A radical reorganisation of SIPTU is to involve women members more actively in the union, relocate offices nearer to members' workplaces and regroup branches around specific industrial and professional sectors. The union's general secretary, Mr John McDonnell, outlined plans for the next two years at SIPTU's conference in Tralee yesterday.
While SIPTU may acquire new premises on Dublin's outskirts to better service members and beat gridlock, he ruled out any sale of Liberty Hall, although more space might be used for cultural activities.
He also called for more rigorous enforcement of the Protection of Employment Act 1997, which requires at least 30 days of large scale redundancies in order to allow for consultation with employees. He said the legislation was not being complied with in many cases and workers were only learning of closures at the last minute.
The level of statutory redundancy payments should be raised to at least three weeks pay per year of service, he said.
The current maximum is one week's pay for workers aged 41 and over, and half a week for younger workers, which violated the spirit of the new Employment Equality Act by allowing the perpetuation of discrimination on age grounds.