Fórsa acts on snow absence
by Bernard Harbor
Health workers won’t be docked pay or leave if they had to miss work because of last week’s extreme weather conditions. Following representations from Fórsa, health minister Simon Harris agreed that “anyone who can’t get to work or whose workplace is closed will receive emergency leave with pay and will not have to make up time.”
Fórsa is now seeking the same approach from all employers across the public, private and voluntary sectors.
Health workers won’t be docked pay or leave if they had to miss work because of last week’s extreme weather conditions. Following representations from Fórsa, health minister Simon Harris agreed that “anyone who can’t get to work or whose workplace is closed will receive emergency leave with pay and will not have to make up time.”
Fórsa is now seeking the same approach from all employers across the public, private and voluntary sectors.
The minister’s intervention last Thursday followed confusion over mixed messages about how enforced leave would be treated by the HSE and other health employers.
Harris also paid tribute to health service staff who kept services open during the bad weather. “From across Ireland I have heard stories today of health care workers walking to work, staying past their shifts, sleeping in hospitals overnight, and going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure their patients get the care they need,” he said.
Business groups Ibec and ISME urged their members to show flexibility to staff during the cold snap. The latter said employers could not legally force staff to take a leave day.
“The general rule-of-thumb, where an employer cancels work (or is forced to cancel work), is that the employer is liable to pay employees. You cannot force an employee to take a day’s annual leave to cover this time. Legislation requires that, in order to force an employee to take a day’s annual leave, you must provide them with one month’s notice,” it said.
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Fórsa rejects pay cut call
Fórsa has hit back at ISME's call for the reintroduction of deep public service pay cuts.
Fórsa hit back at a business lobby’s call for the reintroduction of deep public service pay cuts last week, after the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises (ISME) association called for the gap between average pay in the public and private sectors to be reduced to 10% by 2025.
The union questioned the entire basis of ISME’s position, and said it was effectively a call for deeper public service pay cuts than those imposed during the economic crisis. The employers’ group issued its call following the Central Statistics Office’s publication of its latest pay survey, which recorded the biggest jump in pay across the economy since the recession hit in 2009.
The CSO found that average weekly earnings increased by 2.5% in 2017. Fórsa head of communications Bernard Harbor said this was welcome after almost a decade of pay stagnation and cuts in the public, private, semi-state and voluntary sectors.
“After almost a decade of pay stagnation, Fórsa welcomes the fact that pay is improving in all sectors of the economy, albeit at a modest pace. ISME should welcome this too, as its members benefit when we have a little more to spend on the products and services they sell,” he said.
Harbor also rejected the attack on the so-called public-private pay gap. “The CSO is crystal clear that its figures do not attempt to compare the pay of people doing the same or similar jobs in the public and private sectors. It also says that recent improvements in public service pay are a result of partial restoration of recession-era pay cuts.
“The CSO figures do not take account of the actual jobs that people do, their qualifications, age, experience, trade union membership, or other factors that account for differences in earnings,” he added. An earlier CSO report, which took these determinants into account found that the public sector pay gap ranged from -0.36% to +5.05% in 2014, depending on the methodology used and the way the so-called pension levy was treated.
Last week’s CSO report showed that average earnings in finance, the highest-paid sector, were almost three times higher than the lowest-paid accommodation and food sector.
Employers flouting pension law
by Bernard Harbor
Fórsa has slammed public service employers for ignoring their legal obligation to keep staff informed about how much their pension savings are worth.
Fórsa has slammed public service employers for ignoring their legal obligation to keep staff informed about how much their pension savings are worth.
The law that established the new ‘single public service pension scheme,’ which covers public servants employed since 2011, obliges employers to give scheme members annual benefit statements within six months of the end of the tax year.
But Fórsa has told the Department of Public Service and Reform (DPER) that it’s simply being ignored.
Staff are meant to receive details of their pension payments and the current value of their pension pot, including any contributions that have been carried over from previous employments. Failure to provide a statement is grounds for a complaint to the pensions ombudsman.
Fórsa official Billy Hannigan said the union has complained to DPER in the strongest terms. “It’s extraordinary that the provisions of the scheme, which is now in its sixth year of operation, are simply being ignored by public service employers. We have demanded an early meeting with DPER to discuss the issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, the union has asked DPER to review the value of public service subsistence payments, taking account of price rises since the current rates were agreed. The rates are set using an agreed formula, which takes account of hotel accommodation and food prices.
You can act on housing crisis
by Niall Shanahan
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has developed an online tool that enables trade union members and other to send a direct message to your constituency TDs, urging them to support the Congress Charter for Housing Rights.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has developed an online tool that enables trade union members and other to send a direct message to your constituency TDs, urging them to support the Congress Charter for Housing Rights.
The Charter was developed, with input from Fórsa and other unions in response to the escalating housing crisis.
Congress general secretary Patricia King says a critical component of resolving the crisis “must be a major public housing building programme, as part of a wider strategy of transition to a European cost rental model and the creation of a secure and sustainable housing system for all.”
The Charter includes a number of principles which Congress is urging the Government to adopt and fully implement.
Send a message
The online tool allows you to send a message to TDs in your constituency urging them to back the Charter. The online tool also recognises that a number of party and non-party TDs have already pledged their support, enabling users to send a message of thanks.
To lend your voice to the Charter campaign, simply click here and you will be guided through the required steps.
Employers obliged to consider mediation
by Bernard Harbor
Civil and public service managers are now obliged to consider the use of mediation when dealing with most workplace and contract disputes. The new policy applies to all civil service departments and offices, which are also required to bring it to the attention of bodies operating under their aegis.
Civil and public service managers are now obliged to consider the use of mediation when dealing with most workplace and contract disputes.
A recent circular from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) sets out the policy. It applies to all civil service departments and offices, which are also required to bring it to the attention of bodies operating under their aegis.
The circular sets out the factors to be considered when deciding what disputes are best resolved through mediation, which it says “must” be considered before recourse to third party bodies like the courts, arbitration or adjudication.
It points out that Government policy “is to promote mediation as a viable, effective and efficient alternative to court proceedings.” But it says managers have not used the already-established ‘alternative dispute resolution mechanism’ as much as they could.
The circular also sets out a number of exclusions from the requirement to consider mediation, and says procedures under existing industrial relations fora are not covered by the policy.
The 2017 Mediation Act also obliges lawyers to advise clients to consider using mediation to resolve disputes.
Read the DPER circular HERE.
Unions: Challenge border hardliners
by Lughan Deane
The British Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on Theresa May to face down hardliners to protect the Good Friday Agreement.
The British Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on Theresa May to face down hardliners to protect the Good Friday Agreement. Its general secretary Frances O’Grady said the draft EU Brexit withdrawal agreement, published last week, would deliver the Prime Minister’s promise of no hard border in the island of Ireland
The EU draft is based on commitments made in negotiations between the UK and EU27 last December.
“She must face down the hardliners in her party and put all options for a final deal back on the negotiating table. That’s the best way to protect jobs, rights at work and the Good Friday Agreement,” according to O’Grady.
Writing in the Guardian, the TUC leader said trade unionists know peace on the island is precious and fragile. “Over many years, the TUC worked with friends in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) to help achieve it. Throughout the troubles, trade unions tried to build bridges between working people from different communities. And at the Good Friday Agreement referendum, unions came out in support of the deal and encouraged members to vote yes,” she said.
She said unions supported the peace treaty as the best way of promoting jobs and a stable economy, and “because working people in Northern Ireland are entitled to peace, prosperity and civil rights.”
Meanwhile ICTU’s Belfast-based assistant general secretary Owen Reidy called on the British government to listen to the voices of the trade unions and industry. “It is time the UK Government, in the interest of all people across the UK, started to negotiate in a logical and reasoned fashion. The ideal solution is that the EU and the UK negotiate a deal which avoids a hardening of the border on the island of Ireland,” he said.
Audio bulletin is snowbound
Unfortunately, we are not able to bring you the usual Fórsa audio bulletin with this publication. That’s because last week’s snow and storm prevented us from getting out and about to interview the people in the union news.
Normal service will be resumed next time. Many apologies!
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Congress wants stronger rights bill
by Bernard Harbor
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has met social protection minister Regina Doherty to urge her to strengthen proposed legislation on precarious work.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has met social protection minister Regina Doherty to urge her to strengthen proposed legislation on zero hour contracts and related employment arrangements.
Proposed laws currently going through the Oireachtas would ban zero hour contracts in most circumstances. ICTU wants them banned in all situations.
Unions have also called for a minimum three-hour payment when staff are called in to work, stronger redress when employers flout the law, and other measures to restrict unacceptable working time practices.
ICTU officials have also met opposition spokespeople on the issue. The bill is currently at committee stage, which means it can be amended.
Read the ICTU briefing here.
Stark warning on Brexit effect
by Niall Shanahan
A new government-commissioned study has warned that Brexit will hit the Irish economy no matter what type of deal is signed between London and Brussels.
A new government-commissioned study has warned that Brexit will hit the Irish economy no matter what type of deal is signed between London and Brussels.
The study, by Copenhagen Economics, estimates the cost to the Irish economy of a ‘hard Brexit’ will be around €18 billion, much greater than the expected economic impact on any other EU country.
The Irish Government said the findings of the report would help the state prepare policy adjustments to mitigate the exposure of the Irish economy to the effects of Brexit.
The study is the second major report commissioned by the government on the potential effects of Brexit since 2015.
The report analyses 24 sectors of the economy, including agri-food, pharma, electrical machinery, wholesale and retail, and air transport. It says these five sectors account for approximately 90% of the total economic impact.
The cost of Brexit
Return to the cover page to take the latest Fórsa survey.
Gaeltacht scholarship grants
Applications are now open for the 2018 Fórsa Gaeltacht grant scheme. The scheme is open to children of Fórsa members attending residential Irish language courses in Gaeltacht areas this summer.
Applications are now open for the 2018 Fórsa Gaeltacht grant scheme. 80 grants of €150 each are available to assist children of Fórsa members to attend residential Irish language courses in Gaeltacht areas this summer.
A further 40 grants of €70 are available to assist children to attend day-only Irish language courses held outside Gaeltacht areas.
Children of Fórsa members, who are aged between 11 years and 18 years of age on 1st July 2018, are eligible to apply for the grant scheme.
An application form is available here, and includes the full terms and conditions of the scheme.
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