The purpose of the Fórsa audio news bulletin is to provide members with another way to stay up to date with what’s happening across the union.

The audio format allows members to hear directly from the officials whose job it is to represent them. It also means that much of the content available in the written news bulletin is more accessible.

Each episode will consist of updates from across the union’s five divisions as well as interviews with officials, elected officers and external expert guests. 

To listen, click the ‘play’ icon on the main page of this news bulletin. If your email server is preventing you from being able to see this ‘play’ icon, simply click HERE instead to listen on the SoundCloud streaming website.
 

Civil servants are due a 1% pay increase with effect from 1st January 2018, under the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) negotiated by Fórsa and other public service unions. The next instalment of the deal, which was backed by members of the three unions that recently amalgamated to create our new union, will see a further 1% adjustment in October.
 
In total, the PSSA will deliver income restoration worth over 7% of salary to more than 70% of civil and public servants between now and 2020.
 
Late last year, a timetable for the full abolition of FEMPI legislation, which underpinned civil service pay cuts and pension levies, was officially outlined with the publication of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Bill. This also gave effect to the provisions of the PSSA.
 
Fórsa general secretary Shay Cody said the legislation was a landmark in the union campaign to restore incomes, which were cut by an average of around 14% under FEMPI during the recession.
 
“This legislation underpins the pay adjustments agreed in the PSSA deal, including a 1% increase due now. More significantly, it establishes a legal timetable for the dismantling of the hated FEMPI legislation. This is what Fórsa and other unions have been working for since the pension levy was first imposed on public servants in 2009,” he said. 

The PSSA will see pay lost through ‘FEMPI’ legislation restored to more than 90% of civil and public servants – those earning up to €70,000 a year – by the end of 2020. Almost all the rest will see full pay restoration within a further two years.  

It also preserves the value of civil service pensions, while taking almost a quarter of public servants out of FEMPI pension levy provisions by 2020. This will be done by increasing the pension levy ceiling from €28,750 to €34,500 for all staff except those who benefit from ‘fast accrual’ pension arrangements. This will be worth a total of €575 per year.  

Any remaining pension levy will be converted into a ‘pension related deduction’ (PRD). Staff who joined the civil service on or after 1st January 2013 will pay a smaller additional contribution, reflecting the fact that their pension benefits are different to the schemes applying to those who joined before that date.

The legislation repeals the 2009 FEMPI Act with effect from 1st January 2018. It also repeals section 2(3) of the 2009 FEMPI No.2 Act – the legislation that reduced fixed periodic allowances by 5% – from 1st October 2020. Section 5(1) of the 2009 Act is also repealed from January 2021, which will allow the Labour Court and WRC to consider ‘cost-increasing claims’ from that date.
 

PSSA income adjustments

• 1st January 2018: 1% pay adjustment
• 1st October 2018: 1% pay adjustment
• 1st January 2019: Pension levy threshold up from €28,750 to €32,000 (worth €325pa)
• 1st January 2019: 1% pay adjustment for those earning less than €30,000
• 1st September 2019: 1.75% pay adjustment • 1st January 2020: Pension levy threshold increased to €34,500 (worth €250pa)
• 1st January 2020: 0.5% pay increase for those earning less than €32,000
• 1st October 2020: 2% pay adjustment

Read the DPER circular HERE.

The final piece of the Fórsa jigsaw was put in place on 2nd January, when the Registrar for Friendly Societies confirmed that the new union was registered and cleared to start work on behalf of more than 80,000 members. The registrar is the statutory regulator for trade unions.
 
The new union launched with a brand new visual identity, and with strong backing from the members of the three organisations – the CPSU, IMPACT, and the PSEU – which had put in over two years’ work to make the amalgamation happen.
 
Those three unions effectively ceased to exist once the merger was sanctioned after a six-week statutory period that followed ballots, which strongly endorsed the move.
 
Fórsa now collectively represents workers across the civil and public services, commercial and non-commercial semi-state organisations, the community and voluntary sector, and private companies in aviation, telecommunications and elsewhere.
 
We are the second largest union in the country, and the strongest and most influential trade union voice in the Irish public service and semi-state sector.
 
After pooling the resources of the three former unions, Fórsa is also financially stronger, with €85 million in assets including a €50 million dispute fund. So, while members’ subscriptions are unchanged, the new organisation offers an enhanced range of financial benefits and free helplines.
 
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), which brings together organisations with a combined membership of over 800,000, described the arrival of Fórsa as “highly significant and very positive for the Irish trade union movement.” 
 
Its general secretary Patricia King said: “Fórsa provides a strong new voice for workers across a range of areas, and it will also enhance the capacity and effectiveness of the wider trade union movement across the island.”

Special arrangements have been put in place to ensure that the union’s three civil service constituencies retain a strong voice – and control over the decisions that affect them.
 
And, by agreement, the senior Fórsa leadership is made up of a four-person team drawn from the three former general secretaries, plus the former IMPACT deputy general secretary.
 
Former IMPACT head Shay Cody is now Fórsa’s senior general secretary. Former PSEU leader Tom Geraghty is general secretary (public services) with lead responsibility for members in the civil service. And former CPSU general secretary Eoin Ronayne is general secretary with responsibility for organisation and development, with some retained responsibility for industrial relations in the civil service.
 
IMPACT’s former deputy Kevin Callinan is now Fórsa’s deputy general secretary and, by agreement, he will become senior general secretary when Shay Cody retires.
 
The union’s Civil Service division will also be supported by heads of divisions and functions drawn from the former deputy general secretaries of the CPSU and PSEU, and the former IMPACT national secretary. 

The former PSEU’s Billy Hannigan will lead for executive grades, while former CPSU official Derek Mullen will take care of civil service clerical grades. Meanwhile, former IMPACT official Andy Pike will lead on matters relating to technical, professional and service grades. 

Civil service clerical and executive officers with 12 years’ service will receive an extra day’s annual leave from 1st January 2018, in an arrangement negotiated by Fórsa under the Public Services Stability Agreement (PSSA). Those with 14 years’ service are due a further day.
 
Staff appointed or promoted to executive officer posts will have any service at service officer, clerical officer and staff officer grades reckoned as service for the purpose of calculating leave available after five, ten, 12 and 14 years’ service.
 
Fórsa is currently in discussions with management about applying the leave changes to civil service grades analogous with clerical and executive officers. 
 
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) has proposed a revision of the leave circular on issues like carry-over leave and standardising the annual leave year.

Civil service leave provision

Civil servants who want to revert to ‘pre-Haddington Road’ working hours – with a pro-rata salary reduction – can apply to do so between now and April 2018. The opportunity, which was negotiated by Fórsa as part of the Public Services Stability Agreement (PSSA), will then close before briefly reopening between January and April 2021.
 
Staff who opt to revert to the shorter working week have to do so permanently. And applications are subject to the ‘business needs’ of the organisation they work in.
 
Fórsa says staff who have already opted for a shorter working year during 2018 can also apply for the ‘pre-Haddington Road’ hours. This is a departure from normal procedures that prevent civil servants on shorter working time from changing their work-sharing pattern. 
 
During last year’s talks on the PSSA, the union sought a return to pre-2011 hours for all. But the employers were adamant that they would not do a deal that restored working time lost under previous agreements. Fórsa officials repeatedly raised the issue, but the other side would not budge.

The current provisions fall short of that ambition, but they at least give options to staff whose circumstances mean time is more important to them than money.

Precarious working arrangements have now spread across the economy and feature increasingly in public administration, health and education, according to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).
 
A new ICTU report, Insecure and Uncertain: Precarious Work in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, has revealed that 8% of the Republic’s workforce – or 158,190 people – see significant variations in their weekly or monthly working hours, while 7% of workers are in temporary employment, often because they can’t find permanent work.  

The alarming growth in precarious work since 2008 has prompted ICTU to urge the Government to legislate to address the problem. It wants new laws to guarantee the right to a minimum number of working hours, and provide workers with a written statement of their terms and conditions from day one of their employment.
 
Last month, ICTU welcomed new legislation aimed at banning zero hours contracts in all cases except emergency cover, short-term relief work, or genuine casual work.  

The Congress report shows a dramatic 34% rise in part-time work and self-employment, which ICTU says is “indicative of significant growth in bogus or false self-employment.”  

The number of people in permanent full-time work is still over 100,000 lower than in 2008, despite significant growth in the total number of people in work. And over half of those in temporary employment says it’s because they can’t find permanent jobs – a 179% increase on the 2008 figure.  

The study found that female and young workers were most likely to be stuck in precarious or insecure jobs. And, while precarious work is most common in distribution, hotels, catering, retail and construction, it also features increasingly in public administration, health and education.  

ICTU general secretary Patricia King said the research confirmed the urgent need for legislation. “As the study clearly illustrates, the impact of precarious work extends well beyond the workplace and its unchallenged growth raises profound questions as to the type of society we wish to live in,” she said.  

The study found that official policies like reducing employers’ PRSI on low-paid work had made it easier and more profitable to hire workers on insecure contracts. Yet these practices impact negatively on workers’ health, living standards, and ability to access secure accommodation. They also hit productivity and innovation, while reducing tax revenues for the state.

The Government is to legislate to allow civil servants who are currently obliged to retire at age 65 to opt to stay in work longer. Once enacted, the law will give civil servants recruited before 1st April 2004 the option to retire at any time up to age 70.
 
The new arrangements will benefit civil servants who must currently retire at 65, but who depend on the state old age pension for part of their retirement income. They have faced a problem since the state pension age was increased from 65 to 66.
 
Civil servants recruited after 1st April 2004 are not affected because they either have a retirement age of 70 already, or they have no compulsory retirement age.   

Fórsa is continuing the long-established tradition of putting members and branches at the centre of policy formation and decision-making. The tried and trusted mechanism for doing this is the union delegate conference, and the biennial Fórsa Civil Service divisional conference (CSDC) will take place in Killarney on 19th and 20th April. 

Fórsa has a biennial conference cycle, primarily to ensure that decisions on issues of relevance to a division are made by branches in that division. In the normal course of events, a civil service divisional conference will take place one year with a national conference, incorporating all Fórsa divisions, taking place the following year.

This year will be the exception. Given the need get the union’s elected officers are in place, and to deliberate on national issues, a national conference will also take place this year. Details will issue to branches separately.

Every Fórsa branch with members in the civil service is entitled to send one or more delegates to the April divisional conference, with larger branches entitled to send proportionately more delegates.

Motions and nominations for the preliminary agenda must be received by 12 noon on 1st February. The preliminary agenda will issue to branches on 22nd February, and any amendments from branches must be received by 8th March. The final agenda goes to branches on 5th April.

Fórsa has met senior civil servants to discuss the scapegoating of civil servants in recent controversies. Fórsa general secretary Tom Geraghty wrote to them last December on foot of the Charleston report, which vindicated Tusla staff who had been pilloried in the media. He said that, unlike politicians, civil servants had been denied due process in this and other public controversies.

“The experience of Tusla staff proves, as if such proof was needed, that an allegation is not a fact. When faced with accusations, elected representatives have the opportunity to defend themselves in public. Civil servants don't enjoy the same luxury. As a result, the media – and even elected representatives themselves – have scapegoated people who are not permitted to respond. That is grossly unfair,” he said.

Tom said the ICTU Public Services Committee was increasingly alarmed at the scapegoating of civil and public servants during political controversies. He said public service employers should understand and share these concerns.

Revenue promotion talks continue

The method of shortlisting for interviews in Revenue and other large civil service departments is featuring strongly in discussions between Fórsa and management on the type of promotion systems to be used in future.

The union is opposing the use of psychometric testing in the shortlisting process as outcomes from earlier competitions indicate that it may introduce discrimination, particularly on age grounds.

Fórsa is awaiting management proposals on a range of options for shortlisting in large-volume competitions, following a recent meeting with management. The union’s preferred option is for preliminary interviews, as happened in the most recent competition for executive officers. But management has so far refused this on the grounds that it’s too time consuming in some cases.

Enforcement staff

Meanwhile, the difficulty with filling posts in Dublin Port has emerged as one of a number of issues for customs enforcement staff in Revenue. Management has proposed a once-off interdepartmental competition to widen the pool of available candidates, following an earlier decision to open enforcement posts to staff on probation. The posts carry an allowance.

The enforcement sub-committee of the union’s Revenue national committee will consider the matter this month.

Vehicle monitoring

Discussions on vehicle monitoring have also resumed. A monitoring system for enforcement vehicles, which management is introducing, is causing concern to members who drive these vehicles. The use to which management puts the various reports that the system can produce is of particular concern.

While management says it is primarily concerned about health and safety and fuel efficiency, the union has raised data protection issues and the potential for such reports to be used in disciplinaries.

Fórsa reps were recently told that the DEASP communications unit was to be relocated to the office at 77 Gardiner Street in Dublin.  An advance party has been relocated and management has outlined its objective of relocating all former roles undertaken in the Sligo communications and customer service unit.

No timeline for the completion of the move has been finalised as it depends on the ability of PAS to provide staff to fulfil roles in Dublin.

Managers, including HR managers, are to visit staff in the communications unit to advise directly on relocating and reassigning staff affected by the move.

A union request that some consideration be provided to show appreciation for the co-operation provided by staff in the interim period was not accepted by management. The union intends to visit members following the visit by management. It was noted that the translation service and the switch would remain in Sligo.

Meanwhile, the union has arranged to meet staff in the post section of the Longford head office to discuss recent changes to duties and health and safety concerns.

Fórsa has also agreed to participate in an ‘engagement and innovation’ project to provide assurances to staff who are being required to move to the second floor of Aras Mhic Dhiarmuida. Staff have concerns over health and safety and working conditions on a floor with a proposed level of over 80 staff.

Finally, the back office pilot is now being introduced in the Galway local office. The union is arranging to meet members in Galway to listen to concerns regarding training and staffing. Meanwhile the pilot continues in the Ballina office, Bishop Square in Dublin, and King’s Inns Street in Dublin.

Fórsa joined a broad coalition of unions, and organisations campaigning for pensioners and women, in a demonstration yesterday to demand the reversal of 2012 pension cuts, which fall hardest on women.
 
The coalition, which brings the union together with Age Action Ireland, Active Retirement Ireland, the National Women’s Council, the Irish Countrywomen’s Association and Siptu, has also sought an urgent meeting with social protection minister Regina Doherty.
 
The cabinet sub-committee on pensions discussed the issue yesterday (Wednesday).
 
It’s estimated that as many as 40,000 people – mostly women who left the workforce to rear children or care for others – have been hit by the changes, which mean state pension entitlements are based on an average of the contributions made during each year at work. Crucially, the methodology takes the first PRSI payment as the starting point for averaging, which can drastically reduce the annual average payment for workers who paid PRSI in part-time student jobs.
 
Those who took time out of the workforce to raise a family, or to care for relatives, after 1994 are not affected. But many of those currently reaching retirement left work before that year.
 
Fórsa and other coalition members wrote to Minister Doherty last month. “Though greatly disappointed that no measure to address this inequality was announced in October’s budget, we welcome your subsequent commitment to find a solution, and your plan to bring a proposal to cabinet,” they said.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is seeking legal changes to make it easier for victims to report sexually abusive behaviour in the workplace. The move comes after months of intense focus on workplace sexual harassment in Ireland and across the globe.

Congress general secretary Patricia King has written to employment affairs minister Regina Doherty, saying that reports of workplace sexual misconduct should be treated as ‘protected disclosures,’ which could be made to external bodies like the Workplace Relations Commission or Health and Safety  Authority.

Under existing legislation, sexual harassment is categorised as a ‘grievance,’ which means workers must direct their complaints to employers. However, as Ms King points out in her letter: “very often the perpetrator can be the most senior-ranked person in the employment.”

Ms King said sexual harassment in the workplace pollutes the working environment. “It can have a devastating effect on the health, confidence, morale and performance of those affected by it,” she said.

Separately, Fórsa and other unions criticised a minister of state, whose discriminatory comments resulted in a €7,500 compensation award towards the end of last year. The case was taken by the PSEU, one of the unions that merged to form the new union.

During an interview for the post of private secretary to Minister John Halligan, the Waterford TD asked the candidate: “Are you a married woman? Do you have children? How old are your children?"

A Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) adjudication officer declared the comments discriminatory under equality legislation, after the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) took up the case.

Minister Halligan bizarrely claimed he had simply been championing “family friendly” work arrangements. In a statement, he also cited his inexperience at interviewing. “This was the first time I was conducting an interview of this sort and I did not realise that it was unacceptable to ask such a question,” he said. However, the candidate told the WRC that he had prefaced his question by saying: “I know I shouldn't say this.”