Request for names of supervisors of CE schemes taking strike action condemned

Siptu has condemned what it claims is an attempt by the government to threaten some of its members in advance of a strike scheduled for next Monday.

The union is objecting to a letter sent to Community Employment (CE) schemes around the country which it says requests the names of any supervisors taking strike action, and states that funding of the schemes will be reviewed “having regard to the industrial action taken”.

The supervisors have signalled their intention to strike over access to an occupational pension scheme, which has been at the centre of a dispute between the union and the Department of Social Protection since 2008.

Siptu organiser Eddie Mullins condemned what he described as a “threat” over the upcoming strike. He said the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection had written a letter to management of CE schemes across the State which “requests the names of any CE supervisors who join the industrial action and also states that the funding of schemes will be reviewed ‘having regard to the industrial action taken’”.

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“Our members working as CE supervisors have been greatly angered by this communication from a department which has refused for more than a decade to honour a Labour Court recommendation concerning their right to a pension,” he said.

“The implied threats contained in this letter have only strengthened their resolve to take industrial action.”

A copy of a letter sent to the chairperson of one community employment scheme by an official in the Department states: “your Community Development Officer (CDO) will be in touch with you to establish which supervisors are withdrawing their labour”.

It continues: “The CDO will also review the funding allocated to your organisation having regard to the industrial action taken”.

A spokesman for Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty said that “while this letter seeks to determine the level of disruption which may occur during the action taken and how to ensure that its effects are minimised for clients of the service, the Minister has no intention of reducing any funding to schemes as a result of the action. Any indication as suggested in the letter is not, and will not, be supported by her”.