A dedicated mental health phone line has been launched by the HSE. The ‘your mental health information line’ is a confidential, 24/7 freephone service that offers information on how to access services and provides signposts to support systems. You just dial 1800 111 888 to use the service.

This new facility aims to help and support those suffering with mental health difficulties, and their families. Callers are connected with a trained team member who can provide national and local information.

The HSE has committed just over €1 billion to the provision of mental health services in 2020, which is a significant increase in budgetary support in recent years.

Get more information on available mental health supports HERE.

The possibility that no public service pay agreement will be in place to follow the current deal when it expires at the end of next year has been raised by Fórsa at a meeting of ICTU’s Public Service Committee, which represents most unions with members in the public sector.

The union’s general secretary Kevin Callinan said Fórsa and other unions needed to prepare for the possibility, while urging the Government to inject more urgency into addressing problems with the current Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA).

Talks with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), which have been underway since April, have reached broad agreement on a basic architecture for sectoral bargaining. This would allow unions to deal with grade-specific issues in talks early next year, with a view to implementing outcomes as part of a successor to the PSSA.

But there has, so far, been no agreement on the amount of money that would be available to meet such claims. More worryingly, the sectoral process is yet to be signed off at political level.

This needs to happen soon because a near-certain election in the first half of next year will telescope the time available for talks on a PSSA successor. It was expected that these would take place in the spring or early summer of 2020, but it’s now possible that an election – or post-election coalition talks – will be underway at that time instead.

Although PSSA pay increases are budgeted for 2020, next October’s budget would have to make provision for 2021. The likely electoral timetable means it’s increasingly feasible that negotiations and union ballots may not be concluded by then.

Earlier this year, Fórsa’s Kevin Callinan led unions into talks when he said the PSSA was no longer adequate to maintain living standards and keep up with economy-wide wage settlements. Since then the problem has worsened, with average private sector wage growth now running at three times the rate of public service increases.

Unions therefore fear a nightmare worst-case scenario where public sector pay continues to lag behind in 2020, and no deal is in place to deal with this in 2021 and beyond.

The union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute has predicted average economy-wide pay increases of 4% in 2020 – a year when PSSA increases will be a maximum of 2.5% in total.

Fórsa has also insisted that a mechanism for dealing with grade-specific issues, including recruitment and retention difficulties, must be put in place.

It says the need for this has deepened since the summer, when the Government wound up the Public Service Pay Commission before it had made determinations for all but a tiny number of grades like nurses and doctors.

NAMA, the National Treasury Management Agency, the Garda Ombudsman, and the children’s agency Tusla are among over 150 publicly-funded State bodies with no legal requirement to maintain and archive records for eventual release to the public under the ‘30 year rule’.

This is one of the findings of a comparative report of Ireland’s national archives, which uncovers a system creaking under the pressure of staff and skills shortages, expanded responsibilities, new technologies, space constraints, and legislative shortcomings.

Published by Fórsa as officials prepare to release more State papers in the New Year, the report also says that only four out of 61 State departments and agencies covered by the National Archives Act are up-to-date with their legal obligations to transfer records to National Archives Ireland.

National Archives Ireland is the body charged with maintaining archives and making them available to the public.

The union also says the annual transfer of records under the 30-year rule has been scaled back this year because of a lack of storage space.

The report, which was undertaken on behalf of the union’s Archivists’ Branch by Creative Cultures and Associates, uncovers a substantial backlog in the processing of records, and in making them available to the public. It also identifies major shortcomings in the digitisation of records and the development of online access.

This is largely due to serious staffing and skills shortages in National Archives Ireland, a problem that will be exacerbated when the 20-year rule, due to replace the current 30-year arrangement soon, is implemented.

The report finds that National Archive Ireland’s staff complement is currently 25% below the number identified as necessary in management’s 2016 workforce plan. The organisation also lags behind comparable state archive bodies in Denmark, Scotland and Northern Ireland in terms of the employment of qualified archivists and other relevant specialists.

National Archive Ireland employs 40% fewer staff per capita than the National Records Office in Scotland, and 25% fewer than the Public Records Office Northern Ireland, while most of its employees have no relevant professional training. Meanwhile, professional archive staff are virtually non-existent in major State departments and agencies, and there is no State policy governing the management of electronic records in place.

Fórsa official Seán Carabini said the crisis in the State’s archives meant the quality of material made available to journalists, researchers and the public under the 30-year rule and other services was in rapid and steady decline.

“In reality, most of the State institutions required to release material to the National Archives don’t do so. And the majority of public service bodies established since 1986 have no legal requirement to transfer records to the archives at all. These include organisations like NAMA, the National Treasury Management Agency, the Garda Ombudsman and Tusla, which have played, or are playing, leading roles in Ireland’s social, political and economic story,” he said.

Fórsa is calling for a fundamental review of the relevant legislation with a view to extending its scope and updating legal requirements on information governance, data retention, GDPR and digital preservation. It also wants a rapid and comprehensive review of records management across the public sector, and adequate and suitable space to store the growing national archive.

Mr Carabini also called for an immediate increase in staffing from the current 45 to 60, in line with a management workforce plan, with an emphasis on professionally-trained specialists.

“Furthermore, the scant and declining involvement of professionally-trained archivists, including in records management, the digitation of records and IT more generally, is putting the quality of our national repository at serious risk as new technologies increasingly shape the way we keep records and tell our national story,” he said.

Read the full report HERE.

Public perceptions of civil service efficiency, independence, trust and equality have all improved in the last two years, according to the results of the latest civil service customer service satisfaction survey.

Overall customer satisfaction with service delivery and outcomes are the highest since records began in 1997, with 85% and 82% of service users reporting satisfaction with the service and outcome respectively.

Almost 90% said service levels met or exceeded their expectations, while dissatisfaction dropped to 20%, the lowest level since the onslaught of the economic crisis in 2009.

Fórsa’s head of civil service, Derek Mullen, said the results contradicted the claims of widespread public service failure often voiced in media and political circles.

“I for one am not surprised that, when asked, the vast majority of civil service users express satisfaction with their experience of the services our members provide. I look forward to reading reports of the survey results in the national press,” he said.

Just one in every five people who experience sexual harassment in their workplace report it, according to a new survey by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

The study also found that only a quarter of those who have reported harassment felt their complaint was taken seriously and appropriately dealt with.

The survey uncovers many barriers to reporting. One-in-three respondents said they feared reporting would damage their working relationships, while 25% feared it would have a negative impact on their career. The same number believed they wouldn’t be believed or taken seriously.

In a tenth of cases, the perpetrator was part of the reporting process.

ICTU general secretary Patricia King said: “Of all the alarming statistics thrown up by the poll, I’m struck by the unacceptably high levels of under-reporting and dissatisfaction with their employer’s action among those who do report sexual harassment.”

Echoing this statement, Fórsa’s equality officer Geraldine O’Brien said clear reporting structures were needed in every organisation so that people can feel comfortable coming forward.

“Under the Employment Equality Act, employers are obliged to adopt, implement and monitor a comprehensive, effective and accessible policy on sexual harassment. The results of this survey clearly indicate that this isn’t happening in nearly enough workplaces.

“Everyone has the right to feel safe and be respected at work, and employers who fall short on these obligations should face greater repercussions,” she said.

ICTU’s social policy officer Laura Bambrick said that one in five incidents of sexual harassment took place at work social events, while one in seven occurred via phone, by email or online.

"The Christmas party has long been identified as the most common off-site location of workplace sexual harassment, and this is borne out in our survey. However, the extent of unwanted sexual behaviour from colleagues taking place online also points to a growing problem in the modern workplace,” she said.

The national opinion poll of 1,347 union members with experience of sexual harassment at work was conducted online between 1st and 14th November. Over 70% of respondents were women.

For more information see HERE.

Average private sector wage growth was three times higher than in the public service in the year to September 2019. New figures, published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) last week, showed that average weekly earnings rose by 3.9% in the private sector and 1.3% in the civil and public service.

The largest private sector increases came in the administrative and support sector (7.2%) and information and communications (6.8%).

The quarterly figures suggest that the gap between earnings in the public and private sectors is continuing to narrow. A recent detailed CSO study showed that the puhlic-private pay differential closed between 2015 and 2018, despite the fact that significant restoration of crisis-era pay cuts took place in that period.

It found that the pay differential in those years ranged from -3.8% to +7.1%, depending on how it’s measured. In other words, by some measures, average public service pay is now lower than in the private sector.

Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan welcomed the fact that incomes were rising, but said pay was now increasing faster in virtually every part of the private sector, when compared to the public service. “The fact that the largest increase was in administrative and support services adds further weight to the union’s call for a review of public service pay," he said.

Recent pay rise projections from the union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) suggest that the gap may narrow again. It predicts average economy-wide pay increases of 3.6% this year. This is significantly ahead of increases under the Public Service Stability Agreement, which come in at just over 1.75% in 2019. NERI predicts average economy-wide pay increases of almost 4% next year.

Private sector increases are being driven by labour shortages in an ever-broader range of occupations. Last week’s CSO figures showed that the job vacancy rate had fallen to just 0.8% in the year to September 2019, down from 1% the previous year.

The monthly unemployment rate stood at 4.8% in October.

Fórsa has reached an agreement with Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) to underpin clarity about the role of scientist grades, including the qualifications necessary to become an FSI scientist.

It follows an intense round of discussions on issues arising from the expansion of FSI capabilities to encompass services previously provided by the Garda National Technical Bureau.

This is the latest phase in the planned expansion of FSI’s remit and staffing levels over the coming years.

Fórsa official Seán Carabini said members had been involved at all stages of the negotiation process. “On a number of occasions, we had close to our full membership in a room debating the issues and ensuring that any agreement reached would be very much directed by the members themselves,” he said.

Seán said the agreement offered stability in terms of qualifications, and clarity in terms of recruitment to scientist grades. “Additionally, a process to look at the future needs and opportunities in an expanding organisation has been agreed,” he said.

Unions and management have agreed to engage an independent facilitator to help seek a resolution to the dispute in Dublin airport's Border Management Unit. Fórsa members in the unit have balloted overwhelming for industrial action in a row over management’s refusal to pay a Sunday premium.

The union, which has been seeking the payment for more than three years, says it is a requirement under Irish and European working time legislation.

The departments of public expenditure and justice had indicated that they would engage with the process positively. They have acknowledged the existence of the disputed Sunday premium elsewhere in the civil service.

The ceiling for Fórsa subscriptions has been raised from €380 to €387.60 with effect from 1st January 2020. This applies to those members paying the general membership rate of 0.8% of gross pay, which has an annual ceiling of €48,450. This ceiling ensures a limit to the amount that members are asked to pay in annual subscription to the union.

In accordance with the union’s rules, Fórsa’s elected National Executive Committee (NEC) decided to make the change to take account of the pay adjustment under the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) of 2% due to civil and public servants in 2020.
The union’s two other subscription rates are unaffected by the change. These are the legacy rate paid by those who were members of the former PSEU on 31st December 2017 and the 1% rate for new and existing CO related grades in the Civil Service who have access to the former CPSU Benefit Scheme which was carried over into Fórsa.

Benefits
On top of negotiated pay increases and protection when things go wrong at work, union members can benefit from an improved range of membership entitlements introduced when Fórsa was formed in 2018.

These include €5,000 in personal accident cover or €5,000 critical illness cover or death benefit, which also is also available to spouses of Fórsa members.

Alternatively, €5,000 in illness benefit is available to members who are out of work for more than 12 months. And Fórsa also covers evacuation or repatriation expenses up to the value of €250,000 for members who become seriously ill or injured, or who die, while abroad.

That’s on top of a range of financial benefits, negotiated with external providers, which can mean big savings on financial products like car, home and travel insurance, pension benefits, salary protection and life cover.

Fórsa members can also avail of free counselling, legal advice and support helplines, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. And they can opt into our group scheme, which gives them access to huge savings on a wide range of everyday items and services including restaurants, retailers, hairdressers and coffee shops.

Get full details about membership benefits here. 

Fórsa has responded to comments this week by Robert Watt, secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure (DPER), who said he would like to have the power to “manage out” under-performing civil servants by reaching a financial settlement in order for them to leave their job.

Derek Mullen, the head of Fórsa’s Civil Service division, said management has robust performance management and performance improvement systems in place to address instances of under-performance in individual civil servants.

Derek said the transparency of the performance management system was crucial for civil servants, civil service management and for the taxpayer.

Mr Watt’s comments were reported in the media yesterday (Wednesday).  

Derek said Mr Watt’s comments failed to acknowledge the robust systems of performance management that are already at the disposal of management.

“There is a rigorous system already in place, which has been refined and developed in recent years, a system that ensures any under-performance can be identified quickly. There is also a system of performance improvement should that be required.

“These systems are designed to ensure that any civil servant who is under-performing for any reason is given the opportunity and support to restore their own personal performance at work,” he said.

He added: “There are instances of dismissal from time to time when performance isn’t improved in these cases. The system is there to ensure that the qualities and skills for which civil servants were hired in the first place are recognised, and that a fair process applies.

“Civil service management has the necessary tools to manage the performance of staff. Unfortunately, comments like those made by Mr Watt, which was essentially a kite-flying exercise, provoke unnecessary and lazy commentary that willfully ignores the excellence of our civil servants,” he said.

Ireland needs a total rework of its ideas about economic development if we are to achieve a ‘green new deal,’ according to Maynooth academic Dr Lorna Gold.

Speaking at a recent event hosted by the union-backed Nevin Economic Research Institute, she called for a “war on emissions,” expanded public transport, and major programmes to retrofit public housing and the homes of those on low incomes.

First proposed by US Democrats, and inspired by US President Roosevelt’s 1930’s depression-busting New Deal, the green new deal describes a package of social and economic measures that would simultaneously address climate change and economic inequality.

It complements the concept of a ‘just transition,’ which is championed by unions here and abroad. This would protect workers and communities currently dependent on environmentally-damaging jobs and industries as we move to a low-carbon world.

Giving NERI’s annual Dónal Nevin lecture in Dublin, Gold urged policymakers to focus on communities on the margins and to manage the migration to low-carbon by creating generous supports for those affected by the necessary economic and industrial shifts.

While there are no jobs on a dead planet, we must share the unavoidable cost to workers directly affected by green measures, particularly through the creation of meaningful employment replacement opportunities.

And she argued that we need to radically revise our social policy to develop a progressive welfare state, social insurance and quality social services: a “social floor to be strengthened and reformed to address the challenges of an equally unpredictable world.”

Gold said Ireland could be well placed to participate in a global response to the climate crisis. But she warned that changed mind-sets were needed.

The Climate Change Performance Index ranked Ireland the worst EU country on climate action as recently as 2017. A year later, two more studies had us just above Poland at second from the bottom.

Congress General Secretary Patricia King and Danny McCoy CEO of IBEC have launched a Workplace Accommodation Passport scheme to enable workers with a disability to carry out their work on an equal footing with others.

The joint launch took place on Tuesday (3rd December), the International Day of People with Disabilities.

Fórsa’s head of Education Andy Pike said the newly launched scheme provides for reasonable accommodation ‘passports’ whereby workers needing an adjustment to assist them in staying in their job, or accessing training, can set out the accommodation required due to their disability and agree an action plan with management.

“This is then portable to their next job, so they can demonstrate to their new employer what is needed to assist them in carrying out their work. It’s a very useful initiative and marks another step to improved equality in the workplace. It’s particularly welcome to see unions and employers launching this initiative together,” he said.

Read more HERE.

Local employers and members of the public were among those who attended regional information evenings on the Fórsa-led four-day week campaign in the union’s Limerick and Galway offices last week.

Representatives from the various pillars of the coalition spoke at the event, including Fórsa campaigns director, Joe O’Connor, Margaret Cox, director of Galway recruitment company ICE, Orla O’Connor and Sandra McCullagh of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, and Oisín Coghlan of Friends of the Earth.

Attendees had the opportunity to ask the panel questions about the concept of a four-day week and the benefits it would bring to their lives and workplaces. There was a diverse presence of people from all across society, employees and business owners alike, all keen to learn about what the campaign has to offer.

Joe O’Connor welcomed the interest in the meetings. “As part of the campaign’s promotion of the four-day week, it offers support and resources to businesses considering trialling shorter working time. So it was great to have employers present as well as members of the public,” he said.

The initiative is the Irish leg of an international campaign to establish a four-day week without reductions in pay or productivity. It aims to achieve a gradual, steady, managed transition to a shorter working week for all workers in the private and public sectors.

Meanwhile, the international campaign is gathering momentum as Microsoft Japan announced that productivity rose by 40% when it tested a four-day week in the summer. Its ‘work-life choice challenge 2019’ saw the tech giant grant its 2,300-strong workforce five Fridays off in a row, without decreasing their pay.

The Irish four day week roadshow will continue in 2020 with another series of meetings across the country.

Palestinian youth Ahmed Alsoos was recently released from an Israeli military jail after a six-month prison sentence for throwing a stone at a soldier – a charge he denies.

Speaking in Dublin last week Ahmed, now 17, recalled the horrors of his time in prison and the drawn-out military court proceedings – during which he had no contact with his family – that led to his conviction solely on the testimony of an Israeli soldier.

He recounted his confinement in a small, stuffy dark room with no windows, and tearfully relived the constant humiliation, degradation and abuse he suffered at the hands of the guards.

Since Israel lowered the age of criminal responsibility, the military can – and do – arrest and confine children as young as 12 years old.

Alsoos was in Dublin to address a conference on the rights of Palestinian children organised by Trade Union Friends of Palestine (TUFP), which called on the Irish Government to halt trade links with Israel in protest at the systematic maltreatment of Palestinian children by the Israeli military.

Speaking on behalf of TUFP, Fórsa official Denis Keane said an Israeli strategy of mass arrests and maltreatment of Palestinian children was being implemented on an “industrial scale,” and appeared to be part of a deliberate policy to traumatise large numbers of children.

According to UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, 59 Palestinian children were killed by Israeli forces in 2018. Another 3,472 were injured, while over 200 children – some as young as 12 – were detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system every month.

“Israel is the only country in the world that prosecutes children through military tribunals instead of civilian courts, and even strong allies of Israel have expressed alarm at its treatment of Palestinian children.

“We are calling on the Irish Government to take a stronger stand on Israel’s deliberate policy of killing, injuring, imprisoning and traumatising thousands of children. It should end all economic and trade links with Israel until the physical and psychological maiming of Palestinian children stops,” said Denis.

Other speakers included psychiatrist Samah Jabr, who spoke about the physical and mental impact of living in a war-torn environment, and the suppressed trauma experienced by children who experienced violent and life-threatening confrontations with Israeli soldiers.

Speakers were united in their calls for greater EU solidarity with the Palestinian people. While they welcomed a recent European Court of Justice decision on the labelling of goods originating from illegal Israeli settlements, advocates argued for stronger action to restrict commercial activities with Israel while children continue to be mistreated.

There was dismay at the weak EU response to the USA’s recent announcement that it no longer considered Israeli settlements to be illegal.

Trade Union Friends of Palestine is supported by almost all ICTU-affiliated trade unions on the island of Ireland. For many years the Irish trade union movement has had a strong position of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Twelve years ago, ICTU adopted a policy of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and put pressure on Israel to comply with international law.

ONE GALWAY is hosting a Christmas quiz night in aid of Pieta House on 5th December (Thursday). It takes place in Crowes Bar, Galway city.

The quiz, which runs from 8-10pm, will promote playful rivalry between teams from trade unions, student unions and community groups in the spirit of raising money for charity.

In addition to bragging rights, a number of spot prizes will up for grabs.

Interested parties can register themselves in teams of four and it costs €40 per team. Registrations at galway@onemovement.work or get further information about the quiz here.

So if you have a free evening, pop down to the quiz to help support a good cause