UNION TO MAKE CASE FOR EXTENSION OF SOCIAL CLAUSE
Activists from SIPTU’s Communities Uniting campaign have
secured a meeting with the Social Development Committee of the Northern Ireland
Assembly as part of their campaign to have a “threshold of decency” clause applied
to state funding for Community and Voluntary Sector. This follows the launch of
the Programme for Government by the First Minister and Deputy First Ministers
Office which included a commitment to insert a social clause into public
procurement contracts.
Speaking ahead of the
meeting which is scheduled for 26th May next, Community Activist
Sean McMonagle said “We welcome the inclusion of a social clause for public
procurement contracts and believe the Executive should be applauded for this
positive step. We believe that a
“community and voluntary sector social clause” should also be included. This should
stipulate minimum employment standards to be applied to any worker delivering
services in this sector. A “minimum
standards” or “threshold of decency” social clause could resolve many of the
difficult issues faced by community sector organisations and the workers within
them.”
The Social Development Committee was established to advise
and assist the Minister for Social Development, Nelson McCausland MLA, on
matters within his responsibility as a Minister. The committee undertakes a
scrutiny, policy development and consultation role with respect to the
Department for Social Development and plays a key role in the consideration and
development of legislation.
The variety of services provided by community and voluntary
groups across the North of Ireland is extensive – from sporting groups to meals
on wheels, health services, peace building, information centres, and childcare
services to environmental activities and residents’ associations.
The positive impact of this sector is not limited to the
social fabric of society, as it also plays a vital economic role. While community and voluntary groups receive
on average about 43% of their running costs from the state they generate £4 for
the local economy for every £1.00 of state funding.
However workers within this sector face major challenges.
They have little or no job security and rates of pay and conditions of employment
vary widely. Due to funding gaps workers
are required to go for frequent and extended periods without any pay. This situation is further compounded for
organisations receiving multi stream funding.
Around 3,000 workers in this sector have lost their jobs over the
previous two years, with the remaining 27,000 attempting to fill the void at a
time of ever increasing demand for their service.
An analysis of rates of pay, access to a funded pension
scheme, sick pay and maternity entitlements between the two sectors illustrate
very clearly that community workers providing vital state funded services to
the most disadvantaged sectors of society are treated less favourably than
public sector colleagues.
Catherine Pollock who will be representing SIPTU for the
engagement with the Social development Committee stated “If we accept that
these workers are providing services for the state, then we as citizens have an
obligation to ensure the people providing these services are treated in a
reasonable manner. We do this for public
sector workers yet the same provision for community sector workers is not yet available.”
Martin O’Rourke from SIPTU concluded “We believe that minimum standards on pay and conditions should
be agreed between all the stakeholders in a tripartite forum; the funders, the
employer organisations and trade unions representing workers in the
sector. Such a forum could review these
conditions of employment on a periodic basis, and in addition seek resolution
to issues arising within the sector. “
