A newly-established working group on the determination of employment status met this week to discuss false self-employment and potential to improve systems to determine correct employment status for workers.

Bogus self-employment refers to practices where employers force staff into false self-employment arrangements to avoid their responsibilities under employment law.

Fórsa national secretary Katie Morgan is one of the ICTU representatives on the working group, which has highlighted the serious impact the issue of bogus self-employment has on workers.

The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa), which is a branch of Fórsa, recently wrote to the Taoiseach about the problem. Ialpa also brought a motion to the union’s 2021 divisional conference to highlight how Irish law currently facilitates – and even encourages – bogus self-employment in many sectors.

Chaired by minister of state Damien English, the working group on the determination of employment status is comprised of employer and union representatives. It was established to give stakeholders the opportunity to engage on issues relating to bogus self-employment.

Katie said the Government’s focus had so far been on social protection and revenue collection rather than employment rights.

Employer bodies argue that the incidence of bogus self-employment is overstated, and that many self-employed people wish to be deemed this way.

But unions told the working group that case law did not truly reflect the scale of the problem as many workers were fearful of losing their job, and damaging future employability, by taking cases against their employer.

Aviation and media were identified as particularly vulnerable sectors in this regard. But the problem also exists in construction, the meat industry, forestry, management services, hairdressing and other sectors.

“This is only the start of a long process, and something that unions have been campaigning on for decades. It is positive that we have a seat at the table, and we will utilise it to make sure the workers voice is heard, and that this hopefully influences any potential recommendations from the group,” said Katie.

Fórsa has sought an acceleration of pay restoration for its members in Ryanair due to the increased cost of living.

Senior union official Ashley Connolly, who has been leading these talks, said the union wanted to fast-track the measures contained in the ‘emergency Covid-19 agreement,' which was accepted by members in a ballot.

The agreement, which followed weeks of discussions, is due to run until 2024.

“The agreement, which was backed by 82% of members in a ballot, ensures accelerated pay restoration as well as significant pay increases. We know the importance of some form of imminent relief for members given the current rate of inflation. This is top of our negotiating agenda in current discussions,” said Ashley.

The union is also due to begin engagement with management this month on the development of a more extensive collective labour agreement, with the aim of reaching agreement no later than December 2022.

“There are substantial issues for cabin crew, including transfers, and it has been agreed that the parties would engage from June on the development of a more extensive collective bargaining agreement. It was also agreed that operational meetings will be convened with the local representatives and management on a regular basis to address issues outside of the industrial relations arena,” said Ashley.

Meanwhile, the union’s representatives have also raised the inflationary pressures on its members in recent meetings with the Labour Court.

Fórsa officials in ICTU’s Private Sector Committee delegation to the court said the meeting was focused on the outcome of recent pay negotiations and court recommendations.

Fórsa and other public service unions are expecting contact from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) after Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told RTÉ that the Government was prepared to make an improved offer in pay talks.

The negotiations, which impact on staff in non-commercial State agencies, ended without agreement last Friday (17th June) after Government proposals fell far short of 2021 inflation and projected 2022 cost-of-living increases.

The talks were convened after the ICTU Public Services Committee invoked a review clause in the current public service agreement, Building Momentum, on foot of high and sustained inflation that wasn’t predicted when the deal was agreed.

But union negotiators today said the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) had offered supplementary pay rises of just 2.5% for the period 2021-2022, despite expected annual inflation of at least 9% over the two-year period.

Another 2.5% was proposed for next year – despite inflation projections of up to twice that figure in 2023 – as Government negotiators sought to extend Building Momentum into a third year.

Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan, who is leading the union team in the talks, said the Government proposals fell far short of projected inflation, and could not credibly have been put to members in union ballots.

He added that they would send a signal to employers across the economy that workers should bear the brunt of large and sustained increases in the cost of home heating, fuel, food, housing, childcare, and other essentials.

“The real-term shortfall between the modest pay increases in the current public service agreement and rising living costs is huge and could yet grow.

In 2021, the gap between annualised Building Momentum increases and annualised inflation was 2.15%. If inflation averages 7% this year – and it could well be higher – the 2022 gap would be 6.75%. Who knows what 2023 will bring?

“Against this background, the Government’s proposals would leave low and middle-income public servants struggling to pay essential bills. And it would send a message to employers across the economy that workers alone must pick up the tab for out-of-control price hikes. Workers don’t cause inflation, they and their families are the victims of inflation,” he said.

Kevin added that, if the WRC saw value in another engagement, the union side would be available.

“Earlier this week I warned that the Government’s objective of extending the Building Momentum agreement into 2023 could not be a substitute for addressing the 2021-2022 living standards deficit, and that these talks would fail if this cost-of-living shortfall was not adequately addressed.

“We worked in good faith to avoid this breakdown, but the proposals we were presented with overnight could not credibly be put to union members, who rightly decide whether we enter or extend any agreement. The Government now needs to return with a more realistic offer that can maintain stability in public service delivery and industrial relations,” he said.

Fórsa has backed the growing calls for domestic violence leave legislation. The union’s national secretary Ashley Connolly said the Covid-19 pandemic had exposed the need for a better response to victims of domestic violence.

Last month, delegates at Fórsa’s national conference called for new laws to establish the right to statutory paid leave as part of a package of workplace measures to assist victims of domestic violence.

Ashley said these measures were necessary because women living with, or escaping from, domestic abuse are far more likely to have several urgent and important appointments to attend.

“These include medical visits, legal proceedings, counselling for themselves or their children, changing children’s schools. Most can’t do this outside working hours, either because the services aren’t available or, worse, because they need to hide this from their abusers.

“Victims end up having to take unpaid leave, use up annual leave, or even miss work and risk losing the very job that gets them out of an abusive situation, if only for a few hours each day,” she said.

Women's Aid chief executive Sarah Benson recently said that extra leave was important as many victims have to take annual leave or even unpaid leave to deal with the upheaval that comes with domestic violence.

“Many women already have a limited income and a wage cut due to unpaid leave may be very difficult to manage. In certain cases, they may leave or lose their job,” she said.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions policy officer Laura Bambrick said the issue of who pays for the domestic leave also needed to be addressed. She called for cooperation from representatives for employers’ bodies.

Delegates at the union’s conference last month had unanimously backed a conference motion from the union’s national executive calling for statutory paid leave for victims of domestic violence.

Data from the advocacy group Safe Ireland, found that nearly 3,500 women and 600 children contacted a domestic violence service for the first time during the opening six months of the pandemic.

Ashley said that 249 women have died violently in Ireland between 1996 and 2022, one in four women in Ireland have been subjected to some form of abuse, while studies have found that 40% of victims said the abuse affected their ability to get to work, and almost 60% said they had to take time off work because of the abuse.

The conference motion commits the union to actively campaign to legislate for an effective statutory entitlement to paid leave for victims of domestic violence, encourage the union’s networks to raise the issue of workplace supports for victims and survivors of domestic violence with employers in their sectors, and investigate the potential of extending the union’s existing counselling service to include a dedicated confidential service for victims of domestic abuse and gender-based violence.

Union membership is becoming an increasingly female phenomenon, as there are now more women than men in trade unions. That’s according to the latest findings from the UCD Smurfit business school.

Drawing from a nationally representative sample of over 2,000 workers across the country, the research looked at the structure of union membership, attitudes towards unions, the perceived effectiveness of unions, and collective bargaining coverage.

The Working in Ireland Survey found that the growth in female participation in the labour market is matched by growing numbers of women joining trade unions.

The study also found considerable support for union representation among non-union employees, with as many as four out of every ten non-union workers saying they would vote to establish a union in their workplace.

Young workers were particularly well disposed to seeking union representation, although membership levels are currently highest among workers aged between 55 and 64.

The public sector boasts the highest concentrations of union membership.

Read the findings HERE. 

Additional working time introduced in the public service in 2013 will no longer be worked with effect from next Friday (1st July), when hundreds of non-commercial semi-state staff will see their working time restored to pre-austerity levels.

Additional ‘Haddington Road’ hours were introduced in 2013, but most people who saw their working time increased will now return to pre-2013 levels, albeit with a floor of 35 hours a week.

The reduction in working time also benefits those who joined non-commercial State agencies after 2013.

The breakthrough was achieved following the formation of Fórsa, which brought 80,000 public servants – including thousands of activists and workplace reps – into one strong and united trade union.

The union made the restoration of the hours a top priority in the negotiations that led to the current public service agreement, and insisted there’d be no deal unless the issue was addressed.

Fórsa’s strategy won support from other unions, and Building Momentum established an independent body to resolve the issue. Its January 2022 report recommended a return to 2012 working time, with a minimum working week of 35 hours.

The union’s general secretary Kevin Callinan said the achievement was won because Fórsa had the determination, capacity, belief and collective strength to make it happen, despite dogged management resistance.

“Now we need to build our collective strength to tackle the big challenges facing working people and their families today – issues like pay and the cost-of-living crisis, remote and blended working, childcare, and flexible work arrangements,” he said.

Civil service circular 14/2022 which was published at the end of last month, confirms the details of the union-negotiated restoration of pre-Haddington Road working hours, albeit with a floor of 35 hours a week.

The circular, which is now set to be rolled out across the public service, implements an independent body’s recommendation that public service employees’ working time should be restored.

Fórsa is encouraging members to get in touch with their representatives if they are still being subject to earlier start times, or any different timing arrangements, that were implemented as part of the HRA hours arrangements

Read our FAQs HERE. 

The International Labour Conference (ILC), organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), has recognised occupational health and safety as the fifth fundamental principle and right at work.

The ILO brings together trade unions and representatives of employers and governments from around the world.

Its original four rights were adopted in 1998, and have not been altered before now. The five fundamentals now in place are:

• Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining
• The elimination of forced or compulsory labour
• The abolition of child labour
• The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation
• Recognition of occupational health and safety as a fundamental principle at work.

This change is the first extension of workers’ fundamental human rights in a quarter of a century.

There were 490 work-related deaths in Ireland between 2010 and 2019.

Trade unions across the globe will now campaign to increase the number of countries ratifying and implementing the ILO health and safety conventions. This can include giving workers the right to consultation over risk assessments, the eradication of long hours and toxic work environments and the right to refuse dangerous work.

Fórsa assistant general secretary Lynn Coffey welcomed the announcement and said workplace health and safety is of the upmost importance.

‘Fórsa has been working tirelessly to ensure workers feel safe and secure in their positions no matter the circumstances. The union is constantly dealing with individuals who may feel in danger due to unsafe work practices or are put into difficult positions by a toxic work atmosphere,” she said.

Lynn added that, as well as the risk of physical injury, difficult work environments can lead to mental health problems. “Recognising occupational health and safety as a fundamental principle in work is a huge step forward in the right direction,” she said.

A new 80,000-member strong salary protection scheme was launched on 1st June. The culmination of two years of work and packed with new benefits, the Fórsa Salary Protection Scheme is a merger of four separate schemes available to members of the three unions that amalgamated to create the new union in 2018.

The merger of the schemes will also stabilise the price, while ensuring fairness and equal access for all union members. Had the schemes remained separate, it’s likely that there would have been significant increase in rates for all the schemes.

All scheme members are now covered for:

• Disability benefit up to 75% of salary*
• New death benefit, which is typically two times annual salary
• New specified illness benefit: A once-off lump sum of 25% of annual salary for 55 specified illnesses**
• New partial payment specified illness benefit: A once-off lump sum of €12,500 or 12.5% of annual salary (whichever is less) for one of the 36 less severe, but still life altering, conditions
• New children’s specified illness benefit: An additional benefit of €15,000 if your child suffers a specified illness, or €7,500 if your child suffers a partial payment specified illness
• New Fórsa MyDoc: An easy phone and online healthcare service for you, your spouse or partner, and dependent family members living with you. Book free consultations and get prescriptions, sick certs or referrals
• Terminal illness benefit: 25% of death benefit, accidental death benefit
• New breast and prostate education and preventative programme run through Beaumont and Bon Secours hospitals
• New tax return service for claimants
• New will service for members.

The new scheme is open to Fórsa members in hundreds of different grades, professions and occupations. And it means that members in civil service executive and clerical grades will now have access to the full suite of benefits that were previously only available to other Fórsa members.

These include life cover, specified illness, and retired members life cover.

It also means civil service clerical officers won’t have to apply to transfer to a different scheme if they’re promoted. Existing executive and clerical scheme members will benefit from the additional benefits at no charge for the first six months from the date of the review.

After that, the cost of full membership is 1.99% of gross salary with effect from 1st December 2022. But existing executive and clerical scheme members can opt out of the full benefits prior to September and maintain the income protection benefit only at a cost of 1.44% of gross salary.

Cornmarket, which administrates the merged scheme, is to write to members individually to notify them of the changes. Meanwhile, all existing schemes members will automatically transfer to the new scheme on the enhanced benefits set out above.

Find out more

If you have questions, or want to make a claim, you can speak to a member of Cornmarket’s team on these numbers:

• Queries and questions: 01-408- 6280 or spsadmin@cornmarket.ie
• Claims: 01-408 4018 or spsclaims@cornmarket.ie.

Watch a short video about the new scheme HERE.

Read the full terms and conditions, including a full list of specified illnesses and the policy definition and criteria of each illness, HERE. 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

*Less any other income that you may be entitled to (eg, half pay, ill health, early retirement pension, temporary rehabilitation remuneration, state illness benefit or state invalidity pension).

** There is only one specified illnesses benefit and one partial claim per member per scheme.

A new strategy for Fórsa’s Services and Enterprises Division, which sets a course for the foreseeable future, has been endorsed. The strategy embeds strategic organising into the division, and draws on the union’s overall strategic plan for 2021-2025.

The strategy identifies the immediate objectives for the next 12 months, in line with the overall strategic plan.

This kicks off with phase 1 of the divisional strategy: organising to create a stronger, more powerful union that delivers for members.

It consists of four focus areas, each all aligned to the strategic plan:

• One pilot project that encompasses organising, the industrial agenda and communications into one strategy
• Accurate data for effective communications and measuring density
• A standard approach to how we organise, communicate, and deliver for members
• Support branch development, to strengthen, diversify and grow.

The head of the union’s Services and Enterprises Ddivision, Katie Morgan, said organising is top of the division’s agenda.

“The divisional executive committee held a strategic planning day in April where we had an opportunity to focus on embedding organising and Fórsa’s strategic plan into our divisional strategy. This provided an opportunity for the divisional executive committee and divisional staff to meet and exchange ideas in person for the first time in more than two years.

“The day included workshops by Fórsa’s strategic organising department and presentations from the union’s strategic change team and communications unit. Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan provided an overview of the current challenges nationally for the union and the wider trade union movement,” she said.

Katie and divisional cathaoirleach Niall Mullally said the strategic planning day provided a much-needed opportunity to re-energise as a group, and to refocus the work of the division after two long years of remote engagement and major uncertainties facing the sectors that the division represents.

“We’ve seen the benefits of blended and remote working, and we were able to continue working productively as a division throughout the pandemic period. But there’s a little added energy and focus, and some excitement, from being able to meet face to face again,” said Niall.

Katie said the divisional strategy will play a crucial role in embedding the strategic objectives of the union into the day-to-day work of the division.

“We work hard for our members, and we hope that this strategic approach at divisional level will help increase our density to better deliver for members and increase union power.

“We have established a strategy working group that has been assisting with the development of the strategy documents and we’ve been engaging branches on this. The strategy will be monitored regularly by the DEC and we hope to report some positive outcomes at our next conference,” she said.

“It was agreed that our initial focus will be on one pilot project that encompasses organising, the industrial agenda and communications into one strategy. We’re planning on running this pilot project in the Health and Safety Authority and look forward to engaging with our activists and members on this,” she says.

Katie said that some branches had already held their own branch strategy days, where they are aligning their branch objectives with the divisional strategy and, in turn, the strategic plan.

“The branches are seeing the potential positive outcomes that can be achieved by outlining a practical workplan that supports activists and delivers for members. A lot of what is mentioned in these plans are things that branches already do, but aspire to do them in a more structured way.

“We commend these branches for taking the initiative and creating their own strategies in line with the divisional strategy and the strategic objectives of the union. We encourage other branches who may be interested in developing their own branch strategy to talk to their official and we will support them with the process,” she said.

A new academic study has found that working at home is less likely to lead to work intensification in organisations where there’s a recognised trade union. The UCD report also said unions helped tackle increased stress and other health and wellbeing issues associated with remote work.

Like most similar studies, the report found that most employees favour a hybrid form of working where they work some days at home and others in the workplace. This preference was strongest among workers living in cities and commuter belts.

Just a over a third (35%) expressed a preference for returning to work in the workplace all or most of the time.

The study also found that remote working increased productivity as workers were able to concentrate better, increase their effort and save commuting time when working from home.

But it said this intensification of employees’ effort levels could lead to increased stress, an inability to disconnect from work, and poorer health and wellbeing. These outcomes were particularly associated with women workers and parents of children aged 8 to 18.

The report said unions can play an important role in moderating the more harmful effects of homeworking, but warned that the challenges of protecting a dispersed workforce were significant.

“The advantages of homeworking for our society and communities are considerable: less commuting, less pollution, more time spent with our families and in our communities, and greater flexibility to organise our work around our domestic duties and caring responsibilities,” it said.

Read the report HERE.

The head of Fórsa’s local government and municipal employees division, Dessie Robinson, is retiring from the union today (Friday).

From 1975, Dessie worked for years in Semperit Ireland, where he was a leading workplace representative. An expert in health and safety, he then went to work with the Education and Training Services Division of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in 1997.

Dessie joined IMPACT as an assistant general secretary in 2003. His assignments included responsibility for the Dublin boards and voluntary agencies, Dublin hospitals, special needs assistants, school secretaries and the Dublin local authorities.

He took up the lead position in the union’s Local Government Division and Municipal Employees’ Division last June.

Apart from his outstanding work as a union official for over 19 years, Dessie’s popularity among staff colleagues and elected representatives is extremely difficult to match.

His sharp sense of humour helped buoy many of us up during good days and bad, and he has forged many lasting friendships in Fórsa.

In 2008, Dessie co-founded the Fórsa conference charity cycle, a project that has raised over €160,000 for small but crucial charities with weak funding streams.

He also has a keen interest in terrible music. The tan is real, and we think the teeth are too. And he definitely selects his own range of apparel, some of which comes equipped with volume buttons.

He will be greatly missed by all his friends and colleagues in Fórsa and the wider trade union movement.

A scaling up of local authority-built affordable housing would help resolve the housing crisis, according to speakers at an event organised by the Fórsa-backed Raise the Roof housing campaign earlier this week.

The seminar heard that the local council in Vienna, Austria, had reduced waiting times for social housing to under two years by building 6,000 apartments, and refurbishing around 4,000 homes each year.

Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan told the seminar that the housing crisis had got worse since the pandemic struck.

“The figures support that idea that we have moved from a crisis to a disaster. There are 60,000 households on the public housing list, as well as an estimated 30,000 ‘hidden homeless’ forced to share with family or friends,” he said.

The event was hosted by Dublin Lord Mayor Alison Gillialand, who called for more public housing and affordable rental properties. Christian Shantl of the Wiener Wohen Austrian housing group said Ireland could learn from the Vienna Model.

Kevin Callinan said local authorities and trade unions had a big role in fixing this crisis.

“Adequately supported local authorities can deliver housing. Local authorities are not motivated by profits and can deliver high quality housing at a fraction of the cost of private developers. In 1975 they built 8,794 new homes when resources were scarce while in 2019 only 1,000 homes were built.

“Trade unions also have an important part to play. Fórsa’s ‘more power to you’ campaign calls for investment in direct maintenance staff, a new local authority led public housing financial model for housing that operates on a cost-rental basis and a referendum on the right to housing,” he said.

‘Raise the roof’ is continuing its campaign with a series of meeting over the coming weeks. The first taking place in Siptu Hall in Galway, on 28th June. A meeting is also planned for the Glenroyal Hotel in Maynooth on 4th July.

Fórsa has joined unions across Europe in applauding the work of public servants over the last two years and called for quality public services as it marked international public service day earlier this week.

Unions across Europe celebrated the workers who dedicate their lives to providing public services and make sure people enjoy human rights. The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) said international public service day was a day for all these workers.

The early days of the Covid-19 pandemic saw the world celebrating frontline workers cheering and clapping from the confinement of their homes. EPSU said this was a welcomed mark of appreciation, but that it was not enough.

It called for better pay and conditions for workers in light of the cost of living crisis, and demanded more staffing and better working conditions.

EPSU general secretary Jan Willem said the pandemic had exposed the consequences of liberalisation, austerity and inaction. “Critical staff and resource shortages left hospitals and long-term care facilities unable to cope with the pandemic, contributing to the shocking deaths that characterised Europe’s pandemic experience,” he said.

Fórsa has welcomed draft Government proposals to replace the statutory minimum wage with a higher ‘living wage.’ Tánaiste Leo Varadkar last week announced his proposal to gradually introduce a living wage for all employees over four years, starting from 2023.

A living wage is the average hourly full-time salary needed by a single individual without dependents to afford a socially acceptable minimum standard of living. It’s currently set at €12.17 an hour, compared to the legal minimum of just €10.50.

The Government’s move comes on foot of Low Pay Commission recommendations on how the living wage could best be introduced. The Commission found that a statutory wage floor set at 60% of the economy-wide median wage could be implemented without substantial effects on employment.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ general secretary Patricia King said the decision was “a milestone towards addressing endemic low pay in the Irish labour market.”

The Low Pay Commission has also recommended that the rate could be adjusted from 60% to 66% of median earnings in the future.

ICTU said the the new living wage rate should be applied to all workers including young workers who do the same jobs, pay the same taxes, and have similar food and rent costs.

Its social policy chief Laura Bambrick said: “This living wage proposal will abolish hourly low pay. So, it is hugely significant not just for trade unions but the hundreds of thousands of workers on the lowest rung of the pay ladder.”

The Low Pay Commission’s report on the Living Wage, and the accompanying research report, are available here.

Fórsa hosted its annual campaign summer series event last weekend. Led by the union’s campaigns director Kevin Donoghue, the event aimed to equip senior union activists with the skills and tools they need to lead local campaigns.

The summer series offers opportunities to discuss and debate on some of the pressing issues of interest to Fórsa activists across a range of economic, social, equality and environmental topics.

This year there was a heavy focus on real-life scenarios and the best way to combat these situations. The two-day event kicked off with founding director of ‘Uplift’ Siobhán O’Donoghue leading a session on campaign development.

This was followed with lobbying training from Chloe Manahon, who is political advisor to Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik,  and media training from Fórsa’s head of communications.

Participans were asked to create a campaign using the skills learnt through the workshops. They were then grilled from makeshift politicians, councillors, journalists, and radio hosts all played by Fórsa staff. The event illustrated how a misplaced comment or quote can change the narrative in running a campaign.

Kevin Donoghue emphasised the importance of being prepared in all aspects when working on campaigns:

“It was important that members felt like this summer series gave a glimpse into what can happen when things go wrong. It was all about learning the skills from our expert speakers and putting them into use.

“I’d like to thank all the members who attended and hope they took home a lot of new information that perhaps they hadn’t known before. The event was certainly a success, and we hope to continue with more events like the summer series in the coming year,” he said.