Madam, - I refer to the report on pregnancy discrimination in the workplace - "ICTU accused of exploiting women in work dismissal row" - in your edition of September 6th.
In particular, I read with interest the comments of Mr Mark Fielding, chief executive of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) who accused ICTU of launching a propaganda campaign and of "targeting the most vulnerable groups - pregnant women and small businesses".
Mr Fielding went on that he was "very angry that people are being used in this way to launch the ICTU campaign to get new members".
In the first instance, I am not aware of any trade union in the State that would neglect to support the "most vulnerable groups". Indeed, given that trade unions were established for precisely this purpose, it seems a strange accusation that we are "targeting" these vulnerable groups.
Moreover, I cannot discern from Mr Fielding's comments whether he is more angry about the trade union movement targeting vulnerable pregnant employees or about unions targeting his member companies with our current recruitment drive.
Finally, while Mr Fielding, in justifying his position, states that none of the 170,000 ISME members had contacted him to say that they were the subject of a discrimination claim, I would respectfully point out that any deficiency in the internal communications structures of ISME is not a matter for trade unions. Rather, we are here to protect our members' interests based upon the information that we receive.
It is our understanding that pregnancy discrimination is an issue of real concern in the workplace, and this is supported by the objective data supplied by the Equality Authority. I would ask Mr Fielding to review such data before making any further remarks on the issue. - Yours, etc.,
CAROL SCHEFFER,
Equality Officer,
Communications
Workers Union,
North Circular Road,
Dublin 1.