The Office Block

For International Women’s day, we focus in on 2 issues.  We look at the gender pay gap and sexual harassment in the workplace.   Joined by Laura Bambrick from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and Denise Roche from the National Women’s Council of Ireland, we ask: What can be done to narrow the gap, and how widespread is sexual harassment in the workplace? With 4 out of 5 women who experience ...

Our latest episode drops at the height of a General Election campaign. We look at work-life balance and why it’s one of the health and safety issues of the century. What can be done to prevent overwork, burnout and stress? We talk to Gareth Murphy, Head of Industrial Relations and Campaigns with the Financial Services Union, about what the “right to disconnect” and ask what workplace polices sh...

Game Workers Unite in Ireland - a branch of the FSU - has been making some waves of late. The newly formed community of game workers is seeking improvements in terms and conditions across the sector, and have already had success in attracting activists, volunteers and members. In this latest edition of the Office Block Podcast, Game Workers Unite Ireland coordinator Ellen Cunningham talks to Pa...

For our latest edition, we return to some familiar themes. In episode 2, we looked at automation and digitalisation. In this episode, we look at the impact of technology in the workplace.    Dr Caroline Murphy of the University of Limerick joins us to look at the recent FSU report "Technology Work and Skills: The Impact of Technology on Employees". We talk to Caroline about the 'right to discon...

Rights at Work: Pay Trends in Ireland and Collective Bargaining    In this episode of the Office Block, we look at current pay trends in Ireland. What is happening in wages and salaries?  What is the role of trade unions in setting pay in Ireland. We drafted in Professor Bill Roche of UCD to look at the detail.   Collective bargaining is the process where unions agree pay, terms and conditions ...

We all need to mind our mental health, and the workplace has an important role to play. But are employers doing enough? What does positive mental health in the workplace look like?   On episode 9 of the Office Block, we answer these questions and more. We talk to Maeve Brehony, Senior Industrial Relations Officer with the Financial Services Union, on how trade unions are working to promote posi...

What rights exist for people with disabilities at work? What are the changes that are required to make laws fairer, and what supports currently exist for people with disabilities in employment? We delve into these questions, and much more on our latest podcast, episode 8 of the Office Block. Our guest is Suzy Byrne. Suzy is a highly experienced and well known activist on disability issues. She...

In Episode 7, we sit down with Gareth Murphy, acting general secretary of the FSU, to talk about the union's agenda for finance workers. What are the trends on pay and working conditions in the sector? What are the union’s priorities for members? What are the big issues cropping up for staff in the sector? We delve into these questions and more. We also take a look at the FSU's finance worker...

How widespread is workplace bullying? How can it be dealt with? What should someone do if they are a victim of workplace bullying? How do we create positive workplaces which promote decency? In our latest podcast, we look at these questions and more with Mandy La Combre, Senior Industrial relations Officer with the Financial Services Union. Mandy uses her skills and experience to guide us thr...

Hello and welcome to episode 5 of the Office Block. On our latest show we talk tech workers, and the conditions and rights they face at the cutting edge of the modern workplace. There are 92, 000 people working in information and communication in Ireland, and the stats show that the trade union organisation is weaker here than almost any other sector of the economy. But a change may be afoot. I...

Changing terms and conditions are altering the world of work for all, but are there winners and losers? Are the old gaining at the expense of young people who are sandwiched between low wages and high housing costs? Paul Dillon was joined by two experts in the generation game - Stephen Kinsella and Laura Bambrick - to look at changing demographics and how shifts in employment, pensions and ac...

Host Paul Dillon was joined by Sinead Pembroke of TASC, the think thank for action on social change, and Gareth Murphy of the Financial Services Union (FSU), to look at the latest trends on pay. There was a particular focus on how pay is structured in the Financial Services Sector and performance related pay structures. Sinead Pembroke has written and researched extensively on working conditi...

Host Paul Dillon (with a little help from Gareth Murphy) delved into one of the biggest topics facing people working in finance today. What are tech changes doing to our jobs? What will a future finance sector look like, as automation and digitalisation continue apace? We asked the experts. Dr Christina Colclough, of the UNI Global Union, joined us to delve into her research. Christina, who de...

Episode one is available now. Host Paul Dillon was joined in the studio and over the phone for a free-wheeling discussion that took in topics like mental health and technology in the workplace, how big data is dominating the headlines, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) , the Brexit jobs dividend, the fallacy that interns are some special category of worker completely devoid of protectio...

Coming up on episode one of the Office Block podcast, we have a panel discussion on topical issues in finance and banking. Joining us this month we have Jack Horgan Jones, Emma Kennedy and Richard Grogan. Jack is a business correspondent with the Sunday Business Post, where he often devolves into finance and banking issues, among others. Emma Kennedy is a freelance journalist. She is also qu...