JC

To present the 2009 Annual Report covering our work throughout the 2008 calendar year.

 

The Annual Report records NIPSA’s negotiating, campaigning and organisational activities on behalf of members.

 

But behind that record lies the hard work, commitment and dedication of NIPSA Officers, Officials and activists at all levels from the President to the hundreds of our representatives in the workplaces across Northern Ireland.

 

And before commenting on the union’s main negotiating and campaigning issues, I want to start this year by acknowledging and thanking all, who have contributed to putting NIPSA, I believe, to the fore as a trade union. 

 

First I thank you President for your support and assistance. I also wish to thank the Vice President, Janette Murdock and Honorary Treasurer, Tanya Killen, as the Officers for their support and help. 

 

Similarly I wish to acknowledge the contribution and work of all members of the General Council and Executive Committees. At times we may have robust debates but I cannot think of any instance where we failed to come to decisions in our efforts to advance the cause of our members.

 

And I wish to thank particularly the work of all NIPSA HQ Officials, plus all the secretarial, administrative and support staff, both in Harkin House and Derry. 

 

As well as those directly employed by NIPSA, we rely heavily on our NIPSA Seconded Officers and many of them are at this conference in other capacities. I do thank them and the supporting staff in their offices. 

 

It is a fact of life for us that, on the one hand, there are limits on the officials and staff resources available, but on the other hand, there is no limit to the assistance that may be required by members at any time. 

 

This means that we are constantly striving to provide a level of service that goes beyond the resources available. Some may see that as a fault to be corrected. But in truth it is the life of being a trade union representative at any level.

 

I believe that those working full or part time for NIPSA, work with dedication and constantly go well beyond what any employer could expect. 

 

The General Council and all of us at NIPSA HQ also recognise another fundamental reality. Building a strong trade union requires dedicated activists in every workplace and that’s all of you. And for every trade union there is a constant barometer of its strength – its membership number

 

I am pleased to report that as of last week this union’ membership stands at over 46,200 an increase of 4% on our 2007 figure. 

 

This growth is against the trend for many trade unions.  It is a tribute to officials and NIPSA representatives in the offices and Branches.

 

But it also reflects the fact that public service staff want a trade union that stands up for its members.

 

On behalf of the General Council we thank and pay tribute to all who are helping to grow this union and I hope Conference would join me in acknowledging the work done by all our activists in the last year.

 

The more members we have the stronger will be our hand in negotiations and on that note I turn to commenting on some of the main negotiating and campaigning issues. 

 

What a difference a year makes. We have been witness to a world financial crisis and are in the grip of a recession. 

 

The so-called mother of Parliaments is reeling. At least we all now know what a duck island is and let me be clear I will not be approving any expenses claims for a duck island

 

But it beggars belief what our public representatives have been up to. These are the same people that have been quick to demand the highest standards of probity from the civil and public servants that this union represents.

 

One of the excuses I heard put forward for the .expenses gravy train is the low pay of MPs and just for the record that is £64,766 per year.

 

Plenty of public servants could tell MPs what low pay really is which brings me to the issue of public sector pay.

 

 

Starting with public sector pay for the Health and Social Care sector, we are locked onto parity with NHS agenda for change pay in Britain. 2009 is the second year of a 3 year deal and provides a ‘cost of living’ increase in rates of pay from 1 April past of 2.4%.

 

On NJC pay the outturn for 2008, also based on parity was deeply disappointing providing only a 2.45% pay increase for the majority of members.

 

And at this Conference we applaud NIPSA members who supported the two days of strike action on 16/17 July last year. That deserved far more than the limited gains at the subsequent arbitration.

 

Civil Service pay was debated yesterday and we are consulting Branches currently on the 2009 pay claim.

 

We are facing a tough pay round for 2009 with Treasury policy on public sector pay seeking to enforce a regime of basic pay increases of 1.5% and the overall costs of settlements to should within the range 1% - 4%.

 

Neither the UK Government nor the NI Executive can expect public service staff to sit back and accept their pay being cut in real terms year on year.

 

For Civil Service staff there is the big issue of the outstanding equal pay claims. It is a scandal that exactly a year after the Minister announced publicly the claims would be settled – members had to take to the streets against the way the Senior Civil Servants have dragged their feet in negotiations.

 

And before I leave the issue of pay there is still the unfinished issue of the pay/grading of Classroom Assistants from the 2007 dispute.

 

At Conference last year we acknowledged the courage of our Classroom Assistant members. They took an unprecedented 17 days of strike action standing up to the Minister, the Department and the Board employers.

 

As I have said that dispute remains unfinished and the General Council is therefore supporting a legal action to secure justice for Classroom Assistants. A number of those Classroom Assistants are here today as delegates, and I wish to commend again their courage and to thank them for the loyalty and backing they have given to this union.

 

Since last year’s Conference other groups of NIPSA members have taken industrial action. It is right that Conference should recognise the resolute stand taken by Medical Secretaries and by Education Welfare Officer grades and the good negotiating work done to secure to obtain fair resolutions of pay and grading issues.

 

 

As well as trying to win decent pay increases for members our other bread and butter task is to defend jobs and services.

 

So our Public Services Defence Campaign remains a high priority.

 

The threats to public services and public service jobs comes from many directions including the privatisation policies of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), the Review of Public Administration and the Comprehensive Spending Review.

 

We will be debating all of these in detail this week.

 

On the privatisation issue last year we commissioned a report from the University of Edinburgh on PFI in Northern Ireland. You will hear more about that tomorrow when the report’s findings are presented by Professor Allyson Pollock from the University. 

 

But there is no doubt that the recession has dealt a body blow to PFI and PPPs. 

 

We saw that with the Workplace 2010 so-called total property PFI for Northern Ireland which was officially terminated last January. And I think we in NIPSA can take credit for our ongoing campaign to highlight the major fault lines with that particular project.

 

However while that PFI project has come to an end, there is no sign that the NI Administration, or the UK Government is going to abandon the policies of outsourcing and privatisation of public services.

 

It is simply shocking and disgraceful, that the Government is now shoring up PFI by providing the private sector consortiums with taxpayers’ money to bid for the PFI contract. This makes it no longer the Private Finance Initiative but the Public Finance Initiative.

 

Unfortunately there are still other PFI/PPP projects in our midst. The worst example is the HR Connect personnel and payroll privatisation in the NI Civil Service. 

 

This was also debated fully Civil Service Conference. I will not go over the issues again here but we are putting the NI Civil Service on notice that NIPSA will sustain a campaign until the provision of personnel services are brought back within Government Departments and delivered by public service staff.

 

There never was a place for PFI and PPP in delivering public services. Although it is too late in the day for some, our demand is that the Executive Ministers should act now in the interests of the people of Northern Ireland and say there will be no more PFI/PPP projects in Northern Ireland.

 

The Review of Public Administration remains a major negotiating issue across all sectors.

 

Again both Group Conferences debated the issue yesterday and we will address the issues further at this Conference very shortly

 

The other important dimension of our Public Services Defence Campaign is to resist the threat to public service jobs and public services by the outworkings of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

 

And to add to that the UK Government’s bailing out of the financial institutions to the tune of £1.3trillion is going to lead to demands for more public expenditure cuts in Northern Ireland.

 

The message from this Conference is that we will resist cuts to public services and cuts to public service jobs. In fact at a time of recession public services should be supported and expanded not cut. We will need more public servants not less.

 

According to Sunday’s papers, economic commentators are projecting that unemployment levels will double before this recession ends.  The human tragedy of that for workers and families doesn’t bear thinking about.

 

If our Executive Ministers are so keen to help people facing redundancy I’ll tell you where they should start

 

At the very least workers facing the devastation of the loss of their employment should have the human right to be able to go to a local Jobs and Benefits office which is fully staffed and equipped to meet all their benefits needs.

 

Instead of that we have had to deal with the SSA Management’s attempts to decimate locally available services under the so called Strategic Business Review

 

And I believe it is right that Conference acknowledges the way NIPSA’s SSA Committee stood up and campaigned magnificently against that attack on the services to be available to those dependent on benefits.

 

Other sectors two have been in the forefront in defending public services. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) was forced to change its plans to cut local offices and that campaign continues. 

 

Branches in Libraries, Health and Housing have been on the streets.

 

We applaud all of you for standing up for public services.

 

PPPs/PFI, RPA and the public expenditure cuts may be the big headline issues. But as reflected in the Annual Report, there are many other issues in every sector where NIPSA has and is taking action to defend members’ interests.

 

One very significant battle we are currently engaged in is on behalf of Traffic Attendants in Belfast, members of NIPSA Branch 91. 

 

In fact we have a battle on two fronts. The first is to secure the reinstatement to their jobs of 25 Traffic Attendants who, we believe have been dismissed grossly unfairly and without justification.

 

Second the employer involved, – NCP Services - now NSL Services Group – having decided to sack the Traffic Attendants, is seeking to use 1980’s anti-trade union legislation to sue this union for compensation of £120,000.

 

Because of this litigation action, there are restrictions on what I can say publicly so that we do not prejudice NIPSA’s defence.

 

But I can confirm to you that NIPSA’s General Council is determined to do all in its power to secure the reinstatement of Traffic Attendants and to vigorously defend NIPSA against this company’s litigation action against the union.

 

And as already agreed Conference will have the opportunity tomorrow morning to consider the emergency motion relating to the Traffic Attendants.

 

But I believe I speak for all when I say to our Traffic Attendants’ Branch delegates here now, that this Conference will be standing shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with our 25 members who are fighting for their rights and their jobs.

 

 

That enduring principle of trade union solidarity is not something that can just be confined to NIPSA and its own members. And over the last five months particularly, NIPSA activists and members have been to the fore in demonstrating solidarity with other workers and their trade unions. 

 

And I wish to pay tribute particularly to NIPSA members for their support for the following.

 

The first is our support for the Palestinian people I have received letters criticising our involvement and challenging our support for a boycott of Israeli goods although those policies were determined democratically by this Conference.

 

But I hope this Conference would agree that the right place for NIPSA on 10 January this year was on the streets of Belfast demonstrating against Israel’s inhumane attacks on the people of Gaza.

 

And I hope Conference will also agree that it was right for the General Council to extend solidarity and support for the Palestinian people by contributing £10,000 to the charity Medical Aid for Palestine.

 

Second it was in keeping with solidarity principles that thousands of NIPSA members joined the trade union silent vigils on 11 March against the despicable murders of the two soldiers and police officers. 

 

And the message from this trade union conference is the same as the message on that day - the trade union movement stands for peace and progress, not going backwards.

 

No political cause in Northern Ireland has ever justified the killing or injury of any person and we absolutely reject those who would take us back to those days.

 

And third it was heartening to see NIPSA members at Belfast City hall on 17 April as public sector workers coming out to stand in solidarity with private sector workers losing their jobs.

 

And when we think now of workers losing their jobs, we will always think of the Visteon workers.   As all of you will know there are not a lot of privileges with being a trade union official, but I will not forget the privilege I had last month of being able to stand in the Visteon factory and hand over a £5,000 cheque from NIPSA to help those workers in their struggle.

 

The Visteon workers have truly given hope to all workers. 

 

And we all need hope and I will finish with these two points President.

 

First this union works hard at being democratic.  Over the next three days this Conference will determine democratically our policies and actions for the next year.

 

In starting Conference each year one of my hopes is always that for the new delegates in the room, younger and new activists, they will leave here on Friday with their commitment to this trade union activity enhanced to carry on the work of NIPSA in Northern Ireland. And I hope all of us can contribute to achieving that.

 

And lastly I think we should record at this Conference that sadly Jack Jones former General Secretary of T&G trade union passed away in April. Younger delegates may wonder who he was but for many trade unionists of my generation Jack Jones was an inspirational figure.

 

In fact as a little bit of NIPSA history Jack was present at the unfurling of the NIPSA banner.

 

His autobiography is a book I would recommend to any trade unionist but it finishes with this comment written 23 years ago – and I quote:-

 

 

Colleagues I don’t think it is a dream either.

 

I move adoption of the 2008 NIPSA Annual Report.