Fórsa and other unions representing local authority water staff have called for immediate political intervention to progress a resolution on the filling of vacancies in council water services. 

The unions have written to local government minister, Darragh O’Brien seeking his immediate intervention.

The head of Fórsa’s Municipal Employees Division and Local Government Division, Richy Carrothers, said it was essential that water vacancies are filled.

"There remains a stand-off between the CCMA and Irish Water on the filling of LA water services vacancies. To that end, unions engaged with the Department seeking their intervention to progress a resolution to the impasse. We were completely dissatisfied with the response and the lack of willingness to intervene proactively. To that end, we have escalated the situation by seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister. We require political intervention immediately to ensure that employer representatives honour the commitments as set in the framework. 

"The existing SLA must be honoured as we transition to the implementation of the ‘Framework for the future delivery of water services’ as negotiated under the auspices of the WRC with the Department, Irish Water, the Local Government Management Association, and the group of Congress unions (Fórsa, SIPTU, Connect & Unite)."

In light of these developments, Fórsa is suspending the planned union briefing sessions for its water service members to clarify these matters.

Fórsa are also directing members not to participate in any briefings planned by Irish Water in respect of the transfer of staff.

The union is to issue further updates to members as they develop.

Fórsa has welcomed a Government commitment to introduce paid leave for survivors of domestic violence under the a new Work-Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022. 

Last week’s announcement came just four months after Fórsa’s national conference pledged to campaign for similar supports.

The legislation will also introduce measures aimed at improving family-friendly work practices and supporting women in the workforce. They include a right to request flexible working arrangements for caring purposes and the extension of the current entitlement to breastfeeding breaks from six months to two years.

Once enacted, those who are suffering or at risk of domestic violence will be entitled to five days of paid leave each year. The Government has also pledged to help employers provide better support for employees experiencing domestic violence.

The head of Fórsa’s Health and Welfare division Ashley Connolly, who has led the union’s campaign, described the new legislation as a very significant breakthrough.

Ashley, who first established the issue on the national negotiating agenda in the health sectors, said that these measures were necessary because people living with, or escaping from domestic abuse, are far more likely to have several urgent and important appointments to attend.

“Victims have ended up taking unpaid leave, using annual leave, or even missing work and risking losing the very job that gets them out of an abusive situation, if only for a few hours each day. This overdue legislation will go a long way to support survivors as they navigate a pathway out of abuse,” she said.

Earlier this year delegates at the Fórsa national conference unanimously backed a conference motion from the union’s national executive calling for statutory paid leave for victims of domestic violence.

“This is a deeply personal issue for our members. Last May delegates bravely spoke about their personal experience of domestic violence and the message form our members is loud and clear – workplace supports must be available to survivors,” she said.

Although the trade union movement had advocated for ten days leave per year, as recommended by Women’s Aid, the Bill includes a review within two years. Consideration will be given to increasing the entitlement to ten days leave.

“Victims of abuse should feel supported in their workplace, which is often a place of safety for them. We must support them,” said Ashley.

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Responding to this week’s Budget announcements, Fórsa said the future of the Irish workplace is being shaped by how working families with young children are forced to weigh the cost of childcare against entering or returning to the workplace.

The union’s general secretary Kevin Callinan said the 25% cut in childcare costs announced in the Budget would help many families. But he said many families would still be left with “near impossible” choices about the offset of childcare costs against work.

He said childcare warrants a more radical approach and demands a permanent and radical solution to be truly transformative, such as a fully publicly funded universal system.

"While the broader package of cost-of-living measures is welcome, reflecting the efforts of unions to impress upon the Government the need for such measures, childcare needs more than a temporary crisis intervention.

“The Government will argue that in such exceptional times it simply isn't possible to tackle the demand for a comprehensive State-funded system of childcare.

“There is, however, a logic to being both ambitious and radical when it comes to solving a problem which the State has lagged on for several decades.

“There is a need for a transformative solution, such as a fully publicly funded universal system. This approach would be on a par with the introduction of free secondary education in 1967, a measure that had a transformative effect on Irish society and the economy.

“In 2022, that scale of ambition needs to apply to childcare for working families.

“Failure to tackle childcare comprehensively means a significant block remains to many parents, usually mothers, hoping to enter the workforce or to return to work after having children,” he said.

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The Government has announced a series of reforms to the state pension system, which will see the introduction of a new flexible pension age.

Under the new arrangement, workers who reach age 66 can choose to retire and draw the state pension or continue to work until age 70 when they will get a higher pension payment.

The measures, which were approved by cabinet, are a response to the recommendations made by the Pensions Commission.

The set of reforms accepted by cabinet include:

• Maintaining the state pension age at 66 and introducing a new flexible pension age model
• The option to continue working up until age 70 in return for a higher pension
• A move to a ‘total contributions approach’ for the calculation of individual pension entitlements on a phased basis over ten years from January 2024
• Enhanced state pension provision for long-term carers from January 2024, with time spent recognised in the pension system

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment will also introduce measures that allow, but do not compel, workers to stay in employment until the state pension age. The plan says that the long-term sustainability of the state pension system will be addressed through gradual, incremental increases in social insurance rates over time, with increases in social insurance rates determined on a structured basis every five years.

The package also includes a commitment to explore ways of modifying the current benefit payment for 65-year-olds who’ve worked 40 years or more and are unable to continue working in their early 60s.

Minister Heather Humphreys described the reforms as the biggest ever structural reform of the Irish state pension.

The Government will begin to phase out the old system which allowed some workers to get a full state pension if they had worked in Ireland for just ten years from the age of 55.

By 2024 it is envisaged that each state pension will be assessed based on the total number of PRSI contributions a worker has made over a 40-year period. ICTU social policy officer Laura Bambrick welcomed the move to a total contributions approach, saying the old system did not work for people’s more complex and fractured work histories.

“Ultimately, we're committed to a contributory social insurance system. What the total contributions approach will bring us closer to is what you get out will be more closely aligned to what you have put in,” she said.

The Commission on Pensions is also recommending that people who have stayed at home to care for their children or elderly relatives should be able to receive up to 20 years of contributions for this work, on top of any paid contributions they have got from employment. provide a pension to long-term carers from 2024.

This is designed to ensure that those who worked in the home do not end up with very small state pensions.

While Budget 2023 contains several positive measures, it falls short in terms of protecting low-paid and low-income households from the highest inflation rates in almost four decades.

That was the verdict of ICTU general secretary Patricia King following Tuesday’s Budget announcements.

Patricia said that, with Inflation currently running at 9% - the highest level since 1984 - and the Government forecasting a headline rate of 7% next year, and up to 40% of households already experiencing energy poverty, new tax measures haven’t been targeted at those who need them most.

She said low-paid workers and households living on fixed social welfare rates will see a decline in real incomes.

“One in five workers is low paid, the highest rate in western Europe. Almost one million income earners, one-third of all income earners, receive too little to pay tax, and the national minimum wage is the third lowest of the 21 EU countries with such wages.

“The grossly inadequate 80 cent increase in the minimum wage, and the €12 increase in core social welfare rates, will mean that low-paid workers and households living on fixed social welfare rates will see a decline in real incomes.

“By contrast, the €3,200 (8.7%) increase in the standard rate cut-off point is in line with inflation. The one million income earners who receive too little to pay tax, and the vast majority of the 1.2 million who pay at the standard rate, will not benefit from this measure, which will disproportionately accrue to the better off,” she said.

Patricia added that this measure, which is to cost almost three-quarters of a billion euro, should have been accompanied by additional revenue-raising measures from higher earners: “These measures are not targeted at those who need them most.

“The Government’s overall approach runs counter to the report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare which advised against any further narrowing of the tax base.

“ICTU does acknowledge that a number of positive measures were announced today, including the reduction in early years’ fees, the continuation of lower public transport prices, the introduction of free school books, and reductions in health charges, amongst others. These are steps in the right direction.

“However, the decision not to focus first and foremost on those who most need help will mean that low-paid workers, households trying to get by on inadequate fixed incomes, will see a further fall in their living standards this year and next,” she said.

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Fórsa members in Ability West (Galway), Western Care (Mayo), St. Joseph’s Foundation (Cork) and Enable Ireland (Cork and Kerry) took part in three days of strike action last week.

The strikes took place as unions sought to highlight a growing pay disparity between community and voluntary sector health staff and their counterparts in the HSE and Section 38 funded agencies, in addition to the growing list of unfilled job vacancies in Section 39 funded agencies, and their impact on services and waiting lists.

Addressing members on the picket line at Ability West’s premises in Salthill, Co.Galway last week, Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan said: “It makes absolutely no sense that workers in these agencies wouldn’t be treated and paid the same as public servants while providing a vital public service.

“The only reason that’s been allowed to continue for 14 years is that government really want to run down how care is valued across society. We see it not just in Ireland, but at European and global level, that there’s a battle on now that care is properly valued, and we intend to win that.

“This is the start. We intent to campaign, for as long as it takes, to win pay justice for you. Stay with us, we’re going to win this,” he said.

Vacancies

Speaking to media on the picket line at Castlebar, principal social worker David Tuohy said “Western Care cannot recruit staff because we can’t pay people the money they’d get in other agencies, or in the HSE itself.

“In the last year, we’ve had a staff turnover of 33%. We can’t get people into the homes of people who need our service because we can’t pay them, we can’t recruit, and we can’t pay people the national pay arrangement. Agencies like ours will be 13.5% behind on pay rates by the end of the year.

“I should be working with families today but I’m striking to try and improve services for the people we serve,” he said.

Administration officer Colette Crowe was on the picket line at the Enable Ireland’s Lavanagh Centre in Curraheen, Cork. She said service users and staff were suffering due to the widening pay gap between care and community workers with bodies like Enable Ireland on section 39 contracts, and HSE staff or those on more favourable section 38 contracts: “The government mandates us to provide services to children with complex disabilities.

“We perform these services on behalf of the government, yet we are paid much less than HSE staff or Section 38 organisations for the same work. The pay gaps are quite significant and are rising all the time.

“I work in recruitment. It is so hard to recruit and retain staff. We have a high volume of vacancies and are constantly recruiting. But when people can get paid more doing the same job for the HSE or Section 38 organisations, why would they come, or stay, here?," she said.

Fight

Fórsa national secretary Ashley Connolly said the fight for community and voluntary sector health staff will continue: “We’re determined that the Government, the Department of Health and the HSE are forced to recognise the deepening crisis into which current funding and pay policies are pushing these services.

“In each of these employments there are significant vacancies for jobs, and growing waiting lists. The stark reality is that nobody is applying for the jobs, and in instances where one post is filled, another person is leaving to take employment elsewhere.

“That can’t be allowed to continue. It’s failing the families who rely on these services. It’s an unjust and inequitable system and we must fight to reform it,” she said.

Pay deal ballot: final days to cast your vote

Thousands more Fórsa members have been voting on the terms of the new pay deal proposals, with continuing reports of a strong turnout in the digital ballot.

Those members eligible to vote in the ballot, and who haven’t voted yet, are now strongly encouraged to do so in the final week of voting. The ballot closes on Thursday 6th October.

Fórsa’s deputy general secretary Matt Staunton said close to 10,000 Fórsa members had cast their votes this week alone and had their say on the revised pay terms in the Building Momentum Agreement.

“Overall, more than 35,000 votes have been cast so far and thousands of workers have joined the union to get their chance to vote. It takes less than a minute to cast your vote, and we are now in the final days of balloting,” he said.

Matt advised Fórsa members who haven’t yet voted to check their email inbox for their ‘UVC’ (unique voter code), and to check junk and spam folders just in case.

He added: “Thousands of members have contacted me to tell me they’ve played their part in this huge mobilisation. Every contribution is important, because the more votes cast, the stronger the union’s collective position will be.

“Even if you’ve already voted, you can still play a part, perhaps you could ask your co-workers if they’ve voted or, if they’re not in membership, ask them to join Fórsa. We have had significant numbers of new members joining during the balloting period,” he said.

The pay proposals would see increases of 3% with effect from 2nd February 2022, 2% from 1st March 2023 and 1.5% or €750 (whichever is the greater) from 1st October 2023.

This is in addition to 1% or €500, whichever is greater, which due at the beginning of October 2022 under the existing Building Momentum agreement.

The minimum payment of €750 a year from next October means the package would be worth 8% to a worker earning €25,000 a year and 7% to a person on €37,500 a year.

Have your say

In a video message (below) to Fórsa members, general secretary Kevin Callinan, who led the union side in the pay talks, encouraged members to cast their vote: “This is a really important ballot on the review of Building Momentum. I really want you to cast your vote and have your say. Don’t leave it to others.”

Kevin advised that if members haven’t received their voting code, they should contact the ballot helpdesk, where staff are on hand to assist.

Fórsa’s elected national executive has voted overwhelmingly to recommend the public service pay package, which was negotiated at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) following the review of the Building Momentum public service agreement.

The digital ballot of Fórsa members will remain open until next Thursday (6th October).

The union has produced this ‘frequently asked questions’ document, which includes a facility for members to ask questions, which you can access HERE.

For a video tutorial on how to cast your vote click HERE.

Cork branch encourage members to vote

Fórsa’s Cork Health and Local Government branch ran a very successful meet and greet in Cork County Hall on Thursday morning September 8th. 

Activists from the County Section met with members to answer questions on the ongoing pay ballot and to encourage members to vote on the proposal.

The stand was manned by the County Section chairperson Paula Courtney and activists Christine Cronin, Orlagh Dineen and Noelle Clinton-Forde.  Strategic organiser Paul Walsh supported the branch. The committee distributed merchandise and canteen vouchers for members as a small token from the branch.

Paul said that members were pleased to see a Fórsa in person presence returning after Covid, and the committee felt it was a morning well spent.

“Engagement was high with the committee fielding questions on the public sector pay deal and ballot process. We also had sixteen new members join on the day, many being younger staff who have just embarked on their career in the public service,” he said.

Paul noted that younger workers were very interested in what the pay deal had to offer to them. “They were eager to have their say on whether the deal would be passed by Fórsa members,” he said.  

Fórsa Cork Health and Local Government vice chairperson Paula Courtney said that it was important to get back on site and be visible to members. “It is also important that we are here to answer members questions and to encourage everyone to cast their vote in the ballot” she said.

Fórsa is inviting eligible members and activists to apply to its third level grant support scheme, which gives limited financial assistance to those undertaking certified educational courses – up to third level – that will assist them in carrying out their union representative role.

The scheme does not cover courses designed to enhance professional or career development unless they also improve a member’s ability to act as a Fórsa rep.

Applicants must be fully paid-up Fórsa members and can only apply by completing the approved application form. They must also have the support of their own Fórsa branch.

The closing date for applications is 5.30pm on Friday 28th October 2022.

Full details of the application requirements and available support are available here.

The approved application form is available here.

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

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.

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

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

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 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.

Tuesday’s budget announcement brought further improvements to the scheme with a 25% reduction in the cost of childcare under the National Childcare Scheme.

The reduction in fees will be implemented through increased subsidies under the NCS, raising the childcare subsidy from the current 50 cent per hour to €1.40 per hour. And it will be a universal measure, meaning children up to the age of 15 are eligible for the improved NCS measures.

This is due to take effect from January 2023 and will be capped at €2,100 per year.

November this year will also see a double child benefit payment to all qualifying households.

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has launched guidance to help unions close the gender pay gap and put the issue on the collective bargaining agenda.

Currently in Ireland the gender pay gap stands at 11.3%, based on average gross hourly earnings.

The guide builds on the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 and related regulations, which oblige organisations with over 250 employees to publish an annual report on their gender pay gap from this year. Introduced by equality minister Roderic O’Gorman, the legislation was the result of campaigning by Fórsa and other unions.

The obligation to report is to be extended to organisations with over 150 employees in 2024, and to those with over 50 the following year. Plans are also in place for an online reporting system for the 2023 reporting cycle.

The ICTU guide sets out ways in which unions can help and lead proactively through consultation and their own reporting.

The toolkit calls on unions to bargain to end the gender pay gap and send a strong message of the importance of unions to women’s working lives. This is increasingly the case in Ireland as more and more women join unions and take union leadership positions.

ICTU says the gender pay gap has remained persistently high in Ireland and strategies are needed to close it. It also recommends that unions commence negotiations with employers to ensure that there is a comprehensive implementation of the regulations, and use this as an opportunity to go beyond what is in the regulations and address many of the structural causes of the gap.

An outline of the report states women are most likely to work in lower paid jobs, jobs that undervalue their work and in jobs that do not provide them with the same opportunities at work because of their care responsibilities.

It also adds that the gender pay gap widens with age, particularly after women have children and have care responsibilities. This leads to a “motherhood pay gap.” When hourly wages of mothers and non-mothers are compared, mothers experience a wage penalty as high as 30%. The gap is highest in the private sector, particularly in the financial and insurance services sectors.

Speaking at the launch of the guide earlier this week, Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan said unions want engagement with employers when the first set of audit reports are published in December, in order to agree a set of measures to be taken by the employer to eliminate or reduce any gaps identified.

He also added that a deficit in the legislation, in his view, was the lack of requirement around having conversations with workers and representatives on reasons for the gap to get their views on it.

The current legislation only requires employers to accompany a statement along with their ‘snapshot’ results, setting out the reasons, according to them, for the existence of a gap and the steps they are taking to address it.

Minister O’Gorman, said he encouraged the guide’s uptake by unions as it had “the potential to positively impact on the success of gender pay gap reporting and achieving real change to gender equality in the workplace.”

The author of the guide Jane Pillinger described the toolkit as essential to building union strategies and actions on gender pay gap reporting and the wider structural causes of unequal pay.

“Pay transparency is the critical aspect. If we don’t know what people are being paid, we can’t negotiate with employers,” she said.

In addition to the Irish gender pay gap reporting, a new EU Pay Transparency Directive is currently being finalised in Brussels. This is expected to go further than the Irish gender pay gap reporting, as it includes protection of trade union rights for women workers, ensuring they can bargain collectively for equal pay, measures to deliver on the principle of equal pay for work of equal value, and a ban on pay secrecy clauses.

Read the gender pay gap guide HERE.

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

Fórsa has set up two dedicated inboxes to help answer any questions you might have on the ongoing ballot or the proposed pay deal.

More information, including full details of the revised public service pay package, is available on the Fórsa website. Further information is also available from your branch secretary.

If you are eligible to vote in this ballot you will receive an email from Fórsa, which will include your ‘unique voter code’ and a link to our voting platform. If you think you are eligible to vote, and you do not receive an email with this information, you should contact our helpdesk HERE. 

For other general queries around the proposed pay package, get in touch HERE. 

For a video tutorial on how to cast your vote click HERE.

The deadline for Fórsa members to vote is noon on Thursday 6 October 2022.

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