The Local Government Management Agency has published a draft ‘People Strategy’ covering the next five years. Following consultation with both the Municipal Employees’ divisional executive committee and the Local Government and Local Services divisional executive committee, as well as branches and divisional staff, the union has submitted a response to the document. 

National secretary Richy Carrothers said: “We welcome the concept of a new strategy, as we support efforts to address the retention and recruitment challenges in the sector, however it currently falls short in terms of detail and vision. Local authorities could become an employer of choice if the LGMA is willing to address the fundamental issues raised by the unions. 

“We are calling for a significant increase in staffing to ensure consistent and sustainable delivery of services to local communities across Ireland. Staff are overburdened ad overworked which has a knock-on impact on service delivery.” 

“We also want to see an end to the trend of outsourcing in local authorities. The provision of local services is a critical function of local authorities and creates a vital connection between communities and the state. Private operators simply don’t put communities first.” 

In Fórsa’s response to the strategy document, the union also called for an increased pace to the roll out of job evaluation across the sector, protection of blended work, a pilot programme of the four-day week, an appropriate AI policy for the sector, a transfer policy for the sector, and a number of further measures to ensure workers’ concerns are addressed. You can read the full document here. 

Richy concluded by saying that while the opportunity to contribute to the draft strategy was welcome, consultation cannot simply be a box ticking exercise.  He said: “For this document to have a meaningful impact, all of the areas identified require dedicated and ringfenced resources, both financial and staffing. A strategy is only worthwhile if it is backed up by the means to deliver it.”  

Fórsa represents more than 12,00 workers in local authorities including clerical, administrative, management, technical and professional staff, as well as general operative grades across the greater Dublin area.  

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