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Pay campaign to include ballots
by Bernard Harbor
 

Union negotiators have urged all public service unions to join a coordinated campaign, supported by industrial action ballots, for improved pay.


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.

 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

Derek Mullen moves on after 43 years
by Bernard Harbor
 

Derek Mullen, Fórsa national secretary and head of the union’s Civil Service Division, is retiring after more than 40 years as a civil servant and union leader.


Derek Mullen, Fórsa national secretary and head of the union’s Civil Service Division, is retiring after more than 40 years as a civil servant and union leader.

 

Most of his time leading the division coincided with the Covid pandemic, an extraordinary period when he successfully won protections for civil servants working on the frontline and in hastily-introduced remote working arrangements.

 

More recently, Derek led the negotiations that delivered the civil service blended working framework and worked with senior colleagues to achieve the restoration of the hated ‘Haddington Road hours’ from the beginning of this month.

 

Prior to the creation of Fórsa, Derek was deputy general secretary of the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU), a position he’d held since 2012. He played an important role in the negotiations that led to the 2018 Fórsa amalgamation, and was appointed as head of the new union’s 30,000-strong Civil Service Division.

 

“I think we did something special in bringing together the three unions that became Fórsa. It has given us a higher profile, more negotiating power, and allowed us to do more for our members,” he said.

 

It wasn’t his first successful amalgamation. Back in the 1980s. Derek represented members in the customs and excise service and was central to the 1990 merger between the Irish Customs and Excise Association and the CPSU. He continued to represent customs staff until taking up a full-time union role in 1992.

 

By 1994 he had been appointed a CPSU assistant general secretary. In the 1990s he negotiated the revenue customs integration with general revenue grades and the employee share option scheme that accompanied the privatisation of Telecom Éireann.

 

“The revenue talks resulted in a good outcome for members. But, notwithstanding the employee share option scheme, the telecom privatisation was a case study of the problems that arise from privatisation,” he said.

 

Derek’s time representing members in social welfare coincided with the transformation of local offices to Intreo centres, along with the merger of FÁS and the community welfare service.

 

He became CPSU deputy general secretary in a period of turmoil following the 2018 financial collapse. “Our members bore the brunt of Government-imposed austerity measures including pension levies, pay cuts, a recruitment and promotion moratorium, and the Haddington Road hours. These were difficult of times for our members, but not one redundancy was forced on public servants,” he said.

 

Derek was also the CPSU’s training officer and edited the union’s magazine, Aontas, as well as the Fórsa Civil Service Quarterly magazine.

 

While he says he’ll miss working in the job he loved, Derek leaves the organisation positive its future. “I spent most of my 43 years in representative roles from branch to executive to head office. It was a journey worth making, alongside great and hardworking colleagues in the division and over the years.

 

“I’ll miss our members, particularly those who do so much on a voluntary basis. They are the lifeblood of the union. The challenge now is to grow our union membership to levels that will see us best placed to deal with the challenges of the future,” he said.

 

All his friends and colleagues in the union wish him the very best for the future.

Blog: Fools rest on their laurels
by Éamonn Donnolly, Fórsa deputy general secretary
 

"The welcome and long-overdue restoration of the Haddington Road hours earlier this month was the best demonstration yet of the stronger voice and better protection civil servants have gained since the creation of Fórsa."


The welcome and long-overdue restoration of the Haddington Road hours earlier this month was the best demonstration yet of the stronger voice and better protection civil servants have gained since the creation of Fórsa less than five years ago.

 

As the union’s newly appointed deputy general secretary – with responsibility to lead its Civil Service Division – I was proud to be at our recent delegate conference and witness the palpable unity and determination of activists representing over 80,000 workers, including 30,000 hard-working civil servants.

 

With both the worst of the pandemic and the Haddington Road hours campaign behind us, you could feel the force of our new union.

 

But only the foolish rest on their laurels, and the many challenges ahead of us will demand the same determination and commitment that got us here.

 

The whole trade union movement now looks to Fórsa to lead on the big challenges like pay, the cost-of-living crisis, keeping up the momentum on remote and blended working, and getting access to affordable housing, childcare and other public services.

 

That’s why my priority as the head of Fórsa’s Civil Service Division is to build our collective strength – our capacity to protect and deliver for working people – by driving union recruitment and building density.

 

By density, I mean the proportion of civil servants who are union members.

 

There was no question about joining the union when I first entered the public service as a teenager. The day I started, at what we then called Dublin Corporation, I was handed an application form with a smile and an assurance that “everyone here is in the union.”

 

It was understood that this was the source of the collective strength that protects workers.

 

When they try to pit public servants against our colleagues in the private sector, our detractors only reinforce the point. Because all the conditions we enjoy – from decent maternity arrangements to a pension you can live on – are built on the fact that most of us are in the union.

 

But we have to work to keep it that way. That means all of us – union officials, activists, and members – must be in the business of encouraging everyone in our workplace to sign up to union strength.

 

Before my recent move, I spent a few years heading up the union’s Health and Welfare Division. I was proud of the protections we won for health workers in the torrid times of the pandemic.

 

Now I’m looking forward to working with civil servants again. In my former role as head of IMPACT’s Civil Service Division, I worked hard to develop positive relationships with colleagues in the CPSU and PSEU.

 

Together we won an agreement to achieve access for civil servants to the State’s industrial relations machinery – the Labour Court and Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), where every other worker in Ireland can get a hearing.

 

Derek Mullen, my friend and immediate predecessor in this division, has been working hard to bring this over the line. Like Derek, I believe we need to retain the departmental councils that deal with workers’ issues in each civil service department.

 

But the civil service-wide general council has ossified into an employer-friendly vehicle for frustration and delay. It’s used to block any worker’s legitimate individual issue or collective dispute.

 

Working with your elected representatives on the union’s civil service executive, I intend to finish what we started together and ensure that each civil servant has the same opportunity to be heard in the WRC and Labour Court as every other worker.

 

We’ve achieved a lot together in Fórsa, including Derek’s sterling work in bringing home the blended work framework earlier this year.

 

Everyone felt the value of their trade union membership then and during the pandemic, and I want to strengthen and deepen that valuable protection for every civil servant well beyond the Covid era.

 

That requires all of us to copper-fasten union strength by making sure that everyone we work with knows about the benefits of being a Fórsa member and wants to be part of the union. I’ll give it my all, and I hope that you’ll join me.

Remote work law shunted to autumn
by Bernard Harbor
 

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.


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.

 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

Inflation likely to average 8%
by Bernard Harbor
 

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).


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.

 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

Millions of workers can't afford holidays
by Niall Shanahan
 

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.


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.

 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

Feature Article
Have we got your number?
by Niall Shanahan
 

It is vital to every member of Fórsa, and to the union, that we have accurate and up-to-date contact details for everyone. If you have recently changed job, or if your postal or email address has recently changed, you can update your details on a new dedicated page on our website.


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 

 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

Also in this issue
Back at the end of August
 

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.

Fórsa Gaeltacht grants now available
by Róisín McKane
 

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. 

Workers’ legal rights fall short
by Mark Corcoran
 

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.

 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

Unions win paid sick leave for all
by Mark Corcoran
 

 

 


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.

 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

Motion calls for affordable housing
by Mark Corcoran
 

 

 


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 in 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.

 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.