Respect Social Workers, NO to Cheap Labour!

 

We welcome the setting up of the new Child and Family Agency.  However, the chief executive of the Child and Family Agency has stated that a new ‘graduate placement scheme’ will ‘see young graduates in social work departments honing their skills in order that they fully understand the complex challenges facing families before they eventually join the workforce’ (The Irish Times, 30 Jan 2014). Significantly, those participating in the ‘scheme’ will placed on a salary below that of starting salaries negotiated, by the trade unions, with the government over a number of years. We, therefore, condemn the plan to set up a so-called ‘graduate placement scheme’ because it:

  1. Represents a cynical move to ‘drive down’ salaries within the social work sector and would install a new layer of ‘cheap labour’ within the profession.
  2. Likely to prompt other social work employers to also reduce starting salaries for newly qualified social work professionals.
  3. Risks undermining the morale of the new agency by unilaterally seeking to undermine the terms of condition of employment.
  4. Fails to recognise that fully qualified, CORU registered social workers should be entitled, as part of the workforce, to salaries negotiated over a number of years. 
  5. Dilutes the significance of CORU accredited social work training programmes and ignores the fact that students will have already completed lengthy placements as part of their training.
  6. Conveys the bogus idea that students emerging from social work programmes are all ‘young’  ignoring that fact that many newly qualified social work professionals are ‘mature’ and have accumulated a number of years of relevant experience even before commencing social work education.

We, therefore:   

  1. Demand that Child and Family Agency to immediately withdraw this ill-thought out plan to set up a ‘graduate placement scheme’ which fails to recognise the existing terms and condition of employment within the sector. In this context, we also call on our trade unions, social work education institutions, CORU and service user organisations to seek the immediate abandonment of this plan.
  2. Call for a National SWAN demonstration to take place on Friday 21 March 2014, (1-2pm) outside Dail Eireann; organising slogan will be ‘Respect Social Work, NO to Cheap Labour!’
  3. Call on students on social work courses, throughout Ireland, to network and begin to organise for the March demonstration.
  4. Agree to write to our local TDs asking them to oppose the new scheme.

Queries to: socialworkactionnetworkireland@gmail.com

 

Emergency Motion from Social Work Action Network Ireland – Please Share

 

We, therefore, condemn the plan to set up a so-called ‘graduate placement scheme’ because it:

  1. Represents a cynical move to ‘drive down’ salaries within the social work sector and would install a new layer of ‘cheap labour’ within the profession.
  2. Likely to prompt other social work employers to also reduce starting salaries for newly qualified social work professionals.
  3. Risks undermining the morale of the new agency by unilaterally seeking to undermine the terms of condition of employment.
  4. Fails to recognise that fully qualified, CORU registered social workers should be entitled, as part of the workforce, to salaries negotiated over a number of years.  
  5. Dilutes the significance of CORU accredited social work training programmes and ignores the fact that students will have already completed lengthy placements as part of their training.
  6. Conveys the bogus idea that students emerging from social work programmes are all ‘young’  ignoring that fact that many newly qualified social work professionals are ‘mature’ and have accumulated a number of years of relevant experience even before commencing social work education.

We demand, therefore: 

The Child and Family Agency to immediately withdraw this ill-thought out plan to set up a ‘graduate placement scheme’ which fails to recognise the existing terms and condition of employment within the sector. In this context, we also call on our trade unions, social work education institutions, CORU and service user organisations to seek the immediate abandonment of this plan.

 

Ends.

Call for papers extended – Conf 2014

SWAN North East have extended their deadline for proposals for papers, workshops and presentations for this year’s national SWAN conference. Please download the full call for papers at the link below. Please send proposals to swannortheast@gmail.com by 28th February 2014! You can find out more about the conference and make a booking at the following link: https://www.dur.ac.uk/conference.booking/details/?id=259

 

 

Social Work Action Network Ireland Steering Committee

 

 We are placing a call out to you to get in touch and to come forward to be on the committee. Being on the committee is not intended to be extremely time-comsuming. It is envisaged that most of the interactions of the steering committee will be through email and tele-conference’s. A once or twice yearly face-to-face meeting would take place also.

 

 

The aim of the All-Ireland steering committee would be to ensure co-ordination of the regional and local groups, to ensure information about the network’s work is disseminated to as wide an audience as possible and to ensure support can be mobilised quickly to local groups when the occasion arises. 

 

To that end we are asking for people to put themselves forward for the committee as soon as possible. A face-to-face meeting will then be arranged for the beginning of March. 

 

We look forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions, queries or comments please don’t hesitate to email: socialworkactionnetworkireland@gmail.com.  

 

Kerry

SWAN Ireland member