© Zul Mukhida/Sightsavers
GENERAL NEWS
You can make a blind child see When you woke up this morning, you probably didn’t think you were going to do something miraculous. But you can. © Zul Mukhida/Sightsavers
Enoch was two years old when he developed cataracts in both eyes. With his vision blurred he couldn’t even take a few steps on his own. Instead of being full of life and curiosity, Enoch was close to losing his sight for good and spending the rest of his life totally reliant on others. A cataract operation, costing A cataract operation saved just €56, saved his sight before he Enoch from a lifetime of tears. lost it forever. After a start in life overshadowed by sight loss and tears Enoch can now look forward to a better future.
Joe, left and below, at his retirement do and, above, in his younger days as a Mandate activist
Please give €56, or whatever you can afford to Sightsavers, and help save more children like Enoch from needless blindness.
Mandate official Joe Donnelly retires after 48 years service MANDATE Divisional Organiser Joe Donnelly retired in April after more than 48 years’ service to the union as an activist and an official. Mr Donnelly started his union experience in 1967 in BT where he became a member of IUDWC – one of Mandate’s forerunner unions. He became an activist and union collector in 1968. By 1971, Joe was a shop steward and was elected to the Dublin
District Drapery Branch Committee in 1974 where he later became Chairperson of the Branch. Joe was elected to the National Executive Committee in 1980 and became President in 1983. He became a full-time union official in 1989. Mandate General Secretary John Douglas told Shopfloor: “There are very few people who have given the service to the trade union movement that Joe
Donnelly has given. He has been at the heart of Mandate for decades and his knowledge on industrial relations law is second to none.” He added: “It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with Joe and to learn from him along the way. We all wish him well in his retirement and we want to thank him for his commitment and his service to Mandate and the trade union movement in general.”
Could you write for Shopfloor? Please donate today. Call 1850 20 70 20 or visit www.sightsavers.ie Registered charity number: CHY15437
10
Do you have a perspective on the Irish political, social or economic environment that you'd like to share with your fellow members in Mandate Trade Union? Do you have a good news story about how being a union member has benefited you and your colleagues in the workplace. Have you a story about how you or your family are coping in the current recession. Whatever it is, we'd like to hear from you. Please contact Shopfloor at news@mandate.ie or post your article to Shopfloor, Mandate Trade Union,9 Cavendish Row, Dublin 1 SHOPFLOOR
y May 2015