Fórsa members outdid themselves this year for the second ever Trade Union Week, the annual highlight of the Better in a Trade Union campaign. Over 70 events were held the length and breadth of the country.  

Better in a Trade Union is an all-island cross union campaign, launched in 2024, led by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU). It aims to build union membership across the country. Trade Union Week provides an opportunity to celebrate  unions and their members, with events taking place from Monday 28th April to Friday 2nd May. 

Last year during the first ever Trade Union Week Fórsa members held an array of fun and informative events, and this year was no different with members in every division holding events to create and recruit new members. 

Events took place in hospitals, schools, offices, airports, libraries and further afield again. Workplaces from the State Labs, to the National Archives, the Oireachtas, the Courts Service and the Chief State Solicitor’s Office all took part, bringing members and prospective members together. 

One branch event took place on the Saturday before the beginning of Trade Union Week. St Colmcille’s GAA club in Swords teamed up with Fórsa to produce new jerseys sponsored by the union. 

Chris Crowley, a Fórsa member and union rep in Fórsa’s Dublin Garda Civilian branch, came up with the idea: “As Trade Union Week approached our branch decided to sponsor jerseys for the kids and ‘Mothers and Others’ groups at St Colmcille’s. 

“I was active last year in the Better in a Trade Union campaign, and I was inspired by the success of the special jersey produced for Bohemians FC. We felt this was a lovely way to bring it into the community and to younger people,” he said. 

Fórsa national secretary and ICTU vice president Katie Morgan said: “The current international uncertainty underlines the importance of union membership. We must protect collective bargaining and build union power; every new member increases our collective strength.” 

Director of Campaigns in Fórsa Kevin Donoghue thanked members who organised events and recruitment stands, saying: “We know that people are most likely to join the union if they’re asked to by a colleague, so these visibility events are vital to our collective efforts to build our union.” 

Gary Rutledge, from the Courts Service branch, co-hosted an event with the AHCPS. He said: "It was really good to chat with non-members in a more relaxed setting. A few said they liked the idea of joining a union but no one had spoken to them about it yet. In a big organisation like ours, we don’t always know when new people start, so this was a chance to connect with them.
 
It was a great opportunity to meet and work with our counterparts in the AHCPS who share the same union values as ourselves."

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