n Investigating officers need to be trained to a competent level and should also enjoy the confidence of all relevant stakeholders/users.
NIPSA pointed out that it had a genuine concern that
NIPSA pointed out in its response that it made no subsome
of proposed changes were more about increasing
stantive difference to the union what process the NISCC
NISCC powers, while expediting the conduct process at
adopted and underlined that the key question was how
the expense of natural justice.
investigations were to be carried out in the future.
A spokesperson said: “We cannot embrace the proProblems highlighted by NIPSA included:
posed new model unless there is significant and subn NISCC’s insistence on acting as prosecutor and its
stantial improvement to the investigatory process to
continued wish to act as prosecutor. The NISCC is perceived to have a prosecution mentality not unlike that of make it fair, objective and transparent and which enjoys
the CPS or PPS which, according to the union, inherently the confidence of registrants, our representatives and
prejudices the registrant’s right to the presumption of in- service users.”
NIPSA was prepared to support the introduction of a
nocence;
n Investigations are carried out in an unfair manner, par- ‘fitness to practice’ model of regulation provided NISCC
adopted the criminal standard of proof that applied
ticularly by the refusal to interview registrants and any
supporting witnesses during an investigation;
within GMC, NMC and HPC rather than the civil standard
n Decisions at each stage are based on reports that
it currently applies.
Youth Committee
members attend
Trademark TUL course
Page 6 NIPSA Reports
NIPSA’s Organising Unit, in partnership with TradeMark Belfast, has run
its second Trade Union Learning
training course – this time for members of the union’s Youth Committee.
The course was introduced to give
NIPSA representatives a grounding in
the history and origins of trade unions
as well as evaluating the current global
economic meltdown and how it impacts
on NIPSA locally.
The course content also looks at
NIPSA, the Northern Ireland Assembly
and recent union publications.
Youth Committee members who at-
NEWS
www.nipsa.org.uk
tended the course were uniformly positive about it.
One told NIPSA Reports: “The course
gives a better understanding of the role
of workers in the labour market and our
strengths as unionised members.”
Another said: “Probably the best
most interesting and most engaging
training course I have ever done on any
topic.”
A third added: “Brilliant, simply brilliant!”
The last pilot course – the third this
year – will be completed shortly.
A review will then consider whether
further courses will be run next year.
CALL A HALT TO UK
AUSTERITY SAY IMF
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month admitted that it has, since the beginning of the crisis,
grossly underestimated the damage that austerity
policies have been doing to the economy.
The admission was made in the latest edition of the World
Economic Outlook released at their bi-annual meeting in
Tokyo.
This admission fatally undermines the economic case for
the UK coalition government's insistence on austerity as the
only path to growth.
It was contained in a research note investigating the accuracy of the short-term fiscal multipliers used in economic
forecasts for advanced economies.
Multipliers can have many different meanings but in this
instance they describe the effect of fiscal policy on output
growth.
More intuitively, they measure the impact that changes in
government expenditure and taxes will have on the economy as a whole.
For example, if the government decided to reduce expenditure by cutting the pay of teachers, teachers will then
spend less of their income in the economy each month and
this will have knock-on effects through retailers and producers eventually resulting in decrease in the total output of the
economy, otherwise known as GDP.
Fiscal multipliers are a very important calculation as they
predict by how much the cut in teachers' pay will lower GDP.
It is for this reason that widespread astonishment greeted
the announcement by the IMF last week that it have gotten
its sums quite badly wrong.
Congratulations
DARD reps who recently received
their Union Learning certificates.
It's time for the coalition government to concede that its
harsh fiscal policies aren’t working, says Paul MacFlynn
of the Belfast-based Nevin Economic Research Institute
The IMF has looked at the gap between actual growth
rates of the economy for 2010/2011 and what it had forecasted for the same period in April 2010.
It then looked to see to what degree this gap is associated
with fiscal consolidation (austerity) in each economy.
It found a very significant relationship - that large gaps between actual and expected growth are associated with large
amounts of fiscal consolidation (austerity).
This leads to a stark admission: "The main finding, based
on data for 28 economies, is that the multipliers used in
generating growth forecasts have been systematically too
low since the start of the Great Recession."
The IMF is now admitting that it has substantially underestimated the damage done to the economy by cuts in expenditure and increases in taxation.
Before, the IMF calculated that for every one per cent of
fiscal adjustment, there would be a loss to total output
(GDP) of about 0.5 per cent.
This number made very comfortable reading for people
like Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.
He could argue that for every pound of government expenditure he cut, he only shaved 50p off growth.
The IMF's recent findings now indicate that the real fiscal
multipliers under present conditions are actually between
0.9 and 1.7 per cent.
This is a huge difference. It means that £1 of fiscal consolidation (austerity) leads to an average output (GDP) loss of
£1.30.
These startling findings demolish any shred of evidence
used to justify UK austerity policies.
When the British coalition government came to office and
put forward a plan to use aggressive cuts in public expenditure and tax increases to eliminate the deficit, they said that
austerity would unleash potential and deliver growth. They
were wrong. Austerity isn't working.
The Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of
Trade Unions (NIC-ICTU) has argued against austerity imposed by the Westminster government since 2010, and this
new evidence adds considerable weight to that position.
NIC-ICTU organised a march and rally against austerity in
Belfast on Saturday October 20 and we were encouraged
by all who oppose this destructive policy that were in attendance.
The IMF has admitted it was wrong and that austerity isn't
working.
It's about time this government did the same.
Postive outcome to
AFBI review meeting
TRADE Union Side representatives raised a
number of concerns over recommendations
contained in the AFBI organisational review at
a recent meeting of the Joint Negotiating and
Consultative Committee held in Newforge Lane.
These concerns related to possible threats to
members’ existing terms and conditions as well as
the recommendation concerning the move to
“GovCo status”.
If approved, such a move would lead to operational control of AFBI being handed over to a private sector partner.
However, the CEO confirmed during the talks
that GovCo status was not going to be pursued by
Senior Management or the AFBI Board.
Also when pressed about existing terms and
conditions, TUS received assurances that there
would be no change.
While welcoming these assurances, TUS believe
that other recommendations contained in the report
will need to be the subject of further talks, including
issues involving fixed-term contracts, current AFBI
sites, accommodation needs and staffing levels.
Management Side also reaffirmed their commitment to consulting fully with Trade Union Side and
agreed to provide details of other recommendations they intend to implement.
Debating the key issues
www.nipsa.org.uk
DARD Conference 2012
UP to 50 members and guests attended
the DARD NIPSA Departmental Conference held at the Malone Lodge Hotel earlier this year.
In his opening address, Assistant Departmental Secretary Jim Lilley welcomed attendees and spoke of the development of the
trade union movement in Belfast from the
early 1900s to the present day.
Outgoing Departmental Committee Chairperson Gerard Higgins, in his address, especially welcomed those who were attending
conference for the first time.
And he highlighted some of the issues that
had arisen over the past year, including
DARD Direct, HR Connect, EU Compliance
and Control of Remote Sensus.
Concluding, Mr Higgins thanked members
of the ADC for the “sterling work” they carried out during the year. He also thanked the
Secretariat for its support as well as the advice and guidance he had been given by the
HQ official.
A total of 10 motions were debated at the
conference.
John Waddell, moving Motion 1 on behalf
of the Agricultural Departmental Committee,
called upon the incoming ADC to exert pressure on Departmental Management to ensure that all vacant posts were filled.
The motion also called on ADC to ensure
that NIPSA members were not asked to
cover unfilled posts either within or outside of
office hours. The motion was carried without
dissent.
NEWS
downturn in the number of animals going
for slaughter at meat plants.
The motion called upon the incoming Departmental Committee to do all in its power
to protect the jobs of members working in
areas where a surplus may be declared.
Colm Morgan, moving Motion 4 on behalf
of the ADC, spoke about the progress made
between Management and Trade Union Side
over the EC Compliance Programme and, in
particular, the Corporate GIS Project and
Land Parcel Identification Scheme Project.
However, he also flagged up that much
more work remained to be done in terms of
TUS securing meaningful consultation in
some parts of the department.
Reminding Management Side of the Guide
to Industrial Relations document signed off
by the Permanent Secretary at the 2010 conference, he called on management to fully
consult with TUS on all staffing matters. The
motion was carried without dissent.
Rosemary Reid (Branch 149), moving Motion 5, called on the department to provide rest-room facilities for staff working
in all DARD offices. The motion was fully
supported.
Motion 7, put forward by Branch 27, criticised how the amended Departmental
Constitution had been progressed without proper consultation taking place with
DARD NIPSA Branches.
Trevor Smyth, who moved the motion,
called on the incoming Departmental Committee to bring forward any future changes to
Motion 2, put forward by ADC, called on
conference to highlight at every opportu- the ADC Constitution as a motion to be debated at conference.
nity the major failings in the HR Connect
In opposing the motion, a speaker on besystem and to ensure HR Connect comhalf of the ADC acknowledged that while an
plied with procedures already set out in
error had occurred in not giving branches adthe NICS handbook.
equate time to consult with their members on
Pauline McCracken, who moved the mothe proposed constitutional amendments, the
tion, cited one example of a member who
ADC and the HQ Official had not acted in an
had been working reduced hours and had
undemocratic fashion. The motion was subapplied to work full-time again.
Her annual leave entitlement had been cal- sequently carried.
culated incorrectly by HR Connect.
Trevor Smyth (Branch 27), in moving MoMs McCracken told delegates that the
tion 8, told delegates he felt that the Agrimember’s correct annual leave entitlement
cultural Departmental Committee had
was changed only because she had filed a
complaint against HR Connect and followed made an error in accepting a seat on the
Consultative Forum dealing with the
much correspondence between the parties.
DARD HQ relocation.
Other delegates also highlighted comHowever, he did welcome the fact that
plaints their members had lodged against
HR Connect. The motion was carried unani- TUS had now withdrawn from the committee.
In opposing the motion, the speaker on
mously.
behalf of the ADC outlined the reasons why
the Departmental Committee had accepted a
Stephen Carters (Branch 301), moving
seat on the Consultative Forum. He stated
Motion 3, drew conference’s attention to
that at no time had NIPSA compromised its
the potential for staff to be declared surposition by taking part and insisted that
plus within Meat Inspection due to a
Page 7 NIPSA Reports
members’ interests had been fully protected
at all times. The motion was remitted to the
incoming Departmental Committee.
Colin Archibald (Branch 304), in speaking
on Motion 8(a), informed delegates that
members of his branch were shocked to
learn of the DARD minister’s announcement that Forest Service HQ was to relocate to Co Fermanagh.
He pointed out that no prior consultation
had taken place with Trade Union Side.
While acknowledging that it was NIPSA
policy to support decentralisation of Civil
Service jobs outside Greater Belfast, Mr
Archibald urged the incoming Departmental
Committee to do all in its power for those
members forced to relocate to Co Fermanagh.
Heather Cammock, moving Motion 9 on
behalf of the Agricultural Departmental
Committee, called on the incoming Departmental Committee to ensure that
there is proper consultation with DARD
TUS over the relocation of DARD HQ. The
motion was carried without dissent.
Colin Archibald (Branch 304), moving Motion 10, claimed the union needed to promote itself better in letting members
know of the many successes achieved on
their behalf.
The motion instructed the incoming Departmental Committee to re-launch Grass
Roots as well as giving consideration to producing a brief monthly bulletin, e-bulletins
and giving each DARD branch a column in
any publication it produced.
Dan McEvoy, moving Motion 11 on behalf
of Branch 27, spoke of the need for the
agreed minutes of Agricultural Departmental Committee meetings to be circulated to all NIPSA members within DARD.
He told conference he saw this as a
means of keeping ordinary members updated. The motion was carried without dissent.
NIPSA President Padraig Mulholland
briefly addressed the conference.
He reminded delegates that he had started
his working life in DARD and was proud to
address them now as President.
Mr Mulholland said he welcomed the opportunity to listen to their views on the key issues facing their members. He reminded
them that their actions were a significant part
of a wider NIPSA battle against cuts and he
outlined the need for a cohesive NIPSA strategy to successfully fight all cuts to jobs and
services.
Welfare Reform proposals slammed
NIPSA President Maria Morgan, in her address to the conference, claimed new government reform proposals on welfare
“would change the face of the Welfare State forever”.
She told delegates that they also represented a threat to a significant number of jobs held by NIPSA members.
“The reason why NIPSA in the Department of Social Development
have some information [on the proposals] is because the Department have to consult with us because of the impact the welfare reforms will have on our members.
“As far as we are concerned this will mean the loss of a significant
number of jobs for NIPSA members. Though we have a part to play
in this as a public policy matter and to protect our members and their
families and communities.”
She said the new Welfare Reform Bill would replace Disability Living Allowance, Social Fund and introduce a new benefit called Universal Credit.
The UC is set to replace six current working age benefits – contribution-based Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support, Contribution
based ESA, Housing Benefit, Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.
Ms Morgan told conference: “It will affect not only those who are
unemployed but also thousands of families who are currently in work
and receiving tax credits. So why change now? They claim that Universal Credit will reduce the complexity of the benefit system and
that making it more streamlined will make it easier for customers to
receive the help they are entitled to.
“That is not a problem, if it were true, but the fact is we know that
£18 billion is being cut from the benefit budget. For us here in Northern Ireland that means a cut of £500m - £600m.”
She also pointed out that UC represented a “punitive regime” and
was “predicated on sanctions”, underlining NIPSA’s total opposition
Calling for full scrutiny of the Bill at the Assembly, she added:
to the changes.
Ms Morgan said: “We see it as a cut that will hit the vulnerable and “Communities in Northern Ireland did not vote for a government that
was going to inflict such pain through cuts and we need to seek that
those living in poverty and who need the safety net of the Welfare
our MLAs do not make these changes.”
State and every civilised society should expect that support.”
Congratulating Jim Lilley (right) on his impending retirement is NIPSA offical Noel Griffin
Additional and
temporary posts
added in past year
DEPARTMENTAL
Secretary Mary
Keys (pictured
above) in presenting the 2011 Annual Report
characterised the
past year as “extremely busy”.
In particular, she
highlighted the
time taken in negotiations with
management over
the Land Parcel
Identification
Scheme (LPIS)
project .
Ms Keys pointed
out that Trade
Union Side had in
moving the project
forward created a
sizeable number
of additional temporary and permanent posts as well
as protecting existing positions.
In reference to
the Veterinary
Service, she told
delegates that
there had been
many discussions
with Veterinary
Management over
the Veterinary
Public Health Unit
(VPHU) staff handbook. She said
that some
progress had been
made in getting
management to
draw back from
their original proposals and bring
the guide into line
with the NICS Staff
Handbook provisions.
This eventually
led to an agreement to conduct a
pilot exercise.
However, Ms
Keys also pointed
to a number of
outstanding matters that required
resolution, in particular the late
starts for meat inspectors.
She told delegates that NIPSA
had taken legal advice on this issue
which had later led
to a registered disagreement, adding
that a management response
was awaited.
On a more positive note, Ms Keys
spoke of the joint
work that had
taken place between TUS and
Management Side
over the roll out of
the Guide to Industrial Relations
and on training
which had been
provided for Union
Learning Representatives (ULRs).
Page 8 NIPSA Reports
Call to end blacklisting
Human rights organisation Liberty has added its
weight to calls for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to reopen the investigation
into the blacklisting of thousands of workers,
threatening court action.
An ICO official recently told an industrial tribu-
NEWS
nal that he believed certain information held by
the now infamous Consulting Association could
only have been supplied by the police or security
services.
Liberty’s Corinna Ferguson said: “Contracting
out the blacklisting of innocent workers ... is no
better than farming out phone hacking to private
detectives.”
Dropping in to say hello
THE long-awaited Welfare
Reform Bill had its first
reading at Stormont on October 1. A second reading
involving a nine-hour debate was held in the Assembly on October 9.
Despite the many longwinded speeches, the Bill
was voted through and has
now entered the scrutiny
stage.
NIPSA had called for full
scrutiny of the legislation
and pressed the Committee
to use its powers to extend
the scrutiny stage to the
full 90 days.
However, the Committee
has chosen to rush through
the scrutiny stage, insisting
that it must be completed
by the end of November.
This gives NIPSA less than
three weeks to respond to
the 134 clauses contained
in the Bill.
Alison Millar, Deputy
General Secretary, told
NIPSA Reports: “It is regrettable that the Committee is seeking to
steam-roller through this
important scrutiny stage
with the sole aim of meeting a legislative time-frame
of Royal Assent in March.
“It is clear the Committee
is more interested in meeting a legislative time-frame
rather than seriously addressing the key negative
impacts of the Bill if implemented.”
She underlined that
NIPSA still had major concerns about the legislation,
and in particular its removal of £500m of welfare
spending – particularly at a
time of high unemployment, a double dip recession, no childcare strategy
and the lack of social housing.
NIPSA has argued that
the proposed welfare reforms will do nothing to
stimulate the economy –
what it will do is ensure the
working poor and the unemployed are further punished with more jobs being
lost across both the public
and private sectors.
NIPSA is to give evidence
to the Social Development
Committee on October 29.
(A link to that evidence session will be available on the
NIPSA website)
According to the union,
members in the SSA, NIHE
and HMRC who work in the
administration of the benefits affected by the changes
face a very uncertain future. It is understood the
DSD believes there will be a
35% reduction in the workforce.
NIPSA is working hard to
protect these posts and is
seeking to ensure no member is forced out of their
job.
While the union welcomed changes announced
by the Minister on October
22 over split payments,
fortnightly payments and
direct payment to landlords, there are many other
issues – including the rigorous sanctions and conditionality regime, the push
for online self-service –
that need to be addressed.
Ms Millar added: “There
are many aspects of the
Welfare Reform Bill which
are unknown – these will be
included in the regulations.
It is therefore important
that NIPSA continues to
press for the best outcomes both for NIPSA
members who will be impacted by the changes and
for the wider society in
Northern Ireland.”
NIPSA’s response to the
Bill can be accessed on the
NIPSA website at:
www.nipsa.org.uk/Circulars/General/NIPSA-s-Response-to-the-Welfare-Refo
rm-Bill-Eviden
AFTER a series of detailed negotiations, a new industrial relations guide has been launched at
the Department of Health, Social
Services and Public Safety.
Both departmental Trade Union
Side and departmental management agree that good industrial relations are vital to the department’s
continued success.
There is a recognition on all sides
that given the many challenges facing the public sector, there is a
NIPSA official Tony McMullan (left) with
need to ensure harmonious and
Permanent Secretary Dr Andrew
productive industrial relations.
McCormick who co-signed the new guide.
Previously there had been no
guide to manage industrial relations
at the department.
tions in the department.
However, the new guide sets out
“This sets out not only the roles
clearly the rights and responsibiliand responsibilities and the need
ties of management and staff to se- for management, at all levels, to encure good industrial relations.
sure proper and timely consultation
The guide was recently signed
with both local and departmental
and launched at the Departmental
TUS, but it also identifies key isWhitley Council’s AGM by the desues which must be the subject of
partment’s Permanent Secretary Dr consultation such as accommodaAndrew McCormick and NIPSA As- tion, health and safety, IT projects,
sistant Secretary Tony McMullan.
training and development, staffing,
Mr McMullan told NIPSA Reports: financial resources etc.
“We are delighted that following
“Subject to the guide being advery considerable negotiations we
hered to, this should significantly
have been able to agree the launch enhance the work of the departof a new guide for industrial relament.”
Dangerous theory and
damaging practice
NIPSA officials meet with their southern counterparts from sister union Impact at Belfast HQ
NIPSA to put welfare case
before Social
Development Committee
New IR guide is
launched at DHSSPS
www.nipsa.org.uk
THOSE working within the trade union and labour
movement have had to wage a constant struggle
against a mainstream media that favours a failed
brand of neo-liberal economics.
Deploying the civilian equivalent of “shock and awe”, its
primary tactic seems to be to bombard all debate with at
best dubious and at worst dishonest data in a bid to
shape regressive policy around this neo-liberal deceit.
We saw this “big lie” approach on pensions when the
Government’s own forecast of costs falling over the next
decades were buried in the rush to enforce a diminished
pension model – more years at work, paying in more and
getting less out.
The “big lie” was also used to underplay the damage
that “austerity” would cause. More than two years ago,
the trade union movement warned against what should
have been self-evident – strangling an economy with
“austerity” policies would dramatically damage any
prospect of recovery.
When we pointed to historical precedents – the risk of a
“double dip” recession or “lost decade” – we were told by
the same “experts” who drove the world economy over a
cliff that they knew best.
Now even inside their own bubble, some doubt is starting to emerge.
This was seen by the recent International Monetary
Fund statement that the organisation had underestimated
the adverse impact austerity measures have had on
economies and cautioning against further cuts in the UK
should there be no sign of recovery.
John McVey, NIPSA Policy and Research, told NIPSA
Reports: “The recent statements from the IMF are a formal sign of some tension within a narrow economic outlook – but it is still a debate about the pace and extent of
economic robbery not about calling it off.
“Only the very gullible would have ever believed that
previous economic modeling was ‘neutral’ and not designed to justify turning an economic crisis into a political
opportunity. This is where dangerous theory becomes
damaging practice.
“The ultimate aim is to force through the dismantling of
free-at-the-point-of-use collective provision and replace it
– if at all – with a privatised alternative.”
Leisure
centre
protest
Pictured l-r are:
Helena McSherry;
General Secretary
Brian Campfield,
Assistant GS Bumper
Graham; Joan
Munton and Deputy
General Secretary
Alison Millar.
NIPSA members and offcials held a demonstration
outside the newly-refurbished Greenvale Leisure Centre.
The refubishment paid for by public funds, is now
under private control.
The deal, welcomed by Magherafelt Council in May,
has left many questions unanswered – not least how
can a council spend such vast amounts of public
money to boost the profits of a private sector firm?
The once publicly owned Greenvale Leisure Centre
was closed in 2010.
At the time, a number of NIPSA members lost their
jobs despite a campaign of opposition.