Trade Unions and the loss of Integrity Ethics Transparency

by O'Malley - Observer Wed Jan 16, 2013 13:17

I agree to a point with the above posting. Our trade unions especially SIPTU have created themselves into a cosy corporate organisation. O'Connor has a salary of £140 plus expenses, package and no doubt a good pension annually. Beggs is similar and Frank Connolly has become almost invisible in SIPTU.

Back to McNeices pay-out (£20 million+ negotiated down to £9.7 million). Of course this is another scandal - the sad thing is - the total silence from all quarters on this. Reilly, Minister for Ill-health was a committee member in the 1990's and one of the elite who sanctioned this payout. Where is the transparency - the ethics - the morals?

O'Malley (the alley cat)

by Comyn - Observer Fri Jan 18, 2013 15:31

O'Malley

Glad you agree but where is the reaction of the people to this scandalous data released Christmas week by the IMO which represents 5,000 unionised doctors. All claim to know nothing but this cannot be so. As always the doctors seem to be reacting once the horse! has bolted and on this occasion the horse age 51 named McNeice had to have his pay package negotiated down from £24 million to £9.7. This man, I believe is neither a doctor, a banker or for that matter a shamed developer, just a man who subtly negotiated his own financial deal, in a silenced way, as he moved from a civil service position to Chief Executive of the IMO - the Union for the medical profession.

Media proves exceptionally quiet about this travesty. Vincent Browne discussed the unions on Monday night in his TV3 programme, and nobody deemed it necessary to mention this scandal in the making. Thankfully today's Independent is taking a position and is worth reading. There sure are questions that Minister Reilly needs to answer like was he on the remuneration committee which approved the pay and pension deal for the IMO Chief Executives George McNeice (this ponzi plague that needs to be investigated to know just how much our Union officials are paid and the bias it thereby creates). Dr Reilly after all was President of the IMO in 2004-2005 hopefully making him and others privy to all financial information. The Independent heading reveals that the doctors have been 'aroused to anger' and aim to 'oust the union head and probe finances'. An extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) has been called. They seek to remove the interim Chief Executive Niall Saul. The plan is an investigation dating back 12 years into the financial and management of the IMO. Let us take the initiative now as suggested by O'Malley and question exactly what is the unions are at in this country.

Who received what packages in the IMO is the question? Quite a few appear to have their hands in the pie. According to the Independent:-

George McNeice: who negotiated his deal down from £20 million+ to £10 million pension with £1.5 m lump sum. (Imagine the return each year on this amount of capital and pension!)
Paul McKeown IMO President: a meagre £105,000 for a part-time role. (Imagine this after tax amount, and what the balance creates as income or wealth generative)
Niall Saul, IMO Interim Chief Executive: who receives a £60,000 retainer + top up
Joe Barry, Chairman of the IMO now dissolved remuneration committee who receives £105,000 for a part time role.

What is going on?

Cronyism and the semi-state has received a lot of attention on Indymedia (see link on latest comments) but there is little outcome as we witness the gravy train of what could possibly be described as insider dealing and overall corrupt and fraudulent pratices. Is one position core to a union like the IMO and others not sufficient) Why do some people like Mr Saul, Mr McNeice gain income from other sources related to their position on the IMO - are there no volunteers left in this country which faces nearly 500,000 people unemployed.

They say 4 in 5 in the public service are in unions while only 1 in 5 in the private sector are in the union. This alone speaks dividends as we see the underclass formation before are very eyes.

We need to be alert. Years ago people read the newspapers, they visited their local, they had the chat and were informed. The time is here to be informed again.

Comyn

by Chestnut - Justice Mon Jan 21, 2013 15:37

What is it the plain people of Ireland really think about Unions?

The IMO is for the elitist group of 5,000 doctors and the package provided for former Chief Executive 51 year old Mr McNeice can only confirm to other mere mortals that there is one law for some and a completely other one for those self seeking careerist mentalities that includes the professions, the privileged high ranking civil servants, the media, the bankers, the developers and of course those double/treble dipping politicians who have gained from the pension gravy train. Add to this those MEP's and EU delegates who are equally privileged by the gravy train pensions et al and it is time to start raising questions.

Excellent article in the Sunday Times yesterday by Michael Clifford 'Time to derail the pension gravy train'.
A piece of sarcasm at its best but therein is a series of questions that people need to be asking. McNeice a now known self negotiator representing a small trade union (whose members are significantly high earners by European standards for the profession they represent). The article raises the point that Mr McNeice's sweetheart deal may even bankrupt the IMO. How could this be allowed to happen? What is the point of having a remuneration committee? What input had the present Minister for Health in relation to Mr McNeice's 'package'? These personal pension packages are seen as part of the elites entitlements and they put forward the argument - as protected by the Constitution. Michael Clifford quite rightly raises the point: 'No morality is applied to the issue. No sense of Justice.'

We can raise the question did McNeice do any wrong and the answer is possibly No. He saw the opportunities and he did not pause, he thought of his position as crucial and his needs - well the deal says it all. His pension pot was £25 million but the evidence of the reduction to £9.7 million suggests that when his sense of morality/legality was tested he was prepared to negotiate downwards. In 2008 this man was earning £493,000 a year. Added to this he received an amount of £60,000 from the IMO's financial arm. This raises the question did he have earnings from any other sources? His good fortune regarding his pension was that it was contracted to be a defined benefit scheme (now the majority of these schemes are defined contributions). As Clifford states: 'The critical difference is that the former guarantees the retirement income while the latter is dependent on the performance of contributions to the pension fund'.

We need urgently to look at pensions. Times have changed. 430,000 people are not working. We need fairer distribution

by Comyn - Observer Tue Jan 22, 2013 15:22

Those who have and those who haven't

Our NEETs, our lost generation, the 50% of the population who have no pensions and who are not likely to have such a luxury. We live in changing times and whereas actuaries worked on the basis of 13 years life beyond retirement, it is now 25 years+

What are we creating for the plain people of Ireland?

There has been a really gravy train for some as per the postings on this site, a gravy train which those of us today will pay for by contributing to the pension pots that sustain their pensions going forward. Consider the fact that a fair % of these elites are only in their 50's so we can ask the question given the fact that most will now live to their 90's and if not them their wives who will receive 50% of their pensions if they die, then it is clear that now we need to start thinking seriously about pensions and two tierism.

Michael Clifford article in Sunday Times with its subtle sarcasm is worth reading. He states, as we well know, "that services in health are well depleted. Yet through it all, a gold-plated pension pot, negotiated in a different world (Celtic Tiger land), remains immune to the times".

This begs the question of our State owned banks, in particular the AIB. The former boss, Eugene Sheehy, negotiated himself a pension in excess of £300,000 (what is the pension for this?). The bank was bailed out during this man's reign. Where is the common sense and reality. Bonuses used to related to performance! Okay, some say it was negotiated down to £250,000 but still this quite uncivilized.

NEETs. Moochers, these are words that will become stereotypes and if our media moves more right wing will be used to categorise non achievers. As unemployment rises amongst the young in Europe and in Ireland we need to embrace the culture of awareness that allows people to say No, we do not accept unfair and inequitable provisions that develop inequitable two tierism. This is what we used to pay subs to trade unions for but as now realise they cosied into the FF government mentality and they provided mainly for the public sector not the minnions of the private sector and now the time is here for them to share their spoils and foster equity.

Comyn

Comyn

by O'Malley - Trade Unions Tue Feb 26, 2013 15:37

For people working in the public service there is an article in the Irish Independent today.

It basically makes a simple comparison. All that is shared between a millionaire and a public service worker but then it states the real differential. The writers name is on request from the editor.

The main point is that the public sector between 2010 and with what is now under negotiation effectively takes a 25.5% hit on their pay packet.

Is this fair?

What about wealth tax?

What about increasing the higher tax rate?

by fred Tue Feb 26, 2013 18:56

the problem is that frontline staff doing real work on 30K or less are expected to take the same paycuts (or more) as highly paid civil servants > 100k. This is bullshit.

They should start with the overpaid paper pushers and leave frontline staff on lower rates alone.

But they don't do this because there is a link between politicians ludicrous pay levels and higher paid civil servant pay. So they always hit the less well paid public service workers instead.

The fact of the matter is our politicians or highest paid paper pushing public servants cannot justify their rates of pay or fat pensions compared to other countries.

But our frontline staff are not overpaid and work hard for their pay.

We never hear the troika setting ruthless guidelines for those higher paid paper pushing leeches and politicians do we? Curious that considering the glaring per capita bloated salaries they receive compared to other countries. I guess that's their cut of the bankster robbery.

public service pay should be reduced in a recession, but it should start with the lazy fatcats and politicians at the top, creaming off > 100k (sometimes nearer 200K including allowances) not the hard working average waged frontline staff at the bottom. They should be left alone.

by Brian Flannery - Justice Thu Feb 28, 2013 13:55

Fred

I agree with most of the points made by you. Let us not forget people are the core of trade unions. They pay or may I say their fees pay the high salaries of O'Connor, Beggs and probably a hundred more plus trade union staff that are afloat on a massive gravy train. Take for example the staff at Clerys before Christmas. Shafted is being too polite. Yet, nobody stood up to the Gordon Brothers who bought over and said our workers short-term hours or the full-time staff have rights. Graham Macken of SIPTU informed the staff at Clerys that he would fight for every cent they were owed in back-pay. He also told them that he had lodged a case at the Labour Court. In the last two weeks I checked the Labour Court diaries and what do I find Fred, nothing. Can someone please explain this to me? I don't want to list the salaries and the bonuses of the people who are there on behalf of the ordinary working man and woman but let us be realistic there is a two tier system in Irish society now. As one man said to me the other day, Brian we don't live in a society now, we live in an economy and a failed one at that.

I am not a fan of Vincent Browne but like your point he keeps stating that the small man is hit every time while the upper paid on £100,000 plus per year remain intact. Yes, they may take some hits with levies but because of the massive money they are on it is only a tickle in their armoury. We need to get back to the core values of what trade unions are meant to be. I will repeat one more point, we can point fingers at O'Connor and Beggs and the rest for the high salaries but at the end of the day it is the workers who put them there and it should be the workers who can pull them out if they have the balls to stand up and ask the appropriate questions as to what is really going on in a two tier class based society.

Brian Flannery

by Ex Clerys Department Store worker - Redundant league Fri Mar 01, 2013 13:49

It now has come to the fore that Gordon Brothers were in talks with Clerys in 2007, if not before. Also to peoples' disbelief SIPTU were well aware of the meetings which took place. I has a small lump sum paid into my account on the 20th of October last year unknown to me. I was called into the managers office and told my services were no longer required and with a heavy heart he told me I had to go - I know one woman who got her notice by text. Others I don't know because the motive and purpose of management and unions was to divide and conquer. After over 30 years in SIPTU I feel deeply let down and I would also like to say Brian Flannery is correct above when he mentioned about the labour court hearing that never happened. Graham Macken of SIPTU called us into a meeting on two occasions at Liberty Hall and told us the fight of re-deployment will continue. It is now March 1st 2013 and I have not heard anything from Mr Macken in five months. I know one woman, when she criticized Macken from the floor at one meeting, was told she was out of order and bullied down. At the two meetings I also want to say we were treated like sheep and asked for our membership cards. In the 30+ years I paid into SIPTU I believed I had some level of protection but how terribly wrong I was.

The sale to Gordon brothers at the discount of debt included severing the employment arrangements of existing staff and the Unions tailored the deal. When I lost my job I also was under the assumption I had left SIPTU but to my astonishment at Christmas I discovered they were still taking money from my account. This to me is blatant wrong and shows how much priority they give the ordinary working man. For SIPTU it is money money money. I now have to get State benefit to supplement the small pension I am due while O'Connor Macken and the rest talk the talk from the ever ending gravy train.

Ex Clery's worker

by Disillusioned Siptu member - Public sector Tue Mar 05, 2013 13:22

At the moment Croke Park II is on the agenda. The groups at the table are as follows:

Impact
Siptu
Teachers' Unions
INMO
IMO
CPSU
PSEU
AHPCS
Unite

These are the people who sit around the table on behalf of the 1.6 million workers in this country. The outcome is definitely unknown. Let us face facts now there could be a break-down in talks at any given time. My point is simple: listening to Kenny, Howlin and Rabbitte, the frontline workers will be screwed yet again. I ask how much more pain can these workers including myself take. Reading the above posting in relation to Clerys the hope I have at present is not a shining light but sadly a dim one.

by O'Malley - Trade Unions - Ethics/Integrity Sat Mar 09, 2013 15:54

Yes, its good to see a list of who represents who?

The public sector have their unions but the private sector are struggling while the public sector are saying our salaries have already been cut back, we are going to have to work longer hours, and Sunday out of hours is no longer as lucrative for us. Times are tough but we need to ask the question how we compare to the other peripheral countries. The Troika impose sanctions and these are stringent on public service but Ireland it appears may be ahead of their counterparts based on the Bertie Ahern government who created Croke Park 1 and a possible over indulgence in rewards for public sector workers. In Greece, the crisis has resulted in three generations in certain cases now having to live under the one roof. We are not here yet?

George McNeice surely merits more attention. A man of the age of 51 and a IMO union official merits a cut-back in pension rights/deal from £24 million to just under £10m and the people say nothing.

Pensions and the private sector have become a luxury for the most privileged. They say only 50% of the private sector have pensions. The rest are struggling and without this necessity.

Who represents them?

We know that the Public service pensions are gilt edged. What about the Irish examiner/the Sunday Post - the most recent of the companies going into receivership/examination. What happens these pension funds? Who is really the protector?

by Comyn - Citizen Thu Mar 14, 2013 15:23

5 years on from the peak of Celtic Tiger Ireland and too many union representatives are indulged in their own priviliges achieved through their connections with Fianna Fail, IBEC and other employers to cushion both themselves and their members with the benefits of Croke Park 1 which resulted in our public sector being pushed way ahead of their equivalent counterparts in the EU in pay, hours worked, allowances and pension benefits. It is Troika time now and they identified this preferential treatment and hence Croke Park II is under instruction to pull the public service pay and working conditions back in line with their equivalent in Europe.

What is surprising is that so few in Ireland have a view or a commitment to speak up? The private sector is being decimated and unemployment is near 450,000 with many more having emigrated.

Some of the Union represenative bodies need to be discussed more openly to alert people to what can go on in the bureaucracy of these Unions. This site has written about the IMO and George McNeice - the man who somehow negotiated himself at the age of 51 (back in 1984 he started to do so) into a pension deal worth £24 million. Thankfully for the taxpayers of Ireland, it was re-negotiated down to just under £10 million. How many more people are hiding in the Union bushes but have similar deals. Do we know? Do we care? Should we know? - Yes, we should. Our budget deficit is running at £1 billion per month and we need to cut expenditure further and we need to know who has basically exploited their positions in the public sector to extract exceptional payments and pensions far in excess of their European counterparts.

The Irish Medical Organisation deserves a little attention here: Since this McNeice revelation, this once powerful union is now riven with members who are discontent. Their members are squabbling. It was recently reported in an article by Terence Cosgrave that "Even without that catalyst (George McNeice deal), there were many concerns from many members in recent years that the organisation had strayed from its original purpose of representing doctors and had become increasingly focused on financial services for doctors instead'.

This is the question that unions such as Siptu, Unite, Impact, INMO and many others need to be asked by their members. Too many people like the staff at Clery's, the Burlington hotel are finding themselves out of work, with little are no representation by their unions to provide options for their future.

Is there a little hope from a Public Sector member? Today's Irish Independent has a headline "Official on £250,000 a year demands wage restraint".

Colm Kepple reports that Stefan Gerlach, deputy head of the Central Bank, has said that Ireland's high standard of living is seriously impacting on its ability to be more competitive. This lack of competitiveness impacts on its need to rebuild economic growth. The deficit remains too high and must be dealt with, according to this Swedish economist. According to Mr Gerlach in his submission to the Eurosystem Competitiveness Network meeting in Dublin: "Wage moderation must occur in the public sector, not only to improve the budget balance, but because this also can influence wage costs in the private sector, and this has indirect competitiveness-improving effects".

The moral is that private sector is hammered, those tax exiles have long gone and we need to examine further where cutbacks can be made. We need negotiators to urge (based on Cyprus deal) further debt relief via the ESM and wage restraint is needed so long as businesses continue to go bankrupt and people lose their jobs.

by O'Malley - Trade Unions Sun Mar 24, 2013 15:56

The medical profession, the elites of society, have their representative Union body called the IMO. These elites were caught off guard as McNeice the former Chief Executive of the IMO negotiated himself (and who knows if there are more like him in other trade unions) a deal which had to be hammered down from £24 million to £9.7 million for a man aged just 51. This man, quite shockingly, is now seeking more namely his entitlement to £9,000 worth of VHI payments and a painting supposed to be worth several thousand - he is availing of the technicality that although he ceased work in December, his employment is not terminated until the end of March 2013, hence the claim for VHI and the painting.

Valerie Hanley's article in the Mail on Sunday is a must read. Unions are supposed to represent their workers but this pay deal/retirement otucome for a former Chief Executive should place all members of trade unions in the questioning mode of just what these trade union officials are paid and what deals they have negotiated for themselves in relation to their retirement packages? It is time for transparency, it is too late when the Union has to call an EGM because members are disgruntled when they find out certain levels of authority within the unions are being paid way in excess of their 'worth'.

It merits consideration in these austere times of sacrifice for so many, that other elites can ring fence such deals for themselves. According to Valerie Hanley's article, the negotiated deal from 2003 is that this man, age 51, leaves with a lump sum of £1.5 million, a pension pot of £4.5 million and a further £3.75 million to be paid over the next 16 years. He will receive £200,000 each year from 2016 to 2021 and thereafter £250,000 from 2021 to 2032. If this 'deal' had not come to the fore last year, this man would have received a pension of nearly £330,000 a year. Add to this the deals negotiated by 'disgraced' bankers, former Taoisigh and politicians and the word shame on them is worth considering.

Public service, Government, trade unions officials are forging ahead of the private sector. Their packages are about earnings in the now but with provision for retirement. With people living considerably longer these people now have an advantage on those in the private sector (some 50% who have no pension provisions). It was recently reported in the UK media that a policeman retiring in his fifties could easily live longer on his pension draw-down than the years worked. We cannot sustain this and especially if we consider the lack of transparency about a retirement package for a man aged but 51 whose role was that of a Chief Executive of a trade union.

Ethics and Hippocrates 'Do no harm'. How could it happen that so many members of a trade union associated with doctors were so misinformed? Maybe it is because, he was a good negotiator on the doctors behalf and hence they are paid so much more than their EU counterparts. This might explain why a hip operation in Ireland is considerably more expensive than the same operation by the NHS.

Times are tough. Inequality needs to be monitored closely and the chasm between rich and poor must invoke a sense of morality and duty.

by Comyn - Justice Tue Apr 02, 2013 16:28

Impact
Siptu
Teachers' Unions
INMO
IMO
CPSU
PSEU
AHPCS
Unite

Eddie Hobbes stood head to head with a Union Official. The message was about luxurious pension funds that some Union employees/executives have secured for themselves through negotiations and in particular via the benchmarking procedures of Croke Park I which now creates the platform and criteria for Croke Park II.

O'Malley, you clearly state the details of George McNeice, a trade union official and former Chief Executive of the IMO who secured for himself an elaborate pension contract in excess of £20 million which was negotiated down to £9.7 m. The latest news is that he claims the IMO is to pay £10,000 for his voluntary health insurance and to forward him 'the' painting valued at several thousand pounds which is supposed to still hang in the IMO office, which he says belongs to him. If this is an indication of what a man can do in a small union like the IMO, surely we need to know how transparent the workings of the above unions and any others left un-named? The IMO is nothing other than a hot bed of pure intrigue about what quiet negotiation is all about and suggests that as long as McNeice was feathering the nests of the elite medical profession - consultants in particular, nobody was going to ask questions. This no doubt explains why Irish consultants are near the highest paid in the EU.

An oversight and someone uploads the 2011 accounts of the IMO onto the website and surprise surprise the accounts stated the pension scheme was under funded....warning signs which people need to be ever watchful of. It went on to say that an actuarial review was being carried out. The interesting point here is that the information was very quickly removed from the website and a new set of accounts appeared. It stated that the IMO operated a defined contribution scheme for its employees and this raised the question as to how it could be under-funded. The overlap was that Mr McNeice resigned and he was prepared to re-negotiate his package down from £20+ m to £9.7 m. Dr Paul McKeown relayed to the members of the Union that this £9.7 million had to be paid to avoid legal action. Again here we should ask why not go to the Courts? It will be interesting now that the IMO have said they will carry out an retrospective investigation into the runnings of the IMO. Media thankfully - The Sunday Business Post, have provided us with details about McNeice's perks including courses in Harvard University in the US, conferences in the USA, Australia, Souoth Africa and South America. Needless to say he travelled first/business class and had even used private jets on IMO business - they have no details about the frequency. In the far away distance, it makes one think of the perks in FAS. We need to examine the culture of then to appraise the true austerity of the now and workers who are now being penalised with property taxes, potential water charges, income taxes, household charges etc. We talk about cutting expenditures of the ordinary working people, let the pay packagesand pension deals of the Unions, IBEC, and other representative bodies be transparent so that a sense of equity prevails.

The IMO culture in the organisation was the selected few loyal people but a high turnover in staff and as SBP quotes the "working environment was very difficult" which if there was a whistleblower within would suggest a strong culture of bullying. The selected few were guaranteed a upwardly mobile payment package especial during the Celtic Tiger years. As stated in earlier postings, McNeice is not doctor but has a partner who is a doctor and there is one teenage child. He started off as executive officer in 1979, moving up to senior executive officer position in 1984. Later that year he took up the post in the IMO. He worked as an industrial relations officers for a number of years before taking over the role of Chief Executive in 1993.

Why did the IMO agree to pay the £9.7 m to a man aged 51, with payments starting when he is 52? How could he have acquired a fund of £20+ m which was the original figure he sought. Could it be related to the fact the IMO just could not afford to pay him what he had negotiated for himself in December 2012. Could it be that when the members discovered the amount, they sought an EGM. The £10 million became a bad investment only this time it was not the markets that caused it to evaporate.

McNeice as reported before departed with £1.5 million lump sum, a pension pot worth £4.5 m and a further £3.75 million to be paid over the next 16 years. This £3.75 million gives him £200,000 per year 2016-21 and £250,000 per year from 2021-2032. The man was 51 years old when he retired early. The IMO is a small trade union and if this is indicative of the packages secured by others in McNeices parallel universe, there is a need to ask questions, there is a need for people with a moral conscience to come forward as whistleblowers.

Pension funds and defined contributions or otherwise need to be understood. The people in Waterford Glass had contributed for years and what happened? Staff at Clery's worked there for years and what happened? All the people who worked in the building industry - what happened their pension funds?

Comyn

by O'Malley - Trade Unions Thu Apr 04, 2013 16:54

The IMO is representative trade union body for the medical profession. As pointed out in the previous posting the deals secured for its Chief Executive Georrge McNeice, aged 51, are remarkable, yet nobody seems to care, in fact nobody even wants to comment. Entire industries have been wiped away over the last years, in particular the construction industry and there are people who have no provision for their daily needs let alone the pensions secured by trade unionists and their coterie of members in particular medical consultants.

Shockingly, today's Independent cites that more than 128 former HSE workers (note the word worker) receive in excess of £100,000+ pensions but then go on to say the majority of these who receive these "Gold-Plated" pensions are medical consultants. The average pension is £124,654 which is £2,400 a week. This does not take account of their choice to remain in lucrative private practice. It is no wonder, Irish consultants are paid significantly higher than their European counter-parts and that the Troika are now asking questions. We can go further and rebuke the Troika for not highlighting their concerns a lot sooner but then the IMO, the connections with George McNeice as Chief Executive, the links with Minister Reilly, were too strong for even the Troika to penetrate or so it appears. Now, the Troika are primed and they now want a monthly report from the Government so they can identify stringent efforts and outcomes to rein in overpending in the health sector. In the US there is a change in assessment about performance of consultants, they are rewarded not on the span of their career but in the narrower range of effectiveness and compliance with cost benefit. This suggests a re-evaluation of the pension equation presently in place.

Earlier postings have listed the number of trade unions in Ireland. What does the Troika expect from them? The IMO scandal, which receives little attention indicates that the power of one can work and mis-information on sets of accounts can be retrieved and people motivated to seek out perceived injustices or unacceptable payments to former members of staff. The IMO stand chastened and an external organisation has been asked investigate what exactly has been going on in this trade union body over the period 1993-2012. They have been directed to look into the awarding of contracts, into third party consultancy arrangements, expenses payments and most importantly into the nominations to boards. The emphasis is a call for better communications with membership. Well if this applies to the IMO and the span of investigation is 1993-2012, all unions should be subject to similar questioning by their union membership.

The divide between private sector and public sector is creating a chasm of pure chaos and inequality. Psychiatry is the Cinderella of the medical profession and yet it provides for the most neglected group of vulnerable people who suffer at the hands of the professions ineptitude. Yet, one reads today in the Independent that the title Clinical Director for a psyhiatrist for the HSE North East grants a lump sum of £385,772, for another in the same area receives £381,778, while yet a third clinical director attached to another HSE area received £380,170. Because of the titles and additional duties they received additional lump sums and were paid £50,000 extra to income. Why? Psychiatry in this country is a shambles and the damage has been done on their watch.

Last year, 2012 the HSE who provides for a small coterie of elitist top ranking medical consultants and certain public service employees gratuities amounting to £174 m. The Troika will not sanction this going forward. But what do people say about now and the funding of these enormous pensions especially now that people live so much longer. Take the age of 70 when a consultant retires, or worse again, take George McNeice having negotiated is £20 m+ package re-negotiated to £9.7m but he choosing the exit age at 52. Now people live decades longer and it is not uncommon for doctors to live well into their 90's. We are placing huge commitments on our young population. Brendan Howlin has a function and he has a capacity (if not a moral duty) to make changes. Perhaps as Mary Lou McDonald has suggested, he should act now and he always can say the Troika gave him no other option.

Union membership fees have been hammered surely by the loss of jobs especially in the construction sector, the retail sector. People who worked for places like Clery's or the Burlington Hotel for decades paid their contributions but when the going got tough, they just lost their jobs and the reality is the unions failed to fight their cases. Private equity groups have bought in but they have a new slate and no commitments to full-time contracts of employment. This is the two tierism that breeds inequality and the public sector presently is milking the system at the expense of the private sector. There comes a time when it is the duty of all people to re-establish a moral compass, to look at a Scales of Justice which is way off balance and seek to redress that sense of balance.

O'Malley (a bit of an alley cat)

by Chestnut - Trade Unions Ethics Integrity & Questions Sat Apr 13, 2013 15:52

Why the silence? Where are the questions? How did this happen? 5,000 members of the IMO have nothing to say. Could it be something to do with the fact that the IMO has now confirmed that 'the stipends paid to presidents of the organisation over recent years have been linked to the pay of the chief executive'.... what does this suggest but another cosy cartel of elites feathering their own nests at the expense of others. If this is so, what is the case with other trade unions in Ireland? This means that the president of the IMO was allowed to receive 25% of Mr McNeice's £493,000 (negoiated down amount) while holding on to their State salary for their period in office.

Thankfully Constantin Gurdgiev is not blinkered and albeit he does not relate to any trade union in particular he does raise questions that need answer in his article in the current edition of the Village. The article is titled 'Unions locking out the Young and dynamic' and it is essential reading especially as Croke Park II is under negotiation. Constantin Gurdgiev writes that over the last 15 years, the Unions (and witness the IMO deal, I would suggest) and their leadership 'have become firmly embedded in the corporatist structure of the Irish state'. Pay, pensions, benefits, are their priority as distinct from 'their relevance to our changing economy and society'. The unions did not act to stop the rampant inflation in those unionised sectors of the state such as health insurance, health services, energy, transport, and education. These sectors received favourable treatment and benefits versus so many other sectors particularly in the private sector. What we have now are Unions that have consented to a 'two-iter public-sector with incumbent workers collecting the benefits of job security and higher pay, and the incoming workers collection lower pay and virtually no promotion opportunitiies'.

What have our young and dynamic people to say to the pension pots (£3-4 million) that are needed to sustain bankers, politicians, union leaders on incomes way in excess of £100,000 and payable at onset age £50+. People are living longer and this is creating the 'us and them' in new dimensions of immorality and inequality.

Chestnut

by O'Malley - Observer Thu Apr 18, 2013 16:27

Disillusionment for the public service workers and no easy cash collection of £300 m plus, needed this year, more next year and for years going forward, to pay our debts forever compounding the interest daily, weekly, monthly annually.

There is what is known as 'compassion fatigue'. It appears that we are neatly within the category i.e. those in the public service who see themselves as 'privileged' and 'entitled' and who have no empathy for those battered and beaten in the private sector, for over 6 years now. Will there be a Croke Park III? Maybe not. Why? The option is mooted for a 7% across the board deduction in public sector pay. What if this occurs? Then, the indications are ultimately strikes. However, the reality is we must meet the debts and take responsibility as a country because we have pledged to do so. Compassion fatigue must be challenged and it is time for people to look at a broader picture, to study alternatives, the vision is tunnel focus by leaders in the Irish Trade Unions that have their own vested interests, which we need to know a lot more about.

Is there another way? Prime Time heralded the approaches of the Fire Brigade union man who rightly targeted a new approach - that of looking for savings within. This was supported by Sir Gerry Robinson formerly involved in tackling the NHS crisis, who again suggested the importance of seeking savings and equally important of seeking ideas from every person within the business entity as to how to retify the deficits with common sense solutions. Savings in public sector (and particularly in the HSE) has to be core to resolving the budget deficit. It is not possible to deal with a deficit from insufficient income without cutting expenditures and that is done by cutting wages or making savings. The "Savita case" is highlighting just how much inefficiency and mis-management occurs in the HSE and it is a statement to workers to be more creative in how best to provide proper health services with ethics and common sense to the core. The IMO, as highlighted in earlier postings, had deviated far from the best interests of their lower tier members and it is time that the new man at the helm changes the culture, and let him start with amending remuneration with immediate effect.

Intrinsic to the Union mindset and its interconnectedness with employers, there is a two tierism that creates bias, it is the union management and what is acceptable in pay, expenses, pensions, trips abroad, even Harvard courses for them versus those who pay their union dues and what the leaders deem suffice for them. Citizen Journalism is about the kernel of freedom of expression and it is quite unbelievable that the privileges of McNeice as highlighted in the previous postings is not creating impetus to enquire into what is really happening with Union management in Ireland. What we do know is that if you work in the hotel industry, in retail, in lower echelons of the Civil service, redundancy means no more subscriptions with immediate effect to the Union coffers but most importantly no further support from the Unions to help you back on the road to employment. What does this really say? Dead in the water is what comes to mind. Unions are saying, keep us secure in our positions but forget about the concept of workers going forward - how stupid and self seeking they really are, there is no vision and this is disturbing.

Nearly 500,000 people are out of work, many of these are in mortgage arrears, studies now reveal that where people encounter long periods of being unemployed in their twenties/early thirties that this has negative mental health outcomes when they get older. We have a significantly higher level of youth unemployment and we are doing nothing about it. What is worse is that our Unions don't seem to care about the unemployed and in particular our young people. We need to voice this. Enterprise can be fostered and ideas can be created to nurture enterprise (just look to Silicon Valley or Singapore for that matter) but in the absence of encouragement we are talking about dissent, apathy and anomie.

The Village - Constantin Gurdigiev is worth reading. The challenge is there for the people who are excluded by the Union elites to establish their case. His challenge: 'Liberty Hall must shake off the ethos of its corrupting proximity to state power and re-discover its grass roots'.

It is not fair to the young people of our Island of Ireland that 'non-meriotocratic employment in the public sector will also mean continued emigration of younger workers with internationally marketable skills'

He goes on to say: 'Marking the centenary of the 1913 lockout, the Irish Trade Union movement needs a serious and deep rethink of both its raison d'etre and its modus operandi. Otherwise the movement risks being locked out of society itself as the irrelevant and atavistic remnant of the Celtic Tiger and Social Partnership'.

Time for the public sector who fail to acknowledge the plight of the private sector over the last 6 years to wake up and smell the coffee. We need to make savings, we need to cut expenditure and the time is now.

O'Malley

by Unemployed ... Thu Apr 18, 2013 17:29

Most Irish people wish the Germans would stop funding overpaid Irish Public Sector.
Parasites.

by Comyn - Trade Unions & Integrity Tue Apr 30, 2013 13:53

Unemployed. Agree with you. The public sector is bloated and the trade unions are responsible for a lot of the excess,

Today's Independent has a small piece that all people should know about SIPTU and there was a small piece in the Sunday Business Post.

This is 'need to know time' for the taxpayers of Ireland and the citizens. We expect integrity at every level of the public service and it appears to be far down the agenda.

Ferghal O'Connor's piece headed 'Siptu fund cost taxpayers more than £3 million' is a good place for us to start.

A Siptu official's details have been identified on bank documentation - the person is a trustee to the account.

The fund (at a net cost to the taxpayers of £3.5 m) is a fund controlled by a number of former SIPTU officials since 2002. This is according to a recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. It is reported that both the Department of Health and the HSE, paid into the fund.

More worryingly it is stated "No formal system of accounting for fund transactions was put in place"

Is this about corruption? What do people feel about privileges to members of union staff of such generous proportions?

by O'Malley - Labour Day: A paltry few turned up @ Parnell Square Sun May 05, 2013 17:24

Nobody seems to care about the SIPTU fund that cost the taxpayers more than £3 million. Integrity has become subsumed by greed and entitlement by those who once fought for the rights of workers and who stood beside the workers. Not any longer.

2002 is 11 years ago. The fact stands that a number of State bodies provided £4 million to a "FUND" between 2002 and 2009. It is reported these State bodies failed to exercise effective oversight of the fund and the relevant application. There was no accountability yet substantial payments were made to this fund by the Public bodies...is this rampant disregard for the law and the fiduciary trust the taxpayers expect from the public sector?

Is it acceptable that "In effect the fund may have acted as a mechanism for public bodies to avoid unused money allocated for partnership purposes being surrendered back to the Exchequer at year-end".?

McNeice, the IMO - the union for the medical professionals is a frightening case in point. Benchmarking, public sector/trade union liaisons need to be challenged now, not in 10 years time, while the Troika demand austerity and it is up to the citizens to identify and delete wasteful but costly practices by the 'elites's who emerged during our Celtic Tiger blitz. It is these people who retire with the large pensions which are guaranteed. There is a generational trap occurring in Europe and the UK. The large numbers of young people unemployed are questioning the privileges of those now retired. In the UK it has become probable that a policeman who retires at 50 years of age, will receive more income from his pension fund, than he ever contributed in the first place. People are living longer and the actuaries are now challenged because this pension equation cannot work. People need to start thinking now otherwise too many will have these privileged pensions for decades on the backs of new younger people.

by Comyn - Trade Unions and Integrity: Waste needs attention v STRIKES Sat May 11, 2013 15:51

'Most Irish people wish the Germans would stop funding overpaid Irish Public Sector. Parasites' by Unemployed raises many questions. What really initially comes to mind is Bus Eireann and the strike tomorrow Sunday and the fact that the powers that be have facilitated the main executive of the company to move between Ireland and Dubai? How? Why? When supposed to be one year ago? Why have the trade unions not tackled management about this absolute farce? How could a company be expected to cover the huge deficits, let alone be on a potential path to profitability? Unemployed, you are right about the public sector but the trade unions are their allies and are busy playing the game of running with hounds and hunting with the elites. We cannot expect the Troika to facilitate us further until they become satisfied that our public sector is streamlined and effective in accordance with Germany, the lead player.

Over £1 billion excess a month is the debt to Ireland Inc and rising fast ie in real terms when interest is basically compounding on existing debt. The balance sheet on the income side is drawing from all initiatives especially the 2013 Gathering and yet the short-termism prevails and the trade unions are to the fore with their sabotage tactics of 'hit the tourists' and that will make the Government respond! So simple yet so complex. The fact is the waste factor in public sector must be identified and expugned because if this does not happen, income, earnings, investments contributed by potential 'Robin Hoods' will only be paid into a big black hole with little or no value to Ireland.

Tax evasion or the milder form of tax avoidance will be up for mention at the G8 summit in Lough Erne, Co. Fermanagh. Well done Minister for Social Protection (a Chartered Accountant, by profession) for being the first Cabinet Minister in Ireland to have the courage, the ethics, the morality and integrity to highlight U2's decision to move its 'publishing arm to the Netherlands - as part of an attack on the "scandal" of tax avoidance'. This took place in 2006 and yet the plain people of Ireland fail to ask if there is not an element of hippocrisy that U2 and so many others could reduce their level of loyalty to Ireland for a few 'lousy bucks'. What arguments can they put forward? These 'Artists' are not the like of Starbucks or Google who are attracted to Ireland specifically related to tax breaks but who create jobs, because mainly we speak English, we are members of the EU and are population are educated (at least to date anyway). U2 like so many other artists were cushioned to their Fame Status by the infrastructure of Ireland Inc and the tax breaks introduced by Charles J Haughey RIP - former Fianna Fail Taoiseach and minister to several portfolios. The later decision to cap the exemption at £250,000 saw the decision by U2 to move to the Netherlands and since this deep economic crisis in Ireland, they have not sought to return to our Exchequer! Shame on all who flew the coup. Redeem yourselves and pay tax in Ireland.

Ireland is in dire need of some 'Robin Hood' characters who will willingly contribute but we cannot expect this to happen unless our 'cloth is cut to measure' and our home grown artists, entrepreneurs, Forbes Wealth list people have the integrity to contribute to the Irish exchequer and not some foreign tax haven which ensures that they have effective tax rates ranging from nil to 4%. This is where our overly indulged trade unions need to interact. These tax exiles, like the Troika, want to see value for money in the public sector and particularly the HSE and this is about making the parasites pro-active in the recovery of Ireland Inc. It is time for transparency and a moral compass. Well said Minister Burton. It is time that the agenda of the G8 summit to be held in Co. Fermanagh next month will be focusing on 'considering the issue of "exceptionally aggressive" tax avoidance and tax planning'.

Comyn

by Blake - Trade Unions & Integrity Fri May 17, 2013 16:38

Take the Scales of Justice at Dublin Castle - her eyes are covered because She is trying to take both sides of an argument and seeks to achieve justice. But this scales is way out of synch in the Ireland of now. There are token gestures that justice is sought in the public good but then one asks about the abundance of white collar purified crime that seems to have its own court of justice which says, you did wrong, so what we will do is because you are a member of the trade union or the like of FAS for that matter, we will rap your knuckles by demoting you a grade down the employment scale. We will not involve the Gardai so there is no case going to the DPP and the reality is we all say, yes, this is okay. But is it? Where does the power rest? It seems to be in the Unions and the elites of the public sector. Nobody asks the question about the IMO and the reduction deal done from £24 million to £9.7 million. What about Why? Could it have been that there were no funds left in the account to pay the balance and hence the negotiation and acceptance by McNeice. We are not saying that there is wrong done but we need transparency and honesty.

Balance is what we seek to achieve. We know that there is massive amounts of social welfare fraud and that Joan Burton's department is clamping down on rogues who abuse this system. For people to move away from the black economy mindset, justice must be achieved by tackling all elements where corruption is entrenched. The Herald on May 15th 2013 highlighted the case of a man who falsely collected the Job Seeker's allowance of £188 using his brother's social welfare card. Clearly this is an offence and illegal. His case cited that he was a chronic alcoholic and the 53 year old pleaded guilty to 9 counts of 'inducing another to make a payment of Job Seeker's allownance', using a card in another's name.....between August 2007 and November 2011. This man awaits sentence. The amount collected by him was £43,000.....Yes. He committed a serious crime. But the question is:

Is there one law for this man and his type of criminal and a completely different one for others!

What about SIPTU the HSE - £4 million fund? People need to know why?