On the 12th of March, human resources in the National Maternity Hospital issued a letter to all porters in the hospital who are members of the Independent Workers Union. The letter made a number of claims relating to the union, to membership rights of union members, to employment law and other matters.

The points below address the claims made by HR and urge all reasonably minded trade unionists, political representatives and media outlets to seriously question what is being put across here.

1. HR states that the IWU does not have any established negotiating or collective bargaining rights and that the hospital will not be engaging with the IWU. We fully recognise the right of the National Maternity Hospital to refuse to engage with our Union, but as a consequence of that refusal, HR will have to recognise that this may mean an escalation in activity which includes industrial action.

2. HR claims that under Section 14 of the 1990 Industrial Relations Act only unions in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions can take industrial action. However, any trade union with a negotiating license, such as the IWU, can ballot its members for industrial action, and if it meets the criteria set out in Section 19 of the 1990 Act, said trade union can take action.

3. HR claims that any follow up industrial action taken by the IWU will be unofficial and may lead to sanction. If the IWU fulfills all of the requirements set out in S19 of the 1990 Act, the action will be official. If any member of the IWU is penalised for taking official industrial action – we will defend them.

4. HR claims that participation in the IWU and/or industrial action may lead to exclusion from pay increases from negotiations with the government. Members who vote against pay deals and who carry no membership of any trade union receive the pay increases negotiated with the government, therefore IWU members will also receive the pay increases.

5. HR states that the hospital
   5. HR states that the hospital

Launch of Uplift Petition Statement

Petition link: Give the hospital workers the right of appeal! | MyUplift

Today we are launching a petition on Uplift to call for intervention on the Job Evaluation Scheme and the granting of an appeal to any worker who wishes to challenge the outcome of their JES.

The (JES) was run over the course of several years and entailed a