Fórsa has said it may have no alternative but to collapse the General council’s conciliation and arbitration system if DPER continues its current impasse and doesn’t respond to the union’s dispute resolution document at next week’s meeting. 

The union has consistently highlighted the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s (DPER) negligence to engage with the scheme, which is the main industrial relations mechanism for civil servants, on several occasions.

Fórsa previously said civil servants were being denied access to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) for almost all workplace issues, with the only exceptions being for equality-based grievances. “It is an exclusion unique to the Civil Service,” the union said. 

The union has maintained its intentions to collapse the scheme unless urgent progress was made on implementing the 2015 Industrial Relations Act, which would provide access to the WRC.

Éamonn Donnelly, who leads the union’s civil service division, said although the general council protocol is that a response must issue within two sittings of general council (two months), no response has been received on the internal dispute resolution procedure despite it having been tabled in September last. 

Fórsa said this delay triggered the union’s notification of intention to collapse the General Council. 

“There is a reason these protocols are in place, and DPER’s often delayed -or complete lack- of responses show absolute disregard for the system,” Éamonn added.

Fórsa is set to meet management again next week and if there is no response still. The union said it may have no alternative but to collapse the current arbitration system, which is completely outdated and stacked heavily in favour of the employer. 

Éamonn said the only alternative that would remain then would be to seek bilateral meetings “for every single issue” across the civil service.

Fórsa said it also complied with DPER’s request to provide an indexation of all the industrial relations issues stuck in place due to the impasse. 

“We promptly prepared the extensive list of issues caught in the system and not responded to, and it was done on the condition that DPER would sit down with us and go through those,” said Éamonn.

But he warned that this step was “not done to preserve the longevity of the General Council. It is quite the contrary,” he added. 

“Our only interest is in moving issues that are stuck, but let me reiterate that we are intent on gaining proper access to the WRC for the workers we represent,” said Éamonn. 

Fórsa is pushing for a timely response from DPER to the dispute resolution document, and has also called for this mechanism to be built into the system, so civil service workers across the country can have proper access to the WRC. 

It says the biggest flaw in the system that needs to be addressed immediately is the lack of a response time. This means a matter can be referred to arbitration, but the arbitration board has no powers to facilitate a hearing until DPER decides to respond.

Fórsa says it is confident it will soon have official confirmation of the eligibility for workers across the civil service to access parental leave until their child reaches the age of 16.

Union officials are currently at an advanced stage of talks to increase the eligibility for the leave, but they say this extension is just one of several matters it is pushing for on the equality front.

“We are heading into the new year with a renewed focus on several equality issues, and the cooperation of the equality committee at the general council would help in quickly progressing these crucial advancements,” said Éamonn Donnelly, head of Fórsa’s civil service division.

“This entire process could have been sped up if the equality committee of the general council facilitated meetings more often,” he added.

“We are really keen to begin having robust discussions around domestic violence leave and menstrual and menopausal welfare policies to gain ground on those issues too,” said Éamonn.

The union maintains that delays or lack of communication from the employer representatives at the general council will result in it agitating to meet outside the system for every single issue.

Fórsa’s push for action on these issues results from a combination of union surveys and research on the matters, as well as related motions being unanimously passed at its national policy-setting conference early last year.

Key findings from the union’s survey on domestic violence supports published in November showed that one in two people know someone experiencing domestic abuse.

“Employers needed to deliver a better response to victims of domestic violence. The survey results show the urgent need for a package of workplace measures to assist people suffering abuse,” Éamonn said.

Fórsa says these supports could make a huge difference to the employees, while being of minimal cost to employers.

Fórsa says its exclusion from the recent information gathering survey on the process of flexi-time accrual is hampering real progress of the practice. 

The civil service is currently testing the impact of flexi-time accrual in a blended working environment. As a result, the issue of flexi-time accrual for those availing of blended working arrangement went to arbitration recently.

This exercise involved a testing of approaches, informed by a recent Civil Service Arbitration Board report. 

Fórsa says management did a survey to test the effectiveness of flexi-accrual across the system within the new pattern of working, but failed to make that information available to all the stakeholders. 

The union said this exclusion again referenced the failure of the general council and management’s negligence of existing protocol. 

“Despite there being one blended working policy, it is operating in a plethora of different ways across different departments,” said the union’s officials. 

Fórsa says it is also analysing that information, but it will now have to try and seek direct discussion to make the blended working policy as consistent as possible. 

“The blended working policy was conceived when we were coming out of lockdown, things were different then. But we need to continuously advance this practice by evaluating what’s working and what can be done better,” said the union.

At its meeting on 19th January, the Civil Service Divisional Executive Committee (CSDEC) appointed a representative sub-group to examine in detail the applications of blended working in operation across the system. 

When the CSDEC has analysed this data and developed a position on the acceptable standards required, it will seek direct discussion with DPER on the matter.

Fórsa members can now save 50% on their AA Roadside Rescue plan, through a new and exclusive union negotiated scheme.

This new AA Roadside Rescue offer provides for 24/7 roadside breakdown assistance in Ireland and the UK for just €6 a month, and will provide cover whether driving or as a passenger.

This new offer can be accessed exclusively through this portal.

Contact the AA here for more information.

The Fórsa Skills Academy is kicking off series of online training sessions later this month, providing information and guidance across a range of topics of interest and benefit to members, activists, and representatives.

‘Lunch and Learn’ aims to give members the knowledge to support them as a union member or representative whilst supplementing the broad range of training programmes currently being offered by Skills Academy. The virtual sessions will take place on the last Friday of very month from 1pm – 2pm, exploring different topics. Whilst these sessions are predominantly for information, there will be opportunities for participants to ask questions via the chat function.

The inaugural Lunch and Learn will kick off on Friday 27^th January from 1-2pm, covering the why and how of union motions.This session will explain what a motion is, its function and importance to workplace democracy.  It will also explain how to construct a motion and the journey it takes from an idea to its implementation, clarifying some associated jargon along the way.

Members interested in attending should register their interest here.

Fórsa has said the union stands in solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers, and has criticised protests designed to intimidate those in direct provision and emergency accommodation.

The union made the statement last week in response to recent anti-immigrant protests in a number of communities, including Ballymun, Finglas, Drimnagh and East Wall in Dublin.

Fórsa national secretary Richy Carrothers said the union stands in solidarity with asylum seekers, refugees, and the majority of people in those communities where protests and intimidation have taken place: “These protests have been staged by a small number of people who have attempted to stoke fear and hatred in the community. Intimidating people in direct provision will do nothing except scare vulnerable people and rip our communities apart.

“The vast majority of people understand this, and don’t subscribe the racist ideology behind those organising the protests.

“Racism has no place in Irish society, and the trade union movement stands behind those who have escaped conflict, oppression, climate and economic catastrophe to come to Ireland in search of safety and a better life.

“Fórsa supports policies to end direct provision and make it easier for refugees to access employment. We support their right to be able to live with dignity, in peace, and free of the type of harassment and intimidation we’ve seen in recent weeks,” he said.

ICTU

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has also condemned the protests. Congress president and Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan said: “The best way to defeat the far right is by delivering decent work, wages, rights, public services, and homes for all.

“In order to do that we must build solidarity and workers’ power. The trade union movement stands with refugees and international protection applicants and their representative organisations. We will continue to build solidarity between working people of all backgrounds and to work towards ensuring that the messages of the far right never gain mainstream traction in our unions, communities, and workplaces.”

Congress general secretary Owen Reidy criticised extremists who are “whipping up fears and anxieties by turning their hate on those seeking international protection in Ireland.” He said the cynical use of socioeconomic challenges such as a lack of public services, housing, and the refugee crisis to divide working people and local communities is unacceptable.

Parents are being urged to sign up to the universal childcare subsidy, worth up to €22.50 a week or €1,170 a year per child, which is now available for all children up to age 15.

The revised subsidy took effect from 2^nd January 2023 and will be capped at €2,100 per year.

The subsidy can also be used to reduce the cost of afterschool and out-of-term childcare fees for school-age children using a registered provider.

The childcare provider, including childminders and school-age childcare services, must be registered with Tusla and have a national childcare scheme (NCS) contract with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

The updated subsidy allows families accessing Tusla registered early learning and childcare to receive a minimum hourly NCS subsidy of €1.40. This is an increase of €0.90 from the current minimum hourly rate. And it will be a universal measure, meaning children up to the age of 15 are eligible for the improved NCS measures.

You can sign up HERE to avail of the expanded subsidy, which previously only applied to babies and toddlers.

The new rate will automatically be updated for families with existing awards, where applicable, and they will be notified when this happens. These families do not need to take any steps to avail of the new rate.

Families who do not have an existing award from the NCS are encouraged to submit an application to begin receiving financial support with their early learning and childcare costs.

It’s also possible to make a paper application by contacting the parent support centre on 01-906-8530.

The subsidy is paid directly to childcare providers, who must then subtract its value from your childcare bill.

You can also use a subsidy calculator which can help you estimate how much you may be eligible for before you apply. 

Every family using a registered childcare service provider is entitled to this subsidy to reduce their childcare fees, regardless of the families’ income or earning.

The scheme is currently worth 50 cent for each hour the child is in childcare up to a maximum 45 hours a week. However, if one or both parents are not working, studying or training, the maximum number of subsidised hours is 20 hours a week.

Colleagues, as 2023 began I was conscious of the enormous pressure faced by our colleagues working in our health services. Covid, flu and record numbers seeking treatment have made this mid-winter an especially difficult one for workers and service users alike. The pressure continues and the Government, Department of Health and the HSE have each come in for strong criticism.

As new health service structures begin to take shape, Fórsa remains determined to ensure services are properly resourced and that our members have the support they need in changing times.

Despite a recent reduction in the inflation rate, the most significant challenges for trade unions in 2023 will be continuing high inflation. Should it continue to exceed last year’s projections by the Department of Finance, as seems likely,  it will put considerable pressure on pay bargaining during the year ahead, including in the public service as the extended (Building Momentum) agreement expires in December.

Fórsa remains determined to solve the significant pay deficit for workers in the community and voluntary sector. The widening gap in pay, compared to other sectors, has led to recruitment and retention problems for organisations, notably those delivering health services. Limited strike action last September illustrated the determination of health workers in the sector to fight for change. While those efforts did not lead to an immediate solution, solving the issue has become a major objective for the union in 2023. 

Bargaining power

The expectation of higher inflation is also reflected in ICTU’s wage bargaining advice for the private sector, where the Congress Private Sector Committee has advised unions to seek pay increases in the range of 4 to 7.5% this year.

There has been a recent flurry of pay activity in the private and commercial sector as, driven by the cost-of-living crisis, and the current tight labour market. Post-Covid pay restoration and new collective agreements are happening in the aviation sector, most recently for Ryanair cabin crew and pilots, and pay increases are being won in more profitable enterprises. These are welcome developments and demonstrate the real premium of union membership and organised labour.

Collective trade union organisation is essential. No one should be under any illusion that these things would happen without the intervention of trade union bargaining power. The challenge for every union, every official, and every activist, is to ensure we grow our membership to ensure that premium is maintained.

Across the globe workers are organising in places where it was once unthinkable, most notably in the giant tech companies like Amazon, where efforts to prevent workers organising have been considerable. We should all draw inspiration from their efforts.

Research in 2021 shows that young Irish people are very well-disposed to the idea of union representation, but they are not yet joining in significant numbers. Together, we should ensure that this changes in 2023, and that we encourage younger workers to join, and strengthen our hand in the collective bargaining process.

Ag obair le chéile, let’s keep the Fórsa voice strong in 2023.

Kevin Callinan, general secretary, Fórsa

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has secured confirmation from Minister for health Stephen Donnelly that the proposed Safe Access Zones Legislation will not prohibit industrial action within those zones.

ICTU had previously sought an amendment to the proposed legislation to avoid an unintended consequence which could impede lawful activities by an authorised trade union.

The union said anyone needing a termination of pregnancy should be able to access services in safety and with privacy and dignity, but requested confirmation that the proposed legislation would not prohibit industrial action within safe access zones.

As a result, ICTU has now received confirmation from the minister that the legislation will not prohibit industrial action within safe access zones, and engagement is currently ongoing on the most effective way to address this matter.

Minister Donnelly acknowledged unions’ concerns and agreed to develop proposals that balance a range of rights, including the right to protest, while ensuring the legitimate aim to protect the right of a woman to access termination of pregnancy services with privacy and dignity.

The Fórsa-backed Safe Access Zones Legislation was also being debated at the Oireachtas health committee earlier in the week. At the hearing, Department of Health officials communicated that the proposed legislation would apply to all eligible health facilities and not just those currently providing termination of pregnancy.

Meanwhile, it emerged that gardaí have also raised a number of operational issues with the proposed legislation and asked for more clarity around matters such as curtilage in the demarcation of the zones.

Other revisions to the proposed legislation also saw the definition of ‘public place’ clarified to mean any place to which the public have access, whether as of right or by permission and whether subject to or free of charge. It is expected that private property will also be included in certain circumstances in the legislation, the details of which are currently being ironed out.

Early last year, Fórsa members passed a motion at its national policy-setting conference, calling on the union to support the creation of protest exclusion zones outside of medical facilities for people accessing essential healthcare.

The wealthiest 1% of Irish society now owns more than a quarter of the country's wealth according to a new report from Oxfam.

In total the study, based on data collated from Forbes, Credit Suisse and Wealth-X, found eight Irish people are worth over €1 billion. The research also shows that with €15 billion between them, the two richest people here have 50% more wealth than the poorest half of the population.

Fórsa has long campaigned for income equality both in Ireland and internationally. We do this not only in our day-to-day work, but also with our sister unions in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.The recent research from Oxfam Ireland is shocking but unfortunately not unexpected.

The trade union movement has a unique perspective to bring to the issue as we represent workers in all sectors of society. Patricia King in her speech to the ICTU conference in 2021 put it well when she said:

“Decent and fair wages, collectively bargained, are the most effective instruments of wealth distribution. But some of the players in these sectors regard workers as expendable commodities, instruments only to expanding their own profits and gain.

“They despise the notion that trade unions could enable workers to achieve such fairness. They vehemently oppose any attempt to alter the status quo, and effectively they disenfranchise workers who may wish to become organised but the fear and risk is too great.”

The Oxfam study entitled “Survival of the Richest” states that over the last two years the richest 1% of the world’s population have acquired nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of humanity put together.

Trade unions have and will continue to work with other groups to seek to rebalance these glaring difficulties.

We will continue organising, representing, and negotiating on behalf of workers and play our role in ensuring a fairer share of the pie.

ICTU has said that there is no logical case for the retention of the 9% ‘temporary’ reduction in VAT for the hospitality industry, as suggested in a report by the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation last week.

Congress general secretary Owen Reidy said the hospitality sector had received generous support from the taxpayer to get through the pandemic: “However, we have seen various reports of price gouging from some hotels.

“It is excessive to argue that the industry will lose jobs if the rate is restored. On the contrary, in the current tight labour market, the industry has difficulty attracting and retaining workers precisely because the industry is rife with low pay and precarious work.

“The government should not be taken in by this report. The industry would be better engaging with unions at the Joint Labour Committee - which they’ve boycotted for years - to build a sustainable industry in the interests of the consumer, the worker, and the employer. There will be no sustainable future built on the back of low pay”.

The membership subscription rate ceiling increased on 1^st January this year, in line with the pay award increase under the extension to the Building Momentum pay agreement. This ensures that higher paid workers contribute their fair share of an increased contribution that lower paid workers automatically get deducted as their salary increases.

Under Rule 1(ii) of Appendix A the NEC has approved the increase of 6.5%. increasing Fórsa’s membership subscription ceiling to €425.30. The ceiling ensures a limit to the amount that members are asked to pay in annual subscription to the union.

Subscription rates remain unchanged. The union’s general subscription rate for 2023 is 0.8% of basic salary up to a maximum of €425.30 (€35.44 per month) reflecting a maximum salary of €53,162.50. This downloadable excel spreadsheet illustrates how the subscription rate applies in a range of different salary bands. 

The union’s two other subscription rates are unaffected by the change. These are the legacy rate paid by those who were members of the former PSEU on 31st December 2017 and the 1% rate for new and existing CO related grades in the Civil Service who have access to the former CPSU Benefit Scheme which was carried over into Fórsa. Branch levies are unchanged but the ceiling if applicable has increased in line with the 6.5% increase in the general Forsa membership subscription ceiling.

Benefits

On top of negotiated pay increases and protection when things go wrong at work, union members can benefit from an improved range of membership entitlements introduced when Fórsa was formed in 2018.

These include €5,000 in personal accident cover or €5,000 critical illness cover or death benefit, which also is also available to spouses of Fórsa members.

Alternatively, €5,000 in illness benefit is available to members who are out of work for more than 12 months. And Fórsa also covers evacuation or repatriation expenses up to the value of €250,000 for members who become seriously ill or injured, or who die, while abroad.

That’s on top of a range of financial benefits, negotiated with external providers, which can mean big savings on financial products like car, home and travel insurance, pension benefits, salary protection and life cover.

Fórsa members can also avail of free counselling, legal advice and support helplines, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. And they can opt into our group scheme, which gives them access to huge savings on a wide range of everyday items and services including restaurants, retailers, hairdressers and coffee shops.

Get full details about membership benefits here. 

Irish Labour History Society

At fifty years old, the Irish Labour History Society (ILHS) celebrates the contribution, and promotes knowledge of, Irish labour and Irish people in labour history, and provides a rich resource of material for history students, writers and makers.

Website. Publications. Archive

Run by volunteers, most trade unions are affiliated to the ILHS and there are also several hundred individual members. The website is updated regularly and contains material of interest to researchers. The annual journal Saothar (now in its 48^th year) is published by the ILHS, as are several other studies of labour history personalities and events.The society also:

• Maintains archives and a library at Beggars Bush in Dublin
• Displays museum pieces and union banners at its premises
• Has a collection of individual papers and material, and
• Makes its study facilities available without charge by appointment.

Much of what is stored at Beggars Bush would have been lost had not the ILHS collected and preserved it.

Join Us!

As we celebrate our half century, the ILHS invites you to join us, whether your interest is based on personal, educational, or general interest in labour history. Individual membership costs €35 per year and includes posting of a copy of Saothar to each member on publication.

At the close of 2022, the ILHS published the latest (and the 18^th) in our Studies in Irish Labour History series, Luke Dineen’s “A City of Strikes - The Cork General Lockout of 1909”.  There is a full list of such publications on our website. Among the Society’s activities in 2023 will be a series of essays to mark our half century, publication of Saothar 48 and an international conference in Dublin in September.  

Join with us in the work of promoting and preserving labour history.

Join on our website at www.irishlabourhistorysociety.com.