Union warns of threat to 5,000 jobs in community and voluntary sector

UP to 5,000 workers in the community and voluntary sector will lose their jobs before the end of the year, the IMPACT trade union delegate conference was told yesterday.

Wicklow HSE branch member Margaret Coughlan made the claim as the conference unanimously backed a range of motions committing the union to fighting pay cuts, restoring pay scales and opposing job losses in the sector.

Ms Coughlan made reference to the recently-published, IMPACT-commissioned Harvey Report, which projected the scale of the job losses. She said the 5,000 figure may even be “cautious and conservative”.