Fórsa’s news bulletins are published every fortnight. We publish five bulletins, each covering the sectors where we represent members of the union.

All the news stories we publish are archived (see ‘archive’ search facility at the top of this bulletin) for convenient access and on the website HERE.

But in August each year we press the pause button as a lot of members are on leave, taking a well-earned break from the work and union business.

We’ll be back in September, and already it looks like a busy Autumn, so until then, we hope you enjoy the rest of this (mostly) glorious summer.

Kevin Callinan became Fórsa’s Senior General Secretary last week as former leader Shay Cody retired from the post. He will be supported in the role by the existing General Secretary Eoin Ronayne and a deputy general secretary, who will be ratified by the union’s National Executive Committee (NEC) this week following a competition.

Kevin was formerly deputy general secretary of Fórsa and, before that, IMPACT. The members’ ballot on the structure of the new union, which took place in 2017, included agreement that he would succeed Shay in the top post.

A former activist in Dublin Corporation, Kevin has served as a trade union organiser, official, and national secretary in the health sector, the civil service, education, and local government.

As IMPACT deputy general secretary he spearheaded the creation of a thriving organising department and oversaw the creation of the union’s Education Division, which now has over 12,000 members.

Kevin is currently Vice President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and was a member of the executive of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), which recently held its highly-successful tenth congress in Dublin. He is currently a member of the Executive Board of Public Services International.

Kevin told the Bulletin: “My immediate concern is to strengthen the union so that we can deliver better outcomes for members. I have made the case for a review of the Public Services Stability Agreement (PSSA) in the light of changed economic conditions and we already have our eye on public sector pay talks that are anticipated to take place during the first half of next year.”

He also paid tribute to Shay Cody, who retired as senior general secretary on 12th July. “Shay took the helm at an extremely difficult time in 2010. He guided public service unions through three separate sets of talks that resulted in agreements that were subsequently accepted by members. And the creation of Fórsa will stand as a singular achievement and a tribute to his leadership.”

The first career pathway review for health and social care professionals (HSCPs) for 16 years is now underway, following agreement with Fórsa. In a recent update, the union’s Head of Health Éamonn Donnelly said the process was due to conclude within a year.

This is the time allotted to the HSE’s nine community health organisation (CHO) ‘learning sites,’ to which agreement on the review was linked.

The grades covered include physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, social care workers, dietitians speech and language therapists and podiatrists.

 
The process, which started in the first week of July, will consider career progression against the background of changed working environments since 2003. It will take account of career structures, advanced practise, clinical specialisms and advancement from basic to senior grade.

Éamonn said the HSE was now also processing ‘In Charge 3’ claims for professionals whose claim was heard by the Labour Court. These will be paid with effect from September 2016.

The remaining ‘In Charge 3’ claims will either be conceded, or further clarification will be sought, by the end of August. Successful claims will be paid with effect from September 2018.

The HSE has also agreed to present draft terms of reference for the career pathway review “as a matter of priority,” after which a reviewer will be agreed and will commence work. The process will be overseen by a joint union-management group consisting of four seats from each side. Two of the seats on each side will be rotational to allow for inputs from different professions.

The union has also won approval for a separate strand of discussions on the effect of the CHO network proposal on primary care managers’ roles.

Éamonn said Fórsa aimed to enhance the role and the future of HSCP’s for many years to come. “The profession has to be an attractive proposition for students so that a gateway into the health service is needed. Then, a pathway of career progression is required for those who develop specialist knowledge, as well as a skills set that can see HSCPs becoming involved in the service planning and delivery of services,” he said.

Free access to an adequately-funded public health system, which mainstreams currently marginalised services like mental health, are among the measures unions say should guide health service reforms.

A recent meeting of health service unions outlined the six principals as health minister Simon Harris announced long-expected plans to establish six new health areas, in a move to devolve authority from the national HSE to local regions.

Once established, the six regional bodies are meant to plan, fund, manage and deliver integrated care in each region.

Harris said the new regions were in line with SláinteCare proposals for improved health services, which achieved cross-party support in 2017. They had been established on the basis of population statistics, data on how people currently access health services, and a public consultation, he said.

A “co-design process,” in which stakeholders – including staff and their unions – will be invited to contribute to the design of services in each new regional health area, will now take place. And details of the national and regional organisational design will be brought back to Government for approval within 12 months.

Speaking at the announcement, new HSE chief executive Paul Reid said the new regions would support and enable staff to deliver the best care possible. “Since I joined the HSE, I have met staff right across the country who work tirelessly to deliver the best care possible, and who have great energy and ambition for constantly improving what we do, and how we do it. However, our current structures do not always support them in doing this,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) Health Sector Group, which includes Fórsa, Siptu and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, agreed the following principles, which it said should guide health reforms:

• Accessible public health services, free at the point of use
• A public health service that provides timely and efficient healthcare to those in need
• A properly-resourced health service that ensures the best standards of patient care
• Hospital, primary and community healthcare that is geographically accessible
• A revised model of general practitioner care, and
• The ‘de-marginalisation’ of critical health services like mental health.

Women in Ireland spend twice as much time as men carrying out unpaid care work according to new research. On average, women undertake over 21 hours of unpaid care work each week, compared to less than 11 hours for men.

“Caring and Unpaid Work in Ireland”, which was published by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) earlier this month, found that the average time rose to over 42 hours a week for women who provide regular childcare.

In the report which analyses more than a decade of available data, unpaid care work is defined to include the care of children, older people, and those with a disability.

The results reveal a significant gender gap, with 45% of women providing care for children and older adults, compared to just 29% of men.

The gender gap in unpaid work time in Ireland is seventh highest in the European Union. The chief commissioner at the IHREC, Emily Logan, said Ireland’s performance reflected “the State’s low involvement in support for caring and sees Ireland more in line with southern and eastern European countries than with countries like Scandinavia or western Europe.”

Fórsa has said the growing shortages of health and social care professionals at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda are actively undermining the services the hospital is supposed to deliver.

Health and social care professionals (HSCP) include pharmacy staff, dietitians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists as well as cardiology and respiratory specialists.

The union says the recent expansion of beds at the hospital has caused the shortage of pharmacy staff to grow by 40% since April, while the overall deficit of HSCP staff at the Louth hospital has jumped by 27% since January.

Fórsa official Barry Cunningham said the continuing and growing staff shortage, and management’s failure to respond to it, is actively undermining hospital services for the entire region: “We’ve been trying to engage with management at the hospital on this issue, but there’s been no progress at all.

“Management has, instead, adopted an ostrich strategy, sticking their heads in the sand and hoping, somehow, that this growing problem will simply disappear.

“This isn’t good enough. The recent €30m investment in the hospital has seen new wards and theatre space developed. While the investment is very good news for people in the region, until the newly-expanded hospital has the required complement of staff to deliver the full range of services, it’s just empty corridors and equipment,” he said.

Barry added that the staffing crisis at the hospital has also been exacerbated by the decision by management to get rid of some agency staff providing clerical services. He said there remains a threat that more of these staff could be let go shortly.

“Once you start shedding staff providing essential administrative and clerical services, the burden falls back on existing staff, which in turn undermines their capacity provide the appropriate support to clinical staff,” he said.

Barry said the combination of failing to address the HSCP deficit and getting rid of support staff effectively reduces the capacity of a newly-expanded hospital to deliver services. “If you cannot staff the hospital properly, what was the point of the bricks-and-mortar investment in the first place? What is the point of the technological investment?

“Management need to stop pretending there isn’t a problem. The longer it’s ignored, the more people will have to be re-directed to other hospitals to get the ongoing care and treatment they require,” he said.

There is “considerable regional inequality” in the supply of non-acute healthcare services, according to new research from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Health Research Board.

In a newly published report, the institute finds that the geographic distribution of primary, community, and long-term health care services in Ireland is “unequal” even after controlling for healthcare need factors.

The study compared the supply of ten non-acute healthcare services across the country, including GPs, public health nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and long-term care.

It found that Kildare, Meath, Wexford, and Wicklow are the most undersupplied counties, whilst Sligo, Cork and Galway are among the best supplied when compared to the national average. Dublin, meanwhile, has a levels of service provision similar to national averages.

The report highlights several policy implications arising from the current distribution of primary, community, and long-term care services across the country. Chief among these is the implications for Sláintecare. It notes the need for a “reform of allocation mechanisms” to ensure that there is sufficient capacity in non-acute health service lest the successful implementation of Sláintecare be impeded.

To this end the report states that “considerable increases in supply of non-acute care” would be required to ensure “equity” in service levels across the State. It also called for more data to be collected to aid and enhance analysis of service provision levels in the future.

You can read the report HERE.

The Low Pay Commission (LPC) has recommended that the national minimum wage should increase to €10.10, a rise of 30 cent. The commission advises the Government on the appropriate rate for statutory minimum pay in advance of the annual budget.

The minimum wage is the minimum employers must pay almost all workers over 18 years of age. Fórsa and other unions advocate for the living wage, an evidence-based estimate of the hourly rate required for a full-time worker to have a minimum acceptable standard of living.

The living wage currently stands at €12.30.

A Fórsa spokesperson said: “More needs to be done to bridge the €2.20 an hour gap between the living wage and the minimum wage, including in the public sector where many clerical officers, school secretaries, SNAs and others are still paid below the living wage.”

The LPC is made up of an independent chairperson appointed by the Government, plus representatives of unions, employers and other stakeholders.

The living wage is set on an annual basis by the Living Wage Technical Group. It takes account of basic cost of living expenses including rent, healthcare, transport and recreation. The group recently cited rising rental costs as the main factor driving the living wage increase for the second year in a row.

Fórsa has welcomed Westminster’s monumental vote in favour of legislating for equal marriage rights in Northern Ireland in the absence of a Stormont Government by 21st October.

Noting this significant progress, Fórsa equality officer Geraldine O’Brien commended those who have spent decades fighting for these changes.

“It’s high time equality for every citizen in Northern Ireland was prioritised by legislators and that the LGBTQ+ community is granted the rights they deserve. If it weren’t for the tireless work of equality campaigners, including trade unions, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” she said.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions was also pleased at this development, having campaigned for equal marriage as part of the Love Equality coalition since 2015. ICTU also pressed for reform of Northern Ireland’s laws on abortion, recently passing a motion at its biennial conference whereby delegates voted to support the Alliance for Choice campaign to ensure free, safe and legal abortion.

The Westminster vote also means that abortion provision will be liberalised in the North if the Stormont assembly is not restored in October.

ICTU Assistant General Secretary Eoin Reidy welcomed the proposed changes but said their preference would be that the Northern Ireland Assembly changed the law, rather than the House of Commons.

“We repeat our calls for all parties to agree a rights-based return to the power sharing institutions at Stormont, a position supported by every trade union on the island of Ireland. However in the absence of a functioning Government, we fully support the moves by Westminster to legislate for these important rights,” he said.

An explainer on ‘auto-enrolement,’ setting out the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) stance on changes to the Government’s current plans, and written by ICTU’s social policy officer Laura Bambrick, has been published in the latest edition of the Fórsa magazine.

Auto-enrolment will legally require employers to include all staff who are not already members of an approved occupational pension in a new retirement saving scheme. Workers, employers and the Government will all make contributions to the scheme, which is set to be introduced in 2022.

While Dr Bambrick welcomed the introduction of auto-enrolement in principle, she raised a number of concerns about the current plans, including worries that employers may try to force workers to opt-out of the scheme. ICTU also wants increased contributions from employers and the State.

Dr Bambrick said: “While we do have concerns around some features of the draft system the Government has proposed, Congress agrees in principle with the introduction of auto-enrolment as the most appropriate way of increasing pension coverage.”

The full article is available HERE and latest edition of the Fórsa magazine is available in workplaces now.

Fórsa Senior General Secretary Kevin Callinan has told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs that Columbia is the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist. Giving evidence alongside fellow Justice for Columbia board member Mariela Kohon last week, he said a 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and FARC guerrillas was “facing huge challenges, and more so since the election of President Iván Duque.”

“It is a source of serious worry that elements of the Colombian peace agreement have been ignored, changed or progressed too slowly,” he said.

Earlier this month Fórsa General Secretary Eoin Ronayne, who recently visited the conflict-torn country, told the ICTU biennial delegate conference that twice as many trade unionists there had been murdered last year than in 2017.

The Columbian peace agreement was meant to bring decades of conflict between Government forces and FARC to an end. It has six pillars including rural reform, enhanced political participation, disarmament, an end to the illicit drug problem, the establishment of a truth commission, and a commission to ensure the agreement is fully implemented.

But Kevin told the Oireachtas committee that the new Duque administration has been frustrating the agreement. Duque, who is openly hostile to the deal, has under-resourced its measures for dealing with the consequences of the conflict. And the chapters that address the root causes of the conflict – rural reform and political participation – have not been implemented.

Kevin said our experiences on this island gave Ireland “special responsibility” to act.

Ms Kohon, who is also the international officer of Britain’s ICTU-equivalent – the Trade Union Congress – told committee members that FARC has complied with their obligations and the UN has verified their disarmament. But she said the Government had abrogated its responsibilities.

It’s estimated that over 590 social leaders, including human rights defenders and trade unionists, have been assassinated since the agreement was signed in November 2016. Callinan and Kohon called on the international community, including Ireland, to act to support the Columbian peace process.

You can watch Kevin Callinan and Mariela Kohon’s evidence HERE.

You can read Kevin’s submission HERE.

Staff responded positively to Fórsa’s first ‘meet and greet’ event at Naas general hospital last week, according to union official Eimear Ryan. Branch representatives spoke with a number of members and offered advice about specific concerns.

In a push to raise its visibility in the facility, the branch has secured a Fórsa notice board, which will appear outside the staff canteen next week. Eimear, who has been invited to address dieticians in the hospital, also said there was significant scope for recruitment among its 20 physiotherapists.

“It was a great opportunity to meet members and non-members and promote the work of the union. We see this as the first step in increasing our visibility and building our density in the hospital. We are also striving to building structures in the hospital and have identified members for our in-house committee, which will meet for the first time this month,” said Eimear.

A planned ‘excessive water charge,’ which on current water-use trends would be levied on just 7% of households, would be used to fund investment in water conservation measures, according to local government minister Eoin Murphy.

In a letter to Maria Bailey, who chairs the Oireachtas committee on housing, planning and local government, Minister Murphy outlined plans to levy the charge on households that use over 213,000 litres of water a year, which is 1.7 times average household consumption.

The charge would be €3.70 per 1,000 litres of water used in excess of the average. Irish Water, which would be responsible for administering the charge, has proposed a yearly cap of €500 on the charges, which would cover water and wastewater elements of the service.

By comparison, Tesco will sell you two litres of Ballygowan natural water for €1.25.*

Draft regulations prepared by the Minister also allow larger households – those with more than four people – to apply for an additional allowance of 25,000 litres per year for each additional person. There will also be exemptions for those whose medical needs require them to use more water than allowed by the threshold.

* Online price www.tesco.ie ,Tuesday 23rd July 2019.

Brexit poses the biggest risk to the Irish economy, according to the trade union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI). But its Quarterly Economic Observer also warns that economic ‘overheating’ is a major risk in the Republic.

Overheating occurs when an economy is expanding at an unsustainable rate, with inflation growing as output fails to keep pace with demand.

The Quarterly Observer is NERI’s economic outlook for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The summer issue says there is enough ‘fiscal space’ – or available public funding – to introduce stabilising measures in the event of a no-deal Brexit without compromising the medium-term budgetary position.

It also proposes changes to tax policy in the Republic, including minor reforms to the local property tax.

NERI projects real GDP growth of 4.6% in the Republic this year, and 3.3% in 2020, assuming there is a soft Brexit. The body is less optimistic about Northern Irish economic performance, citing its particular vulnerability to a no-deal Brexit.

The economists envisage average real growth of 2% in wages in 2019-2020, and says a tightening labour market should increase the bargaining power of workers.

They say labour market conditions are improving in the short run, with an additional 70,000 people set to enter employment this year.

The report is available HERE.

The Government has been given an ‘F’ grade for its record on child and family homelessness, which the Children’s Rights Alliance says has a “devastating” impact on children.

In evidence to an Oireachtas committee, the Alliance criticised the State’s failure to reduce the number of children living in emergency homelessness accommodation and urged the government to invest long-term in public housing.

The Alliance, a coalition of over 100 organisations, also called on the government to follow through on the recommendations of the 2014 Constitutional Convention to enshrine a constitutional right to housing.

The submission highlights the destructive impact of homelessness on children’s development and the negative health consequences of life in emergency accommodation.

Earlier this month, ICTU General Secretary Patricia King confronted Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on the issue, saying that Government should not let children “pay a dreadful price” for its policy failures.

You can read the full submission of the Children’s Rights Alliance HERE and find out more about the No Child 2020 campaign HERE.