Fórsa is urging its members to support a national demonstration calling for an end to the housing and homeless crisis, which takes place in Dublin this Saturday (18th May).

The ‘Raise the Roof’ rally – the latest in a series of protests around the country – will call for a large-scale public house-building scheme. Its organisers are a coalition of trade unions, housing and homelessness organisations, and student bodies.

Other ‘Raise the Roof’ demands include rent controls, an end to forced evictions, more secure tenancies, and a legal right to housing.

Fórsa and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) are supporting the protest, and want members to sign ICTU’s housing petition.

Fórsa members should assemble at the union’s Nerney's Court office at 12.45pm on Saturday 18th May, before heading over to Parnell Square to join the rally at 1pm.

Community employment (CE) supervisors have suspended a planned five days of strike action, scheduled to commence last Monday (13th May).

The decision followed agreement with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) to enter talks aimed at resolving a long-running pension dispute.

The 1,250 staff have no access to any occupational pension scheme, despite a 2008 Labour Court recommendation in their favour. A one-day strike by CE supervisors and assistant supervisors took place in February.

Union representatives recently attended two meetings about the dispute with Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty, where it was agreed that a working group would be established to work within an agreed timeframe. There will be direct input from the minister where necessary.

Fórsa Head of Division Angela Kirk said: “This development has only arisen as a result of the decision of trade union members to take a stand in pursuit of their legitimate claim and demonstrates what can be achieved when we act collectively.”

Fórsa’s Services and Enterprises Division will meet for its biennial divisional conference in Sligo next Thursday (23rd May). Head of Division Angela Kirk says motions to conference reflect the wider Fórsa concerns about pay, organisation and unresolved questions around Brexit.

“One of the key items that we’ll be discussing is the current public service agreement, which governs pay for staff in non-commercial semi-states. Like everyone else we are keen to ensure that opportunities open to any group must be available to all. Recent developments, including confirmation that the PSSA is capable of dealing with grade claims, are of keen interest to many members working in state agencies,” she said.

Angela said the conference will also discuss the continuing challenge for restoring pay and conditions in the community pillar of the division. “Many members in this sector remain subject to pay cuts, reduced working time and similar measures imposed during the economic crisis. Pay restoration for them remains high on the agenda, and we’re encouraged by progress made by our colleagues in health sector ‘section 39’ agencies, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” she said.

A motion by the Divisional Executive addresses concerns about the effects of Brexit on Fórsa members in north-south bodies, as well as in the private sector.

Angela said: “We anticipate that members of our division will be among the most affected by Brexit, and we’re keen to develop our engagement with Government to ensure job security and service continuity.”

The union’s Science and Arts Attendants branch are among those raising concerns about climate and the environment this year, as its motion to conference calls for a “minimum use” policy in relation to plastics.

Elsewhere, the Cabin Crew branch is calling upon the Divisional Executive to conduct research into the potential impact of outsourcing and the rise of the ‘gig economy’ in aviation. The branch will also propose that Fórsa mounts a campaign to actively recruit cabin crew across all airlines, “to ensure that Fórsa is the only union which represents cabin crew in Ireland.”

Angela said the conference will convene next week after what turned out to be a critical year for the division.

Aviation issues cast a long shadow over much of the division’s activities and attracted a great deal of attention. Aside from the pilot strike and cabin crew recognition agreements secured with Ryanair, the union was also making sure its newly expanded membership was settling in after the amalgamation that created Fórsa.

With around 7,000 members, the division is diverse, representing workers in commercial and non-commercial semi-state organisations, as well as private companies and community and local enterprises.

Fórsa has disputed Government estimates that restoring pre-crisis working time in the public service and non-commercial semi-state organisations could cost the Exchequer over €600 million a year. The union’s Senior General Secretary Designate Kevin Callinan said the figure was at least 50% higher than Government estimates when the additional time was introduced in 2013.

Speaking at two Fórsa divisional conferences in Kilkenny last week, he added that advances in new technologies and work organisation could defray much of the cost of reduced working time in the semi-state sector and elsewhere.

Earlier, Kevin said discussion of the restoration of pre-crisis working hours should form part of mid-term review of the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA), which governs pay and working conditions for most staff in non-commercial semi-state employments.

He said a review was necessary to “bolster the agreement’s credibility by taking account of improved economic indicators and past income foregone.”

Additional hours were added to the working week of lower and middle-earning public servants and non-commercial semi-state staff under the 2013 Haddington Road agreement.

Kevin said this had resulted in a “two-tier problem” because the temporary pay cuts experienced at the same time by higher grades – whose working time did not increase – have been restored, while additional working time for lower and middle earners has not.

“A few years ago, when we were in the eye of the economic storm, I opposed similar conference motions. But I’d struggle to construct a convincing argument against them now, in light of our current economic performance and rapidly-developing technological possibilities,” said Kevin.

Under the Haddington Road agreement, higher earners – those on €65,000 a year or more – suffered a third, but temporary pay cut. By January 2018 this had been restored in full, as envisaged in the deal.

Those who earned less accepted increased working hours to avoid a third pay cut. But, unlike their higher-paid colleagues, these workers have seen no restoration to pre-crisis working time levels.

Kevin said: “These were torrid times for Ireland and, when the Government sought savings to fill an extra and unexpected €1 billion hole in the public finances, we agreed to talk and workers reluctantly voted to accept a third hit.

“By doing so we produced the savings that enabled the country to meet the harsh Troika bailout terms, and we avoided the imposition of another public service-wide pay cut under the hated FEMPI emergency legislation.

“It was the right thing to do at the time. But six years later we’re left with yet another two-tier public service problem, which leaves those on low and middle incomes – mainly women – losing out.”

Kevin said Fórsa wanted to restore and maintain full confidence in the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA), which governs pay and working conditions for most non-commercial semi-state workers. “It’s time to shift our focus from the past and focus on the challenge of delivering real improvements in wages and purchasing power,” he said.

Read Kevin Callinan’s blog on working time HERE.

Public service management should work with unions to ensure that the introduction of new technologies does not lead to job losses or poorer services, according to Fórsa. Speaking at the union’s Civil Service Division Conference in Kilkenny last week, senior official Derek Mullen vowed the union would not oppose the introduction of new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). “But technological advancement should not be at the cost of services or jobs,” he said.

Derek pointed to the positive experience of the Revenue Commissioners, where new forms of work organisation – supported by retraining – had increased the tax take and improved audit and fraud control, rather than cutting jobs.

He told 400 conference delegates that Fórsa would not give blanket support to the replacement of people-provided services with AI. “We will support properly thought-out automation, controlled by workers and managers whose aim will be the continued enhancement and delivery of public services. Citizens don’t want to talk to machines,” he said.

In a submission presented to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform earlier this year, Fórsa argued for steps to ensure that new recruits are equipped to thrive in increasingly-automated work environments, and said older workers should get help to adapt.

The paper also argued against an expensive external consultant-led approach to technological development. “The diminution of in-house IT services over the last two decades has seen the growth of a hugely costly consultant-led approach to designing new systems. This must change,” it says.

The submission was written as part of the union’s response to civil service management proposals for procurement of new technologies, on foot of an automation pilot that’s been underway in a small number of departments over the last year.

Derek told delegates that Fórsa would continue to champion the delivery of world class public services. “The world of work will change, as will society, and we must ensure that this is achieved equitably, and that decent work is protected in all parts of the economy, including in the public service.

“We demand more involvement and negotiation on change initiatives. We won’t be found wanting, but we won’t accept poor planning and we categorically reject outsourcing as a solution. Just look at the costs to taxpayers of the failed JobPath scheme in social protection,” he said.

Most older workers will be unable to meet the target of 40 years’ worth of contributions to qualify for a full rate pension, which is set out in plans for pension ‘auto-enrolment’. And the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has called on the Government to revert to the 30 year target it originally identified.

ICTU Social Policy Officer Dr Laura Bambrick says the requirement of 40 years is not feasible for many older workers because of time spent in part-time employment. She also says the Government’s failure to meet deadlines for finalising the design of key aspects of its pension reform plan present major concerns for many workers.

Dr Bambrick said these concerns were further exacerbated by recent CSO figures, which found that over 50% of low and middle income earners were not saving for their retirement. This could leave them completely reliant on the State pension.

Under its ‘Roadmap to Pension Reform’ the Government was due to finalise plans to implement its new approach by the end of 2018, and bring forward legislation by April 2019. The Government also missed its March deadline to finalise designs for an auto-enrolment system to sign almost all workers up to an occupational pension scheme – with contributions from employers and the Government, as well as employees – by 2022.

Dr Bambrick added that many people who are coming up to retirement in 2019 are confused about pension reforms. “People don’t know what the rules are going to be when the new pension comes,” she said.

Providing affordable, high-quality broadband to rural Ireland would have been simpler, cheaper and quicker if the State’s telecoms infrastructure had remained in public ownership, according to top Fórsa official Angela Kirk.

Speaking ahead of the union’s Services and Enterprises Division Conference, which takes place in Sligo next week, the head of division also said European Union (EU) ‘state aid’ rules placed too much emphasis on protecting private operators and markets, instead of easing government intervention to improve services to the public.

National governments have to follow the complicated ‘state aid’ rules when the EU deems they are intervening in private markets.

Angela said Fórsa supports the objective of affordable high-speed broadband for all, and a thriving telecoms sector. “But people are rightly asking why the Irish taxpayer must hand over €3 billion for an asset that will be owned by a company that’s invested just €200 million.

“This project would have been far more straightforward if the EU was more focused on communities than corporations, and if the Irish telecoms sector included a state-owned provider,” she said.

ICTU General Secretary Patrica King also questioned why taxpayers were to fund a private distribution system that the State would never own. And she called on the Government to “ensure that high-quality labour standards are involved to deliver this project.”

Congress said the broadband plan would bring long-term benefits to workers, students, and families in rural Ireland if it were fully realised. But it said there were many questions hanging over the scheme.

“The public needs to be reassured that the State is getting value for money, and that a private monopoly will not hold consumers to ransom and charge what they like when the service is operational,” she said.

A petition calling for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to back a new social contract has been launched by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The ILO is a United Nations body that brings together representatives of governments, trade union federations and employer bodies. The ITUC petition was launched ahead of its meeting to negotiate the ILO’s ‘centennial declaration,’ which takes place next month.

It calls for the ILO to pursue rights for workers, fairer wages, greater flexibility around working time and climate justice.

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said the petition was an opportunity to highlight the need to modernise the ILO to address the issues affecting workers in the 21st century.

“This is a once in a generation opportunity to set rules for the global economy to work for people. A strong outcome would set us on the path to a new social contract to give security to all working people,” she said.

You can find more information HERE.

Fórsa and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions have welcomed a new Government initiative to combat sexual harassment and violence. The move comes after it was revealed that Ireland has the highest level of sexual harassment in Europe.

A survey revealed that nearly a third of women between the ages of 18 to 34 say they experienced some form of sexual harassment in the last 12 months.

On foot of this shocking statistic, Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan has launched a major national awareness campaign on sexual harassment and sexual violence.

The ‘no excuses’ media campaign, which features an ad to run for three years, aims to increase the awareness of sexual harassment and sexual violence. It also intends to bring about a change in long-established behaviours and attitudes, and activate bystanders with the aim of decreasing and preventing this kind of violence.

Fórsa Equality Officer Geraldine O’Brien welcomed the campaign, and said such initiatives could help reduce sexual violence by creating an open discussion on the problem.

“The prominence of this campaign breaks down barriers by bringing sexual harassment into an open forum. The ad creates a greater understanding of sexual harassment and violence. It will make people more aware of potentially dangerous situations, and provide us with tools to diffuse them,” she said.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) also commended the initiative and called for improved protections for people experiencing sexual harassment.

ICTU General Secretary Patricia King said: “It’s time for complaints of sexual harassment to be elevated to the status of ‘protected disclosures’, ensuring stronger protection and reporting mechanisms for those submitting them.”

The ‘no excuses’ initiative is timely as negotiations will take place on a new International Labour Organization convention on violence and harassment in the workplace at the International Labour Conference next month.

Click HERE for more information on the campaign and HERE to watch the ad.

Fórsa delegates expressed solidarity with the trans community at the union’s Local Government and Local Services Division Conference in Kilkenny last week.

The union’s Dun Laoghaire Rathdown branch won overwhelming support for a motion welcoming Fórsa’s support of last year’s first Trans Pride march in Dublin, and commended the progress made towards the recognition of transgender rights as human rights.

The motion also highlighted difficulties and discrimination transgender people face in society and the workplace.

Conference backed the call on the union to pursue transgender rights through Fórsa’s equality committee and with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

After the motion passed, the branch tweeted its delight at the huge endorsement. “We're really happy that our motion recognising that #TransRightsAreHumanRights has been passed at #flglsconf2019,” it said.

This year’s Dublin Trans Pride march takes place on July 6th at 2pm from the Garden of Remembrance. The theme is break the binary and all trans, non-binary, intersex and cis people are invited to attend.

For more information on the march, see HERE.

The first meeting of Fórsa’s just transition network will take place in the union’s office in Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1, at 10.00am on Friday 24th May. The union will be supporting the latest ‘schools strike for climate,’ which takes place later that day.

Meanwhile, unions have called for a ‘just transition’ forum to alleviate job losses resulting in Bord Na Mona’s plans to move from peat production to carbon-free products, according to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

Its ‘Building a Just Transition’ conference, held in Tullamore at the end of last month, heard urgent calls for a forum for the midlands to identify measures and supports for workers and communities affected by Bord Na Mona’s restructuring.

The conference was chaired by Marie Sherlock and Fórsa’s Senior General Secretary Designate Kevin Callinan, who said that lessons needed to be learned from the situation facing workers in Bord Na Mona.

“These workers and their communities are being asked to make a huge sacrifice in response to the threat posed by climate change. The Government simply isn’t doing enough to support these workers by implementing policies to mitigate their sacrifices, despite committing to do so under the terms of the 2015 Paris agreement,” he said.

Unions in Ireland and abroad have strongly backed moves towards a carbon-free economy in response to the climate crisis. But they say workers and communities most affected by the transition should be protected as part of the process.

ICTU General Secretary Patrica King said that taking action on climate change was no longer an optional policy extra for the Government.

“Just transition is about seizing new opportunities and sharing the benefits of change, through creating better jobs, better social protection, more training opportunities and greater job security for all those affected by global warming and climate change policies,“ she said.

To participate in Fórsa’s just transition network, or to join the union delegation on 24th May, contact joconnor@forsa.ie.

Get more information on the ICTU conference HERE.

A redesigned Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) website has been launched, and is available at its existing address, www.workplacerelations.ie. The site provides information on workers’ rights under employment, equality and equal status legislation.

The redesign was developed with input from internal and external stakeholders through focus groups, testing, and surveys. The improved site features a better keyword search, filters and ‘tooltips’ to explain how best to filter searches.

WRC Director General Liam Kelly welcomed the launch of the new site. “After working throughout 2018 with our stakeholders to develop a website fit for the needs of all our customers, I am happy to see it come to life,” he said.

The WRC was established in 2015, and promotes good industrial relations and provides information for workers and employers.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has organised a briefing on tipping practices in the hospitality sector, and the union group ONE Galway’s campaign for legal changes on the issue.

The event is part of ICTU’s monthly ‘Friday Briefing’ series, which features informal talks on topical workplace issues.

The event will hear from ICTU’s Trades Council Network and One Program Co-ordinator Fiona Dunne, lecturer and academic Deirdre Curran, Senator Paul Gavan, and Siptu organiser and One Galway local co-ordinator Clem Shevlin.

ONE Galway’s tipping campaign is encouraging customers in hotels, restaurants and pubs to ask how their tips are distributed and what percentage workers receive.

ONE Galway is a Congress-backed program to strengthen trade union awareness, build links between unions and communities, and enhance union’s local engagement. A similar initiative is in place in Cork.

The Congress Briefing takes place at ICTU’s head office in 31-32 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, at 10:30am on Friday 24th May. If you wish to attend, please email eileen.sweeney@ictu.ie.

Fórsa is urging its members to exercise their democratic right to vote when polls open on Friday week (24th May) in local and European parliamentary elections.

The union is not affiliated to any political party or group, but it has tested candidates to establish their positions on a range of issues raised in Fórsa campaigns. These include ‘More Power to You,’ the initiative that seeks to rebuild local democracy and local authority services.

The union has also urged sitting elected representatives and candidates to support pension justice for community employment supervisors, and an end to the unfair two-tier pay system for school secretaries. 

Along with other trade unions, Fórsa has also sought candidates’ backing for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ (ICTU) Charter for Housing Rights.

 
ICTU has also asked European parliamentary hopefuls to sign up to a number of pledges. These cover action to protect Irish jobs and communities from the impact of Brexit, support for trade union rights, working conditions, health rights, and economic equality.