The membership of Fórsa’s education division reached 17,000 for the first time this week. It’s an increase of more than 5,000 members over the last three years. And, as our membership density has improved, so have the outcomes we’ve been able to deliver for our members.

During the earlier phases of the Covid-19 pandemic the recruitment of members significantly increased as a direct consequence of Fórsa’s efforts to protect members in the workplace. This also resulted in greater public awareness of the work of as special needs assistants (SNAs), school secretaries and other education workers.

The #RespectforSNAs Campaign has also resulted in significant interest in the union and further increased our numbers as members started a debate around the nature of education and training for the SNA workforce.

During the first part of 2022, the union achieved a €1,100 annual increase in the SNA salary scale. Critically, our new pay agreement for school secretaries was concluded on terms that could not have achieved without the doubling our branch membership over the course of the dispute.

As we move into the latter part of 2022 we will continue to strive for greater recruitment and higher union density in the workplace because this is the best way to improve negotiated outcomes for members.

For instance, I hope to see the implementation of a new job evaluation scheme for members in higher education later this year. This presents a valuable opportunity to persuade more education workers that they are better off in the union.

Overdue talks on a new national SNA contract will commence shortly. This provides an opportunity to address the often-abused obligation for SNAs to be available to work an additional 72 hours a year.

Linked to that issue are the developments on modernising the minimum essential qualification to become an SNA from three Junior Certificate D passes.

Last week, UCD recommended that the national SNA training programme should be accredited at NFQ level seven, a significant change from the status quo. This followed commitments given in June to the Joint Dáil Education Committee by minister Josipha Madigan, who supported a review of the minimum qualification to conclude by the end of 2022.

I mentioned earlier that we had secured a pay agreement for school secretaries, who are now joining the union in large numbers prior to implementation of the first phase of the agreement in September.

Later in 2022 we hope to secure a similar agreement for school caretakers, which should also result in significant recruitment once terms are finalised.

We have a large agenda for the rest of 2022 including resolving outstanding issues for our members working in school completion programmes, the education and training boards and education centres, not to mention the need to recruit as many new SNAs as we can from the 1,000 new posts allocated across our schools this September.

Wherever you look in the Fórsa Education Division, it’s pretty clear that where we make an effort to increase union membership and density we go on to improve outcomes for the working people we represent.

That’s why our education executive has set an ambitious membership target of 18,000 by the end of the year.

I hope you all enjoy the summer break and get some well-deserved rest. And, if you happen to meet another public servant on your travels this summer, don’t forget to tell them they are better off in Fórsa. They can join online at www.forsa.ie.

Fórsa has welcomed the outcome of a UCD review, which says the national online training programme for special needs assistants (SNAs) meets the standards of a NFQ Level seven certificate.

Welcoming the decision, Fórsa’s head of Education Andy Pike described it as a milestone in the development of accredited training for SNAs, which takes them a step closer to the professionalisation of the SNA role.

The course is designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of those who support the most vulnerable children within the education system, and a significant number of our members have embraced the opportunity to develop their own skills and professional practise.

Andy said the union learned last week that the university is asking the education department to offer the course as an accredited level seven programme.

“It’s a huge moment, not just for SNAs but for the future of the service and those who depend on it. Fórsa continues to campaign to increase the minimum essential qualifications for SNAs.

“This decision, which follows a commitment to consider accreditation by the minister Josepha Madigan last April, will be welcomed by our members,” he said.

The UCD school of education developed the programme for SNAs in, collaboration with the UCD school of nursing, midwifery and health systems, in partnership with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). It was funded by the education department.

In June, minister of state Josepha Madigan told members of the Oireachtas Education Committee that departmental officials were engaged in an intensive process with UCD to consider accreditation of the SNA course, and that she believed this process would be completed by the end of 2022.

In February this year, 500 SNAs graduated from the programme. This was the first group of students to successfully complete the certificate in inclusive school support. A second cohort of approximately 900 students have just completed it.

Union negotiators have urged all public service unions to join a coordinated campaign, supported by industrial action ballots, for improved pay. The announcement came four weeks after talks on improved pay awards for 2021 and 2022 ended in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) without agreement.

Led by Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan, the negotiating team also said they were no longer prepared to discuss an extension of the Building Momentum agreement until improved terms for 2021-2022 are agreed. The Government had sought an extension to provide certainty over next year’s pay bill.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland programme earlier this week, Kevin said all low paid and middle-income workers, including public servants, were struggling.

“They are really struggling with the cost of living. We need this Government, as an employer, to respond to that, just as we would expect other employers to do their bit in relation to this cost-of-living crisis," he said.

The negotiators accused the Government of breaching the current Building Momentum public service pay agreement by failing to conclude a review of its pay terms. The review clause was triggered by unions over four months ago when inflation was 5.6%. Subsequent talks in the Workplace Relations Commission ended without agreement on 17th June, by which time inflation had hit 7.8%.

Kevin said that Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) officials had told the WRC that the Government needed more time to reflect on its position.

“Four weeks later, with inflation at 9.1%, they are still reflecting. The administration is now effectively winding down until mid-September, leaving low and middle-income public servants with the prospect of another two months of uncertainty. In our view, the Government’s attitude towards its staff is bordering on contempt.

“Given its continued foot-dragging, it seems clear that the Government does not intend to conclude the review of Building Momentum,” he said.

In a letter to all ICTU-affiliated public service unions, Kevin and other lead negotiators recommended that unions begin practical arrangements for balloting from next month.

"We can't be accused of rushing the fences. We've been very patient, but our patience has now run out and we demand a fair deal from this Government. Fórsa will continue to lead the campaign to protect incomes in the face of soaring bills, and we will not waver if we have to battle to protect the living standards of working people," he said.

Unions have won the right for workers to get paid sick leave after new legislation passed through both houses of the Oireachtas earlier this week.

Before now, almost no worker had a legal right to paid sick leave, though collective agreements negotiated by Fórsa and other unions meant that about half of all employees in Ireland had access to paid sick leave.

Fórsa welcomed the new legal rights, which were the result of a sustained trade union campaign led by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

The new legislation will initially give a minimum entitlement of three days paid sick leave a year. This will rise to ten days in 2025. It will be paid by employers at 70% of gross salary or up to €110 a day.

Employees will have to present a medical certificate to avail of statutory sick pay. And they don’t become eligible until they’ve worked for their employer for 13 weeks.

Ireland was previously one of few advanced economies in Europe without a mandatory sick leave entitlement. Almost all European countries legally require employers to continue to pay staff, in full or in part, when they are if sick and unable to work for a period.

ICTU general secretary Patricia King said the new landmark legislation ended Ireland’s failed voluntary approach to sick pay.

“This will be an enduring positive legacy of the pandemic. Up to now, Ireland was one of just a handful of wealthy countries globally that did not guarantee workers paid sick leave from their employer when unfit for work.

“Paid sick days were treated as a perk of the job that employers could decide whether to include in a contract of employment. As a result, over one million employees, are not covered for sick pay in their terms and conditions,” she said.

Inflation is likely to average close to 8% over the whole of 2023 before falling gradually to around 4% by the middle of next year. That’s the latest view from the trade union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI).

The bleak assessment in the institute’s Summer Economic Report is that real incomes will fall for most households this year, and that wages are unlikely to keep pace with inflation.

And there’s a risk that the fall in real incomes will cause a decline in economic activity unless people start spending their savings, which looks unlikely given the current financial uncertainties. This means a short recession is possible, though NERI says it wouldn’t be anything like on the scale experienced following the 2009 crash or the recent pandemic.

The report says that both the public finances and employment growth remain strong, with youth unemployment at an all-time low. This points to a likely economic bounce-back in 2023, with the caveat that events in Ukraine and broader global economic and political uncertainties could bring unforeseen setbacks.

Revised legislation to implement the Government’s promise to give all workers a right to request remote working won’t be published until the autumn at the earliest. Earlier this month, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) called for the new law to be made a legislative priority, as employers’ groups continued to cool on the idea.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment conclude its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Right to Request Remote Work Bill on 7th July. It recommended that the proposed “cumbersome” grounds for refusing remote working in the Government’s original proposals be revised, and said workers should not have to have 26 weeks’ service before being allowed to apply.

But Fórsa and other unions have criticised delays in making good on the promise to legislate, which was first announced to great fanfare in January 2021.

ICTU general secretary Patricia King said the Government should act without further delay to ensure the gains from remote working were not lost. “There has been a deficit of ambition by Government to deliver on their commitment to providing workers the right to request remote work," she said.

Patricia also rejected the idea, put forward by some employers, that legal rights aren’t needed because remote work is already on offer to workers. “This does not tally with what we are hearing from union representatives on the ground. Their experience is that employers are reluctant to engage until this legislation is enacted,” she said.

Speaking at the Fórsa national conference in May, the union’s president Michael Smyth said the Government had returned to old and outmoded ways of thinking instead of looking forward. He described this as “a spectacular own goal after two years of a revolutionary real-world experience.”

The union says Government foot-dragging has created a vacuum that employers are now using to row back on support for remote and blended working. As an employer, the Government dragged out negotiations on a framework for blended working in the civil and public service, and we’ve seen the same approach on the legislation for a legal right to request.

From early 2021, Fórsa urged ministers not to lose the momentum created by the huge success of remote work during the pandemic. But that’s exactly what they’ve done, and employers’ representatives have withdrawn support for a radical shift to new ways of working. Ibec has said legislation is “premature” and the Dublin Chamber of Commerce has called for legislation to be postponed.

But all the evidence shows they are swimming against the tide as studies continue to show remote working to be productive and popular among workers.

A recent large study from NUI Galway’s Whitaker Institute and the Western Development Commission revealed that almost a third of respondents had changed jobs since 2020, with 47% of them saying remote working was a key factor in their decision.

Fórsa recently launched its new membership database system (Solas) which is designed to improve the union’s communication with you, and to ensure we have up-to-date contact details for all our members.

This initiative was informed by the experience of the pandemic, which underlined the necessity for us to keep in touch with you through reliable digital contact details.

The new membership system is fully compliant with GDPR data protection requirements and allows you to update your contact details directly. You can do it HERE.

Personal

In anticipation of a possible ballot on a public service pay deal in the coming months, it’s crucial that we can contact you.

One way to ensure Fórsa can always provide you with the information you need is to provide a personal email address, as many employers block information sent from the union to your work email address. Even those that permit mail from Fórsa could choose to block union communications at any time.

Once we have your personal email address, we will always be able to reach you and ensure that you are fully updated on important developments, including ballots.

Privacy

Please share this message with colleagues who may not receive the Fórsa news bulletin. To update your details quickly and easily visit the update my details page on the Fórsa website and complete the online form.

You can download a copy of Fórsa’s privacy statement HERE, which sets out how Fórsa is committed to protecting and securing your personal data in accordance with Irish and EU data protection legislation, specifically the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU2016/679) and Irish Data Protection Act 2018.

Visit Update my details at forsa.ie 

We take a break from publishing the Fórsa ebulletin during August, which tends to be a relatively quiet time for industrial relations and trade union activity.

We’ll be back with the regular fortnightly bulletin from 26th August. But, in the meantime, we’ll be sending you special updates about any developments on public service pay negotiations or other urgent business.

Here’s hoping you get a chance to take a well-deserved break over the next few weeks. All of team here look forward to bringing you all the news and union views again from the end of next month.

Don’t forget to update your details online to ensure that you keep receiving these bulletins.

Applications are now open for the 2022 Fórsa Gaeltacht grant scheme, which will make 80 grants of €150 each available to assist children of Fórsa members attending residential Irish language courses in Gaeltacht areas this summer.

A further 40 grants of €70 are available to assist children to attend day-only Irish language courses held outside Gaeltacht areas.

Children of Fórsa members, who are aged between 11 years and 18 years of age on 1st July 2022, are eligible to apply for the grant scheme. You can download the application form HERE. Please download the form to a folder on your device prior to filling it out.

If you cannot use the fillable form online then please print the form, complete it in black pen and return it to: General Services Committee, Gaeltacht Scheme, Fórsa, Nerney’s Court, Dublin, D01 R2C5 to arrive before 5.30pm on Wednesday 31st August 2022.

All digital applications should be sent to Gaeltacht@forsa.ie. You should send any queries to the same address. 

More than 38 million people in Europe can’t afford a week's holiday despite being employed, according to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). It said poverty wages had added three million to last year’s figures.

While access to holidays has grown over the last decade, the majority of the EU’s low-income families EU remain excluded. Overall, 28% of EU citizens can’t afford a one-week holiday away from home.

The ETUC listed Romania, Greece and Lithuania as the worst affected EU countries. Italy, Spain and France also have high numbers of workers missing out on a break for financial reasons.

The ETUC, which counts the Irish Congress of Trade Unions among its affiliates, has been highlighting holiday inequality as part of its efforts to strengthen the EU’s directive on adequate minimum wages and collective bargaining.

The directive, designed to ensure adequate minimum wages, enable a decent standard of living, guard against in-work poverty and reduce wage inequality, is to be formally approved by the parliament and the EU employment and social-affairs council in September.

Significant action is needed to meet Government commitments to improve legal protections for workers in Ireland according to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC).

In its latest report to the Council of Europe, the commission highlighted the absence of a legal right to collective bargaining which, it said, led to an imbalance of power between workers and their employers. It recommended immediate Government action to address these gaps.

The IHREC’s chief commissioner Sinéad Gibney identified the need for an organised and robust workforce, with access to union representation for effective worker representation and negotiations on pay and working conditions.

“Workers’ rights are key to accessing a range of other rights. If you’re low paid, working long hours under pressure, cut off from information about your job security, and unable to join a union, this impacts your health, your family, and whether you can afford adequate accommodation or childcare,” she said.

The report also expressed concerns about inadequate protections for employees, discriminatory policies that affect disabled employees, and the prevalence of discrimination and sexual harassment in our labour market.

“No one should suffer discrimination due to their economic or social situation. Yet we see this happen daily throughout the country. It is vital that the State steps up and delivers on its commitments to all people working to earn a living,” said Gibney.

The commission called on the Government to show more ambition in the introduction of a new ground of discrimination, based on socio-economic disadvantaged status, in Ireland’s equality legislation. State-commissioned research on this has yet to be published.

It also recommended that the Employment Equality Acts be amended to address gaps in protections for domestic workers. Read the report HERE.

A cross-party motion calling for a change of direction on public housing was brought in front of the Dáil last week. The motion, tabled by Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats and People Before Profit, called for the Budget to deliver a radical shift in housing policy next year.

The initiative came from the Fórsa-backed ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign, which is calling for rent controls, an end to forced evictions, more secure tenancies, and a legal right to housing.

A ‘Raise the Roof’ rally Limerick city centre earlier this month was attended by several political parties and key civil society bodies. 

The Government responded to the cross-party motion by pointing out their commitment to ensure that 300,000 homes will be built over the next decade. But the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has said policy needs to focus on affordable housing, rather than the total number of new builds.

The Government programme envisages the construction of 90,000 social homes by the end of 2030.

Fórsa and ICTU have been supporters of the ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign since its establishment.

Read more about the campaign HERE.