Fórsa’s national executive last week backed a proposal for indefinite strike action in a number of community and voluntary sector agencies funded by the HSE.

The action is likely to involve hundreds of health and care staff, and the union has also committed to footing the wage costs of striking staff.

The Health and Welfare division’s disputes committee is currently working to identify which agencies will be balloted for industrial action.

While these community and voluntary sector agencies (Section 39, Section 56 and Section 10) are funded by the state, their employees in a range of health professional, clinical, clerical and administrative grades, are on lesser terms and conditions than their HSE counterparts.

Fórsa general secretary and Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) president Kevin Callinan said: “As one of the main representative unions involved, Fórsa has decided to call time on the Government’s dragging of its own feet on this issue.

“The union’s executive has backed the decision to identify a number of these employments and to organise indefinite strike action to highlight this ongoing pay inequality, which simply cannot be sustained.

“Up to a third of experienced professional health and care staff are leaving their jobs in these agencies every year to take up better remunerated employment with the HSE and elsewhere.

“We will ballot for indefinite industrial action in a number of employments, and Fórsa will foot the wage costs of those staff who go on strike. Services will simply be brought to a halt. At this stage, no other course of action will drive the point home,” he said.

Sole Funder

Kevin added that while limited strike action by Fórsa members in Galway, Mayo, Cork and Kerry last year garnered strong support from across the political spectrum, he said neither the Government, Department of Health or the HSE have since taken any meaningful action to address the issue, and workers continue to be left behind.

He added: “On the one hand, the health minister acknowledged in the Dáil last October that the Government is the ‘main and often sole funder’ of these organisations, and that its funding affects the ability of agencies to improve pay and conditions.

“On the other hand, it has spectacularly failed to grasp the link between its chronic underfunding of the services and the subsequent failure to meet the HSE’s recruitment targets in, for example, disability services. For every member of staff freshly recruited, another experienced staff member is walking out the door. The situation is both unacceptable and unsustainable.

Action

“Government action is essential. It needs to address the funding of organisations in the sector, to make pay improvements for staff, stem the high rate of staff exits each year and fulfil recruitment targets for vital health services, including disability and homeless services,” he said.

Until 2008, workers in these agencies received pay increases under national wage agreements. At the onset of the financial crisis they were subject to FEMPI pay cuts in line with the same cuts applied to public sector pay. Limited pay restoration measures were eventually won by unions in 2019 but pay in these agencies remains significantly behind, and no formal mechanism for collective pay bargaining exists for workers in the sector.

Fórsa’s research has revealed that recruitment and retention of professional health staff in these employments has become a major challenge. The union said Section 39 employers are burdened with higher recruitment costs and growing waiting lists for services.

Fórsa’s Mid-West office, in conjunction with Siptu and Connect, has made a presentation to Limerick Animal Welfare Rescue, on foot of their Christmas appeal.

The joint collection saw local branches drop much needed supplies to the Mid-West office during the Christmas period.

Fórsa’s official Helena Pryor thanked members for their generous contribution to such a worthy cause.

“Limerick Animal Welfare rescue and rehome dogs, cats, rabbits, horses and many other animals when they find themselves homeless through no fault of their own. Lots of our members saw the appeal and made separate trips to the sanctuary with their own donations when the office closed for Christmas which was great,” she said.

On Wednesday (1^st February), Fórsa, sent a message of solidarity to trade unions in the UK as the TUC held a national ‘right to strike’ day.

An estimated 500,000 workers took strike action, marking the biggest day of industrial action in decades in the UK, while dozens of rallies organised by the TUC also took place across the country.

In a message to TUC leader Paul Nowak, Fórsa general secretary and ICTU president Kevin Callinan said the union’s national executive fully supports the stand taken against the UK government’s new anti-strike laws: “Nobody should lose their job if they take lawful action to win a better deal. Our union recognises the scale of the threat posed by this anti-strike bill being pushed through parliament.

“The UK government is acting with impunity regarding workers who have been forced to withdraw their labour in the face of an intense cost-of-living crisis. As an employer we’ve witnessed this Conservative government transition from applauding essential public service staff to threatening them with the sack at alarming speed.

“As union members across the UK rally against this legislation, Fórsa applauds their efforts and supports them every step of the way. We share the view of the TUC that the legislation is unworkable and almost certainly illegal,” he said.

Among the half million striking workers were teachers across England and Wales. Kevin said a decade of meagre earnings in the UK’s state-funded school system has forced many take up second jobs, or to leave the profession altogether: “That any public servant is forced to do this, or relies on food banks to put food on their table, is indicative of policies that have inflicted very serious damage to individual workers, households, communities and society.

“Legislating to ban or restrict the right to strike is damaging in the same way. It demoralises workers, breaks down any sense of social cohesion, and tears up any remaining idea of a social compact.

“The UK government needs to stop and consider how much harm it’s doing, to consider why there’s so much industrial conflict at its door, and to be realistic about the value of a negotiated solution,” he said.

There’s never been a better time to join a union, and it’s never been easier. Join Fórsa today.

An Post has successfully achieved a ‘zero’ gender pay gap for the second year running.

In the rake of figures reported under the gender pay gap law that recently came into effect, the commercial semi-state body maintained its last year’s gap of 0% and according to the company’s chief executive, trade unions played a key role in achieving that.

Chief executive David McRedmond said: “We’re heavily unionised. Unions are very progressive.” 

The head of Fórsa’s Services and Enterprises Division, Katie Morgan said it was a momentous achievement for staff at An Post, some of whom are Fórsa members.

“The union has long been campaigning for the introduction of gender pay gap reporting and the reduction of the gap, and what better example to lead by now than the State postal service achieving this for two years in row," she said.

Separately, the generally reported figures showed that for every €1 a man earns, a woman earns €0.88.

An analysis of figures of Ireland’s largest firms revealed women were paid 12.3% less than men, on average. This gap nearly doubled when it came to bonuses.

However, the reports also showed women were paid more than men at organisations such as Lifestyle Sports, FIFA creator EA Games, fruit grower Keelings’ logistics arm, SuperValu owner Musgrave and Bus Éireann who all had double-digit gaps in favour of women.

The public appointments service which is predominantly female, had the highest gap in favour of women at 21.5%.

Further, an almost zero percent gap existed in the several of the country’s county councils, drinks maker Heineken, Irish tech unicorn Stripe, computing giant Microsoft, retailers H&M and Avoca Handweavers.

The cross-industry reporting also revealed that the gaps were widest in traditionally male-dominated sectors such as construction, law and finance. Out of those, the construction sector took the top spot, with men paid an average 23% more than women.

Fórsa has said that Government’s reliance on the private sector to build social housing is “disappointing but not surprising”.

Figures obtained from the Department of Housing show that 2,706 new-build social homes were delivered up to the end of September last year, of which more than two thirds were procured directly from private developers, underscoring the State’s reliance on the private sector to deliver housing.

Only twenty-eight per cent (760 homes) were delivered directly by local authorities via the Social Housing Capital Investment Programme or by approved housing bodies through the Capital Advance Leasing Facility.

Fórsa’s head of Campaigns and ‘Raise the Roof’ organiser Kevin Donoghue said that while the figures are frustrating, they should surprise no one:

"While obviously disappointing these figures should surprise no one. Successive Governments have been increasingly reliant on the market to provide local authority housing. Continuous divestment from local authorities in favour of market forces has been a deliberate policy for decades.

"To put this in perspective local authorities delivered 9,000 units in 1975, which amounted to a third of all housing delivered that year. Raise the roof has been calling for state investment in local authority led housing for years," he said.

Fórsa has been involved with the ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign since its conception which brings together a wide range of key civil society bodies to demand radical new action on the housing crisis.

Supported by ICTU, the Raise the Rood steering committee will be meeting in the coming days to plan the year ahead.

If you’d like to find out more about the ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign and Fórsa’s involvement you can click here.

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.

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.

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.