Fórsa declares return of normal industrial relations
by Bernard Harbor
 
Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan said he was proud of the way public servants and other workers have helped save lives, contain Covid-19 and maintain essential services –often by putting their own safety at risk.
Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan said he was proud of the way public servants and other workers have helped save lives, contain Covid-19 and maintain essential services –often by putting their own safety at risk.

Fórsa’s elected National Executive Committee (NEC) has advised its branches and officials that significant changes to – or departures from – agreements governing pay and working conditions should again be negotiated through normal industrial relations procedures from Monday 29th June.

 

This is a significant return from the union’s recent temporary position of cooperation with far-reaching changes to work practices, without negotiation or agreement, during the Covid-19 public health crisis.

 

On 13th March – the day after the Government closed schools and crèches as part of a major lock-down aimed at containing the Covid-19 virus – Fórsa advised its members to “co-operate with all necessary measures, including some that might not be acceptable in normal times.”

 

This underpinned the union’s determination to facilitate “emergency measures necessary to contain the Covid-19 virus, protect the health and safety of citizens and workers, and maintain essential services during an unprecedented public health emergency.”

 

That policy has remained in place since the height of the pandemic. But the union is changing the emphasis now that the virus has been largely contained and the economy is being rapidly reopened.

 

Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan said he was proud of the way public servants and other workers have helped save lives, contain Covid-19 and maintain essential services –often by putting their own safety at risk.

 

“We’ve witnessed an heroic response to the emergency, and the universal acceptance of the need to set normal industrial relations aside and cooperate with huge – albeit temporary – changes to working conditions was a substantial part of that effort.

 

“Now that the virus has been largely contained, and the economy is being rapidly reopened, major changes must again be subject to agreement between managers and workers’ representatives. That doesn’t mean new measures can’t be proposed and implemented, or that some of the positive changes we’ve seen must be abandoned. But it does mean they will have to be negotiated,” he said.

 

In a written submission to the Oireachtas Special Committee on the Covid-19 Response, published at the beginning of this month, the union raised the need for a return to normal workplace industrial relations.

 

Since then, there has been a significant acceleration of measures set out in the Government’s ‘roadmap for the reopening of society and business.’ The penultimate phase gets underway on Monday (29th June), with the final phase due on 20th July, rather than the originally-planned date of 10th August.

 

Fórsa said public servants and others had “readily accepted” the union’s stance on industrial relations during the crisis because they recognised the scale and seriousness of the emergency.

 

The three months that followed saw huge changes to working conditions including a massive shift to remote working, the designation of services as essential, the allocation of staff to high-risk work environments, temporary reassignments, new health and safety measures, and changes to rostering and shift patterns.

 

Kevin said there had been a high degree of consultation with unions, even though senior management was ultimately making the decisions. Though these were not negotiations, the consultation – at national and sectoral level – meant Fórsa was able to influence policy, express concerns on behalf of workers, and highlight the possible consequences of proposed measures.

 

“Along with Ireland’s strong public service ethos, which engendered a committed and determined response to the crisis among civil and public servants, this consultative approach underpinned an exceptionally high degree of cooperation with rapid and dramatic demands and changes,” he said.

 

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