Eradication of bullying in the workplace has been put top of the IMPACT agenda after the union's conference was told yesterday that 7 per cent of employees, including 10 per cent of women, had experienced bullying at work. In some cases union activists complained of harassment.
The union's president, Ms Geraldine Maddock, said one of the most worrying aspects of bullying was that the recent Government Task Force on Workplace Bullying found only 15 per cent of victims of bullying had raised the issue with their union. This was in spite of the fact that 30 per cent of bullying victims were aware their unions were willing to offer help and advice.
"Research shows victims of bullying are more likely to leave their job or seek a transfer than contact their union. Even fewer use formal procedures to deal with the problem," she said.
Delegates from the Eastern Regional Health Authority area complained of bullying and harassment, sometimes because of involvement in trade union work.
Ms Jacintha O'Reilly-Maloney said union activists had been "denied information, denied access to members, denied time off to sit on committees. It has reached the stage where people will not come forward now to serve as reps."
IMPACT's assistant general secretary, Mr Sean McHugh, said the problem in the former Eastern Health Board region, now reorganised under the ERHA, "is no better or worse than other employments".
On a separate issue, delegates warned the Government they would resist attempts to raise the retirement age for the public service, or add an extra 1 per cent to superannuation contributions.
Both proposals are contained in the Report of the Commission on Public Service Pensions. At least a quarter of IMPACT's 40,000 members are entitled to retire at 60, or 55 in some cases.
The union's deputy general secretary, Mr Shay Cody, said it would oppose additional contributions unless they were clearly linked to better pension benefits. "The key message from this conference is that we will not support, participate in, or agree to the unilateral across-the-board implementation of these recommendations. Consultation is not enough.
"Negotiations must take place on the proposals before implementation. That is the bottom line as far as IMPACT is concerned," he said.
The conference was also told that pay for clerical and administrative staff in the health service and local government was falling behind other sectors. Over the past decade the cumulative value of pay increases to these groups ranged from 50 per cent to 54 per cent, while local authority craftworkers received 64 per cent, nurses 78.5 per cent and gardai 80 per cent.
The figures were given by IMPACT national secretary Mr Kevin Callinan. He said the union's submission to the benchmarking body had sought improved pay rates and shorter scales.
The union has also condemned tax breaks for share option schemes granted by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, in the Budget. Delegates from the union's branches representing tax officials and tax inspectors said the new 20 per cent tax rate on some share schemes was "tax avoidance" and called for it to be withdrawn.