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Belfast Telegraph
28-04-2025
- Climate
- Belfast Telegraph
‘Climate leave' for NI workers among union's extreme weather proposals
Unite said it has been engaging with Stormont departments to discuss its proposals to protect workers from the impact of extreme weather since the 2018 death of Unite member Matthew Campbell. Mr Campbell (24) died during Storm Ali after being struck by a falling tree in Slieve Gullion Forest Park. The electrical engineer died just months before he was due to get married. He was crushed to death by a falling 200-year-old beech tree, dying instantly in what was described in court as 'a freak accident' which 'could have — and should have — been avoided'. Last April, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council was fined £20,000, while Lagan Construction Ltd was handed a £30,000 fine, after admitting 'health and safety failings'. Unite also noted that of the 17 people who have died in the Republic as a result of named storms since 2014, five were killed either while working outdoors or while travelling to or from work. The union carried out a survey for International Workers' Memorial Day today, with 1,225 members from across Northern Ireland responding. It found that 59% of those whose work included outdoor responsibilities still had to perform them on the day of the storm. Of these, only 23% said they felt safe and 66% said they did not consider their employer had taken all reasonable precautions. Of those whose employer did not require them to work on the day of the storm, over half had to take the day as annual leave, unpaid leave, flexitime, sick leave or time-off-in-lieu or holiday. Unite's proposals include an obligation on employers to conduct risk assessments during extreme weather events, cease all routine outdoor work during orange alerts, and cease all non-essential indoor and outdoor work during red alerts, with workers continuing to be paid during such closures. The union is also proposing four days' paid climate leave, along the lines of that introduced in Spain following last year's devastating Valencia floods, if conditions render travel hazardous or workers need to address pressing domestic needs resulting from extreme weather. The union says a maximum working temperature should be set depending on the type of work and the working environment. It wants obligations on employers to attempt to reduce high temperatures. 7 Day Weather Forecast: 28th April - 4th May It called for an action level of 24C where heat management controls or systems must be put in place and an absolute maximum temperature of 30C — or 27C for 'strenuous jobs' — at which work should stop if these cannot be prevented by using engineering controls. Unite's Irish secretary Susan Fitzgerald said: 'Accelerating climate change means that the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events are set to increase. 'Workers must not be made to pay the price — in terms of their safety, health and livelihoods — for a climate crisis not of their making'. A survey of members in the Republic, carried out following Storm Eowyn, found 55% of respondents did not feel safe travelling to and from work during the storm. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 'On International Workers' Memorial Day, we are demanding that the government climate-proof health and safety laws to ensure that workers' lives and incomes are protected during extreme weather.'
Irish Times
28-04-2025
- Climate
- Irish Times
New regulations required to protect workers during storms, says union
New legislation should be introduced to protect workers during extreme weather events , trade union Unite has said. The union said more than half of its members who worked through Storm Éowyn recently did not feel safe on the journeys to and from their places of employment. A survey of members conducted by the union to tie in with international Workers Memorial Day on Monday, also suggested more than half of those obliged to work outside during the storm did not feel their employers had done everything possible to ensure their safety. Almost a quarter said there had been uncertainty in advance of the storm as to closures, related payment arrangements and any potential switch to remote working. READ MORE The union, which says it has sought a meeting with the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke on the issue, points to data suggesting that five of the 17 fatalities during named storms since 2014 in the Republic of Ireland, involved people either working outdoors or travelling between home and work. One of the union's members in Northern Ireland, Matthew Campbell, was killed while working during Storm Ali in 2018. Unite says it has been engaging with parties at Stormont since then and wants to see a range of measures adopted by the Government in Dublin, including a statutory obligation on employers to conduct extreme weather risk assessments for all employees. It wants non-essential outdoor work to be suspended during extreme weather events and the workers impacted to be paid. The union is also calling for a range of other related measures and supports with substantial fines or other sanctions for non-compliant employers. 'Accelerating climate change means that the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events are set to increase,' says the union's Irish secretary, Susan Fitzgerald. 'Workers must not be made to pay the price – in terms of their safety, health and livelihoods – for a climate crisis not of their making.' A total of 447 people have died in work-related incidents in Ireland over the past decade, 34 of them last year. An event to mark Workers Memorial Day is due to take place at the Garden of Remembrance at 9.30am.
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Shamrock Tenors offer travel and dining advice for Cyclone football fans headed to Ireland
When you're planning to travel, there's no better source for information than locals. So when the five handsome lads in the Shamrock Tenors were in Ames on March 4, the Ames Tribune jumped at the chance to ask about traveling to the Emerald Isle. Their visit from Northern Ireland was a prelude to their March 25 concert at Stephens Auditorium. The Shamrock Tenors include Jimmy Johnston, Matthew Campbell, Jack Walsh, Tom Brandon and Raymond Walsh. More: Shamrock Tenors played an informal gig at Dublin Bay as they gear up for Stephens Auditorium concert Gathered around the big table at Dublin Bay Irish Pub & Grill, the singers were accompanied by another famous Irish tenor, Michael Londra, who is a producer for the group's first U.S. tour. Londra, who lives in Ames, is the host and producer of the popular PBS show 'Ireland with Michael,' which is currently in its fifth season. He is a lead producer on 'Get Happy,' a new musical coming to Broadway in 2025. As a performer, he was the lead singer of 'Riverdance' on Broadway. The Shamrock Tenors' tour includes five Iowa venues: Cedar Rapids, Mason City, Ames, Davenport and Ottumwa, four of which are VenuWorks facilities like Stephens Auditorium. The Iowa State University football team will play its first-ever football game outside of the United States when it opens the 2025 season against Kansas State in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. With one of the tenors, Jimmy Johnston, decked out in a new ISU hat at Dublin Bay and another tenor, Matthew Campbell, sharing the name of Iowa State's head football coach, the conversation was lively and full of laughter. Campbell joked about singing the national anthem before the game in August. More: Irish tenor Michael Londra launched PBS series 'Ireland with Michael' from Ames home Ireland visitors do best to get off the beaten path, the Shamrock Tenors agreed. Campbell suggested visiting many of the country's eclectic small villages and towns. 'You're three hours west to Galway, one of my favorite cities in Ireland. You're about 90 minutes up to Belfast,' he said. 'If you want to see the proper kind of traditional Ireland, get into those little towns in the outskirts.' A direct train from Dublin to Belfast will take about 90 minutes to two hours. The whole island is about the size of Indiana, Londra said. 'You can drive from one end of Ireland to the other in six hours,' Raymond Walsh said. 'Our next drive is to Manhattan, Kansas. So it's crazy to think that in that amount of time you can drive the full length of the country.' Walsh also recommended driving up the west coast of Ireland from Kerry, where Tom Brandon's family is from, through Galway and right up the Atlantic Coast to Donegal. 'It's honestly spectacular,' he said. 'If you have the ability to stay for a couple of weeks after the game, you could travel 30 minutes to a new place and experience an entirely new culture, new sites. It's pretty extraordinary what you're able to do in such a small distance.' More: New renderings for CyTown revealed, including rooftop bar and The Cardinal hotel When the Shamrock Tenors and Michael Londra were asked about their favorite Irish foods, they quickly referred to their mothers' kitchens. But many of those dishes are staples at restaurants and pubs across the Emerald Isle. Tom Brandon recommended lamb shank, 'especially my mom's lamb shank' — just lamb and potatoes and a bit of gravy. 'Irish people love their mothers," Raymond Walsh said. "My favorite's my mom's Irish stew, like that homemade stew with carrots, potatoes, absolutely top drawer." He also suggested a popular snack. 'O'Donnells crisps are top tier — you call them 'chips' here, I always forget,' he said. 'If you're in Ireland for the Iowa State game, people will always go for the Tato brand, which is also nice. But O'Donnells is just on another level.' On St. Patrick's Day, Campbell's family has a tradition where his mom makes a big pot of beef stew. 'It tastes even better the day after,' he said. 'The day you make it, it's nice, but a day or two later, For Londra, one of the meals he misses most is a true Irish breakfast, especially with Irish bacon or sausages. American bacon and sausage is 'adjacent to what Irish taste like,' he said. 'Until you go home and you have a full Irish breakfast, especially if you've been out the night before for pints and you just need that soakage.' Johnston said he enjoys fresh baked soda bread, untoasted with butter. He also likes to put steak sausages on it. Some Americans might be surprised that bacon and cabbage, and corned beef and cabbage are not common on an Irish menu. Those Irish-inspired food traditions started in the United States. Also the boxty is not readily available in Ireland, but Londra is a fan of the menu item at Dublin Bay in Ames. It's a potato pancake stuffed with a Guinness-marinated beef or corned beef. It's then folded over like a burrito and covered with gorgonzola cream sauce. 'It's just gorgeous,' Londra said. The lads' March 25 concert at Stephens Auditorium will start at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $30 and are available at Ronna Faaborg covers business and the arts for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rfaaborg@ This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: An Irish band has some advice for Cyclone fans headed to Ireland
