Water service workers will take to the streets of Kilkenny this month to protest the treatment they say they have received from SIPTU over the transfer of their employment to Irish Water.
Local authority workers, who maintain that they have been let down by their unions, are demanding a vote on the new water framework document, citing a lack of consultation.
A spokesperson for Water Services Ireland told Gript that the group, made up of local authority council workers, have rejected the ‘Framework for Future Delivery of Water Services’ document, finalised in June, “in its entirety”.
Gript approached SIPTU for comment, but did not receive a response.
Workers say that their unions have and continue to refuse them an opportunity to vote on the new directive, which they say will negatively impact not only themselves, but the Irish people on a broader level. The group has voiced persistent opposition to the Irish Congress of Trade Union’s (ICTU) agreement with Irish Water, which will mean the transfer of approximately 3,000 council staff to Irish Water.
It also claims the move will lead to water charges being reintroduced.
In February 2021, the Irish Government put forward proposals to establish a single water service authority for Ireland, which would mean the end of existing ‘service level agreements’ between Irish Water and individual local authorities. It also meant that local authority staff working in water services will be needed in the new national water authority.
The ICTU group of unions in the sector have been in discussions in the Work Relations Commission (WRC), aiming to amend the Government proposals to protect workers in any transfer of responsibilities from local councils to Irish Water. These discussions came to an end on 23rd June 2022, when the ‘Framework for Future Delivery of Water Services’ was finalised.
Irish Water is set to take control of water services when it becomes the single national water authority next year (2023). The group is taking issue with the new ‘Framework for Future Delivery of Water Services’ which is an agreement which was produced between unions representing water workers, Irish Water, and local authority representatives in the WRC.
The framework will see Irish Water become the single national water authority from 1 January 2023. Between January 2023 and December 2026, the new Irish Water-local authority agreement will replace existing service level agreements (SLAs). It also will provide for the transfer of the delivery of all water services to Irish Water, which will assume direct management of all water services staff from January 2023.
While workers can remain in local authority employment, Irish Water will have responsibility for managing and directing water workers, even if they stay in local authority employment. By the end of 2026, local authorities will no longer have any involvement in the public water system, and staff would be reassigned to suitable vacancies in other areas of council work. The option of transferring to Irish Water will remain until the end of 2026.
“We, the water service workers of Ireland, are rejecting the new Water Framework document in its entirety,” Paul Coughlan, a spokesperson for Water Service Workers Ireland and local authority worker in Waterford told Gript. Mr Couglan said that disenchanted local authority workers feel as though they have not been given a say, and they will have to resort to industrial action from 1 January.
“Our unions are refusing us, the people most affected by this agreement, our vote. The new agreement by the collective body of unions breaks a service level agreement from the 1st of January 2023 where they have agreed to give full control of water services to Irish Water.
“This gives us, the workers, no other option but industrial action from 1 January 2023. The referendum on public ownership of water services has been promised since 2013, and has yet to be delivered. Our unions want us, the workers, to go along with this agreement, even though the Government hasn’t decided on the wording or a date for the referendum,” he added.
“These were two red-line issues for the unions, yet with a stroke of a pen, they were forgotten about. We, the workers, cannot and will not accept this agreement, not only for our sake but for the sake of the Irish people,” he said.
The protest march calling for workers to have their say will take place on Friday, 9 September, meeting at Kilkenny Castle at 2.30pm.
It will march to the SIPTU office in support of Kilkenny and Carlow water workers. Earlier this month, the organisation protested outside of SIPTU offices demanding that they be given a voice in the transfer to Irish Water, which they say is one of the biggest changes to water services in Ireland for over 50 years.