Fórsa has negotiated a new benefit for its members, who now have access to a free health and medical information helpline. Staffed by qualified nurses, the service provides information on health and fitness, as well as non-diagnostic advice on medical matters.

Advice on allergies, the side effects of drugs, and improving your general fitness are also available as part of this service.

The lines are staffed from 9.00am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public and bank holidays. But if you call outside these times, you can leave a message and a qualified nurse will get back to you during the normal operating hours.

The new service is part of a suite of helplines – free to Fórsa members – including a legal advice line, a confidential counselling service, and a domestic assistance helpline.

You can get details of these here.

Health and medical information helpline: Phone 1890-254-164

Fórsa is at the advanced stage of planning a campaign on the future of local government and the services it provides. The initiative will equip the union’s members and branches to lobby political parties and challenge local candidates in advance of the local elections on 24th May.

The union’s two local authority divisions – the Municipal Employees’ Division and Local Government & Local Services Division – intend to use the campaign to highlight issues like local democracy, housing, waste, and the environment.

Fórsa has long campaigned against the practice, under successive governments, of diminishing local authorities’ responsibilities. A range of services – most recently motor tax - have been removed from local control in recent years.

The union has also placed the future role of local government at the centre of its strategy for keeping water and sanitation services in public control.

A dispute about promotion competitions for grades IV to VII under the local government common recruitment pool has been jointly referred to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) by Fórsa and local authority employers. A hearing has been scheduled for 22nd February.

Fórsa’s local government executive committee has rejected management proposals to have all promotions open to public competition. The union is instead seeking arrangements similar to those in place in education and the civil service.

Meanwhile, the union has submitted a business case to the Labour Court in support of its claim for a job evaluation scheme in local authorities. It commissioned an independent report from Employee Resources after the court previously said Fórsa should supply a “business case” for such a scheme. A response is now awaited.

Fórsa will not support any proposal on the future of Irish Water unless it includes a Government commitment to a constitutional referendum to keep water and sewage services in public control, according to the union’s top local authority negotiator.

Speaking in advance of a meeting of unions representing water workers – called by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) – National secretary Peter Nolan said copper-fastening public ownership of water services remained a ‘red line’ for Fórsa and other unions in the sector.

The ICTU meeting will consider an invitation to talks about the Government’s proposed establishment of a single public sector entity for the delivery of water services. It follows a number of meetings with union branches in recent months.

Forsa’s two divisions in the sector – the Municipal Employees’ Division and Local Government & Local Services Division – have already said that members will be balloted on the outcome of any talks, if they do take place. “Any such ballot can only be meaningful when the Government’s position on the referendum is clarified,” said Peter.

In a meeting last December, Peter told local government minister Eoghan Murphy there was no chance of winning support for his plans to bring 3,500 local authority workers under the control of Irish Water in the absence of a referendum to underpin public ownership and control of the utility. He said local authority staff feared the proposal could be a stepping stone to water privatisation unless a referendum took place first.

“At our meeting with the minister, we demanded that the Government speeds up proposals to have a constitutional referendum to guarantee that water services will always remain under democratic public control. We are deeply disappointed that the referendum has not been included in Government proposals for referenda next May,” he said.

Minister Murphy invited unions to engage in a WRC-assisted process aimed at creating a framework for the proposed move to a single water utility by 2021. This would be four years before the expiry of existing service level agreements (SLAs) between Irish Water and local councils.

The re-municipalisation of water services around Europe continues to rise, according to a report by the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour. The study, Comparison of European water supply and sanitation systems, compares national water supply and sanitation systems and analyses the associated governance systems.

Re-municipalisation means the return of privatised provision of water services into public control.

The report highlights the negative impact of privatising water services, noting that it results in deteriorating supply and increased prises. The study also found that privatisation of services leads to reduced investment in infrastructure.

Fórsa, which represents water staff in local authorities and Irish Water, has been campaigning for a referendum to underpin public ownership of water and sewage services.

Fórsa and other unions had pressed the issue as part of discussions on the future status of Irish Water and its relationship with local authorities.

The new report says that the increased public debate on the organisation of water supply and sanitation has resulted in the trend of re-municipalisation. However, it warns that the negative impact of privatisation on water services is not reflected in economic policy at EU level, in either internal market or foreign trade policy.

The report adds that there is a need for financing of public services to be better protected from fluctuations in financial markets.

You can read the English language summery of the report here and the full report is available here.

Irish workplaces need to become more accommodating for the increasing number of workers aged over 65, according to a new study. The Dublin City University report, Living longer, learning longer – working longer? Implications for new workforce dynamics, also says greater flexibility in employment terms are needed to retain older workers.

The report highlights the rising age-profile of the workforce due to the increased mandatory pension age in the public service to 70, and planned increases to the state pension age.

It says offices and workplaces may need to be redesigned to accommodate an ageing workforce. It recommends introducing physical changes like magnifying glasses to reduce eye-strain and height set tables and chairs, as well physio developed stretching exercises.

The report adds that changes can lead to an increase in productivity, and lower levels of absenteeism in workforces with a higher age-profile.

Read the report here (via The Irish Times).

Fórsa representatives were amongst those in attendance at the Raise the Roof housing conference in Dublin last Wednesday (30th January). The event focused on Ireland’s ever-increasing rate of homelessness, particularly the number of families and children currently without a home.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ general secretaryPatricia King addressed the crowd of about 200 campaigners, union representatives, politicians, community groups, students, housing agencies and members of the public. She recalled the launch of the Congress Charter for Housing Rights this time last year and noted that since then the homelessness figures have increased to practically 10,000 people.

“Twelve months on, there are 1,728 families homeless with 3,811 children in those families,” she said, noting that one additional family becomes homeless every eight hours.

The charter, supported by many unions including Fórsa, outlines five key principles that offer short, medium and long-term solutions to the housing crisis. The first step is to declare a national housing emergency and commence the building of a major public housing programme.

Fórsa lead organiser, Joe O’Connor said trade unions involved in the campaign will be ramping up the political pressure in the coming months. “This conference is just the beginning of a range of planned campaign actions for 2019, including a set of regional rallies alongside the tabling of council motions starting in Cork on 11th March,” he said.

A cross-party motion was passed in the Dáil last October, with the support of all opposition parties including Fianna Fáil. The motion commits to a set of measures which would bring effect to the Congress Charter for Housing Rights, including introducing a legal or constitutional right to housing.

O’Connor emphasised that Fórsa’s goal is to ensure political delivery on this parliamentary commitment, while working under the Raise the Roof umbrella.

Fórsa has called on the Government to protect the incomes of public servants who reached the compulsory retirement age of 65 before the end of last year, but then stayed in work on a 12-month temporary arrangement because the state pension age had been changed from 65 to 66.

New legislation that allows civil and public servants to choose to work until age 70 has resolved the problem for staff approaching retirement now. But many were caught out before this measure became law last December.

In a submission to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), the union argues that these workers should be given the option to extend their 12-month retention arrangement up until age 70, and get increments due to them during this period.

When the new law was passed at the end of 2018, finance minister Paschal Donohoe said he would issue a report on public servants who were forced to retire between 6th December 2017 and the commencement of the Act, along with “potential remedies to assist this cohort of worker.”

Fórsa national secretary Billy Hannigan said the union’s recommendation was a practical response to the legal position we are now in. “It may not be the most ideal solution, but it is the most practical having regard to the fact that pension schemes are based on statute and that pension abatement rules are also governed by legislation,” he said.

The new law, which the Government introduced in response to union pressure, was necessary because many civil and public servants depend on the state pension for a substantial part of their retirement income.

Meanwhile, DPER has published a guide to the new legislation and its implications for civil and public servants. You can read it here.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has called on the Irish Government to establish a ‘Brexit adjustment fund’ to protect vulnerable groups of workers and industries in the case of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit. This followed Enterprise Ireland’s prediction that, if it happens, 25,000 workers would be directly affected by such a shock.

It also emerged in newspaper reports last weekend that the Government is pursuing measures first mooted by Fórsa at its 2017 Brexit seminar. These include EU supports for agriculture and the food sector, and a temporary relaxation of EU state aid rules.

Last week Irish trade union representatives met political leaders in London to stress the need to uphold the Good Friday agreement, avoid a ‘hard’ Brexit, and prevent the reintroduction of customs infrastructure on the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland.

Owen Reidy of ICTU’s Northern Ireland office met the Northern Ireland secretary, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and the leaders of the Liberal Democrat and Scottish Nationalist parties.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Reidy said a hard border would be hugely damaging to workers across the island of Ireland. “In the absence of an alternative, ICTU, reluctantly backed Teresa May’s draft withdrawal agreement. We did so on the basis that this proposal, while clearly inferior to the status quo, would do less harm than a ‘no deal’ Brexit.

“It now remains to be seen if the UK political establishment has the capacity and indeed the wit to get its act together and avoid what the majority of politicians, and those of us who represent real people in representative organisations, want. That is an agreement between the UK and EU if there has to be a Brexit at all,” he said.

Earlier, ICTU general secretary Patricia King responded to the UK parliament’s rejection of the draft withdrawal agreement last week, saying it made a “no-deal crash-out Brexit” more likely.

“This is unacceptable, given the damage it will do to Northern Ireland and the consequential collateral damage to the Republic of Ireland. It is incumbent on the British political establishment to develop a consensus that is also acceptable to the EU, to protect the interests of citizens and workers across these islands. The coherence and sense of purpose of the EU 27 contrasts significantly with the chaos in Westminster. Workers across the island must not pay the price of this ham fisted Brexit,” she said.

She said trade unions and other representative bodies should be invited to play a central role in a ‘Brexit Stakeholders Forum’ under strand 3 of the Good Friday Agreement, to address the impact of Brexit in Northern Ireland.

Fórsa women activists from around the country took part in INSPIRE training at the end of last month. This was the third year the union ran the training, which aims to inspire and empower female activists.

The training included workshops on confidence-building, communications and campaigning, and an impressive panel of speakers – including former RTÉ political correspondent, Martina Fitzgerald and Claire Power, advisor to President Michael D. Higgins – shared their experiences of working in prominent positions.

That question-and-answer session was facilitated by experienced Fórsa activists Margaret Coughlan, who chairs ICTU’s women’s committee and also featured Fórsa president Ann McGee.

Martina Fitzgerald made the point that women are often described as being feisty, strident and emotional, while men who act in the same way are considered assertive and ambitious. Claire Power said women are often apologetic in their speech, prefacing a question or interjection with “I’m sorry, but…” or something similar.

She urged delegates to be confident in their contributions, saying they were just as valid as anyone else’s.

Ann spoke about how being born with spina bifida made her so much more resilient than she would have been without it. “In order to be successful, you must strive to turn a perceived negative into a positive and use that to your advantage,” she said.

Although Fórsa membership is comprised of 69% women, the majority of senior positions are held by men. Seminars like these aim to change the status quo and encourage more women to step up and run for elections to have their voices heard both within the union and beyond.

The age limit for eligibility for Fórsa’s critical illness, accident benefit, and death benefit has been increased from 65 to 70 under a revised benefits package – which now also includes a free health helpline.

Eligible Fórsa members are entitled to a range of financial benefits including €5,000 personal accident or illness benefit, or €5,000 critical illness or death benefit*. Spouses of members are also covered for death benefit.

The union also provides a range of free helplines, including a legal advice helpline (1850-77-66-44) and a confidential counselling helpline (1850-77-66-55).

You can see the full range of helplines and financial services here.

* Terms and conditions apply.

State action to tackle bogus self-employment is “insufficient everywhere,” including at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), according to Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) general secretary Patricia King.

She was speaking as representatives from ICTU and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) gave evidence to the joint Oireachtas committee on employment affairs and social protection recently.

Ms King said bogus self-employment was costing the exchequer, with €240 million worth of PRSI and tax receipts lost in the construction sector alone.

The committee also heard that talks between RTÉ and the NUJ on the status of over 100 contractors working at the national broadcaster were “tortuous,” in the words of NUJ general secretary Séamus Dooley. The NUJ met RTÉ on the issue again last Friday.

The term ‘bogus self-employment’ refers to situations where workers who should be classified as employees are marked as self-employed. By classifying these workers as self-employed, employers can avoid having to pay PRSI and sick pay.