Honorary Siptu Limerick president ‘barred from union’s offices’

THE honorary president of trade union Siptu in Limerick has claimed he is being barred from entering his own union’s offices in the city.

Ballysimon Road man Frank McDonnell, who has almost 60 years of service to the union movement in Limerick, has been picketing outside Siptu’s offices which are within the Forsa trade union premises at the Roxboro Road.

It comes after he claimed he was asked to leave after raising concerns over the lack of intervention from Siptu, which led to a delay in payments to Community Enterprise (CE) and Jobs Initiative (JI) staff at St Munchin’s Community Centre in Kileely.

Siptu denied this was the case and said issues around the new General Data Protection Regulation laws have forced staff there to limit access to the complex.

Despite this, Mr McDonnell – who has also held a number of other roles in Siptu locally – claims his own union has acted “disgracefully”, adding he has been “muzzled” and is “really hurt”.

“It’s strange for an honorary president and a former president to be standing outside the offices of his union,” he told the Limerick Leader.

Mr McDonnell, an employment rights advisor by trade, had stepped in on a voluntary basis to assist Linda Ledger, the manager of the St Munchin’s Community Centre, who was struggling to receive what is known as a rollover  from Siptu.

Put simply, this is a permission which is required under employment law from trade unions to allow the continued re-engagement of staff on CE and JI schemes.

Without this permission – which is in effect the union signalling these workers are not replacing full time work – it is hard to draw down funding for these schemes from government.

Mr McDonnell intervened after he was told that 163 workers in St Munchin’s were on the brink of losing their jobs.

The centre had to draw down a short-term loan to ensure staff were paid.

As a consequence of this, he raised the matter at Siptu’s district council meeting, where he was ruled out of order.​

Subsequent to this, he claims he was then blocked from entering a facility where he has been a regular visitor for many years.

Ms Ledger – who will join Mr McDonnell on the picket line with some workers this Thursday – said the honorary president is being treated “very badly”.

She described him as a “superstar” and said she feels the centre may have closed were it not for his intervention.

“We cannot have CE and JI without an approval we are not replacing other jobs. We could not get our commitment. Frank really helped us out in that regard,” she said.

Mr McDonnell said he is finding it doubly tough as his own daughter Ailish works within the trade union office.

”It’s hard to swallow. My daughter works in there, so you can imagine what it’s like for her. She’s gutted. I feel like I’m being made look the bad guy,” he added.

A union spokesperson claimed Mr McDonnell has not been barred, and has been availing of the facilities in the Forsa offices in recent days.

“There are absolutely no issues arising from his advocacy for staff at St Munchin’s Community Enterprise Centre,” they said, “However, issues have arisen in relation to the GDPR responsibilities of the union which require staff to limit access to users to the offices to areas where member privacy will not be compromised.”

The spokesperson said there have been complaints from Mr McDonnell against some members of staff, and conversely, some members of staff against him.

“We believe these issues can be resolved through constructive engagement and dialogue,” they added.