Major Splits in SIPTU - New Union Formed for Front Line Workers

[C. Flower]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1206/breaking47.html

The end of Partnership, Government's onslaught on the Public Sector unions, and the recent wholesale booing of Jack O'Connor almost inevitably meant that the SIPTU monolith would break up.

I've heard more than one report of SIPTU members quitting for other unions, and the IT reports that a new "front line workers" union has set up, expecting to attract thousands of former SIPTU members.



Hundreds of firefighters and ambulance paramedics have joined with psychiatric nurses to form a new trade union representing front-line personnel in the public service.
The fire and ambulance personnel involved are mainly leaving the country’s largest union Siptu.
The general secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, Des Kavanagh said that he expected that around 2,500 new members would have signed up within the next six weeks.
The name of the new body has not been decided.
Mr Kavanagh said in the immediate term, the primary aim of the union would be to protect front-line services. He said that these were currently under immense threat.
He said in the medium term. it would be seeking to protect allowances and premium pay currently paid to members.
He said that eventually the organisation would get back to dealing with overall pay and conditions but he did not see this coming about within the next 12 to 18 months.

[Dr. FIVE]

Will be interesting to see if it stays a strictly "front line workers" union.
I can see plenty of splits coming down the line now that more of the cosy cartels are under pressure.

[recycled employee]

FAS the corrupt agency working against the rights of ce workers,have one of their offices in SIPTU to ensure your fate if you ever do complain about harassment or inequality of postion etc..

[disability student]

FAS the corrupt agency working against the rights of ce workers,have one of their offices in SIPTU to ensure your fate if you ever do complain about harassment or inequality of postion etc..

FAS have a very poor record as regards to their awareness of various disability.

I recall having attended a talk on jobs by FAS as a guy there said there is a phone number to be contacted. That was a landline number. I said there is no e-mail address or mobile number or a specific section towards disabilities.

However they do pay for interpreters in relation to job interviews... apart from that, FAS deserved to be disbanded for good given their record of overspending with no internal controls etc. FAS used to be good years ago as someone told me. The way the FAS had gone down very fast with reputation as well was probably started by a minister - an independent TD now.

[C. Flower]

Will be interesting to see if it stays a strictly "front line workers" union.

It will. It would be interesting to see if people are moving from SIPTU to Impact or other Unions.

[recycled employee]

yeah its funny how these politicans change their image and become independants,when they are in trouble,FAS and their new WWP schemes should be shut down,these ''job agencies'' i would say are soley responsible for the unemployment that faces each community,and let's not forget fine gael the so called oppostion has JOBFIT robbing jobs from us.

[C. Flower]

THe split in SIPTU is very significant as it means that the beards are losing control.

The Kerry Workers blog gives some detail here..
http://kpswa.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/siptu-too-big-to-fail/

[tomasocarthaigh]

Unless the workers get militant on the ground, any union will have no teeth. And if that means opposing the higher ranks in our own unions... so be it!!!

[Lifeisagame]

Unless the workers get militant on the ground, any union will have no teeth. And if that means opposing the higher ranks in our own unions... so be it!!!
What does it take for people to realise that unions in the Private Sector have zero interest as they have no power anymore. So now their only interest is Public Sector. Who cares which union, ICTU are looking after their own loot.

[C. Flower]

I watched a bit of the HSE evidence to the Public Accounts Committee of the Dáil today ...
everyone is waiting on "the SIPTU Report" on the account opened by SIPTU members in the name of SIPTU.

Why is the HSE not investigating this ? SIPTU is not a public body.

Have SIPTU members asked the leadership to account for this, I wonder.

[PaddyJoe]

I watched a bit of the HSE evidence to the Public Accounts Committee of the Dáil today ...
everyone is waiting on "the SIPTU Report" on the account opened by SIPTU members in the name of SIPTU.

Why is the HSE not investigating this ? SIPTU is not a public body.

Have SIPTU members asked the leadership to account for this, I wonder.
Will anybody have any confidence in the result of a SIPTU inquiry? It needs an investigation by an outside body.

[C. Flower]

Will anybody have any confidence in the result of a SIPTU inquiry? It needs an investigation by an outside body.

It was positively Alice in Wonderland looking at the po-faced wonders on the PAC and from the HSE talking about the "SIPTU inquiry" as though it was the Supreme Court.

SIPTU officials set the account up, paid cheques into it from the HSE made out to SIPTU and then spent it. Now Jack O'Connor says "it is not a SIPTU account".

If it's not a SIPTU account then surely Union members should ask for the Gardaí should be called in ?

Of course, the Government knows that they need O'Connor and the other officials to keep a lid on opposition to the Government by Union members, so they are not going rock the boat.

I find it hard to see what enquiry was needed in SIPTU other than to obtain records of the bank account - what was paid in, and who drew what out - and to report that back to the PAC. This has gone on for months now.