On Monday 23rd June Fórsa will be celebrating United Nations Public Services Day. 

Together with trade union colleagues from across Europe and around the world, we will celebrate all the workers who provide the vital public services that keep our societies running smoothly. 

General secretary Kevin Callinan said: “Imagining a world without public sector workers doesn’t bear thinking about. Public sector workers provide the services that frame our day-to-day lives, whether that's through local authorities, the civil service, in health, education or semi state agencies. Fórsa members deserve our gratitude and respect. Without you, the tapestry that holds society together would unravel.” 

Ahead of the occasion, the European Public Service Union (EPSU), of which Fórsa is a member, launched its new Public Services Agenda, calling for strong, accessible, and democratically accountable public services to be placed at the heart of Europe’s future. 

Launching the document, the EPSU underlined the role public services have in daily life - from healthcare and education to energy, justice and care. The agenda calls for a commitment to public investment, fair taxation, and high-quality public employment. 

It also offers a roadmap to ensure the EU delivers on the promises of the European Pillar of Social Rights - particularly the right to quality, affordable public services. Read it here. 

Keep an eye on Fórsa’s social media channels and your emails on Monday so you can watch and share our celebration of public services and the workers who provide them. 

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This month the Skills Academy are happy to announce the roll-out of an enhanced record system, designed and built by the Fórsa membership team. This system will give the Skills Academy the ability to identify and collate information on branch participation in training, and completion rates for all courses. 

Fórsa director of membership training and development, Fiona Dunne, said “This new system will allow us to more easily access student records and gather a full statistical breakdown of which members are taking up training. This information will allow us to better match what we have on offer with members’ needs, and ensure our resources are being directed where they’re needed.” 

The new interface will cover records from the past three years. Branches that wish to know what training has been undertaken by their representatives during that time can contact the Skills Academy at skillsacademy@forsa.ie.

Coming up in the next few weeks, the Skills Academy has the ever-popular Induction for new members, their first-ever Skills Academy Certificate Award Ceremony, and to celebrate Pride month, an LGBTQIA+ themed Lunch & Learn.  

Fórsa Induction for new members – Online - Wednesday 9th July  

Ideal for new members, Fórsa Induction is a short, informative session designed to unravel some of the mysteries of the union and provide a warm welcome. 

Learn the basics of what exactly a trade union is, the structure of Fórsa and how we operate, and how members can become more engaged, have their voices heard locally, and raise issues at divisional and national levels.   

Register here.

Live: Lunch & Learn – Supporting our LGBTQIA+ colleagues – 1-2pm Friday 27th June – Online  

LGBT Ireland's Pride Talk 2025 will bring you through the history of Pride in Ireland over the past five decades and outline why Pride celebrations in 2025 matter as much now as they did over 40 years ago, when the first Pride parade took place. Allyship is the key way for non-LGBTQIA+ people to express support, provide safety and co-create a fully equal and inclusive workplace, community and society. Allyship is at the heart of why Pride still matters.  

If you are interested, you can register here. Registration will remain open until Thursday 26th June.

Skills Academy Certificate Award Ceremony – 2.30pm 24th June - Nerney’s Court  

The Skills Academy are looking forward to welcoming some of their former students to Nerney’s Court next week for the first-ever Skills Academy certificate award ceremony. This ceremony will see students from several courses receive certificates of completion for courses they took this year. A second ceremony will take place later in the year for the remaining courses. Anyone in and around Nerney’s Court on the day is encouraged to join in celebrating their union colleagues’ achievement. 

Next semester  

The next academic year begins in September with a wide variety of both new and returning courses available for members. Workplace Representative Training levels one and two, Public Speaking, Data Protection, Digital and Social Media, Communications, and more! Applications for each will open over the coming weeks. 

Check out the full schedule for the upcoming academic year here. If you would like to apply for any courses, you can contact your branch committee directly to receive an application link as they become available. 

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United Against Racism Ireland has called on all activists, anti-racists, political parties, unions, and anyone who opposes the far-right to join them on Sunday 22nd June to counter-protest the second ‘God Bless Ireland’ anti-immigration protest. 

The counter protest will be meeting on Dame Street at 1:30pm. 

The previous ‘God Bless Ireland’ protest encountered criticism from across Irish society with reports of chants of “get them out”, speakers calling for mass deportations, open use of Nazi salutes, and signs glorifying Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and controversial public figure Conor McGregor who was present on the day. 

United Against Racism said “In April, far-right activists and groups led a worrying and explicitly racist and anti-immigrant demonstration. UAR organised a counter-demonstration to send a clear message: racism is not welcome on our streets.” 

“When left unchallenged, these far-right rallies embolden people to attack and abuse migrants and people of colour, dividing our communities, making our cities and towns unsafe” they continued. 

Fórsa stands against racism and discrimination in Irish society. Our members come from across the island of Ireland and around the world. We stand with our colleagues being adversely affected by rising anti-immigration sentiment and activities. 

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Fórsa has welcomed the Government’s formal launch of the local democracy taskforce, highlighting it as a vital opportunity to reclaim and strengthen the role of local authorities in communities across Ireland.

National secretary Richy Carrothers, head of the union’s local government and local services division, said the union will ensure workers’ voices are front and centre in the discussions:

“Fórsa has been at the forefront of the campaign to reclaim the role of local authorities and local democracy. Local government touches every aspect of our daily lives and affects every citizen – young and old alike. It affects our schools, our homes, our public parks.”

The taskforce, announced by Minister James Browne T.D. and Minister of State John Cummins T.D., has been established to bring forward a programme of reform to improve the structure, funding, powers, and governance of local authorities. Fórsa has consistently raised the need for reform that empowers local authorities, delivers for citizens, and supports the workers who make services happen.

“The nature of our society is rapidly changing,” continued Richy. “Technology and social changes mean the way we work and live is constantly evolving. Strengthening Ireland’s local government offers us the unique opportunity to establish a new and better system – one which truly reflects and represents the changing and diverse nature of our society.”

Fórsa has long argued that local authorities are underpowered and underfunded, despite providing more than 1,100 public services, from housing and roads to climate action, parks, planning and emergency services. 

The union has spearheaded the More Power To You campaign alongside SIPTU and Connect, which has long pointed out how austerity, privatisation and centralisation have hollowed out our public services and stripped local authorities and communities of their democratic power.

Previously the union wrote to the minister and has engaged with government repeatedly on the need to restore and reform local democracy. As Richy noted at Fórsa’s recent local government division conference, this taskforce is the result of persistent campaigning. 

“We wrote to the minister when he was first appointed on this matter and said that we would use every opportunity at our disposal to ensure that the voice of local government workers is heard in the discussion. Now that the process has begun, we welcome the opportunity to take part and re-shape local democracy with workers at its heart.”

As the largest representative body in the sector, Fórsa is uniquely placed to contribute to the work of the taskforce, which has been established to reform and strengthen local government. To that end, Fórsa is formally requesting that we are considered for one of the “Independent and other experts” positions as detailed in the terms of reference”.

The taskforce is expected to deliver recommendations to Government within six to nine months.

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Local bargaining is a key feature of the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, which is designed to address collective issues specific to a grade, group or category.

Fórsa has submitted several cross sectoral claims related to public service grades, associated with civil service grades. These claims cover members working in local authorities in grade 3 roles, or grade 4-7 roles. You can read more about those claims here and here. Claims continue to be submitted by other divisions of Fórsa.

A new claim has now been lodged on behalf of the local authority technician grades. While previous claims were lodged with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, this claim has been lodged with the Local Government Management Authority (LGMA).

Members were consulted before the claim was developed, as has been the case for all local bargaining claims.

Head of division Richy Carrothers underlined the importance of members’ involvement saying: “For local bargaining to be effective, it’s essential that the claims reflect what members actually want. That’s why we have been consulting members extensively as part of this process.”

“The claim is important as many local authority technicians feel that employers have forgotten the critical role and function that they perform in the sector. We consulted widely on the construct of the claim, and this reflects the feelings and aspirations of those members who engaged in the survey process.”

“On a broader point, the division intends to engage with our technician members in the sector looking at career paths and professional development. Members will be at the centre of this work and will have a central role in ensuring that we fight and stand up for working across these grades.”

The claim encompasses:  Technicians 1, Technicians 2, Executive Technicians, Senior Executive Technicians, and Chief Technician. For each grade the claim calls for a reduction on the number of points of the scale, removal of waiting times for long service increments, and an increase in pay at the maximum point of each scale.

Underlining the need to move the process forwards, Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan said: “Local bargaining has the ability to address specific challenges and pay issues related to grades, groups and categories. We got it included in the agreement because we knew members needed a mechanism to address issues that have built up over time.” 

“It’s essential that we begin formal discussion soon as implementation of local bargaining claims must begin by the 1st of September. This process was part of the Public Service Agreement negotiated last year, and it must be honoured.” 

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Fórsa is calling on members to join the ‘Raise the Roof’ protest in Cork this weekend, on Saturday 21st June, beginning at 2pm at the National Monument on Grand Parade. 

Fórsa is a member of the broad coalition organising the ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign and will be taking part on the day. 

We are joined in the ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign by fellow trade unions, civil society groups, and political parties, who are demanding that the government take concerted and effective action to address the deepening housing crisis.  

According to recent figures from the Daft.ie, average rents in Cork City have risen by 13.6% in the past year, to €2,213, with a similar rate of increase being felt across Munster. 

Fórsa head of campaigns Kevin Donoghue said, “We had a great turn out from members in Dublin at a ‘Raise the Roof’ demo on Tuesday. We’re hoping to see our Cork members and members across Munster turn out in force. Unaffordable rents and housing prices are impacting our members’ lives and careers all around Ireland.” 

“The cost of housing is spiralling across the country. Not just in the big cities, but in the towns and countryside. We have to say enough is enough” he continued. 

The Cork protest follows a protest outside Leinster House on Tuesday 17th June, which precipitated renewed scrutiny of government failings in housing provisions in the Dáil. The protest was widely reported on, with coverage appearing on RTE, The Irish Times, The Irish Independent, The Journal, and the Irish Examiner, amongst many others.

Speaking at the protest, Fórsa member Elli Horgan said “I’m being forced to move out of Dublin because my rent is over a thousand euro. I’m a public healthcare worker, I want to serve Dublin, but I have no choice.”

The ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign is calling on government to adopt a series of policy demands to address the housing crisis. These include:  

• An expanded programme of public housing on public land, led by local authorities and housing bodies to deliver affordable housing.  
• Ensure that at least 20% of all housing is public housing, in line with Housing Commission report.  
• Move to a genuinely affordable not-for-profit cost rental model.  
• Full restoration and expansion of the tenant-in-situ scheme.  
• Urgent action to tackle the tens of thousands of vacant and derelict properties.  
• An immediate restoration of the ban on no fault evictions and a freeze on all rent increases.  
• And most of all, we need a clear commitment that workers will be able to live in the communities they serve.  

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