Local authority staff 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.

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.

Fórsa and other ICTU unions have raised concerns about the future public ownership of water services with local government minister Eoghan Murphy. At a meeting with the minister last month, Fórsa national secretary Peter Nolan also said unions would resist any attempt to force local authority staff to move to Irish Water on foot of management proposals to create a single water authority.

Public 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.

Fórsa’s Municipal Employees’ division has seen off outsourcing in Dublin City Council’s litter warden service. The council has agreed that external contractors will no longer be used to undertake the duties of litter wardens.