Fórsa launched its manifesto at its General Election event at the union’s head office yesterday.

The event, which was attended by Fórsa members and political representatives from across the country, focused on improved pay for workers, protection of remote work and the introduction of a four-day week, and the provision and availability of high-quality, world-class public services.

While not aligned to any political party Fórsa’s election manifesto reflects the concerns of Fórsa members and the policies they wish to see implemented by the next Government.

Speaking at the launch, Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan said successful trials of a four-day week in the private sector provided a compelling opportunity to have a conversation with Government about agreeing areas where it would be possible to trial a four day week in the public sector.

Fórsa’s director of campaigns Grace Williams explained that the response to the union’s commissioned survey by Amárach had informed the development of the manifesto, with an ‘overwhelming’ 20,000 responses providing rich data on the views of Fórsa’s membership.

Presenting the manifesto to the event, Fórsa’s policy officer Aisling Cusack described the three core issues as the “bread and butter” of the union agenda: “We know there's been decades of under investment in services. The ground that we need to make up now needs to happen, really, at scale and at pace. 

“We're looking for a real pay rise, one that goes beyond matching inflation and which rewards our workers for their commitment to delivering public services so they can enjoy a decent quality of life."

“We're also looking for the parties to make a real, strong commitment that they will engage with us on a successor to the current public service pay agreement,” she said.

Aisling also outlined the continuing difficulties arising from chronic underinvestment in local government, and the union’s determination to see waste collection services brought back into direct delivery by local authorities. 

Welcoming a forthcoming trial of municipalised waste collection by Dublin City Council (DCC), Aisling said the union will continue to work closely with DCC on the issue. She said the union would also continue to campaign for a referendum on the public ownership of water and the right to housing, items that had not been fulfilled despite being in the outgoing Government’s programme.

Yesterday’s event included a presentation by research company, Amárach, who conducted the survey of Fórsa members and informs the union manifesto. The event also featured a presentation of ongoing research by independent think-tank, TASC, on the future policy challenges for Irish governments.

You can read the full manifesto here.

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