Fórsa is conducting an industrial action ballot among its members in Dublin airport's Border Management Unit in a dispute over management’s refusal to pay a Sunday premium. The union, which has been seeking the payment for more than three years, says it is a requirement under Irish and European working time legislation.

Management claims it doesn’t have to pay extra for Sunday working because it wasn’t part of the initial arrangements in Dublin airport. It says its responsibilities are met because there is a shift allowance in place.

But the union counters that this is irrelevant as there is no collective agreement in place to govern the arrangements.

Civilian staff represented by Fórsa took over the front-line immigration role from the Garda in 2013 as part of a major civilianisation programme. They operate shifts on a 24/7 basis.

Sunday payments are common in other parts of the civil service including the Garda, Revenue and customs areas, as well as in the wider public service.

The union initially pursued its claim through adjudication, but Fórsa’s head of civil service, Derek Mullen, said he was not prepared to accept further delays, particularly as the Department has been making individual settlements of cases taken through the Workplace Relations Commission.

The ballot closes on 8th November, after which decisions on next steps will be taken. In the meantime, the union says it remains available for meaningful negotiations.

Fórsa is planning meetings with members in Dublin and Portarlington.

Phase 1B of the civil service mobility scheme is now open for applications. This phase allows for the movement of clerical and executive officers within Dublin.

Under the scheme, head-to-head transfers, interdepartmental transfers and secondments are no longer valid arrangements, and all transfer requests must be made through the new process.

The scheme is one of a number of arrangements that has been put in place to expand career and mobility opportunities for staff across geographic, organisational and sectoral boundaries.

Negotiations for the next phase are now underway. It will address mobility mechanisms for higher executive officers (HEO), administrative offices (AO) and assistant principal (AP) grades.

For more information on the mobility scheme click HERE.

Fórsa understands that the Government is putting resource arrangements in place to give civil servants access the Labour Court and Workplace Relations Commission.

This will allow the implementation of agreed plans to replace the civil service conciliation and arbitration scheme with the State industrial relations system that all other workers – including public servants outside the civil service - enjoy.

The union has also been informed that there have been some delays in legislation required to facilitate the change.

It is considering related issues in a sub-committee of the Civil Service Staff Panel – made up of reps from all civil service unions – with a view to further engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

The switch to the State IR system will also give civil servants access to adjudicators to deal with issues under employment law.

Fórsa’s head of civil service, Derek Mullen, said the switch would deliver a more efficient industrial relations service. “We will keep the best parts of the conciliation and arbitration scheme, including general council,” he said.

A timetable for negotiations on the implementation of a civil service arbitration finding, which effectively backed Fórsa’s claim over the unilateral withdrawal of accelerated increments in the Central Statistics Office (CSO), has been agreed with management. Talks have now begun, with fortnightly meetings scheduled.

Earlier this year, the arbitration concluded that the withdrawal of so-called ‘jump increments’ for statisticians hired after 2012 was a breach of an existing collective agreement, which was not permitted under national public service agreements.

The established practice of jump increments was put in place to deal with severe difficulties in recruiting and retaining statisticians. It allowed management to award three additional increments at certain points of the long pay scale if it was warranted by capability, efficiency or level of responsibility.

Without this mechanism, staff who can easily find well-paid jobs in the private sector, would have to work for over 20 years before reaching the top of their pay scale.

The arbitration board found that the agreed practice had been unilaterally withdrawn without consultation. This was “highly questionable and unacceptable, and is irreconcilable with the prevailing procedural norms,” it said.

It told the parties to engage with a view to reaching a mutually acceptable resolution, and said the board would issue a conclusive recommendation if this proved impossible.

Discussions on the staff implications of the forthcoming separation of the Data Protection Commission from its parent department are taking place. The commission will become a state body independent of the justice department on 1st January.

A sub-committee of the departmental council has been established to discuss implications for staff and explore options to deal with them.

Fórsa has postponed its forthcoming global solidarity school after its main speakers pulled out to work in the snap UK general election. Trade Union Congress (TUC) chief Frances O’Grady and Tony Lloyd, the Labour shadow secretary for Northern Ireland, who were scheduled to speak on Brexit, will instead be on the campaign trail.

Organisers say the event, originally scheduled for 15^th and 16^th November, will now take place early in the New Year. “For understandable reasons, our key speakers became unavailable at very short notice and it simply wasn’t possible to replace them with experts of a similar calibre in time for the event to go ahead. We’ll soon be announcing dates for the event early in 2020, with an excellent programme of speakers,” said one.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has teamed up with the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) to jointly demand that the Government commits to passing the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill before Christmas. The legislation has effectively stalled, making no progress since before the Dáil’s summer recess.

The bill would compel employers to report on the gender pay gap – the difference in the average pay of male and female staff – in their organisations. It would also require reporting on differences in bonus pay, part-time pay and the pay of men and women on temporary contracts.

Fórsa has been at the forefront of the trade union campaign for legislation on gender pay gap reporting, which it says would encourage employers into tangible action to bridge the gap. The union has criticised the slow pace of the legislative process.

NWCI director Orla O’Connor said the proposed legislation would properly shine a spotlight on organisations’ pay imbalance for the first time.

“The gender pay gap of 13.9% in Ireland has serious implications for a woman’s lifetime earnings,  her life and career decisions and her ability to live in older years with a decent income. The experience from other countries shows that harder measures are needed to combat pay inequality.

“While this legislation in and of itself will not close the gender pay gap, it is an extremely important step and one which needs to be implemented with haste,” she said.

David Joyce of ICTU believes that the bill can also advance Ireland’s commitment to the United Nation’s sustainable development goals.

“Government appointed both Congress and the NWCI to be sustainable development goal champion organisations. Goal five concerns achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, while goal eight commits to decent work for all. Therefore, we will continue to campaign for decent work and equality for all women and men in Ireland and beyond,” he said.

Trade unions have welcomed the launch of a workplace menopause policy by British TV station Channel 4. The initiative aims to support staff who experience the sometimes-debilitating side effects of the condition.

The development comes amid a growing recognition, among unions and HR specialists, of the need for employers to accommodate women who are dealing with menopause.

Recent research by the Welsh Trade Union Congress (TUC) indicates that many women feel their managers don’t recognise the problems associated with the condition, which can be exacerbated by ignorance and misunderstanding.

It found that many women find that inflexible working arrangements make it difficult to deal with problematic symptoms. This can result in increased sick leave or women cutting their working hours, which can mean missed training and promotional opportunities and a widening gender pay gap.

The Channel 4 policy aims to create a flexible working environment to help workers manage symptoms, while also destigmatising and normalising the subject.

Roughly a third of women have either experienced menopause or are currently going through it. Approximately 80% of women will experience noticeable symptoms. While some women will cope well with the physical and emotional changes, almost half find the symptoms difficult to deal with.

Fórsa Equality Officer Geraldine O’Brien said the Channel 4 move was progressive, and should be an example to other employers. “Unions are at the forefront of the fight for equality, working hard to ensure that working women have supports in place to remain healthy and safe in the workplace,” she said.

For more information on the Wales TUC survey click HERE.

The long-awaited auto-enrolment pension system is to be introduced on a phased basis from 2022, according to a recent announcement from the Department of Employment Social Affairs.

Under the new arrangement, all workers will be automatically enrolled in an occupational pension scheme – with contributions from their employer and the State, as well as the employee – when they start a job.

The scheme will apply to all employees aged between 23 and 60 earning more than €20,000 a year who are not already in a workplace pension scheme.

Under the scheme, workers will start paying contributions equal to 1.5% of salary, rising to 6% of salary in their tenth year of employment. Employers will be compelled to make matching contributions.

The level of Government contribution has yet to be finalised.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ (ICTU) social policy officer Laura Bambrick, who has given a broad welcome to the scheme, told RTÉ’s Today at Sean O’Rourke programme that the scheme had been discussed for nearly two decades. “Less than half of all workers have a pension, and in the private sector less than one in three workers have a pension”, she said.

Listen to Laura on RTÉ HERE.

Read the Congress guide to auto-enrolment HERE.

Fórsa youth network will host this year’s Fórsa Quiz Night in Dublin on 12^th December and the proceeds will go to Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), a non-profit organisation supporting the trans community in Ireland.

The quiz commences at 5.30pm and costs €100 for a table of four. The youth network has asked branches to either take a table or donate €100 to support this worthy cause.

You can get further details HERE. 

To register a table, contact the youth committee here or send cheques (made out to the Transgender Equality Network Ireland) to Michael Kerrigan, Fórsa, Nerney’s Court, Dublin DO1 R2C5.