AUTUMN 2010 VOL: 12 NO. 3

VodafoneCWU secures pay increasefor members in Vodafone

Protect Your Post!Coming soon CWU campaign

on Postal Liberalisation

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Dear Colleague,Coming back to work after the summer

holiday break is never easy, but there is no doubtthat very few have faced their return to work withsuch trepidation. The signs and the impact of theeconomic crisis are all around us and there ishardly a family in the State that has not beenimpacted by redundancy, reduction in hours, orloss of earnings. It is also a particularly worryingtime for parents who face the expense of the returnto the various stages of education for their children,which seems to become more and more expensivewith each passing year. It is an additional worry forparents with older students as they face theprospect of losing those children to emigration. Itis therefore even more important than ever that weas a union do all within our power to hold on to asmany permanent jobs as possible.

Our members in An Post will, over the next year,face extremely serious obstacles in circumstanceswhere they have turned the fortunes of thecompany around and have delivered the highestquality of service in the postal industry in thehistory of the State and, quite possibly, in all ofEurope. Nonetheless, on the 1st January next thelegislation surrounding the introduction of postalliberalisation is due to take effect. It now seemslikely that the draft legislation will be before the Dáilin the autumn and the manner in which we, asunion members, impact on the key areas of thatlegislation will help dictate our pay and conditionsfor the years to come.

There has also been the recent worryingdevelopment as the anti-union mobile telephonecompany, O2, has decided to deprive itscustomers of a posted bill, unless the individualcustomer applies for such a bill. As many of youwill know, the largest proportion of letter post isnow bills, invoices, and returns. To date, all theutility companies have provided a postal bill to theircustomers, while at the same time encouragingthem to switch to online billing. The reality is thatthe majority of customers have elected to holdonto their postal bill, but the move from O2switches the onus onto those customers to seek a

Editorial

Editor: Steve FitzpatrickSub-Editor: Imelda WallIssued by: Communications Workers’ Union,575 North Circular Road, Dublin 1.Telephone: 8663000 and Fax: 8663099E-mail: info@cwu.ieIncorporatingthe PTWU Journal, THE RELAY andTHE COMMUNICATIONS WORKERThe opinions expressed by contributors are notnecessarily those of the CWU.Photographs: John ChaneyPrinted by Mahons Printing Works, Dublin.

ContentsEditorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3CWU Spouse Life Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Vodafone Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5ICTU Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-9Postal Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-14An Post Employees’ Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Uni Global Union Post & Logistics . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-19eircom Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-24ESCCU Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Uni Global Union ICTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-33CWU Charitable Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34AVIVA Health Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Equality Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36-37Organising Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38-43CWU Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44CWU Medical Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44FM Downes & Co Mortgages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Vision Express Eyecare Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46-47William Norton - An Unsung Trade Union

and Labour Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48-52Origins of our Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53-55Fianna Fáil Press Office Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56CWU People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56-68John Flynn & the bombing of Campile Co-op . . . . 69Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70CWU Membership Application Forms . . . . . . . . . . 71-72

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postal bill and therefore this is extremely worrying. This move by O2comes against a background where, in the past, it has had itsproblems in relation to overcharging customers and it is a seriousconcern that, in the future, customers who do not have access to aPC and printer facilities in their normal daily lives could be exposedto such overcharging again in the future. It is my hope that none ofour members are foolish enough to have purchased an O2 phone,given its anti-union behaviour and, in particular, its hostile behaviourtowards this Union and its members in O2. However, if by chanceany of our members do have such a phone and if, indeed, bychance any of their friends or families have O2 phones, I wouldpersonally urge you that you ask those individuals to get in touchwith O2 to declare their opposition to this proposed move. It isfurther interesting to note that O2 will pocket any savings from thisexercise for themselves and none will be shared with the customer.Of course the real issue here is that, if O2 get away with thisinitiative, before long all of the other utilities are likely to follow suit.

The above issues take place against the background of thecurrent economic crisis, which has hit postal volumes extremelyhard. All of our members in An Post, and working particularly in theProcessing, Collection & Delivery area, are acutely aware of thisfact. The reductions in the volumes, which have always been linked to economic activity in the country, hasleft your representatives with an extremely difficult situation, as we try to balance the retention of jobs with theretention of earnings. Indeed, it is the first time in over 30 years of involvement with this Union where I haveseen ordinary members seriously worried about their future employment in An Post.

Similar volume losses are also being experienced within the courier/ express industry and in UPS and DPDwe face many of the same problems as a result. Once again our priority has been to maintain the maximumlevel of employment within these companies, with the assistance of those Branches we will continue to worktowards the optimum result.

Further on in the Connect magazine you will see copies of recent circulars issued in relation to the presentsituation in Eircom, along with a synopsis of a Strategic Business Plan presented by the Chief Executive, PaulDonovan, to the National Executive Council and, indeed, to all of the Branch Secretaries, Chairpersons, andCoordinators. All of that documentation is self-explanatory and we now enter a critical phase of discussionswith the company, while at the same time the company enters critical discussions with its shareholders anddebtholders. The National Executive Council has already decided to hold a delegates meeting to debate theoutcome of those discussions and it is expected that the meeting will take place in the autumn. The decisionstaken between now and then will undoubtedly determine what type of future, if any, the company now has. Itis critical to remember that the future of our members in Meteor mobile is now inextricably linked with theEircom story. There now seems little doubt that those members will be working very closely with our membersin Eircom and it will be critical of the Union to ensure protection of both groups of members as areas withinboth businesses merge.

You will also see reported in the Connect magazine that the Union has successfully negotiated a pay rise forour members in Vodafone and I believe this amply demonstrates our capabilities in achieving pay rises fromcompanies in circumstances where they are profitable. It is our sincere hope that we will be able to havefurther successes in the pay arena as the economic situation of older companies within our sphere improves.

Times of economic recession are difficult times for working people in particular, as unscrupulous employersuse the economic circumstances and high unemployment in an attempt to erode pay and conditions whichhave been hard fought and won by trade unions over many years. It is also a time to be wary of attempts bythe powers that be to place the blame for their disastrous mistakes on others, which has been particularlyevident in this country over the last couple of years. It is also a time to be wary of the rise of right wing politicsand attempts to create scapegoats for all the problems of society. This type of politics always arises in thesecircumstances as the powers that be point the finger everywhere else but at themselves in an attempt to retaintheir hold on power. In the coming months we will need to act as one, more than ever, both within this Unionand within the trade union movement. With the prospect of a General Election next year we need to seriouslyconsider our options as we attempt to rebuild our country in the hope that we can create prospects forourselves and our children into the future.

Steve Fitzpatrick,General Secretary, CWU

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LRC FindingRe.Vodafone/CWU

30th June 2010

The Commission has met with the CWU and Vodafone inrelation to a pay claim by the Union and change / costreductions sought by the Company. The Commission hasconsidered these matters carefully and has formulatedcertain proposals (set out below) to deal with these issues.The commission understands that both parties will giveconstructive consideration to these proposals. TheCommission is of the clear view that these proposalsrepresent the best possible terms that are available or arelikely to be available by agreement between the parties.

These proposals are made on the clear understandingthat if they are not accepted by one or both parties theywill be deemed to be withdrawn and have no statuswhatsoever.

ProposalsThe Commission understands that both parties recognisethe current uncertainty in domestic and internationaleconomic conditions and the potential implications arisingfor Vodafone’s Irish business. The current circumstancesemphasised by the Company include reductions inconsumer spending, deterioration in business and consumermarket performance, a corresponding need to reduce costsand a requirement to drive efficiencies, all supported by aninvestment strategy addressing the competitive challengesfacing the business.

PayThe Commission proposes the following arrangements infull and final settlement of the Union pay claim:

1. Basic pay increases as follows should be applied tograded employees in the company (who havetraditionally had increases in line with national payagreements):

– 2% from 1 January 2011.– 2% from 1 January 2012.– No other cost increasing claims on pay or

conditions of employment to be made orprocessed prior to 31 December 2012.

2. Basis pay increases as follows should be applied toemployees in the company’s retail subsidiary:

– 2% from 1 April 2011.– 2% from 1April 2012.– No further pay increases to be made prior to 1

July 2013.

3. The implementation of the above pay arrangements issubject to:i. the commercial economic and employment

circumstances of the business;ii. there being no deterioration in the company’s

projected financial and trading position over therelevant periods. In the event that such asituation were to arise the parties agree to meet todiscuss the circumstances which have arisenprior to any decision being taken that couldadversely affect to pay provisions of thisagreement;

iii. the parties are committed to full organisationalchange and the need for flexibility andadaptability to maintain and improvecompetitiveness, to increase productivity and tomaximise sustainable employment.

Change/cost reductionThe Company has confirmed to the Commission that it willdevelop immediately a set of change and cost reductionproposals which it believes are necessary to secure theviable future of the business. The Commissionrecommends that both sides commit to engaging fully withthis agenda at the earliest possible point and should committo utilising all available Industrial Relations procedures asnecessary in an effort to achieve agreement on thesematters. In making this commitment the Company commitsthat there will be no precipitative action by it whileengagement and the utilisation of procedures is takingplace. The CWU commits that there will be industrial peaceduring the same process.

PensionThe Company has confirmed to the Commission that itbelieves if the funding issues with the Company’s DBpension plan are not addressed the future of the plan cannotbe assured. The Union recognises the Company’s concern.The Commission proposes that both sides commit tomeaningful negotiations on this matter with a view toconcluding an agreement by 31st August 2010 to consider,evaluate and agree implementation measures to address thefunding issue.

Kevin FoleyDirector of Conciliation Services

Vodafone Update

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Information andConsultation in IrishWorkplacesCroke Park Conference Centre 21-22 June 2010.

Involving workers in company decisions not only representsan important element of the European Social Model but alsomakes good economic sense in modern economies. There isa strong link between information, consultation and properrespect for the right to collective bargaining.

Collective bargaining is a formal process that involvesnegotiation, consultation and the exchange of informationbetween employers and workers, the end goal being anagreement that is mutually acceptable to all parties. Properrespect for the right to collective bargaining needs properrespect for information and consultation rights.

The conference explored a number of dimensions of theinformation and consultation process, infrastructure andlegal framework in the context of elaborating on trade unionrights from a national and EU perspective.

WORKER DIRECTOR AN POST

Address to the Conferenceon Information &Consultation in IrishWorkplaces

Pat ComptonCroke Park - 22nd June 2010

Chairperson, may I thank you and the organisers for theopportunity to speak today on the role of Worker Directors.By way of introduction, I joined the postal service at the ageof sixteen and I have been there for thirty-seven years. Ihave served for the past eighteen years on the board of AnPost, having been elected five times.

I am afraid worker participation hasbecome a somewhat old-fashioned conceptin recent times in Ireland. It has sufferedfrom the closure and privatisation of stateutilities which removed Worker Directors,combined with a distinct lack of support, ifnot opposition, from Government.Nevertheless, I believe workerparticipation has played an important rolein the management and governance oforganisations where it has been in place, and given what hasbeen visited on the nation by persons at the highest level inour most respected institutions, perhaps it is appropriate nowto revisit the concept.

The concept of industrial democracy and legislating forworkers to sit on boards of companies was first discussed inIreland in the late 1960s. At its annual Conference in 1967,the ICTU agreed to examine the issue in the context of theEuropean experience. Employers’ organisations also gave thematter some consideration but not surprisingly they wereopposed. The Minister at the time seemed to favour theGerman model of dual boards, as set down in the EU draftdirective of 1972. In 1977, the government passed “TheWorker Participation State Enterprises Act”, providing for athird of the board to comprise of directors elected from andby the workforce. It would be a single tier or main boardsystem, and as the name implies, it was to cover onlycommercial, state-owned entities, known then as the semi-states, of which seven were covered. This act was amendedin 1988 to extend the legislation to cover a further sevencompanies and to provide for sub-board structures. Sincethen, additional more limited legislation has been passed toprovide for Worker Directors in state bodies, such as thePorts, Legal Aid Board, The Courts Service and The NationalDisability Authority. However, the numbers vary and in somecases there is only one Worker Director on the board.

As background, could I set out the general legalframework under which Irish boards operate? All directors,and this includes Worker Directors, have obligations undercommon law to carry out their functions in good faith, in theinterests of the company to which they owe duties of care,skill and diligence. They can be liable and held accountablefor negligent behaviour. Well, that’s the theory anyway, andrecent activities in high places, as referred to earlier, willcertainly test those legal good intentions. However, ingeneral, common-law responsibilities can be summarised asfollows:-

– Fiduciary duty: To act with loyalty, good stewardship& self denial.

– Duty to avoid a conflict of interest: The personalinterests of the director must never be in conflict withthe interests of those of the company

– Duty to use their power for a proper purpose: Allactions of a director must be for the good of thecompany

ICTU Update

Pat Compton,Worker Director

David Begg,General Secretary,

Congress

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In addition, most state sector organisations, including AnPost, have a code of conduct for directors as well as a staffcode.

I would like to deal with the actual role of WorkerDirectors against the background of my own experience overthe past 18 years. Worker Directors play a very importantrole in bringing to the board their experience and knowledgeof the company they work in. But those traits don’t alwaysmake them welcome. Central to Worker Directors being ableto play a full part in the deliberations of the board is theattitude of the Chairperson, the Chief Executive and otherboard members. In the main, my experience has beenpositive. Open and honest debate has not been curtailed andI believe that I, and my fellow Worker Directors, have madea contribution to the welfare of my company and the peoplewho work in it. On occasions in the past, however, I haveencountered different attitudes ranging from indifference todownright hostility to my very presence. This hostility oftenmanifested itself under a corporate governance guise,dressed up as a conflict of interest issue or an independenceissue. I believe that when such hostility arises, it is to a largeextent based on an ideological opposition to having WorkerDirectors there at all. While the dynamic is different in eachorganisation, I know such opposition occurs in other entitiesthat have Worker Directors.

Notwithstanding the occasional difficulties describedhere, I reiterate that my experience has been positive. At theboard table, you earn the respect you get, and you do that byworking hard at what you do. A Worker Director must learnthe ropes fast – there is no place on any board for someoneelected from the workforce who is just a fellow traveler. Heor she must play their part by developing an understandingof the workings of the board. Most importantly, if you donot know, ask and continue to ask until you get an answer!

The Board determines the shape of the organisation andtheir decisions may have the most profound consequencesfor customers, workers and, in some cases, the widereconomy. This is an onerous responsibility and a WorkerDirector has a greater reason for getting it right than anyother director, if only because his or her livelihood and thatof work colleagues depends on it. There are, of course,challenges dictated by the very nature of the business of aboard. The issues of confidentiality and collectiveresponsibility are difficult for an employee at the board tablebut they are a fact of life and in my experience, it is generallyunderstood by everyone that these are the rules of the gameand must be abided by. But this should not be used as a cloakto protect the board in their ivory tower from the prying eyesof those whose destiny their decisions affect: Information &consultation with the workforce is a key ingredient in asuccessful enterprise.

So what is the perception among staff about WorkerDirectors? There is a general view being put about thatworker participation or Worker Directors themselves do notfigure highly in the daily discourse of the workplace. Thatindeed may be true, but it does a disservice to the vast

majority of workers who are very aware of what's going on.A good guide to me at least, is the turnout of voters' in AnPost elections which in the last poll was 74%.

I have mentioned earlier the actions of persons at seniorlevel in some of our high profile institutions. Would theirdecisions be tempered by somewhat less excess if workerdirectors were sitting on their boards? I would argue yes.Against the background of the recent turmoil in Irishcommercial life it is interesting to note that the organisationsthat have worker directors appear largely to have managedtheir affairs pretty well. I am not arguing that the presence ofworker directors solely protected these institutions from thegreed and madness we've seen elsewhere, but rather that themakeup of their boards reflects a more stakeholder modelwhich makes for more balanced debate and decision-making.

I strongly believe the time for a new corporate governanceethos has come. Public policy insofar as it refers to corporategovernance should be influenced by the common good andthis is better served by a more democratic and moreaccountable system of governance. Including representativesof all stakeholders including employees on boards oforganisations which are of strategic importance to the statewould be a good start.

In short I believe that the case for extending workerparticipation is a sound one and I commend it to you.

In conclusion I would like to quote Jack Welch the formerchief executive of General Electric & doyen of the businessworld. Quoted-by the Financial Times in March 2009 hesaid,

“On the face of it, shareholder value is thedumbest idea in the world. Shareholder

value is a result, not a strategy… your mainconstituencies are your employees, your

customers and your products.”

There is a lesson there for all of us. Thank you

ICTU Update

Ian McArdle, National Officer, Gerry O’Rourke, Organiser,Jerry Condon, Tommy Devlin, Pat Compton and Paddy

Costello, Worker Directors in An Post.

ICTU Response toFinancial RegulatorThe ICTU has responded to the Central Bankand the Financial Regulator’s publicconsultation on the proposed new Code ofConduct on Mortgage Arrears. We make anumber of recommendations to improve thesituation of working families, includingcalling for a cap on mortgage interest rateincreases and some form of debt forgivenessfor familes with negative equity and who areseriousy over-indebted. Here is oursubmission below:

INTRODUCTIONThe Irish Congress Trade Unions welcomes the opportunityto respond to the proposed amendments to the Code ofConduct on Mortgage Arrears. Congress is the representativevoice for workers in Ireland and with over 830,000 memberswe represent the largest civil society group on the island.

FINANCIAL DISTRESS IS INCREASINGCongress’ overall analysis is that there is a serious underestimation of the size and nature of the mortgage debtproblems being experienced by working families in Ireland.There is an inaccurate impression that the banks are handlingthe problem. The reality is that the situation is worseningand this is clearly shown by the month on month increase inthe number of households in arrears. There are now over36,000 households that are three months behind withpayments. Last year almost one home a day was repossessed,applications for judgment mortgages in the Circuit Courtincreased by 53% in 2009 compared to 2008 (2,396applications in 2009, compared to 1,571 in 2008); and in theHigh Court increased by 65% in 2009 compared to 2008(1,058 applications in 2009, compared to 643 in 2008). With455,923 people now unemployed and with interest rateincreases forecast for next year the debt and mortgageproblem is only going to deepen.

CODE MUST OFFER A SOLUTION FORNEGATIVE EQUITY AND THOSE SERIOUSLYOVER INDEBTEDThe Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears does not addressmany of the debt problems faced by working families.Importantly it does not deal with circumstances wherefamilies cannot afford mortgage repayments due to total lossof employment and savings and other assets having beenexhausted. It completely ignores the consequences ofnegative equity where the amount owed by families mayexceed the value of their homes by as much as 50%.

Families with negative equity have the double worry ofhomelessness and that they will still owe the outstandingmortgage. They do not know how much they will end up

owing the bank if their home is repossessed or if theyvoluntarily surrender their home. There is no way ofknowing how the value of their repossessed house will bedetermined, if the value of their home is at the time ofrepossession or is the actual price at the time of sale? Dothey have to meet the legal and other costs and charges of thesale? Is the bank under an obligation to maintain the propertyin a good condition until its sale? Can the bank take anyprice or are they required to get the best price? How areinterest and other charges treated on the outstanding amount?

Paragraphs 39 and 40 of the Code require lenders toinform borrowers of the ‘implications’ of possible scenarios.However this is insufficient. It would be preferable to bringas much transparency and certainty to the treatment ofrepossessed homes and homes that are voluntarilysurrendered and the associated outstanding mortgage.

JUSTICE OF THE SITUATION REQUIRES SOMEFORM OF DEBT FORGIVENESSWhile it may be difficult to establish ‘reckless lending’ instrictly legal terms there can be no doubt that mortgageswere provided without due care and in a manner that canordinarily be described as reckless. Any objectiveassessment will conclude that the banks behaved recklesslyby encouraging customers to take out 100% loans. Therewas insufficient attention to potential risks such as loss ofhome or being liable for the outstanding mortgage debt evenwhen their home is repossessed. Worse still, there was nomention that the homeless borrower would remain liable forany penalty charges and interest that accrues on theoutstanding borrowings, for the legal costs of anyproceedings, and the for costs involved in selling theproperty.

Therefore it is imperative that some form of homeprotection, loan modification and debt forgiveness is workedout for these families who are the casualties of the debtcrisis. There is a particularly strong basis for providing fordebt forgiveness for families who have lost their familyhome but are left owing a sizeable mortgage. The amountfor debt forgiveness can be set at certain levels: for example,a minimum of €50,000 and maximum €200,000. Not toprovide some aspect of loan modification or debt forgivenessis unfair as for many thousands of working families, theirinability to make their mortgage payments is a directconsequence of government’s deliberate policy to drivedown wages and pour money into the banks.

One area that government could address is the cost ofinsurance on mortgages, there are circumstances wherefamilies have adjusted their loan repayments downwards butthe cost of their mortgage insurance has increasedcorrespondingly. This is an area that the government couldquickly step in to address.

FAMILIES WITH NEGATIVE EQUITY ARECHARGED MORE FOR THEIR LOANSFamilies who are trapped in negative equity are beingsqueezed by their lenders who know that people cannotswitch to another bank. Non-tracker mortgage holders arenow captive customers who have no chance of switching orshopping around and are paying an average of €150 more a

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ICTU Update

month for their mortgage. This means that households whoare in negative equity are paying the highest interest rateson the market, as highlighted in editorial columns of the IrishIndependent on 3rd September.

Para 34 of the Code provides that the lender cannotrequire the borrower to change from an existing trackermortgage to another mortgage type. This is welcome butmore is needed otherwise there is danger that banks willincrease interest rates on those unfortunate enough to havevariable loans. There is a strong argument for the Code tointroduce a cap on the amount by which variable mortgageinterest rates can be increased in any one year and a limit onhow much above the ECB rate they can be raised.

While recognising that the Code is not a completeresponse it is an important part of the response and as suchis very much welcomed by Congress. Congress has anumber of recommendations to make in relation to the Code.

INDEPENDENT OFFICE FOR DEBT RESOLUTIONNEEDEDThe principle nemo debet esse iudex in propria causa, that noone should be judge in their own cause is an essentialrequirement of fair proceedings and natural justice.Essentially it requires that no person can judge a case inwhich they have an interest. The rule must be applied toensure against the appearance of a possible bias, even if thereis actually none.

Banks cannot be exempt from this principle. Theprinciples of natural justice must be built into the operationof the Code generally and to its appeal process in particular.This can be achieved by the establishment of an independentnon-judical office of Debt Resolution proposed by Congress.

Congress is also concerned about the imbalance of powerbetween the lender and borrower with borrowers in dangerof the bank deciding their fate for them. It is particularlyneeded to deal with circumstances where the mortgageproblem has not been resolved to the borrowers’ satisfactionand in the context of hearing other appeals.

It is essential to deal with mortgages and their arrears inthe context of the totality of a families debt and it isunrealistic to expect banks to make fair decisions on thescheduling of repayments in respect of other lenders;

The office could be paid for by a levy on the banks but itmust be independent of them.

COMPLIANCE WITH THE CODE NEEDS TO BEGIVEN LEGAL UNDERPINNINGThis is necessary to give certainty to the process and theresulting agreements concluded. The Agreements concludedunder the Code must be admissible in legal proceedings(para 45) and banks must be legally required to comply withthe Code. At the moment circumstances are such that banksare practicing forbearance, however as recent experiencedemonstrates circumstances can dramatically change andwith them bank behaviour.

THE CODE MUST PROTECT A MINIMUMADEQUATE STANDARD OF LIVINGBy their very nature, debts are multiple, they compound

rapidly over time. People who are indebted often agree toarrangements that are not sustainable and in these situationsthey do not keep to the arrangement. The result is often thatthe money problems get worse and their creditors becomeless willing to negotiate new repayment terms.

Step 2 (paras 25-28) establishes the use of the StandardFinancial Statement and this is a very welcome feature.There is a value in the Code protecting a ‘minimumadequate’ family income that will ensure a realistic livingstandard that affords dignity to the debtor and their family.The amount to be protected will vary with each individualand family according to their circumstances but a usefulbench mark for the amount is the Minimum Essential Budgetas outlined in the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justicepublication, Minimum Essential Budgets for Households.

PROTECTION FROM DEBT RELATEDHARASSMENT AT WORKThe Code (Para 19) restricts the use of unsolicitedcommunications and this is welcome. However Congressremains concerned about the practices of some debtcollection agencies that don’t need to threaten violence oruse obscene language to be threatening. In particularcontacting the debtor on their mobile phone while they atwork; or leaving phone messages with only the name of theemployee of the debt collection agency and requesting areturn call. It must be made clear this type of practice is notallowed under the Code. Contacting people at work abouttheir debts, even on their mobile phone or by e-mail canseriously threaten and undermine a person’s position atwork, particularly as some employers have obscure clausesin their contracts requiring employees to be of ‘goodstanding’ with creditors and others have outdated attitudesand believe that indebtedness is a sign of undesirability inan employee.

A matter of great concern has been the failure to regulatethe debt collection services. Unfortunately financialorganisations are paying too little attention to the standardsof the debt collecting agencies they are employing, and seemonly interested in receiving the money owed to theirorganisation, even though they have responsibilities andregulations to comply with under the Consumer ProtectionAct 2007, the Data Protection Act, the Consumer ProtectionCode and the non Fatal Offences against the Person Act.

TREATMENT OF SECOND HOMES IN CONTEXTOF BREAK UPThe definition of the primary residence should be inaccordance with the definition under the capital gains taxsystem. In relation to the issue of whether in thecircumstances of a family break up the Code can apply toholiday homes, it will be necessary to look at the reality ofthe circumstances but at a minimum, a legal declaration ofthe fact of the breakup must be required.

Finally, Congress is requesting that employees involved inredundancy discussions or others who anticipate a changein their circumstances, will be permitted to initiate theprocedures under Code. It makes no sense for these familiesto have to wait until they have incurred late paymentpenalties before that can address their situation.

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ICTU Update

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The EU is not ready forPostal Liberalisation!

Postal Update

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The CWU, along with every other postal unionacross Europe, has been fighting against postalliberalisation for almost fifteen years and now itseems we may be nearing the end of the road. AsCWU members will know the European Parliamenthas passed the Third Postal Directive and now itremains for the Irish Government to ensure thatthis is implemented to allow for the market to befully liberalised by January 1st 2011.

The passage of the Third Directive into Irish lawrepresents the final chance for anyone who has aninterest in protecting the Irish postal service to influencethe legislation that will dictate the kind of market andservice we will have in Ireland for generations to come.This is, in effect, the last throw of the dice on postalliberalisation in Ireland and we can leave nothing tochance. That is why the CWU is planning a nationwidecampaign on the issue to ensure that every member,and their family and friends, is informed, engaged andhappy to play their part to ensure that the public knowwhat changes are happening to Irish post.

The legislation itself, at the time of writing, is notavailable for review and it is unclear when it will be putto the Oireachtas for debate, though the feeling is thatthis will happen sometime in October. The issues,nonetheless, are familiar to us and remain the same aswhen the European Parliament first discussed the ThirdDirective and these are:

• How will the Universal Service be financed afterthe monopoly has been taken away?

• How will Down Stream Access (which allowscompetitors to use the An Post network) bemanaged?

• How will the legislation deal with cherry-picking(where competitors only compete for profitablepostal routes and leave the loss making routes toAn Post)?

• How can the market be protected from socialdumping (where competitors drive downemployment standards in the market and force thenational operator to do likewise) which hashappened in other liberalised EU postal marketsalready?

To assist our branches and members across the

country with this campaign the Union is preparing an‘Easy Guide to Liberalisation’. This straightforwardbooklet is designed to describe in plain terms what ismeant by liberalisation and more importantly to explainthe potential results of pursuing this approach to thepostal market. The booklet will examine the effects ofliberalisation on different jobs within the postal serviceand also look at how citizens as well as businesses willbe affected.

In addition to this the CWU is building a websitewww.protectyourpost.ie which will reflect the contentsof the booklet but will also include a useful tool whichwill allow people to send a message to their politicalrepresentatives about their concerns on liberalisation.

It is vital that this campaign focuses on bringing ourmessage to the political representatives in your localarea and impress upon them the vital public service thatis provided by An Post as well as the fact that there arepotentially a huge number of jobs at stake if thesechanges are not carefully considered. A sub-group ofthe National Executive Council (Postal) has beenformed to co-ordinate these efforts across the countryand it is planned that the Union will submit a motion tothe various county councils.

The CWU continues to work with Union NetworkInternational (UNI) who are co-ordinating efforts acrossEurope to get a moratorium on the liberalisationprocess. UNI are calling for the deadline of January1st 2011 to be extended in order that proper researchcan be conducted on the social implications of openingthe postal markets. In addition, UNI are calling forguidelines on how the Universal Service should befinanced, social regulation, which ensures goodworking conditions, and recommendations on how tocompete on quality and innovations rather than simplyon cost.

This is likely to be the final major campaign that theCWU will conduct on this issue and represents theculmination of many campaigns that the Union hasconducted over the last fifteen years, since postalliberalisation was first suggested before the First PostalDirective was introduced in 1997. It is essential thateveryone plays their part for this last important battle toensure the long term viability of the Irish postal servicefor this and future generations.

The End of the Road forPostal Liberalisation?

Postal Update

12

Postal Update

A recent development in thetelecommunications market that mayultimately have a significant and adverseeffect on the people in the postal sectorhas emerged in recent weeks.O2 Ireland has decided that it will nolonger post its telephone bills to itscustomers, but instead it will expectcustomers to log on to the O2 website,create an online account, and then printoff their own bill. The Company has saidthat customers can still receive a papercopy of their bill, but will only do so if they“opt in” to get their bill in the normal way.This can be done via the website or bycontacting a customer care phonenumber.

The net effect of this decision is that,for a large number of customers: the aged,the disabled, those without internet accessor a PC, for example, this represents anunfair burden on them accessinginformation which they should be providedwith free of charge as paying customers.The importance of receiving a printed copyof an itemised bill should not beunderestimated, particularly incircumstances where overcharging hasoccurred in the past as evidenced byactions ComReg have had to take.

In the interest of clarity andtransparency, and to protect the consumer,the billing model should not be changed inthis way, where the Company has made acost saving decision to discontinueproviding a hardcopy bill. The decision

should be left to the customer. Theprevious billing model already allowed thecustomer to receive his/her billinginformation online, but this was at theirrequest which, in the circumstances,should be how the decision is made giventhat each individual customer’scircumstances will vary considerably.

Given that online services are simplynot available or not an option for aconsiderable number of Irish consumers, itis particularly unfair for a large, profitablemultinational such as O2 to impose thisburden on its customers. In the interest ofequality and fairness, the decision to optfor an online bill should be one that thecustomer makes and is not one thatshould be foisted on them. In thecircumstances, this is not an unreasonableexpectation.

It would appear that public opinion doesnot support the move and the Regulatorhas observed that it has ‘serious

reservations about the move’ and on thatbasis one would hope that O2 wouldrevise its decision however in themeantime customers are being remindedby ComReg that they can continue toreceive their paper bill by instructing O2accordingly.

O2 Imposes E-billing on Customers -Gets Negative Reaction

Wear your

Union

Badge

Ian McArdleHead of Organising and

Regulatory Affairs,CWU.

02 online billingComReg has been in touch with O2 regarding its recent online billingtrial. During these discussions, ComReg advised O2 that it has seriousreservations about the proposal to arbitrarily switch consumers to thisnew on-line billing services without customers prior expresspermission. ComReg is aware that many consumers already see thebenefits that can derive from electronic bills and that many others mayelect to join them. However, in the interests of transparency and overallconsumer welfare the decision to move to electronic billing shouldonly be made with the prior explicit agreement of that consumer.

ComReg is continuing to constructively engage with O2 on theseissues and in the meantime, ComReg advises any O2 customers thathave received a communication from O2 on this matter, that they areentitled to receive a paper bill and if they have concerns about thisissue to contact O2 on 1909 and to request paper billing.

Additionally, the general issue of online billing has been raised withComReg via the Telecommunications and Internet Federation (TIF)industry group. During these discussions, ComReg has stated thatwhile there are benefits associated with online billing, the introductionof online billing solutions must also safeguard the interests ofconsumers and, in that regard, ComReg is looking forward to workingwith TIF towards finding suitable online billing solutions. This processis ongoing.

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Postal Update

Irish Daily Mail, 26th August, 2010

Sunday Business Post, 29th August, 2010

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Postal Update

Dublin has a new boutique museum in the GPO. Situated inO’Connell Street’s GPO, the new museum hosts anexhibition entitled Letters, Lives and Liberty. The exhibitionexplores the influence of the Post Office in Ireland and offers

an insight into the often quiet but always vital role playedby Post Office people in the development of Irish life andsociety over the generations.

Put together by Stephen Ferguson, An Post’s AssistantSecretary and historian, the museum offers something foreveryone. From stamps and letters to An Post’s copy of the1916 Proclamation and the little-known story of the staffwho were actually on duty in the GPO on Easter Monday,the exhibition offers visitors a unique way to learn aboutimportant aspects of Irish life and history.

Within a small space, the museum makes effective use oftraditional cabinet displays, clever interactive technologyand a Pepper’s Ghost drama of the GPO on Easter Monday1916. The €2 entrance charge is modest and visitors of allages should enjoy the experience and leave with a greaterappreciation of the contribution of the Post Office to dailylife in Ireland over the years.

The Museum is open from 10am until 5pm on weekdaysand from 10am until 4pm on Saturday.

An Post Museum opens at the GPO

Willie Mooney(left) andMartina

O’Connell(right)

Back Row l to r: Ray Neville, Ger O’Brien, Damien Touhy, John Tansey,Cormac O’Dalaigh (Vice President), Vinny Kilroy & Charlie Kelly.

Front Row l to r: Emmanuel Cassidy, Ellen Moore, Tim O’Donovan, Syl Curran, John Halton & Frank Donohoe.

Postal Sectoral Executive 2010-2012

The Postal Sectoral Executive elected at BiennialConference, 2010, in Wexford who will hold office untilMay 2012.

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G.S Circular Eircom No. 10/10INFORMATION575-577 NORTH CIRCULAR ROAD, DUBLIN 1TELEPHONE 866 3000 - FAX 866 3099E-MAIL: info@cwu.ie

6th July 2010

Proposed Eircom GroupBusiness StrategyDear Colleague,

As you will be aware there has been intense mediaspeculation in relation to eircom over the past couple ofdays. Most of that speculation has arisen as a result of recentbriefings given by the Chief Executive in relation to theproposed eircom group business strategy which in effect isthe proposed plan to deal with the serious situations facingeircom over the next three years. When considering thisissue it is worth remembering the journey we haveundertaken since the collapse of Babcock and Browne. Atthat stage we set ourselves a task of securing a majorityshareholder for eircom with an industry background and whoin the right circumstances would be willing to invest in thefuture of eircom both financially and from a technologicalpoint of view. With the arrival of STT, we achieved that aimand we then set our sights on dealing with the future of theeircom pension scheme and the massive deficit that posed adanger for all potential pensioners and existing pensionerswhile at the same time the deficit had the potential ofbringing the company to its knees. Once again that goal hasbeen achieved and I believe it is fair to say that it could nothave been achieved without the assistance of all CWUactivists and its members.

What we now need is a comprehensive plan which willdeal with the challenges that face all our members in eircomand attempt to build the prospect of a brighter future withwhat has become a beleaguered Company. The task offormulating that plan is one for eircom senior managers andits shareholders. It has been made crystal clear to us thatunless we have a clear pathway for dealing with the existingdifficulties that neither STT nor the ESOT will be in aposition to invest in the future of the business. There arealso the ongoing concerns that arise as a result of the hostileregulatory regime and the complete disinterest of theDepartment of Communications and our beloved GreenMinister. It was against that background that your National

Executive Council members met with the Chief Executive ofEircom Mr Paul Donovan along with his senior managementteam last week. At that meeting the Chief Executivepresented in detail the company’s proposed three yearstrategy and plan. In presenting that plan your Executivewere given an overview of the Communications market, thecompetition and the existing financial circumstances facingthe company. We were then taken through the developmentsin the Communications industry and how thosedevelopments were impacting on other Telco’s throughoutEurope and the world. We had an overview of thechallenging environment including numbers of customers,changes in customer demands, proposed new services andthe continuing migration from fixed line to mobile. We werealso given an overview of the Meteor operation and the plansto fully merge Meteor with eircom to create one companywith two brands. Finally we had a presentation on themassive company debt and how it was proposed to managethat debt over the coming years.

The proposed new three year plan attempts to deal with allof the critical issues but in doing so will impact on almostevery worker in eircom. The NEC, as clearly outlined atConference in Wexford this year has been extremelyconcerned about the future of eircom and views thepreparation of a well thought out strategic plan as an absolutenecessity if we are to build a long term future for eircom andour members working there. I am therefore encouraged thatat last we have a proposal which we can get our teeth into.We are all somewhat shell shocked by the breadth andimpact of the proposed plan but before we enter any detaileddiscussions the Executive have decided on the followingcourse of action:

• The Union will recruit an Industry and Financial expertto examine the company’s plans in depth

• All branch secretaries and partnership co-ordinators willbe invited to Union Headquarters next week for apresentation on the plan

• We will engage with eircom at the most senior level to seeif we can agree a process for dealing with the proposedplan and with the impact on our members

• We will invite all eircom conference delegates to a specialseminar in Dublin in September at which we will shareall the information we have in relation to the proposedplan, outline any progress we have made in creating aframework agreement around that plan and of course havea presentation on the investigation into the plan carriedout by the Union experts.

eircom Update

Proposed Eircom Group Business StrategyThe following G.S. Circulars give an update on eircom and the position the Union and Companyare at:

21

I trust the above process will put us in a position where allmembers will be fully informed in relation to the proposedplan and we will have verified or otherwise the financialinformation and background behind that plan. We will thenhopefully be in a position to have a framework agreementthat will help us deal with the implementation issuessurrounding that plan. A key element to the plan will be theintegration of Meteor and eircom and that in itself is likely tocreate excess staff. There is also the necessity to finalise theconditions surrounding any proposed RB / Transition unit.

Most of the media headlines over the past few days havecentred on the possibility of 2000 people losing their jobs ineircom. In our view that figure is purely based onspeculation and it is impossible at this stage to have any realview on what number of jobs may become excess as a resultof any proposed agreement in the future but as a Union wehave become accustomed to dealing with major changesthrough reorganisation and new technologies and we have atried and trusted formula for dealing with such changes. Itis the view of the NEC that we will handle any proposedchange in a similar fashion once we have been convincedthat the changes are absolutely necessary and in the best longterm interest of our members. We continue to work closelywith the eircom ESOT on this key issue and we are awarethat they have got serious financial advice from internationalbankers on this proposed plan. We will continue to liaiseclosely with the Trust to share critical information on thesekey issues.

Yours fraternally,Steve Fitzpatrick,General Secretary.

G.S Circular Eircom No. 11/10INFORMATION575-577 NORTH CIRCULAR ROAD, DUBLIN 1TELEPHONE 866 3000 - FAX 866 3099E-MAIL: info@cwu.ie

August 2010

Re: Proposed Eircom GroupBusiness StrategyDear Colleague,

I would be obliged if you would read this circular as a followup to the recent GS Circular 10-10 under the same heading.

Since issuing that circular, discussions have commencedwith Eircom Senior Management on its proposed 3-YearCompany Plan. To date, those discussions have concentratedon how negotiations will be structured in the event that theplan is given full approval by the shareholders. We have alsoappointed Mr Adrian Askew, the recently retired GeneralSecretary of the UK Telecommunications Trade Union,

Connect, who will examine the plan from the point of viewof industry developments and crucially look at the impact onemployment numbers, pay and conditions. Adrian is a longterm friend of the CWU and we have worked closely togetherover many years on the UNI Europa Telecoms Committee.He has also been involved from the Trade Union side withrestructurings in a number of Telcos including BT and O2. Itis expected that Adrian will begin his work in mid August onbehalf of the Union and it’s his view that he will completethat work by the end of September at the latest. We are alsoin the process of engaging some financial expertise, whichwill allow us to examine the outcome of financialinvestigations being carried out on behalf of the EircomESOT and indeed on behalf of the banks and bondholders,who are critically examining the financial details of theproposed plan in minute detail.

In addition, we have met with the shareholders, STT andthe Eircom ESOT. We have made it absolutely clear to boththat it is unlikely that the Union membership could supportany plan which did not deal with the thorny issue of longterm investment. The information from both shareholderswas that the type of investment needed to build a nationalfibre network and indeed to invest in new technology suchas LTE (Long Term Enhancement), will most likely happenas a result of collaboration between a number of Telcos withsome form of government and regulatory support. Bothshareholders have had discussions with the other majorTelcos in Ireland and are having ongoing discussions withthe Department of Communications and ComReg in anattempt to develop such a scenario. It is hoped that we willhave some indications of progress in relation to this issue bythe Autumn.

As outlined in the previous GS Circular, the briefing onthe proposed Eircom Group Business Strategy, previouslygiven to your National Executive Council, was shared withall the Branch Secretaries, Chairpersons and Partnership Co-ordinators at a meeting held in Union Headquarters onThursday, 15th July.

At that meeting, it was suggested that a synopsis of thethirty eight page slide presentation be prepared and sent outby GS Circular in order that the main elements of thatstrategy could be shared with the members. Therefore,attached for your information is a synopsis of that planwhich has been prepared for Union Headquarters by MickScully, National Co-ordinator, and I believe that synopsisaccurately captures the content of what was a very detailedpresentation.

Arrangements are now being made for a full delegatemeeting, which I expect to take place in late September/earlyOctober, when we have had the result of the investigationsby our experts into the proposed Eircom three year plan.

Yours fraternally,Steve Fitzpatrick,General Secretary.

eircom Update

22

eircom Update

• Summary of 3-YearStrategy & Plan– Market Background– Our Challenges– Summary of 3-Year Plan

• Operating Strategy –Transform to compete– Protect our core revenues and customer base– Grow new revenues using existing assets– Dramatically reduce our costs– Modernise the organisation– Create conditions for a more favorable external

environment.– Implement business synergies with Meteor to

achieve economies of scale. (Two brands, OneCompany)

– Develop Eircom as an “Investable Story”.

Under the Strategy and Plan section anumber of “key” messages were given:

• The total market revenue for both fixed and mobile inIreland is shrinking fast. Over the next three yearsrevenues are expected to fall by €451M. Eircom is therefore facing a declining share of acontracting market.

• Both fixed and mobile competition is rapidly evolving.In the fixed line area companies such as UPC and B.T.continue to eat into market share with UPC starting tooffer “triple play” at 100 Mbps to half a millionhouseholds. In the mobile area companies such asVodafone, O2 and 3 are targeting the totalcommunications profit pool. All of these companies arepart of much larger international players with “deeppockets” e.g. O2 are part of the Telefónica Group withheadquarters in Spain.

• The relevance of the “fixed line” is falling rapidly. Theretail line base is decreasing at about 5% per year dueto absence of house building and increased success ofcable (UPC). Customers continue to move their voicetraffic from fixed to mobile and consequently eircomRetail Voice traffic is falling at about 10% per year.

• Our Copper Plant is national but expensive to maintainand slow, with limited high-speed availability. e.g. over50% of the customer base is limited to 8 MB or lowerand less than 4% can avail of 20MB. The growth infixed line broadband has slowed greatly and both Cableand Mobile are securing the majority of Broadbandgrowth. Eircom is offering uncongested NextGeneration Broadband with up to 8 MB and a 24 MBoffering for some customers.

• Eircom‘s efficiency and costs compare veryunfavourably with peer companies. Based on numberof fixed lines per employee, eircom’s productivity islower than peer companies notwithstanding the waywork is organised (in some Telcos the “Build functionis outsourced) e.g. Swisscom, who are best in class,have 905 lines per employee compared to eircom’s 362lines per employee. Also eircom’s annual operatingcosts per line are twice that of UPC.

• The company’s €3.9 Billion Debt presents short andlonger-term challenges which must be addressed. Thismust include convincing the debt holders that we willnot breach the Covenants and that we can dramaticallyreduce our costs.

• It may need to be restated that in a “doomsday”situation the debt holders (banks and investors) arethe “owners” of the company and they could and wouldtake all necessary action to recover their investmentsthrough dismantling the company on the basis that thecomponent parts are more valuable than the wholeentity.

In summary: We are Running Out Of Timeto Tackle this Crisis as we have:

• Competitors who are raising their game• An inflated and inflexible cost structure, change averse

culture• Financial Performance weakening - revenues falling

faster than we can reduce costs• Investment imperatives in a shrinking market

– Expectation and business need to invest in theSmart Economy

– Public Policy forcing continued investment inlegacy

• Regulatory Constraints– Now at almost the extreme on every dimension– Unlikely to relax until market share is <50%– Forced investment into a loss making rural

network• Our Debt.

What have we done/ what can we do?

1. We have achieved Shareholder Stability and STT andESOT committed to the long term, in the rightcircumstances.

2. We have a new management team with the right mixof international and operational experience. Thisteam are committed to a radical transformation ofeircom over the next 3 years.

3. We have remediated, following agreement and withthe full co-operation of the Staff Side, the D.B.Pension Fund deficit. This was a major piece ofwork, which has de-risked the Scheme for the futureand bought time for the company.

23

eircom Update

4. We have developed an Operational Plan and aproposal for Investment – assuming we can convincestakeholders, shareholders and staff of our ability toimplement.

5. Company Balance Sheet has to be remediated andthis is still outstanding.

The 3 Year Plan. Plan ObjectivesRevenueIt is expected that revenue decline can be reversed providedthat Mobile revenues can increase to compensate for declinein fixed line revenues.

Pay CostsWe need to significantly reduce our pay costs whilesupporting growth in offerings such as “eircom Mobile”. V.Lwill deliver some reductions in FTE numbers howeverfurther pay cost reductions will be required. Increasedproductivity delivers pay cost reductions.

Non Pay CostsWe must aggressively control non pay costs and keep themflat. This will be very challenging as we increase theproportion of lower margin business.

Capital InvestmentWe want to invest up to €220 M to maintain competitivenessand drive growth. However we are constrained as V.L costsplace extreme burdens on the business and our ability toinvest is further limited.

EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax,depreciation and amortisation)Our current earnings under the above stands at approx. €680M. This EBITDA target must continue to be met as it is akey metric as to how the business is performing and ameasure closely watched by the Debt Holders.

Operating Strategy to Securethe Future

Transform to become fit to compete has 5Themes:

Theme 1. Protect Core Revenues andCustomers by:• Driving converged services by a loose coupling of

fixed/broadband and mobile and have common contentacross platforms.

• Redefine the customer experience at all touch pointsby integrated CRM strategies by segment to reducechurn and Introduce of Net Promoter Score to enhanceservice

• Fast track development of on-line capabilities toincrease reach and reduce costs by significantlyincreasing on-line Sales, Billing and Activations

• Increase penetration of Value Added Services forBusinesses e.g. Managed Service, Cloud Computing

Theme 2. Grow revenue using existingfixes assets by:• Extending range of bundled services e.g. bundle fixed

and mobile• Rollout Next generation Broadband to 70% of

customer base by end of 2011 i.e. available to 1.15 Mlines.

• Extend value-added services by providingentertainment/music services.

• Enhance managed Services & Cloud Computing e.g.eircom providing Amazon with data hosting Cloudbased service.

• Rollout out Fibre Pilot in Sandyford and Wexford totest commercial proposition for fibre based services.

Theme 3. Dramatically Reduce ourCostsThis will require a re engineering of all core businessprocesses i.e. the way things are done will be different. Thistheme also requires a reduction in Annual pay costs,including the costs of capitalised labour and furtherreductions in non-pay costs across the board. Finally threefurther objectives are set out namely:

• Manage further large-scale exits from the business• Increase the numbers for incentivised V.L• Extend performance management to all staff

The above items under Theme 3 to be achieved in thecontext of a revised Partnership process.

Theme 4. Modernise the OrganisationTo meet the objectives under this Theme the followingis required:

• Combine Business Units, Fixed and Mobile and reducemanagement layers

• Revitalise Leadership, import proven experience andpromote on potential

• Modernise work practices and embed performancemanagement across the organisation

• Develop exit programmes to support staff in TransitionUnit to replace current V.L. process.

24

eircom Update

Theme 5. Create conditions for amore favourable externalenvironmentAmong other things this entails the reinstating of trust andrespect with the Regulator and the Government. It alsorequires eircom to be viewed as a champion of GovernmentPolicy through Fibre Pilot investment and a strengtheningof our external and media relations.

Overall Summary: “We must move fast toexecute.”

The Company is in a crisis situation. It has been comparedto a melting ice cube - looks the same but reducing in size bythe day. Business performance continues to weaken withlarge losses in fixed line and unsustainable costs and prices.The mobile market is maturing with Average Revenue PerUser falling but there is some scope to increase market share.The media continues to speculate that eircom will not be ableto meet its debt obligations and the Debt Holders are very

uneasy. Urgent action is required with the 3-Year Plan as theminimum need for survival with the primary focus on CostReduction and Revenue Generation. This work is ongoing.

Next Steps -- Union EngagementSuggested Process.

We have a necessity to revisit the current Partnership modelin order to develop an engagement framework that meetscurrent business and staff side needs. We have a further needto develop a “Blueprint for Change” that clearly spells outthe rationale for change and the future for the Company –assuming we achieve our plan. In this context multiplechange programmes are more likely rather than one largeprogramme. These change programmes will need to movein parallel and at pace, while respecting people impacts

The above summary presentation formedpart of the proactive engagement with theCWU.

Back Row l to r: Gerry Bourke, John Carney, Fintan King, Jim O’Flynn, Ivor Reynolds,Ger Nolan and Kevin Donnelly.

Front Row l to r: Mike O Connor, Pascal Connolly, Michael O Toole, Gerry Cuirc (President)Catherine Slattery, Mick Smith

(Missing from photo Susan Casey, Ray Lawlor and Brian Harney)

Telecoms Sectoral Executive 2010/2012

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As stated at Biennial Conference in Wexford the NEC isextremely proud of the charitable work carried out on behalfof our members through the various funds they sogenerously contribute to. It allows those members to makea direct difference through the many projects outlined above.However for historical reasons we have ended up with toomany funds with a corresponding number of forms to befilled in leading to administrative problems. Many Branchsecretaries have pointed out that the plethora of forms it ismaking their task difficult in recruiting members to jointhese worthwhile funds. Therefore in an attempt to simplifymatters the NEC has decided to create one CWU Charitablefund through which all the existing charities will be funded.This fund shall be open to all members of the CWU. Eachmember of the CWU will have the facility to donate a

regular sum of money directly into the CWU CharitableFund. Members currently paying into their various charitieswill have their contributions allocated to their sponsoredcharities. In the future all new members will have thefacility to pay a variable contribution of their choice rangingfrom 50 cent up to €10.00 directly into the CWU CharitableFund. The money will then be allocated on a percentagebasis annually to the various charities. At present the ratiois 75% to the CWU Development Fund and 25% to otherProjects including The Hospice Foundation and TheIntellectual Housing Fund.

The allocation of funds shall be overseen by the FinancialOfficer subject to debate by the NEC Finance SubCommittee and the final approval by the National ExecutiveCommittee.

CWU CHARITABLE FUND

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36

Equality Update

CWU Equality Representative Training Goes from Strength to Strength

Members may recall that last year and as part of our equality framework, the Union piloted a newinitiative by having trained local Equality Representatives. The purpose of this training is to ensure thatwhere necessary and particularly in larger branches, there is a person assigned and trained to deal withqueries relating to equality. It is also hoped that the Equality Representatives will bring an increasedawareness among the membership of what the Union can do to combat discrimination and how we canpromote equality and diversity in our members’ workplaces. The Equality Representative will be anadditional contact person for equality related matters for the Branch and will play a supporting role tothe Branch Secretary.

We held two training courses last September as part of the pilot, which were very well received. Since the training,the Equality Representatives have been active in their own branches. They have played their part by addressingequality issues at their Branch committee meetings and many did reports or spoke at their AGM’s about their role andequality issues in general.

Equality Representatives within the UnionFollowing on from the success of the pilot training, we decided that the Equality Representative would be a

recognised role within Branch Structures and that we would offer the course as part of our training and developmentcourses on an ongoing basis. By doing so we believe that we are continuing to mainstream equality and diversity intogeneral union activities.

We advertised the course earlier in the year and intended to hold one course again this month but due to largedemand we are now going to run two courses instead in October with an estimated 12 participants on each course.This will ensure that everybody has an opportunity to participate in the training.

The following items will be covered on the agenda:• Equality in the CWU• Equality legislation and the nine grounds• Disability Issues• Diversity & Cultural Awareness• The Role of the Equality Representative• Leave Arrangements – Statutory & Non-Statutory

As per the 2009 courses, once again we have a good cross section of members from the telecoms and postal andcourier sections, due to attend in October.

Disability ChampionsOnce again we look forward to working with Jane Clare who delivers the Disability Champions training course onbehalf of Congress. Jane has given presentations on our courses in the past and also held a specific training coursefor CWU Equality Representatives to be trained as Disability Champions. The role of the Disability Champion willcontinue to be an integral part of our Equality Training.

How to get involvedThe two courses to be held in October are now full, however we will be running the courses again. In the first quarterof next year it will be our intention to write to Branches asking them if they wish to nominate an EqualityRepresentative. This will be done by general circular. Members with any queries are free to contact Union HeadOffice for further information.

37

Equality Update

Trade Unions March against Disability Cuts

Civil Partnership Legislation put in Place

On July 19th, President Mary McAleese signed the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations ofCohabitants Act 2010. This legislation introduces civil partnerships for same sex couples and is seen as animportant step towards promoting equality. ICTU has welcomed the passing of the legislation as it extendsbenefits to gay and lesbian couples across a range of areas such as social welfare, succession, property,maintenance, pensions and tax. The civil partnership legislation does not represent full marriage equalityhowever - a key omission is the fact that it does not provide any right for same-sex couples with children to belegally recognised as joint parents.

Angela Kerins, Chairperson of the Equality Authority, commented: "On behalf of the Equality Authority, I warmly welcomethe signing into law of the new legislation to introduce civil partnerships for same-sex couples. This is a historic step forIreland and represents a key milestone in the progressive realisation of the right to marriage of gay and lesbian couples inthis country.

She continued stating "The process of the Civil Partnership Bill, including its passage through the Dáil without a vote, isa great indication of the support that exists in Irish society for the rights of all to equality.

"We look forward to the celebration very soon of the first civil partnerships, as our friends, family members and membersof our communities all over Ireland exercise their right to have their commitment to each other recognised by the laws ofour state. It is a cause for celebration and Ireland should be proud of this new and important development" said Kerins.

It is estimated that the ICTU will be producing information guidelines for LGBT workers and trade unions in the autumn.

On July 7th, intellectual disabilities support group, Inclusion Ireland

co-ordinated a protest march under the banner “People with

Disabilities Say no More Cuts”. The march commenced at the Garden

of Remembrance, continued down O’Connell Street and went from

there to Leinster House.

According to Inclusion Ireland many people with disabilities and

their families have seen a cut to the services they receive and the

march was organised as a protest to such cuts. It was estimated that

approximately 3,000 attended the march which included people with disabilities and their families from a variety

of areas in the country. Many Trade Unions also attended the march and the CWU was well represented. The

march itself received considerable media attention and was raised as an issue during Leaders Questions in the Dáil

that morning. Taoiseach Brian Cowen said no decisions in relation to disability cuts had been made, but Inclusion

Ireland is aware of areas where respite has been reduced.

For more information please see www.inclusionireland.ie

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Irish Worries ForThe Global Economy

by Peter Boone and Simon Johnson

Is the global economic recovery still on track?The mainstream view is: yes, without a doubt. Butincreasingly, there are increasingly reasons tofear another financial disruption – particularlygiven the latest developments in Ireland.

The consensus among officials and most of theinternational banking community is that the global economyhas stabilized and is now well down the road to recovery.The speed of this recovery is proving disappointing – as seenin the revised second-quarter growth estimate for grossdomestic product in the United States, with annualizedgrowth down to 1.6 percent. But, according to this view, easymonetary policy and still-loose fiscal policy around theworld will keep sufficient momentum going.

Never mind that Japan, the United States and most ofEurope are running unsustainable fiscal policies, while theFederal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is fretting over howto prevent deflation with a limited toolbox, and Jean-ClaudeTrichet, president of the European Central Bank, is callingfor more fiscal tightening. To enjoy this rosy global picture,we are also told to ignore the plight of heavily indebtedperipheral euro-zone nations still suffering fromuncompetitive wages and prices, and concerns over default,that strangle their credit markets and growth.

An essential part of this relatively positive view is that theeuro-zone economies have stopped the series of “financialruns” that, earlier this year, took intense market pressurefrom Greece to Portugal and Ireland and threatened to moveon to Spain and potentially almost everywhere else (except,presumably, Germany). A collapse was averted in large partby the euro-zone countries agreeing to rescue each other –meaning that the Germans agreed to support Greece andother weaker countries – with some additional cashresources provided by the International Monetary Fund.

However, let’s be clear: Europe’s headache remains large,and this should concern all of us – just look at Ireland to seehow misunderstood and immediate the remaining dangersare. Ireland’s difficulties arose because of a massive propertyboom financed by cheap credit from Irish banks. Ireland’sthree main banks built up loans and investments by 2008 thatwere three times the size of the national economy; these bigbanks (relative to the economy) pushed the frontier in termsof reckless lending. The banks got the upside, and then camethe global crash in fall 2008: property prices fell more than50 percent, construction and development stopped, andpeople stopped repaying loans. Today roughly one-third ofthe loans on the balance sheets of major banks are

nonperforming or “under surveillance”; that’s an astonishing100 percent of gross national product, in terms of potentiallybad debts.

The government responded to this with what are currentlyregarded as “standard” policies in Europe and America. Itguaranteed all the liabilities of banks and began injectinggovernment funds to keep these financial institutions afloat. Itbought the most worthless assets from banks, paying themgovernment bonds in return. Ministers have promised torecapitalize banks that need more capital. Despite or perhapsbecause of this therapy, financial markets are beginning to seeIreland as Europe’s next Greece. In the last few weeks theperceived probability of default by Ireland (as traded in credit-default swap markets) has shot up, so that markets now pricea 25 percent risk that Ireland will default within five years.

Until very recently, Ireland was seen as Europe’s posterchild of prudent reforms. Mr. Trichet himself highlightedIreland as an example that Greece and other financiallystricken nations should follow. His message was simple: Ifonly Greece, or Portugal or Spain would cut public wages,reduce the budget deficit and make structural reforms asIreland has done, then growth could occur and defaultprevented.

However, it is now apparent that Ireland has not doneenough to stem its march toward further crisis. The ultimateresult of Ireland’s bank bailout exercise is obvious: one wayor another, the government will have converted the liabilitiesof private banks into debts of the sovereign (that is, Irishtaxpayers), yet the nation probably cannot afford these debts.According to the Royal Bank of Scotland, Irish banks havedebt worth 26 billion euros, or one-fifth of Ireland’s nationalincome, coming due in the month of September alone.Ireland’s third largest bank just announced it will likely need25bn euros in total capital injections from the government(19% of Gross National Product, GNP), while Standard andPoor’s argue this figure is too low. In total, the debts of Irishbanks could easily result in a charge to government debtequal to one-third of G.N.P.

These debts need to be added to the fiscal deficit, whichalso remains dangerously out of control. This year thegovernment will run a deficit of 15 percent of G.N.P., andwith nominal G.N.P. falling, it could well remain that highnext year, even if the government cuts spending by the 2 to3 percent of G.N.P. currently envisaged.

The government is gambling that growth will recover tomore than 4 percent a year starting in 2012, in order to makeall this spending and debt affordable, and officials insist thatgrowth is already under way. Ireland’s gross domesticproduct did grow in the first quarter of 2010, but that wasnot the good news that many press and officials claimed.

This misunderstanding stems from Ireland’s success as atax haven. Many years ago Ireland cut corporate taxes toattract business. This created one of Europe’s most

Submitted by Ian McArdle

39

impressive tax havens – it is possible to set up a corporationin Ireland, channel sales through that head office (with somehighly complicated links to offshore tax havens in order notto pay Irish tax) and then pay a minuscule corporate profitstax. Ireland boasts a large industry of foreign “taxminimizers” that do this, but these tax minimizers hardlyemploy any people. Nearly one-quarter of Irish G.D.P.comes from the profits of these ghost corporations.

The likes of Google, Yahoo, Forest Labs and many othershelped Ireland’s exports grow in the first quarter, but thedomestic economy when excluding their profits, asmeasured by G.N.P., actually contracted, and so did Ireland’stax revenues and employment. Today Irish unemploymentis estimated at 13.8 percent, up from 13.1 percent at the startof the year.

Ireland, simply put, appears insolvent under plausiblescenarios with current policies. The idea that Ireland, Greeceor Portugal can cut spending and grow out of overvaluedexchange rates with still large budget deficits, whileservicing all their debts and building more debt, is proving– not surprisingly – wrong. Such policies leave nationsburdened with large debt overhangs that effectively taxbusinesses and borrowers – because interest rates must stayhigh to reflect risk.

Investors must wonder whether businesses andhomeowners can afford these higher interest rates, so banksand investors cut credit lines and reduce lending. Thisstrangles economies, even when the fiscal authorities taketough steps needed to cut deficits.

Ireland had more prudent choices. It could have cut the

budget deficit while also acknowledging insolvency andrequiring creditors to share some of the burdens. But a stronglobby of real estate developers, the investors who boughtbanks’ bonds and politicians with links to the faileddevelopments (and their bankers) prefer that taxpayers ratherthan creditors pay. The European Central Bank, theEuropean Union and the International Monetary Fund sharesome responsibility; they advocate these unlikely programsin order that European and global banks, which provided thefunds to the Irish banks, do not suffer losses from such badlending decisions.

The Irish government plan is – with good reason – highlyunpopular, but the coalition of interests in its favor seemsstrong enough to ensure that it will proceed, at least until iteither succeeds and growth recovers, or ends in completefailure with default of banks or the nation itself.Under the current program, we estimate each Irish family offour will be liable for 200,000 euros in public debt by 2015.There are only 73,000 children born into the country eachyear, and these children will be paying off debts for decadesto come – as well as needing to accept much greater austeritythan has already been implemented. There is no doubt thatsocial welfare systems, health care and education spendingwill decline sharply.Watch for renewed emigration from a famously footloosepopulation. If current policies continue, the calamity of theIrish banking system will lead to a much deeper recessionand the consequences will be felt for decades. Watch alsofor further global financial disruption as this kind of dealstarts to unravel.

The Union has recently entered a number ofaffinity schemes with various companies toprovide our members with discounts on a rangeof products and services including hotels,insurance and leisure activities. It is the intentionof the Union to continually seek additionaldiscounts from suitable partners.

Aura Sport & LeisureManagement Ltd

Aura and the CommunicationsWorkers’ Union have teamed up toprovide members of the CWU witha 10% discount on the cost of anannual membership. This offer is

available to all members of the CWU and is valid at all 8Aura leisure centres throughout Ireland (Carrick-on-Shannon, Letterkenny, Tullamore, Youghal, Dundalk,Drogheda, Trim and Navan).

As the fastest growing operator in Ireland, Aura continuesto deliver on its promise of value and great service for all ofits users – a simple formula with a proven track record ofsuccess.

Aura offers people of all ages and abilities the opportunityto become healthier and happier and to feel better aboutthemselves. Aura provides new and comfortablesurroundings, state-of-the-art equipment and a range ofcourses, classes, fitness programs and activities for bothadults and children.

To avail of this offer simply present your Unionmembership card at any of the 8 Aura leisure centres andyou will receive a 10 % discount on the cost of annualmembership.

The cost of annual membership and facilities vary fromcentre to centre. Family membership is available at all Auraleisure centres and CWU members can avail of discountsaveraging €100 per family. Aura also provides the option ofpaying by direct debit. For more information on rates and facilities contact yournearest Aura leisure centre or email gerard@cwu.ie

CWU Added Members Benefits

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McInerney Sports

Good News for sports fans. The Communications Workers’Union has negotiated a 10% discount on all purchases offootball packages for CWU members. This offer is availableon all packages to England, Scotland and Spain. To avail ofthis offer please quote your CWU membership number attime of booking. For booking call 1850 206 080 or visitwww.mcinerneysports.com

Why Fair Hotels in Ireland?Fair Hotels is an initiative of hotel workersemployed in Fair Hotels throughout Irelandand their trade union representatives.Hotels listed on their website were invitedto participate in the Fair Hotels campaignby their own staff and their staffs’

representatives. Each of the hotels listed has agreed toparticipate. The objective is to support and promote qualityemployment in the hotel industry in Ireland.

Fair Hotels accept that in order for a hotel to runefficiently and safely, workers need to have a voice inminimising potential risks to their health from accidents andinjuries. Fair Hotels know that client satisfaction depends onexcellent customer service. They know that workers who aretreated right will go the extra mile to ensure that customersare treated right. It is more important than ever to supportfellow trade unionists and the use of workers’ purchasingpower is one way of achieving that end. Fair Hotels has 43hotels classified as fair, to view the hotels visitwww.fairhotels.ieThe services of Hotel Solutions are also available free tomembers who wish to book hotels and want a pricecomparison for different hotels on (01) 628 0111 orinfo@hotelsolutions.ie.

Vision ExpressThe CWU has teamedup with Vision Expressto enable our membersto avail of special offers

on spectacles and contact lenses. To avail of the offer justprint the voucher from the CWU website www.cwu.ie .Vouchers are also available from Union Headquarters justcall 01 8663000 to arrange to have one sent bypost. VisionExpress has stores in Athlone, Cork, Galway and Dublin.Contact your nearest store to arrange an appointment andremember to bring your voucher!Find a store near you on the websitewww.visionexpress.ie

Hibernian Aviva Health(FM Downes & Co. Brokers)

Hibernian Aviva Health gives you theconfidence to know you’re making the bestchoices for you and your family’s healthwith a plan that delivers quality healthcarealong with excellent value for money. FMDownes & Co. Brokers are authorisedintermediaries for Hibernian Aviva Health

and we are delighted to advise you of one of the mostpopular plans on the market. CWU members receive a 10%discount with FM Downes & Co. approved schemes.To find out more about ‘Business Plan Extra’ call(01) 855 6666 or email info@fmdownes.com

HALLIgAN INSURANCE

Halligan Insurance offers a range ofdiscounted schemes for CWU members asfollows:

CWU Motor SchemeOffering a competitive rate and designed for CWU membersand their spouses. Full bonus protection and windscreencover automatically included CWU House Scheme

Comprehensive cover for both buildings and contents.Includes accidental damage cover and miscellaneous coverfor valuables/ money lost or stolen outside the home, at noextra charge.

CWU Group Life SchemeGroup life insurance AVC scheme cover of €100,000 permember, plus €100,000 per spouse, plus €10,000 per child.

CWU Specified Illness SchemeCWU specified illness scheme cover of €50,000 permember, plus €50,000 per spouse, plus €20,000 per child.

CWU (Voluntary) Personal Accident SchemeDeath by accidental means cover of €70,000 per member,plus €70,000 per spouse, plus €3,175 per child.

If you would like further information on these schemescall (01) 879 7100 or visit the website www.halligan.ie

NATIONAL SEA LIFE CENTREGreat family-day-out - special discountsfor CWU members and their families.

Individuals: Save €3 off full admissionpriceSpecial family offer: Supersaver deal of €20 for family of4 (normal price €35). Offer cannot be used in conjunctionwith any other offer or promotion.To avail of this offer simply contact National Sea LifeCentre, Bray Seafront, Bray, Co. Wicklow. Tel: (01) 286 6939 or visit www.sealife.ie

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PINNACLE Driving SchoolThe Communications Workers’Union has teamed up withPinnacle Driving School, a

national driving school with instructors in Dublin, Cork,Galway, Limerick and Bray to provide discounted drivinglessons to all CWU members. All instructors are ADIqualified and pass rates are at least 15% above the averagein all test centres. This offer is also extended to CWUmembers buying gift vouchers for a third-party. Unlike othervouchers Pinnacles do not have an expiry. So they can beredeemed at any time in the future.

CWU Members can avail of the special offer of only €30per lesson (normally €35), this includes pre-test lessons andis extended to the family of CWU members. To book a lesson please call (01) 455 9231 and quoteCWU offer or visit their websites:Dublin: www.drivinglessonsdublin.ieCork: www.drivinglessonscork.comLimerick: www.drivinglessonslimerick.ieGalway: www.drivinglessonsgalwaycity.ieBray: www.drivinglessonsbray.ie

Eircom PhoneWatchA very special offer for allCWU members from eircomPhoneWatch: Get 25% off a

customised alarm system for your home. Simply call 1850500 900 and quote CWU.

Eircom PhoneWatch offers you the best in home andbusiness security:• Home security advice from the largest provider of

alarms systems and monitoring solutions in Ireland• Alarms designed to suit your home, budget and your

security needs• We will monitor your home 24/7, 365 days a year• As soon as your alarm activates, one of our trained 24

hour monitoring staff will personally contact you, yourkeyholders and/or the emergency services and take therelevant action

Terms & Conditions apply. Closing date 31st March 2011. www.phonewatch.ie

VIKING SPLASH TOURSPlanning a trip to Dublin, organising a superbstart to a corporate night out just trying toarrange something special for a child’sbirthday treat? Then why not book a trip onViking Splash Tours for a unique Dublin

experience by Land and Water. Our Viking tour guides arethe most engaging and amusing that you are likely to find inDublin City. With our fantastic Amphibious World War IIvehicles (DUKWs) the tour will show you around the sightsof Dublin city by land and by water! (Tour lasts approx 1 hr15mins).

Frequent departures throughout the year. Please Call inadvance to make your booking (01) 707 6000. Pricing isas follows:Adult (full-price) €20 / Children (12 and under) / €10Students/Seniors €18Members of the Communications Workers’ Union willreceive a 10% discount on these prices. To avail of thisoffer mention that you are a Communications Workers'Union member at time of booking.

Remember that the union also has its ownadded members’ benefit schemes includingthe Orphan’s Pension Scheme. In the eventof the member's death, a sum of €20.00 perweek (paid monthly), will be made inrespect of each child registered with the

fund until that child reaches the age of 18 years. Membersmust register the names of each of their children with theFund in order to have cover provided by the scheme. Thisscheme is a free benefit to all members and applicationforms may be obtained from www.cwu.ie or from yourBranch Secretary or Union Headquarters. Please ensure yourchildren are covered.

The CWU Medical Benefit Fund provides members andtheir family’s grants towards the cost of optical, dental andsurgical appliances. Each member may make one claim ineach category in each year. Subject to the limits outlined.

Dental Grant Up to €305.00Optical Grant Up to €152.00Surgical & Medical Appliances Up to €152.00The cost of membership is €2.50 per week, €5.00 perfortnight or €10.84 per month by standing order deductedfrom your bank account. Full rules regarding the scheme areavailable from your branch secretary or union headquarters.CWU Personal Accident Scheme (no additional charge)All in benefit members are covered under the CWU

Personal Accident scheme this fund covers members whosuffer certain injuries or Death by accidental means. You areautomatically covered for the following benefits when youjoin the CWU

In the event of the following occurring Death byaccidental means, Permanent total disablement Loss of oneor both eyes, loss of one or both limbs, permanent and totalloss of speech, permanent and total loss of hearing in bothears members are automatically covered for €30,000. In theevent of a member fracturing an arm (including wrist,humerus, radius, and ulna) you are automatically coveredfor €750. In the event of fracturing a leg members arecovered for €1500. There is also provision for burns up to€6,000. The scheme also covers members who arehospitalised as a result of an accident (payable after 24 hourslimited to 52 weeks) for €300 per week.

You are automatically covered for the above benefitswhen you become an in benefit member of the union.

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CWU welcomes newmembers in CorkContact centre!As part of the ongoing strategic organising planthe Union is currently targeting customer servicecentres in Cork. Following detailed researchorganisers pinpointed companies which are mostsuitable to commence a membership campaign.

Zevas CommunicationsThe Communications Workers' Union has recruited severalnew members at Zevas Communications, a customerservice centre in Cork which employs approximately 60people. CWU organisers spoke with workers at Zevas whoidentified several concerns with their terms and conditions ofemployment. Organisers arranged an “employment rightsinformation” event which took place at the end of August atthe Metropole hotel in Cork. This event informed workersof their rights and entitlements at the workplace. This was agreat success and the organisers plan to arrange more“employment rights information days” at other locationsthroughout the country.This campaign is in its infancy and our aim is to encourageother workers at Zevas to continue to join the CWU. Thestaff are aware that the more of them that join CWUstrengthens their position during discussions withmanagement or any third party.

Former MLB Worker awarded€10,000 by Rights CommissionerAt a recent Rights Commissioner hearing the CWUrepresented a member who was a previously employed atMLB. He was awarded €10,000 and was found to beunfairly dismissed by his former employer. The worker hadbeen denied the right to union representation at disciplinarymeetings at which unsubstantiated allegations were put tohim. The company subsequently has amended its proceduresfollowing representation by CWU. The organisers continueto campaign at MLB to create an awareness of what a unioncan do for its members in the workplace following thissuccessful outcome.

CWU intensifies campaign atMeteor Retail Organisers recently held discussions with Meteor retailmanagement to agree a process to recruit Meteor retailworkers into the CWU. Meteor is 100% owned by eircomand an agreement is already in place for the union to visitnew workers at induction and invite them into the union.

However many Meteor workers commenced employmentprior to this agreement being in place and were not affordedthe opportunity to avail of union membership. Organiserswill shortly be visiting all Meteor retail stores to recruit newmembers. It is also hoped to commence the creation of aformal Meteor retail branch structure, if you are a memberwho is employed at a Meteor retail store and would like toget involved in this exciting venture please contactGerard@cwu.ie or call the organising section at Unionheadquarters 01 8663000.

Global Telesales Workers at Global Telesales are still awaiting a date at theLabour Court that arose from a Labour RelationCommissioners (LRC) report regarding the changing ofsalary bands at the company. The pressure that the industrialrelations mechanism of the state is under was recentlyhighlighted by the LRC chief executive Kieran Mulvey.Speaking at a conference marking 20 years of the IndustrialRelations Act 1990 organised by the UCD School of Lawhe stated that the economic downturn had caused a surge inreferrals with employees seeking to secure protection of payor prevention of pay cuts. There were 47,500 referrals to itsRights Commissioner service over the past five years butalmost 8,500 of those were in the first six months of this yearalone in addition Employment Appeals Tribunal cases arefacing an average waiting time of nearly 60 weeks. Speakingat the conference ICTU president Jack O’Connor said thelabour relations crisis was a result of policies which hadfavoured individual rather than collective bargaining withemployers, which meant people, had to separately takemeasures to achieve their rights.

“Over the last decade unions have effectively beenpersecuted in this country, with people in effect being deniedthe right to organise in the workplace and to collectivebargaining," he said. "It should be recognised that collectivebargaining is the most effective approach for both workerand employer for ensuring that a large number of people’sinterests can be catered for, rather than trying to pursueissues on an individual basis.”

The CWU acknowledges the frustration that our membersare experiencing as a result of the log jam at the LabourCourt and thanks you for your patience.

UPS BallymountFollowing requests from our members at UPS Ballymountorganisers visited the premises and distributed informationincluding a stress ball, ‘Know Your Rights’ cards,application forms and a newsletter. The newsletter was alsosent to all our members at UPS Ballymount via e mail. Theinformation was well received by the workers inBallymount. If you are a CWU member who works atBallymount and have not received a copy of the newsletter

43

please e mail Gerard@cwu.ie and a copy will be sentstraight to you.

Data IrelandData Ireland is a wholly owned subsidiary of An Post. Someof our members at Data Ireland are unfortunate victims ofthe current recession and have recently faced the prospectof redundancy. They immediately contacted the union todiscuss the issue. The union forwarded the case on to theLabour Relations Commission with a view to securingincreased terms for those facing redundancy and arecurrently awaiting a date for the case to be heard at theLabour Court. Discussions have also taken place betweenthe union senior An Post Management in an attempt toresolve this issue.

Dell IrelandAs reported in a previous issue of Connect, Dell Ireland

has maintained its position of refusing to engage withworkers to resolve their issues regarding shift changes andshift allowance reduction.

Our members have since filed individual grievances withthe company in an effort to settle these questions but havebeen unsuccessful in their attempts.

Following a communication from the company’s legalrepresentatives in response to the Union’s original referralto the Labour Relations Commission, the CWU has soughtits own legal advice and has referred the case to the LRC fora second time.

It is hoped that Dell will engage with their employees andthe CWU to resolve these issues in a productive andmutually satisfactory manner.

Youth Committee Fundraising EventTo support the efforts of CWU Humanitarian Aid the YouthCommittee of the CWU organised a fundraising night toraise much needed funds for the Convoy to Moldova.

The event took place on the 29th July in the Living Roombar in Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin. Proceedings kicked offwith a lively table quiz and after a tight race the quiz waswon by a team from Mandate Trade Union. Second placewent to a team from Telephone House. In a very generousgesture both teams offered to return their prizes to be used toraise more money for the fund. After the Quiz there was araffle with many prizes to be won thanks to the generosity ofall of you who contributed a prize.

The most coveted item on the night was an Ireland jersey,signed by members of the senior team and managerGiovanni Trappatoni which was auctioned off to the highestbidder and eventually sold for €550. Finally, everyoneenjoyed a Karaoke session and DJ into the night. A greatnight was had by all and many people are asking when theYouth Committee are holding their next event!

The Committee raised over €1100 for the fund and wouldlike to thank all of you who took the time to come andsupport such a worthy cause.

If you or someone you know would like to get involved inthe Youth Committee, or would simply like to knowmore, please contact Fionnuala on fnib@cwu.ie or 018663037.

From l to r: Eric Partridge, Caroline Corcoran,Fionnuala Ní Bhrogain, Dave Gibney

& Natalie McDonnell from Youth Group.

Lorraine, Pat Kenny & Tony Harmonfrom CWU HQ.

John Carthy & John Douglasfrom Mandate Trade Union.

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COMMUNICATIONSWORKERS’ UNION BAND

The CWU Band is seeking new members!!!Are you interested in joining a band and making new friends?

Are you a brass, woodwind, or percussion player?

All musicians are very welcome!

We rehearse every Sunday morning at CWU premises on the North CircularRoad, Dublin 1

To find out more, please contact:Jimmy O’Keeffe at 087-7970880;

Ciaran Scarlett at 087-2266640; or

Email: cwuband@gmail.com

Dear Colleague,

Following a review of the CWU Medical Fund it was agreed that thecontribution rates would be increased from €2.00 per week to €2.50 perweek to come into effect from 1st June 2010.

As you are aware an actuarial was carried out in 2007 which increasedbenefit payment by 20% and contributions by 10 cent. As per our auditedaccounts for 2009 the Medical Fund has shown a deficit of around€5,000.00. The Finance Committee and the National Executive Councilhave agreed the increase in contribution rates which was endorsed at ourBiennial Conference 2010.

Thanking you for your co-operation in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

STEPHEN FITZPATRICKGeneral Secretary, CWU.

14th May 2010 – G.S Circular General No. 16/10

CWU MEDICAL FUND

Beginners and New Members Welcome!

45

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William Joseph (‘Bill’ or ‘Billy’) Norton was born at 21 BathAvenue, Dublin, on 2 November 1900. His parents werePatrick (1875- ) a tram conductor and Bridget (née Malone)(1881- ) Norton. A Roman Catholic family, his parents werefrom Dublin and County Laois respectively.

William Norton, circa 1924

In 1911 Patrick, by then working as an auxiliary postman,and Bridget Norton and their two youngest children lived inone room at 17 Mount Pleasant Buildings, Rathmines. Intheir recently built block of mainly single room municipalapartments, thirty rooms housed eighty-one people. Suchwas an example of the mind-set of the policy makers of thetimes. William and his younger brother were then livingwith their grandparents at 41 Bath Avenue.

The eldest of eight children, William attended the localNational School. On leaving school aged thirteen hecommenced work in November 1913 as a Post Office boymessenger at 3s.6d. per week. By 1917 was a ‘Learner’ andachieved first place in Ireland in the Post Office Clerkshipsexaminations of that year.

He became involved in trade union branch affairs and by1921 was on the National Executive of the Association ofIrish Post Office Clerks. In September 1922 there was amajor postal strike in a vain effort to stave off wagereductions. There were four unions involved and on twooccasions, at Amiens Street and at Crown Alley, thosepicketing were fired on by soldiers and two people wereinjured. In 1923 the Post Office Workers’ Union (POWU)was established when two of the existing postal unionsmerged.

In 1923 Norton became POWU honorary OrganisingSecretary and in 1924 was appointed full-time GeneralSecretary and editor of The Postal Worker. Over his yearsas General Secretary, POWU membership grew from 3,500to nearly 7,000. Norton was an undoubted success as a tradeunion leader. From 1926 he was a member of the PostalTelegraph and Telephone International representing Ireland

and in 1957 he was unanimously elected as its President.From its inception the POWU was an Irish Labour Party andTrade Union Congress (ILPTUC) affiliate and from 1926 to1929 Norton served on its executive.

William Norton was elected, along with Marie Johnsonand Henry Barry, as Labour member of Rathmines TownCouncil in 1925. He was elected as a Labour Deputy to DáilÉireann at the County Dublin by-election in February 1926caused by the death of the Independent Deputy DarrellFiggis. He was the first Labour candidate ever to win a by-election.

The Labour Leader Thomas Johnson already held one ofthe constituency’s eight seats. At the June 1927 electionNorton failed to hold the second Labour seat, and in theelection three months later, in order not to imperil the Labourseat, Norton did not stand for leaving Johnson the soleLabour candidate.

Following the unexpected death of Labour Deputy HughColohan in April 1931, at the ensuing by-election in JulyNorton was the unsuccessful Labour candidate. However,six months later Norton was elected Labour Deputy forKildare in the 1932.

Norton was re-elected, sometimes heading the poll, at theten general elections up to and including 1961.

Norton was a leading advocated of the organisationaldivision, effected in 1930, of the ITUC from the LabourParty. The Party went into the February 1932 GeneralElection with thirteen seats and lost six, including that of theLeader, Thomas J. O’Connell of the INTO. Although theyoungest Labour Deputy, Norton was elected Party Leaderin February 1932, a position he held for twenty-eight years.

In 1932 Norton and Labour ensured the election of FiannaFáil to office for the first time. However, Labour in itssupport was insistent on the provision of a major housingprogramme, work for and proper maintenance for theunemployed, industrial development, widows’ and orphans’pensions and progress on other issues. An immediate planfor the provision of 40,000 local authority was announced,Unemployment Assistance was introduced in 1934 andWidows and Orphans Pensions in 1935. A three-manHousing Authority was also appointed with Thomas Johnsonas a member that was to oversee the building of 80,000 localauthority dwellings between 1932 and 1942. The FiannaFáil manifesto in the 1932 election also promised ‘toestablish an arbitration board to deal with the grievances ofthe civil service’.

In the following four elections the number of Labour seatsincreased to eight (1933), to thirteen (1937), declined to nine(1938) and almost doubled to seventeen (1943).

William Norton (1900 – 1963)An Unsung Trade Union and Labour Leader

by Barry Desmond and Charles Callan

49

Election leaflet, County Dublin February 1926 Norton was the firstLabour candidate elected at a by-election

Throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s, in the complex situationcreated by the incorporation of pre-1922 civil servants, DáilÉireann civil servants (1919-1922) Provisional Governmentcivil servants (1922) and new recruits after 1922, Nortonwas the leading and most effective trade union official in thepublic service, ably aided from 1928 to 1940 by ArchieHeron, General Secretary of the Civil Service ClericalAssociation (CSCA). Such was in the context of hostilegovernment opposition from both Cumann na nGaedhealand Fianna Fáil. The ‘Whitley Councils’, joint ‘staff’ and‘official’ bodies under an independent chairman that dealtwith industrial relations issues, that existed prior toindependence, were abandoned by the Irish government.The government was adamant in its refusal to institute anagreed civil service conciliation and arbitration system. As‘non civil servants’ neither Norton nor Heron, althoughrepresenting the bulk of civil servants, were afforded officialrecognition by the Department of Finance.

Deputies William Norton, William Davin and Senator Thomas Johnsonleaving Fianna Fáil offices on 8 March 1932 having agreed a‘programme for government’ with Deputies Éamon de Valera,

Seán T. O’Kelly and Gerald Boland in return for their support to deValera as President of the Executive Council. A year later Fianna Fáil

reneged on a key assurance, the introduction of a Conciliation andArbitration scheme for the civil servants

One of Norton’ many roles was as the Secretary, anddriving force, of the Transferred Officers’ ProtectionAssociation, a group of civil services unions established toensure that the provisions of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922and of the Saorstát Éireann Constitution were adhered inregard to civil servants.

In March 1937 Norton’s Dáil motion demanding theprovision of an agreed conciliation and arbitration schemefor the civil service was defeated. In April 1938 John A.Costello moved a similar Dáil motion, and significantlyCostello, who also frequently acted as Senior Counsel forthe ITUC, based his reasons, and acknowledged that he wasdoing so, almost entirely on those set out by Norton’s in hisspeech of March 1937. When the motion was carried by onevote, rather than implement its wishes de Valera dissolvedthe Dáil. Seán MacEntee was the Minister for Finance andhe became a bitter opponent of Norton over the next twentyyears. Norton was re-elected for the Carlow-KildareConstituency, his growing political stronghold, with greatPOWU support.

Norton and Senator Tom Johnson had worked hard tobuild the Labour Party in the 1930’s and to create asemblance of unity as the trade union warfare between theLarkins and William O’Brien intensified. They had also tocontend with the bitter residues of the Civil War. Thecampaign against both the Trade Union Act and the WagesStandstill Order of 1941 by the ‘Council of Action’,organised by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions andLabour Party branches, galvanised trade union and labouropposition that revived the fortunes of the party. The LabourParty became the biggest group on Dublin City Council in1942 and, as already noted, almost doubled its number ofDáil Deputies in 1943.

Norton addressing striking tram and bus workers April 1935

50

However, in January 1944 the ITGWU disaffiliated fromthe party and five of its eight associated Labour Deputiesformed a breakaway National Labour Party (NLP). A ‘red-scare’, based on the fact that a score (at most) of ex-membersof the Communist Party of Ireland had joined the party in1942, was manufactured to justify the breakaway. A morepotent cause was the decision of the Party, agreed by Norton,to nominate the two Larkin’s, James Junior and JamesSenior, in two Dublin constituencies in 1943. Both wereelected to the Dáil much to the fury of the ITGWU. In 1945the INTO also disaffiliated from the Party under pressurefrom the Catholic Church which had stridently opposed theterm ‘Workers’ Republic’ in the Party’s Constitution. Boththe ITGWU and INTO had been the major affiliates andcontributors of personnel and funds since 1922 and theirdisaffiliation seriously weakened the Labour Party. At the1944 General Election the Labour Party held eight seats andthe NLP four, their combined twelve being a loss of fivecompared to the 1943 total.

The ITUC itself was split in April 1945 when ten Irishunions disaffiliated and formed the Congress of Irish Unions(CIU). Norton and the POWU remained loyal to the ITUC,as did many other Irish unions, including all the civil andpublic service and teachers unions, an action that helpedbring about eventual unity and the formation of the ICTU in1959.

In 1948 the Labour Party won an extra six seats bring itstotal to fourteen, whilst the NLP won one bringing its totalto five. Although efforts were made by the CIU leadership,led by the ITGWU officers, to ensure that the NLP supportedthe return of Fianna Fáil to office, the first Inter-Partygovernment was formed in February 1948. Norton wascredited with being the architect of that government. In agovernment of thirteen members from five political parties,Norton was Tánaiste and Minister for Social Welfare. Theother Labour Cabinet member was Timothy J. Murphy,Minister for Local Government, and Brendan Corish wasParliamentary Secretary to the Ministers for LocalGovernment and Defence. Notably, the Labour CabinetMinisters were elected by the parliamentary party rather thanbeing nominated by Norton as Party Leader. James Everett,NLP Leader, became Minister for Posts & Telegraphs.

Returning from trade negotiations in London in 1948Daniel Morrissey (Industry & Commerce), John A. Costello

(Taoiseach), James Dillon (Agriculture), William Norton (Tánaiste,Social Welfare), Seán Mac Bride (External Affairs) and

Patrick Mc Gilligan (Finance)

Norton, besides being the first Labour Tánaiste andcabinet minister, was also the first Minister for SocialWelfare. Before 1948 health and welfare were within theremit of the Department of Local Government and PublicHealth. One of the first acts of the new government (withintwo months of taking office) was to introduce anindependent public service conciliation and arbitrationscheme. It is said that at the first conciliation and arbitrationmeeting, that Norton (Tánaiste, Minister for Social Welfareand acting Minister for Posts and Telegraphs) mischievouslyappeared as POWU General Secretary and negotiated withofficials of his own department.

Norton seems to have devoted his efforts to keeping thedisparate Government together and acted as its ‘problemsolver’ to the extent of divesting himself of the leadershipof his party in the Dáil for the term of that government.

One of Norton’s first acts was to implement a substantialincrease the basic old age pension. The so called system ofsocial welfare was in poor law tatters. During the FiannaFáil - de Valera government from 1932 to 1948 the totalincreases in weekly old age pensions were two shillings andsix pence in rural Ireland and five shillings in urban areas!Norton immediately increased pensions by five shillings perweek. He then published a White Paper on Social Securityin 1949 which proposed to unify the three schemes ofsickness, unemployment and widows’ and orphans’pensions. He also proposed to introduce for the first time,maternity allowances, retirement pensions and death grants.The last ensured that the poor were relieved of the inordinatefear of ‘being buried as a pauper’. He also negotiatedreciprocal social welfare benefits with the British andNorthern Ireland governments.

In these historic endeavours he met a barrage of criticismfrom chagrin elements in Fianna Fáil, from some reactionaryCatholic sociologists, and the major farming organisations.Norton received little credit for his endeavours from adivided trade union movement and was overshadowed bythe TB hospitals programme of Noel Browne and thedebacle over the Mother and Child scheme. However,Norton did receive the full support of Taoiseach John A.Costello, who was familiar with the sparse system ofWorkmen’s Compensation. Thus the foundations for thesocial insurance system were laid in Ireland and mirroredthose of Britain and Northern Ireland.

One of Norton’s proudest achievements was theestablishment of the Industrial Development Authority(IDA) in 1949. There was sparse enthusiasm for theproposal in with the Department of Industry and Commercewhich saw its role diffused. The Secretary of Finance J.J.Mc Elligott feared the IDA would be ‘a crackpot socialistplanners’ forum. But Norton convinced the ministerconcerned, Dan Morrissey, to set up the IDA. The seedswere sown towards the decline of state tariff protectionismand the introduction of foreign industrial investment in theIrish economy. Irish historians have down played Norton’srole in this area of economic policy.

A further major achievement was the housing programme.In 1947 the number of local authority dwellings built was

51

744. By 1950 the number being built annually was over8,000. Moreover, much of the work was undertaken by thelocal authorities using direct labour, much to the fury of thebuilding trade employers. The achievement was deliveredagainst opposition from the Department of Finance. T.J.Murphy had served for a mere year as Minister for LocalGovernment before his untimely death in April 1949. Hehad laid out a major capital programme for local authorityhousing which was completed by his replacement, LabourDeputy Michael Keyes. These houses also curbed the spreadof tuberculosis.

When the Labour Party and NLP re-united in June 1950,Norton retained the party leadership. In 1951 Norton alsoacted as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when JamesEverett was absent through illness.

The Labour Party entered the 1951 General Election withnineteen seats and returned with sixteen. In 1954 the Partysecured nineteen seats and between then and 1957 Nortonwas again Tánaiste and Minister for Industry and Commercein the second Inter-Party Government of three parties. HisLabour cabinet colleagues were Brendan Corish (SocialWelfare), James Everett (Justice) and Michael Keyes (Postsand Telegraphs), with William Davin as a ParliamentarySecretary (Local Government).

Some of his latter achievements included the FactoriesAct, 1955. Norton and the IDA engaged in protractednegotiations with the major oil companies to erect a majoroil refinery at Whitegate, County Cork. This majordevelopment was completed by April 1959, was fullyunionised, but the work of Norton was completely ignoredat the opening. Regarding the late conversion of hisopponents for the need for external investment, on 5December 1957 in the Dáil he could only remark that‘Barely had I said that when a howl of criticism was releasedfrom all the shallow minds of the Fianna Fáil party sayingthat this was absolutely anti-national. … I notice there hasbeen a rapid conversion … ’.

From 1940 until he died Norton was a member of theCouncil of state and from 1940 to 1945 was a member of theall-party Defence Council. He was a member of the DáilPublic Accounts Committee. His experience as a member ofthe Council of Europe probably influenced his positive

attitude towards Ireland’s aspiration to join the EEC, a stancethat put him very much in the minority in the political andindustrial labour movement.

Norton was a ‘labourist’ rather than a socialist. He was astaunch Roman Catholic and in 1959 had a private audiencewith Pope John XXIII. Norton has often been accused ofbeing a conservative trade union and labour leader. He did,however, trenchantly oppose the Blueshirts in the 1930’s andthe strident republican rhetoric of de Valera and the IRA, anddictatorship in any form. He was unwavering in his defenceand advancement of trade union and worker recognition andpublic service employment rights. His social conservatismwas reflective of the dominant social mores of those decades.During the Mother and Child crisis he made valiant efforts,with the officers of the ITUC, to resolve the dispute.Norton resigned as Labour Leader on 24 February 1960 andwas replaced by Brendan Corish. It was only after hisresignation as Labour Leader that he applied for and wasawarded a War of Independence Medal, for covert activitieswithin the postal services on behalf of the militaryintelligence operation of Joe McGrath and Michael Collins.He remained a close confidant of Joe McGrath.

The Postal Worker Vol. 41 No. 12, December 1963

Arbitration Board in session 1952 (from left) J.J. Mc Elligott (Secretary, Department of Finance), General Daniel McKenna (Chairman), LiamMorrissey, William Bell (POWU), unidentified, William Norton TD (POWU) Staff Side Panel

52

Viewed over his thirty six years of leadership, of thePOWU General Secretary from 1924 to 1957 and as LabourLeader from 1932, Norton’s workload and performance wasphenomenal. The Dáil Debates reveal him as having been asignificant national figure and diligent constituencyrepresentative. Assiduous in pursuing the minutiae ofconstituency affairs, and nationally important issues underalmost every heading, his frequent and often lengthycontributions displayed a wide ranging knowledge, a cogentfluency.

On his death The Irish Times was of the view that ‘withMr Lemass he probably was the ablest and shrewdest deputyin the Dáil’. Mr J.C. Horgan of the Higher OfficersAssociations recorded: ‘In 1952-53, when the civil servicedisplayed unprecedented fury and solidarity in resisting thegovernment’s attitude to the McKenna Award, it found itsinspiration in Bill Norton. He was at the centre of the fight,addressing words of encouragement, making decisions,giving directions’.

Norton never received the recognition or credit that is hisdue. His contribution to the development of national politicsand the stability of the state, in providing the vital elementin the successful transition of power less than a decade afterthe Civil War, and again in 1948, has been downplayed byhistorians. So too has his contribution to the wellbeing ofworkers in the communications sector, in the civil and publicservice, and of the people as a whole, especially in respect ofworkers, their families, widows and orphans, the poor andthe elderly. An indication of Norton’s stature in the labourmovement, was shown when he was chosen to deliver theoration at the grave of Big Jim Larkin in 1947.

The animosity and venom voiced and written against him,particularly during the vicious splits in the trade union andlabour movement in the 1940s was regularly featured in theeditorials of the Irish Press and among the CIU leadershipwho not forgive him as a key figure in the formation of thefirst Inter-Party Government, revealed more about his critics

than it did about Norton.William Norton died aged sixty-three, at his home, 6

Merlyn Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, on 4 December 1963.Following a funeral service at the Star of the Sea Church,Sandymont, he was buried at Dean’s Grange Cemetery. Hisfuneral was attended by President Éamon de Valera, the LordMayor of Dublin, many Deputies and Senators and membersof the judiciary. Brendan Corish paid tribute to his life andwork at the graveside.

Predeceased by a daughter, he was survived by his wifeHelena, daughter Eileen and sons Patrick, Kevin, Brendanand William.

Some of William Norton’s papers (as part of the POWUrecords) are held at the Irish Labour History SocietyArchives.

May we suggest a plaque to his memory at Bath Avenue!____________________

Barry Desmond is a member of the ITGWU-SIPTU since1957; Labour Deputy, Dun Laoghaire 1969-1989, MEP1989-1994, Minister for Health and Social Welfare 1982-1987, European Court of Auditors 1994-2000, and formerDeputy Leader of the Labour Party. His latest book, NoWorkers’ Republic! – Reflections of Labour and Ireland,1913-1967 appeared in 2009.

Charles Callan is a member of the INPDTU-FWUI-SIPTUsince 1961, a retired public servant, and former Presidentand Secretary of the Irish Labour History Society. His bookPainters in Union – the Irish National Painters’ &Decorators’ Trade Union and its forerunners appeared in2008.

Both of the above books are available at €20 paperback or€30 hardback (post & packing included) directly fromWatchword Ltd at email: watchwordinfo@gmail.com – or –telephone: 087-2991487

Get into print!Anyone wishing to submit articles or photos to appear in the Connect journal,

please, either email to:

imelda@cwu.ie

or post to Imelda Wall

Communications Workers’ Union575 North Circular Road, Dublin 1.

53

Emergence of British PostalTrade UnionismAgitation among postal staffs first began in the mid-nineteenth century. Attempts at organisation were repressedby mass dismissals and tough disciplinary measures againstany suspected of being involved. Secret reporting added tothe difficulties of those courageous enough to advance theworkers’ cause. Nevertheless, five Unions were established:the Fawcett Association, founded in 1890; United KingdomPostal Clerks’ Association (1886); and Post Office Clerks’Association (1881), catering for clerical grades; andPostmen’s Federation (1891) and Amalgamated Engineering& Stores Association (1886) catering for manipulative andmanual grades. All were active in Ireland, particularly thePostmen’s Federation.

The question of improving the onerous conditions and theService’s military-style command structure, together withthe fundamental task of improving the ‘sweated’ wages weredealt with by a series of Parliamentary Committees ofInquiry: Tweedmouth, 1897; Bradford, 1904; Hobhouse,1907; and Holt, 1913. Postal Unions presented directevidence to these inquiries, displaying invention and well-researched argument, but also a certain deference to theiremployers. None of the Unions had rules enabling strikeaction so, although the Post Office heard the increasinglyloud barks of the workers’ dogs, they were secure in theknowledge that they would never bite! From 1905, thePostmaster General granted formal recognition to PostOffice Unions but the Department still maintained a distant,delaying and, sometimes, openly contemptuous attitude tothe workers’ representations.

Dual Workers’ Association& the Association of IrishPost Office ClerksAfter the Tweedmouth Commission, the position of DualWorker was created. They were trained, simultaneously, asSorting Clerks and Telegraphists and were introduced toovercome staff shortages. They quickly became an exploitedgroup with promised transfer to permanent status neverfulfilled. In Ireland, where exploitation seemed worse, the

first Irish-based postal union was formed in November 1900among Dublin Sorting Clerks & Telegraphists (SC&Ts) – theDual Workers’ Association (DWA) It started with 100members but had an ambitions to become the ‘sole HomeAssociation’. By their first Conference, in Dublin in 1903,they had absorbed the Irish membership of the FawcettAssociation and had a Cork Branch. Their motive was notparticularly nationalistic – they simply believed thatconditions for Irish postal workers were worse than those inBritain and were best dealt with by an Irish-basedorganisation. From 1903, they produced a fine monthlyjournal, the Dual Workers’ Guardian. ‘Printed on IrishPaper’, the Guardian claimed it ‘guaranteed to have thelargest circulation in Ireland of any Service Organ publishedin the United Kingdom’. It certainly impacted on other CivilService unions and established a long-standing achievementof Irish postal trade unionism, its ability to lead and influenceindustrial and political opinion for all public servants.

Dual Workers’ Guardian, October 1903

Our Union – the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) – is theproduct of various amalgamations and mergers over the years. The

CWU can identify a strong lineage dating back from 1900.

Origins of Our Union

54

The DWA assiduously gathered information regardingpay and conditions and fearlessly put forward claims forimprovements. They published their submissions, as in 1904,when a special Guardian, outlined the DWA’s demand forimprovement in the scandalously low wages. This activityattracted new members and, in 1904, with sixteen branchesin all major centres, the union changed its title to theAssociation of Irish Post Office Clerks (AIPOC). Theirpaper, the Irish Postal & Telegraph Guardian, now beingprinted not just on Irish paper but also with Irish ink!

The AIPOC developed close fraternal links with Britishunions, both within Ireland and across channel, particularlythe Postmen’s Federation. They gave direct evidence toParliamentary Committees but relied on their Britishcolleagues to represent their claims at the National JointCommittee. The AIPOC lobbied MPs, being served well byJ.P. Nannetti, William Field and Alexander Sloan. At publicrallies, it was commonplace for MPs, Dublin’s Lord Mayorand other well-known figures to address the crowds, suchwas the AIPOC’s success in persuading public opinion of itscause.

AIPOC pioneer figures were B.C. Bergin, George Hurleyand John Normile, courageous men who risked theiremployment. All Officers and Executive members wereunpaid and made huge personal sacrifices in running whatwas now a significant national body. Women were wellrepresented – particularly in Dublin Telephones. LucyLawrenson addressed mass rallies in the Mansion House,pioneering public activity for women. The Union sought‘equal pay for equal work’ from 1910, a demand decades inadvance of the battle for equal pay in the 1960s and 1970s.

AIPOC activity until 1914 was a slow round ofmemoranda to the Department, lobbying and organising,

mundane but essential activity that built the Union anddeveloped Trade Union consciousness. The Executivebecame more and more aware of the wastefulness ofsectionalism, openly campaigning for an ‘All Grades’ IrishUnion. The dislocation of War and the continuous rise in thecost of living, focussed attention elsewhere. Energy was putinto securing War Bonuses and preventing discriminatoryapplication these bonuses in Ireland.

Irish Postal & Telegraph Guardian, August 1904

The Irish Postal Union

The Easter Rising divided AIPOC members. Loyalty to the‘Service’ and the fact that many Post Office employees hadArmy backgrounds generated ambiguous attitudes. After1916, however, a more National perspective emerged and, in

April 1920, the first strike of Irish postal workers took placewhen the AIPOC supported the General Strike to demandthe release of Republican Hunger Strikers in Mountjoy. Theunion also changed its title to the Irish Postal Union (IPU)and, with expectations of independence, openly invited thosein British postal unions to join with them.

Second Annual Conference,AIPOC, Mansion House,Dublin, July 1905. Note thefive women delegates.

55

Irish Postal Workers’ Union& Irish Post OfficeEngineering UnionAfter 1922, the Union of Post Office Workers and PostOffice Engineering Union withdrew but generouslysupported the creation of the Irish Postal Office Workers’Union (IPWU) and Irish Post Office Engineering Union(IPOEU). In Belfast, IPU members declined to join a BritishUnion and created the Post Office Clerks’ Association(Northern Ireland) which continued in existence until the1960s. When the Saorstát Éireann Government cut PostOffice workers wages, the IPU led a threatened strike. TheGovernment appointed the Douglas Commission toinvestigate matters but when they declined to implement itsinterim findings, a postal strike took place from 10-19September, 1922, with the IPU in a lead role.

An appeal for unity in An Post Gaedhealach, journal of theIrish Post Office Workers’ Union, April 1923

In December, the Douglas Commission recommendedincreases in pay, improved conditions and various otherbenefits. The three Irish postal unions – the IPU, IPOWUand IPOEU – had collaborated in drafting a joint submission,discovering that they had much in common and werestronger speaking with one voice.

Post Office Workers’ UnionAt conferences held on the 7-8 June, 1923, the IPU, IPOWUand IPOEU amalgamated to form the Post Office Workers’Union (POWU), a single union for Irish Post Officeemployees. It was not all plain sailing. The IPU Dublin

Telephones Branch and IPOEU both backed out of themerger. The Telephone members quickly rejoined but theIPOEU remained an independent body, albeit a small andineffective one, as, from 1925, most engineering gradesjoined the POWU. The POWU journal An Díon maintainedthe tradition for high-quality journalism. In 1924, WilliamNorton, a young man born in 1900, was appointed POWUGeneral Secretary. A giant had stepped onto the Irish LabourMovement stage. The POWU grew into a significant union,nationally and internationally.

st Office Workers’ UnionThus, less than twenty-five years after a handful of DublinSC&Ts established the DWA, Irish Post Office workerscreated a united, purposeful union. It affiliated to the IrishTrade Union Congress and had a clear socialist perspectivein its opposition to the reactionary policies of Cumann nanGaedheal Governments.

The lessons of organisation, member involvement andclarity of purpose and action serve as reminders to CWUmembers that in unity there is strength. Public sector cuts,threats to employment security and worsening of conditionsface today’s members. Just as those in the past consciouslystood together to change and make history, history calls ontoday’s members to demonstrate the same commitment tochange the future and make their own history. Hopefully, ourcontribution will, eventually, be written about with the samepride and respect as that recorded here.Francis Devine

In researching this piece, I am grateful to StephenFitzpatrick, Joe Guinan, Monica Hempenstall, Pat Kenny,Charlie O’Neill, Imelda Wall & all CWU Head Office Stafffor their support and assistance.

Francis Divine

56

Dear Colleagues

You will not believe this - today the Government pressoffice has issued a statement calling on the labourinspectorate to look the other way while em ployers breakworking time rules - We are responding - Esther Lynch

Galway West Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey hascalled for the approach by the NationalEmployment Rights Agency, NERA, to berelaxed amid reports from some businessesthat they are being hassled by the overlystrict enforcement of regulations.

He has met with the Minister forEnterprise, Trade and Innovation BattO’Keeffe TD, to highlight the issue with him.

“I have been contacted by local businesspeople in the hospitality and manufacturingindustries in Galway who are very concerned aboutwhat they say is an unnecessarily zealous approach beingtaken by some NERA officers in the enforcement ofregulations.”

“While it is very important that we maintain the highstandards that have been achieved in employment rights, I donot think that it is fair that outside officers are interfering inwork arrangements which both employers and employeesare very happy with.”

“One example is of a local hotel where employees mightsleep on the premises overnight to do an early shift followinga late evening shift.

This can suit employees because their working days arecloser together, allowing them better time off. It also reducessome of the travel from their home to their work. However,NERA regulations stipulate that there must be a minimum of

an 11 hours break between shifts, and they areinsisting on the strict enforcement of this,

regardless of the wishes of the people on theground.”“When people are happy with a certain workarrangement, and their rights are notexploited, NERA should not be causing themthis extra hassle at a time at a time when doing

business is already very difficult.”“It appears that NERA is engaged in the

nonsensical enforcement of regulations.”“I have asked Minister O’Keeffe to consider looking

at this issue. In light of the financial constraints facing theGovernment Departments right now, I believe that NERA’sBudget should be cut and it should possible be amalgamatedwith one of the other regulatory organisations in the nearfuture.”

“We in Government have worked hard to improveemployment rights and a lot has been achieved, but we alsoneed to have some common sense on this issue,” concludedFrank Fahey TD.

“Zealous”

approach by

NERA must

be relaxed,

says Fahey

Fianna Fáil Press Office Release

CWU People

Retirements in Donegal SW

Hugh Quinn presenting scroll toMargaret Harley,

who has retired from counter staff totake over management

of the Donegal PO.

Packie Ellison, Killybegs PO, retirement presentation after 22 years’ of service. (in the photo l to r): Hugh Quinn branch Secretary, Paul Crawford, assistantChairperson, Packie Ellison retired and Martin O'Brien, assistant Secretary.

(Pictured Back Row l to r:) Richie Walsh ClusterD.S.M., John Wade, Kathleed Dixon & Damien Tuohy.

(Front Row l to r:) Micheal Carey (OperationsManager) & Michael Shaughnessy & Noel Tierney

Retirements atGalway Postal Branch

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CWU People

Tom Lally Retires from Galway Postal Branch

The Galway Postal Branch Members gathered in Crowe’sBar, Bohermore, Galway, on June 25th last, to mark theoccasion of the retirement of Tom Lally after 39 years loyalservice to the Union.

As Tom says himself, he was a Member of the Union“when it was dangerous, to be one” and has been a stalwartof the Galway Branch since the day he joined the Dept ofPosts & Telegraphs and latterly An Post.

Tom was well known outside of the job for his sporting

prowess, especially his ‘catlike’ agility in goal for GlasgowCeltic, Galway Rovers, Galway United and other League ofIreland clubs. In later years Tom turned his attention totraining teams in various sporting codes with a fair degree ofsuccess – the undoubted highlight being when he trainedKiltormer to the All Ireland Club Hurling title in 1992.

Tom will be missed by his colleagues in the Galway MailCentre and we would like to wish him, his wife Anne andfamily all the best in his retirement.

Pictured on the left:Tom Lally with his wife, Annand his daughters,Gillian and Joanna

Brian O'Connor (CWU - Branch Secretary)making a presentation to Tom

Mary Conroy (CWU - Galway Postal Branch)presenting flowers to Mrs Ann Lally

Common Signs &Symptoms ofMeningitis & Septicaemia

A Galway postperson,Noel Carroll and hiswife Siobhan, tragicallylost their daughter,Aoibhe, to Meningitistwo years ago. Sincethat fateful day, theyhave set out to raiseawareness of thisterrible disease and withthe help of theMeningitis Trust,educate people,especially parents, to thesigns and symptoms ofmeningitis.

www.meningitis-trust.ie

Trustyour

instincts –Get

medicalhelp

immediately!

58

CWU People

Bhí cúrsa Gaeilge ar siúl in Acadamh na hOllscolaíochtaGaeilge sa Cheathrú Rua, Co na Gaillimhe le déanaí. Bhían cúrsa eagraithe ag oibrithe de chuid An Post. De réirurlabharí dá gcuid, Seosamh mac Tréinfhir, bhí seachtainden scoth acu. “Bhí an tseachtain ar fheabhas ar fad.Bhaineamar sult as na ranganna agus na heachtraí sóisialtaa bhí ar siúl. Bhí an chraic again agus gan amhras ba é anturas chuig Inis Meáin buaic na tseachtaine. Bhí díomáorainn nuair a chualamar nach raibh An Post in ann aonuarraíocht a thabhairt duinn. In ainneoin sin táimid go léirag tnúth go mór leis an bhlain seo chugainn cheanna féin”.

Táthar i ndiaidh scéim asbhaint tuarastail a chur ibhfeidhm i gcomhar le Comhar Creidmheasa an Phoist. Archomh beag le €10 sa tseachtain beith fostaithe ábalta íocas an gcúrsa agus an lóistín faoin am a bheidh an cheádchúrsa eile ann.

Chun tuilleadh eolais a fháil téigh i dteagmháil leSeosamh mac Tréinfhir, fear an phoist, Lána Cardiff,B.Á.C.2 01 8318660, 085 2098815, joetraynor@dublin.ie

An Irish course took place in Acadamh na hOllsolaíochtaGaeilge in Carraroe, Co Galway recently. It was organisedby a group of an Post workers. According to spokesman forthe group, Seosamh Mac Tréinfhir, a great time was had byall. “It was a fantastic week. The classes and socialactivities were most enjoyable. We had great craic and thetrip to Inis Meáin was without doubt the highlight of theweek. We were disappointed to hear An Post was notwilling to give us any sponsorship. In spite of this we arelooking forward to next year already.”

A wage deduction scheme has been set up with An PostCredit Union. For as little as €10 a week, employees willbe able to pay for the course and the accommodation by thetime the course comes around next year.

For more information contact Seosamh mac Tréinfhir,Postman, Cardiff Lane, Dublin 2, 01 8318660, 0852098815, joetraynor@dublin.ie

Sa griangraph; Ar cúl: Áine Uí Dalaigh agus Críostóir Barún. Bairbre UíMhullaoidh, Seamus Ó Maracáin, Ben Ó Leathlobhair, John Darby,

Pascal O Meara, Catríona NíChonola, Val ÓBrolacháin, Eibhlín Nic an Bháird,Seosamh Mac Tréinfhir, Maitiú Ó Longain, Seán ÓhÁitartaig, Michael Dwyer

agus Tomás ÓDuinn (as láthair Póilín Nic Anna)

Cúrsa Gaeilge inAcadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge

59

60

John King,Tuam Postal Branch, Retires

CWU People

On The 16th of July last friends, family and colleaguesof Patrick Joseph Crowley Chairman of the DublinPostal Managers Branch congregated to celebrate hisretirement. “Joe” as he is known toall his friends, one of whom I ampersonally proud to be, Has been astaunch and loyal member of theCWU and also of the CMU(Communications Managers Union)prior the amalgamation of the twounions. Joe served as a branchcommittee member and officer of thePostal management branch CMUand for many years as Chairman ofthe current managers branch fightinghard on behalf of the members toprotect our conditions ofemployment. He also served theUnion at National level on the Standing OrdersCommittee ensuring that the Union Conferences etc

operated smoothly and without a hitch. A great night ofcraic ceol agus caint was had by all in attendance not tomention gallons of the black stuff consumed (and that

was just Joe!). Joe has retired tothe bosom of Dunmanway wherehere entered this mortal coil tohappily live out many years ofcontented retirement (Severallocal publicans have applied forloans to renovate their premisesbased on the tumultuous news ofhis return!) Joe will be greatlymissed by all who knew him inDublin in particular all of us whohave worked with him at branchand National level, suffice to saythat Joe will always have a lot offriends in Dublin and will be

always welcomed back on what we hope will be themany occasions he returns to his adopted home.

Joe Crowley Retires

Pictured l to r:Damien Touhy (NEC), Peter Connolly (Tuam Branch Secretary) and Mary and John King the Union Scroll being

presented to John by Seán McDonagh (National Officer)

61

FORMER DUBLIN No2BRANCH COMMITTEEMEMBER, NOEL KING,ACHIEVES GREATRESULTS IN ESTONIA!Ireland U-21s 5 Estonia U-21s 0

ANTHONY Stokes celebrated acall-up to the senior squad byinspiring Ireland’s Under-21’s toa rout of Estonia last night.

Hours after being called intoGiovanni Trapattoni’s squad fortonight’s clash, along with CillianSheridan, the Hibernian striker put ina stellar performance as the NoelKing era got off to a sensational start.

Trap’s assistant Marco Tardellitook his seat among 3,010 fans atTallaght Stadium as Stokes scoredtwice and set up James McCarthy forthe third in a convincing Irish display.

PartHe even played a part in SeamusColeman’s late fourth – although theEverton defender knew little about it– and Owen Garvan rounded off thescoring in injury-time.

It was Stoke’s first appearance atthis level since the March 2008 clashwith Montenegro in Galway – andhe was clearly eager to make up forlost time.

The 22-year-old scored twiceinside the opening half-hourincluding an exact replica ofZinedine Zidane’s penalty in the2006 World Cup Final – rightdown to the ball clipping the

underside of the crossbar on its wayinto the net.

He had chances to grab his hat-trick, but settled for two plus abrilliant assist.

It was a hugely promising debut atUnder-21 level for new boss NoelKing, who recently led the Under-17women’s side to within a penaltyshoot-out of European Championshipglory.

Last night’s win was the first ineight Group 2 games and it cameafter a strong start by the visitors.

Twice goalkeeper StephenHenderson was called into action inthe opening five minutes to denyArtjom Dmitrijev with flying saves.

But the Irish were ahead after 15minutes.

Stokes pulled a deep McCarthycross out of the air with a killertouch; he cut inside MarekKaljumae and blasted anunstoppable shotinto the back ofthe net from 15yards.

The Hibsman’s continued

tormenting ofKaljumae resulted on30 minutes in the full-

back chopping him down inside thearea.

Dutch referee Paulus Van Boekelpointed to the spot and Stokes, justlike Zidane’s effort four years ago,pulled off a cheeky dink that went inoff the underside of the bar.

The third goal came on 62 minuteswhen Stokes stubbornly held off thechallenge of Kaljumae, got to thegoal-line and pulled his pass backinto the path of McCarthy.

The Wigan midfielder, apparentlydropped from the senior squad formissing the May friendlies, side-footed the ball inside the right-handpost.

It was 4-0 on 87 minutes – Stokesback-heeled the ball through TaijoTeniste’s legs and raced around thedefender, he fed Conor Clifford whospotted Garvan unmarked 25 yardsout.

DeflectionGarvan’s low shot looked to be

heading straight for keeper MarkoMeerits until it took a wickeddeflection off Coleman andricocheted into the roof of the net.

New Crystal Palace signingGarvan did grab a goal of his own onthe stroke of full-time when he

curled the ball inside the left-handupright from 12 yards.However, the night belonged to

Stokes with new boss King alsotaking an enormous amount ofsatisfaction from a job very welldone by his troops.

Noel off to a flyer as Ireland crush Estonia

HITMAN STOKES THE KING-MAKER

IRELAND: Renderson; Coleman(Oyebanjo 87), Kiernan, Nolan,Gunning; Clifford, McCarthy(Hourihane 82), Garvan;Gleeson, Sheridan (Judge 77),Stokes.

ESTONIA: Meerits; Kaljumae(Jevdokimov 63), Jahhimovits,Artjunin, Teniste; Frolov (Pebre38), Puri, Tenno, Kallaste;Dmitrijec, Alliku (Anier 68).

GREAT START:King on the line

Pictured (left) James McCarthy

By Mark McCadden in Nyon

62

CWU People

Dublin No. 1 Retirements

Dublin No 1 Branch loses manyfriends from Citywest to retirement.

John Egan and Tony Caffrey John Mc Carthy and Jim Browne Denis O’Brien and Jim Browne

John Egan and John Keane Willie Meegan and Jim Shorthouse Willie Meegan and Francis Summerville

John Egan and Liam Caldwell John Egan and Thomas HughesMichael Martin Larry Feely and Willie Meegan

Patrick Murray and Willie Meegan John Egan and Ciaran Feeney Edward Dillion and Jim Browne

63

Trapattoni Praises DublinNumber One Branch Secretary

Dublin Number One Branch Secretary, John Egan, like many CWU activists, is alsoinvolved in sports and social activities within the wider community. Recently in his roleas Chairman of St Paul’s Artane FC, he invited Irish International soccer manager GiovanniTrapattoni to the club to perform the official opening of the clubs new gymnasium andgames room. The new facilities completed the final phase of an ambitious plan, whichincluded a floodlit all weather training pitch and eight new dressing rooms.

Funding for the development was provided through Lotto sports grants, and local fundraising. As Chairman of St Paul’s since June 2010, and previously Secretary for eightyears, John was heavily involved in securing the successfulLotto funding for the club’s development plan.

It was with great pride therefore that he welcomedGiovanni Trapattoni, his assistant manager, MarcoTardelli, John Delaney (CEO) Football Association ofIreland, and representatives from the soccer fraternityand the local community to club for the official opening.The occasion was also an opportunity to showcase theexcellent facilities at the club, which was founded fromhumble beginnings in 1975. The club now has tenunderage teams and two senior sides, and were votedAviva Club of the Month winners for March 2010.

In his speech “Trap” praised John, and all involved atthe club, for their tireless effort in providing such“fantastic facilities” for young players, and givingthem the possibility to be “stars of the future”said the Irish manager. With the club motto “Bethe best you can be”, the players have a headstart on the facilities front. So well done andgood luck to John and his team at St Paul’sArtane FC.

*If you have a story involving CWUmembers /activists, you would liketo feature in Connect CWU People,contact; imelda@cwu.ie

64

Eircom social club, Nenagh, recently made a presentation to North Tipperary Hospice to assist them with the fantastic workthat they do for cancer patients and their families in North Tipperary. The money presented came from the proceeds of a DVDwhich has a collection of over 300 photographs depicting P&T, Telecom Eireann and eircom staff and families spanning thelast 40 years.

CWU People

Sean Carroll (chairman, Nenagh section) is shown presenting the cheque to Geri Cantwell andKay O’Donoghue (North Tipperary Hospice). Included in the photo also are (l-r) Brian Byrne,

Sean Geaney, Pat Delaney, Paddy Brereton, Matt Ryan, Dinny Ryan, John Tucker, John Curtin,Denis Griffin, Ray Byrne, Donal Flannery.

Eircom Social Club makes presentationto North Tipperary Hospice

Joe Maher Resignation

Former Deputy General Secretary, Joe Maher will resign as Trustee of theeircom Main Superannuation Fund on 30th September 2010, having served asa Trustee to the fund since 1988.

During that period there were some challenging times in which Joe and theTrustees did an excellent job in managing the Fund. This is evident more inrecent times when the fund was in deficit as a result of the stock markets.

The Fund suffered far less than many other funds because of its strategicpositioning and the fact that it was in surplus prior to the collapse of the stockmarkets.

I am sure you will all join me in recognising the contribution that Joe hasmade to the fund over many years and he will be a hard act to follow. We wishhim every success and thanks for a job well done.

Former Deputy General Secretary,Joe Maher

65

CWU People

Gerry Maher retired from Eircom recentlyafter 37 years’ service. Hailing fromTipperary, Gerry joined the Department ofPost & Telegraphs on the 3rd Dec 1973 asan exchange operator in Exchequer StDublin and remained there until 1979,when he was promoted to the grade ofTelephone Officer. He then moved toFindlater House and his boss there wasPaddy Fahey, who was a scriptwriter forthe radio programme “The Kennedys ofCastleross”. Gerry subsequently movedto Cumberland House and he remainedthere until he moved to Portlaoise in1988. His last move was in 2004, whenhe finally moved back to his native countyand to Thurles. where he worked inBusiness Markets.

It was 1988 when Gerry became a Union activist, when hewas elected chairperson of the TOU branch in Portlaosie,before taking over the role of Branch Secretary in 1989 – arole he served with distinction for 21 years, until his

retirement on the 25th June, 2010.Gerry dealt with all members in his usualquiet and unassuming way and he treatedmanagement in the same dignifiedmanner. He has a large circle of friends inboth the Union and Company and hasbeen an ever-present figure at conferencesfor the last 21 years .

His other great love is the GAA and, inparticular, his local hurling club“Gortnahoe Glengool”, where he hasserved at committee level for many years.Gerry now intends to spend some time, ashe says himself, on his small farm of landin Tipperary and perhaps invest in somemachinery.

He is as obliging a person as one couldwish to meet and a true gentleman who has the respect of allwho know him.

The CWU takes this opportunity to sincerely thank himfor his efforts on behalf of our members and wishes him along and happy retirement.

Willy Kavanagh, a Postman in Gorey, who retired in May is pictured here with his wife, Dynah,and Branch Secretary of Gorey, Kevin Molloy.

Willy had 27 years’ service with An Post and the CWU wishes him a long and happy retirement.

Gerry Maher Retires from Eircom

Willy Kavanagh Retires from Gorey Postal Branch

CWU People

Mr Johnny Mc Caffertypictured receiving callsfrom well-wishers on the

departure from thecompany in June this Year.Johnny had served almost

40 years, and wasCTM project on proactive

Repair Field Force.

Sean Mc Loughlin pictured with his wife & familyat a function in Cryans Hotel, Carrick On Shannon

with work colleagues,following the departure from the company.

Sligo Retirements

Mr Paddy O'Donnell Ballina A.E.H.,Plan/Design pictured with team managers and team members on his departure from the companyrecently.paddy had served with the company on close to 40 Years.

Mr Gerry Mc Glinchey,pictured on his last day of service with team members of the Internal Build team 956T in Letterrkenny.Gerry had almost 40years of service,and was attached to the Donegal A.E.H.

Mr Denis Carr, who left the company in June2010, pictured with Brid Mulroe, SectionSecretary, Letterkenny and Mr Ollie Henry, CTM,Service Assurance Cabling team.

66

67

CWU People

Dundalk Retirements

Pictured at the Presentation Party in Dundalk recently are, l to r: Matt Pepper (Chairman, Dundalk Section),Philip Kenley, Austin McGeough, John Hennessey (all retired from Eircom on July, 2010)

and Barney Foley (Section Secretary, Dundalk)

A Retirement Presentation washeld in Johnny Mason’sFunction Room, Dundalkrecently to honourJames Quigley, pictured herereceiving his Union Scroll fromSeán McGeough(National Co-ordinator inDundalk)

Photos supplied byBarney Foley,

Section Secretary, Dundalk

68

Marilynn Healy RIP

The Union was saddened recently to hearof the sudden and untimely death ofMarilynn Healy who at the time of herdeath was the Branch Chairperson of AnPost Branch of the PSEU. Marilynncommenced her working life in theCentral Sorting Office in Sheriff Streetand from there moved to GPOHeadquarters where she was a Branchofficer with both the CPSU and thePSEU.

Marilynn was a committed TradeUnionist and worked closely with thisUnion on various sub committees of theJoint Conciliation Council most notablythe Diversity and Equality Committee.Marilynn always made a contribution andassisted both the Union and the Companyin implementing policies that improvedthe working life of all staff in An Post. Weextend our deepest sympathy toMarilynn’s family.

CWU People

A function was held recently in Mulligan's Pub, PoolbegStreet, on the retirement of two long serving members ofthe Dublin No. 2 Branch – Declan Colman and DaveCorrigan, who between them have giving 80 yearsservice to the Company.

Declan was involved in Pressurisation Monitoringand Machine maintence in Dublin for many years, whileDave was a member of the Major Projects Office for anumber of years. He was also a member of the DublinNo. 2 branch committee dating back to the 1980s andwas a regular delegate to the Unions Conference. Dave’slast Conference was in Wexford this year.

The Branch Secretary, Steve Crilly, presented Declanand Dave with Union gold badges and scrolls. TheDublin No. 2 branch would like to thank Declan andDave for their support for the union over the years andwish them very best wishes in their retirement.

Declan Colman & Dave CorriganRetire from Dublin No. 2 Branch

TV Licence Section, GPO, Retirement

Pictured l to r: Declan Coleman,Steve Crilly (Branch Secretary) and Dave Corrigan

Declan Small, Willie Mooney (Branch Secretary),Jean Fowler & Mary Harrihill.

69

On August 26 1940, the German Luftwaffe, dropped fourbombs on the Shelburne Co-op and Creamery, in the villageof Campile Co Wexford. In a matter of seconds the buildingwas demolished, and three local women were killed. Manymore miraculously escaped death, as around 85 people wereworking in the co-op at the time, but fortunately most hadleft the restaurant following lunch. However, restaurantmanager Mary Ellen Kent (30) and assistant KathleenHurley,(27) and Mary Ellen’s sister Kitty (26), a draperyworker, were not so lucky. Tragically they were found buriedunder the rubble of the destroyed building.

To mark the 70th anniversary of the bombing, Campilepostman John Flynn, (New Ross Postal Branch) who isChairman of the Horeswood Historical Society has coauthored a new book which offers new insights as to thereasons behind the bombing. The book was compiled oversix months by the society and was officially launched by therenowned Wexford author and historian, Nicholas Furlong,who described the book as “controversial, challenging andmagnificent”.

The Campile bombing was Ireland’s first experience ofthe terror of the World War Two conflict. ( Nine months later,a similar fate was visited upon the residents of the NorthStrand in Dublin). In the aftermath of the bombing, varioustheories were suggested as to the reasons for the attack.These included the notion that the German pilots were lostand had mistaken the south-east coast of Wexford for Wales.Another theory suggested that butter boxes emblazoned withthe Shelburne Co-op name were discovered by the Nazis afew months earlier following the evacuation of Dunkirk and

that the bombing was in retaliation for supplying foodstuffsto the Allied armies.

However, John Flynn, argues that the bombing was amessage from Hitler to Taoiseach Eamon de Valera warninghim to keep his promise on Ireland's neutrality. We knownow, from military inquiries, that the co-op “was notsupplying the army," Instead says John, the co-op wassupplying foodstuffs to civilians on mainland Britain, and“that is why it was targeted” . He argues that the bombingwas really a warning shot to the Irish government: “If yousay you're neutral, don't supply goods to wartime Britain”.After consulting military reports, John maintains, that it wasclear that Campile was a “definite target on that fateful day”.

Survivors of the co-op bombing, along with the Germanambassador to Ireland, Brusso von Alvensleben, andMinister of State Sean Connick, recently officially opened anew monument and memorial garden on the site of thedisaster. In his speech the ambassador emphasised that thememorial sculptures should uphold the memory of thevictims and recall the “atrocities of war”. The sculpturegarden was a joint project between the German sculptorAnika Untermann and Ciarán O'Brien, an Irish sculptor fromWexford.

John Flynn's book, 'Campile Bombing, August 26, 1940',(€20) is currently available in bookshops in the Wexfordarea and can also be ordered from the HorsewoodHistorical Society (087-2996561) or fromjohnflynn007@eircom.net

John Flynn’s book delivers new insights intoGerman bombing of Campile Co-op

70

Books reviewed by Adrienne Power

DOG ON IT!A Chet & Bernie Novel by Spencer Quinn(Published by Simon & Schuster Ltd)

For a while I was put off reading this book, as the title omakes it seem silly or trite, possibly comical, but it is farfrom that! It is a detective story told through the eyes of a dog – Chet, who is owned by a private eye called Bernie– and it is clever and well-written, with wonderful prose. There are scenes of nail-biting suspense when wewonder if Chet and Bernie will manage to escape the situations they have gotten into.

The pair end up working on the case of 15 year old Madison Chambliss, who goes missing on her way homefrom school. There is the odd cute moment but not too much.

Chet and Bernie make a good team. Chet equates everything through his super sense of smell as a dog woulddo – the people he likes through nice smells and the bad people through horrible smells, together with his keenobservational abilities. Bernie’s skills come from his Westpoint Military training and persistent determination.

The two’s combined talents become crucial in solving the case.Enjoyable from start to finish…didn’t want to put it down! I look forward to the next in the series.

No wonder Stephen King recommended this book! A STUDY IN SCARLETA Sherlock Holmes Novel by Arthur Conan Doyle (Published by Headline)

This is the very first Sherlock Holmes novel, where Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes meet up. “Dr Watson, MrSherlock Holmes”, said Stamford, introducing us. This was first published in 1887 and is one of four SherlockHolmes novels, with 56 Short Stories in total.

In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes and Watson are requested by Mr Gregson and Mr Lestrade of Scotland Yard to lookinto the puzzling case of a body found in a derelict house on the Brixton Road. The detectives are stumped when thereis no sign of a struggle and no wounds on the body. Scrawled on the wall in blood is the word RACHE, the Germanfor Revenge. We travel through atmospheric Victorian London in Holmes and Watson’s quest for a murderer.

I have often wondered what the unending appeal of Sherlock Holmes is. He is not a particularly likable character.But he is a hero, a super-human. He finds answers to problems. He is a self-assured genius. In an uncertain world we can pick up aSherlock Holmes story and depend on him to find the answers to the problems using his amazing deductive reasoning.

In 1893 when Conan Doyle tried to kill off Holmes in the story “The Final Problem” there was a public uproar. Women wept andmen donned black armbands plus subscriptions to the Strand Magazine which published the Holmes stories fell by 20,000. Finally,Holmes reappeared in the novel “The Hound of the Baskervilles” in 1901.

Before the Sherlock Holmes Museum took over the supposed site of 221b Baker Street (as the site, if it ever existed, has been muchdisputed by scholars), it was the residence of the Abbey National Building Society. The bank actually had someone employed to answerletters addressed to the Great Detective.

Long live Sherlock Holmes for future generations to enjoy!

NON FICTIONAmazon, Bruce Parry (Published by Penguin)

The book is based on the BAFTA award winning television series. Told in diary form, the explorer Bruce Parrytakes on the world’s biggest river system, travelling 6,800 kilometres into the rainforest that covers sevenmillion square kilometres and helps regulate the balance of atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen for ourplanet. It is sad to think that with the current rate of deforestation half of the Amazon forest could be lost by2050.

Throughout his TV series and book, he is trying to impress upon us the effect our culture of greed andconsumption is having on the peoples that live in the region of the Amazon. He also tells us of its elementalbeauty, its mystery and excitement!Taking over 50 bags of luggage through customs and a small crane, cameras and medical equipment, you get

a feel for just how monstrous an operation is involved in a trip like that! The group suffers from Altitude Sickness as they start off at analtitude of 3,500 metres, higher than even Everest Base Camp, so they have to acclimatise their bodies to lack of oxygen, which causesnausea, headaches and an inability to sleep! They use the local remedy of chewing coca leaves wrapped in charcoal to try and alleviatethis. They stop to take part in Day of the Dead, an ancestral celebration observed across Latin America.

By living and working among the local communities of farmers, fishermen and miners Bruce gets to meet the families dependent onthe river. He is saddened and shocked by the devastation and contamination he sees in Peru.

In Peru he also meets Pepe Parodi, a real person behind the dreadful statistics of violence The Shining Path, a Maoist insurgent grouphave caused for over 30 years in the region. They pick up Pepe on the road. He is returning to his farm for the first time in 18 years.When he arrives his wife has just escaped a raid by hiding in the sugar cane until he rescued her.

His Amazon trip becomes an 8 month long journey! It is a moving account to read.

An eye-opener of a book!

717171

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U N

O.

......

......

......

......

.....

Inst

ruct

ions

to

your

Ban

k/Bu

ildin

g So

ciet

y to

pay

Dir

ect

Deb

its

Ple

ase

com

ple

te p

art

s 1 t

o 4

to inst

ruct

your

Bank

/Build

ing

Soci

ety

to m

ake

paym

ents

dir

ectly

fro

m y

our

acc

ount

. Th

enre

turn

the

for

m to:

The

CW

U, 575 N

orth

Cir

cula

r Roa

d, D

ublin

1.

➀Ple

ase

wri

te t

he

nam

e and f

ull

addre

ss o

f your

Bank

/Build

ing

Soci

ety a

nd B

ranch

:

➁N

am

e of

acc

ount

hold

er

③So

rt C

ode

& Acc

ount

Num

ber

➃Yo

ur

inst

ruct

ions

to t

he

Bank

/Build

ing S

oci

ety,

and y

our

Signatu

re•

I ins

truct

you

to p

ay D

irect

Deb

its fr

om m

y ac

coun

t at t

he r

eque

st of

the

CW

U.

•I

conf

irm t

hat

the

amou

nts

to b

e de

bite

d ar

e va

riabl

e an

d m

ay b

e de

bite

d on

var

ious

date

s.•

I sha

ll du

ly n

otify

the

Bank

/Bui

ldin

g So

ciet

y in

writ

ing

if I w

ish

to c

ance

l thi

s in

struc

tion.

I sha

ll al

so s

o no

tify

the

CW

U o

f suc

h ca

ncel

latio

n.

Signatu

re...

......

......

......

......

......

......

......

......

..D

ate

......

......

......

......

......

......

...

OFFI

CEUS

EON

LY

Ori

gin

ato

r’s

Iden

tifi

cation N

o.

Bank

/Build

ing S

oci

ety

Bra

nch

THE

DIR

ECT

DEB

IT G

UA

RA

NTE

E•

This

is a

gua

rant

ee p

rovi

ded

by y

our B

ank/

Build

ing

Soci

ety

as a

mem

ber o

f the

Dire

ctD

ebit

Sche

me,

in w

hich

Ban

ks/B

uild

ing

Soci

etie

s an

d th

e C

WU

par

ticip

ate.

•If

you

auth

oris

e pa

ymen

t by

Dire

ct D

ebit,

then

–Th

e C

WU

will

not

ify y

ou in

adv

ance

of t

he a

mou

nts

to b

e de

bite

d to

you

r ac

coun

t–

Your

Ban

k/Bu

ildin

g So

ciet

y w

ill a

ccep

t an

d pa

y su

ch d

ebits

, pr

ovid

ed t

hat

your

acco

unt h

as s

uffic

ient

ava

ilabl

e fu

nds

•If

it is

esta

blis

hed

that

an

unau

thor

ised

Dire

ct D

ebit

was

cha

rged

to

your

acco

unt,

you

are

guar

ante

ed a

pro

mpt

ref

und

by y

our

Bank

/Bui

ldin

gSo

ciet

y of

the

amou

nt s

o ch

arge

d.•

You

can

canc

el th

e D

irect

Deb

it In

struc

tion

in g

ood

time

by w

ritin

g to

you

rBa

nk/B

uild

ing

Soci

ety.

Ori

gin

ato

r’s

Ref

eren

ce...

......

......

......

......

......

......

......

.....

30

49

79

(PLE

ASE

FILL

OU

T FO

RM IN

BLO

CK

CA

PITA

LS)

(PLE

ASE

FILL

OU

T FO

RM IN

BLO

CK

CA

PITA

LS)

Bra

nch

Bra

nch

Secr

etary

......

......

......

......

......

......

......

.N

am

e...

......

......

......

......

......

......

...(w

here

app

licab

le)