Today marks the centenary of the legislation that permitted Irish women to vote and stand in parliamentary elections for the first time. It’s also 100 years since the first woman MP was elected to Westminster.

Constance Georgine Markievicz was elected in a Dublin constituency, but never took her seat at Westminster. Instead, she joined the revolutionary first Dáil, becoming the first female TD.

The first of the commemoration events on women’s suffrage took place in Glasnevin Cemetery last Sunday (4th February). The event coincided with Constance Markievicz’s 150th birthday, but it also focused on the three issues she championed: labour, nationalism and suffrage.

ICTU general secretary Patricia King reflected on an industrial dispute with a manufacturer of rosary beads, which Markievicz was involved in. The event was also addressed by Sinn Féin president-elect Mary Lou McDonald, and Ivana Bacik, Labour senator and the chair of Votáil 100.

The speakers all reflected on current efforts for the political and economic advancement of women, but focused particularly on the current make-up of the Oireachtas.

Sunday’s event was the first of many commemoration events remembering the fight for women’s suffrage.

Fórsa has secured an agreement with the Department of Education and Skills about data entry work for the junior cycle achievement awards (JCPA). The agreement exclusively covers the 2017-18 academic year, and affects school secretaries employed by the education and training boards.

Fórsa made the agreement with the department at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) last November. The agreement, which involves an additional payment in respect of the data entry work, was subsequently accepted by both the NETB and School Secretaries branches.

The union also secured agreement on the extension of the School Administration PPOD User Group to include a third nominee from Fórsa. The terms of reference were widened to include all school software system issues.

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone convened a consultation event on the future direction of the School Completion Programme (SCP) in January.

Michael Smyth, chair of Fórsa’s SCP branch, explained that four School Completion Programme officers attended.

“This was the first piece of consultation on the future direction of the SCP and for that I must give the minister due credit.

“While we know that Tusla, which funds SCP, has drafted a plan for the programme, nobody has seen it. Consequently, there is still a widespread feeling that Tusla really doesn’t have a handle on what we need,” he said.

Michael explained that the union’s SCP branch has lobbied extensively to win political support for the programme. He said it has helped to ensure that public representatives have a much clearer understanding of the programme’s value.

“While we didn’t get to meet the minister as part of that lobbying campaign, her engagement at the consultation event revealed that she has a good understanding of what we do.

“There was a lot of constructive input from a broad range of stakeholders throughout the day, and the minister stated clearly that if she was presented with the right framework for the School Completion Programme, she would run with it and seek funding to support it,” he said.

Michael added that the minister made a visit to the Kilkenny School Completion Programme yesterday (Monday). “I think that’s an encouraging sign that the minister means what she says,” he said.

Fórsa's deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan has been leading negotiations with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on behalf of SCP members.

Value

The SCP was devised by the Department of Education and Science in 2002 and moved to the newly formed Department of Children and Youth Affairs in 2011. It was subsumed into Tusla in 2014.
The programme is made up of 124 local projects, which work in 470 primary schools and 224 secondary schools nationwide.

In recent years the funding for SCP has been cut by 25%. Funding for counselling services to the programme was cut last year. The funding was restored toward the end of 2017 following the intervention of Minister Zappone, who was lobbied on the issue by the union’s SCP branch.

The Economic and Social Research Institute published its report into the School Completion Programme in October 2015. The ESRI study highlighted the programme’s ability to access vital information about the family and home life of children in the programme, the opportunities arising from a less formal communication with children and parents, and the immediate support from the SCP.

The Cathaoirleach of Fórsa’s Education division, Gina O’Brien, met with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) yesterday (Monday 5th February) to discuss a new training proposal designed by the union to address the lack of training opportunities for administrative staff working in higher education.

Gina completed the proposal following her participation in a workshop of the gender equality taskforce for higher education in January.

Gina explained: “The national review into gender inequality in the higher education sector in 2016 made only one or two recommendations that could be applied to administrative staff. The most noticeable gap was the lack of training opportunities for women working in this area. This needs to be addressed.

“The taskforce event in January brought together a very good mix of stakeholders and there was good quality discussion and ideas, but I remained concerned that there was a lack of focus on administrative staff in higher education.

“Fórsa’s submission to the gender taskforce is a training proposal designed to address this deficit. When we outlined the content of the proposal, I was invited to meet with the HEA. That meeting took place yesterday.”

Gina said the proposals were very well received at yesterday's meeting. "They've asked if they could take a number of our measures on board for implementation. It was a very positive engagement."

Taskforce

The gender equality taskforce for higher education was established by junior minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor towards the end of last year. Fórsa represents some 12,000 education workers, including non-teaching staff in the institutes of technology and education and training boards.

The establishment of the task force followed the findings of a national review into gender inequality in the higher education sector, which was conducted by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and published in 2016. The report concluded that women were significantly under-represented at senior levels in higher education establishments, and said gender inequality is a serious issue in the sector.

The report found that, in 2015, 81% of professional positions were held by men and, while women represented 62% of non-academic staff, men represented 72% of the highest paid non-academic staff.

The taskforce aims to take a two-pronged approach to tackle the issue of gender inequality. It will prepare a three-year action plan in consultation with stakeholders. It will also oversee a national review of recruitment and promotion policies now in place.

Related: Fórsa welcomes education gender taskforce 

Rising executive pay in the private sector will inevitably lead to a rise in wider inequality, according to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Its latest annual survey into executive pay Because We’re Worth It: The Truth About CEO Pay in Ireland also warns of a regulatory gap, which means Irish-registered companies based in London can avoid best practise regarding female membership of corporate boards.

The survey, which examines the remuneration of CEOs at 27 companies, finds that an average earner would have to work 270 years to earn the equivalent of the boss of CRH. It would take them 62 years to earn the equivalent of the Aryzta CEO’s remuneration package.

Dr Peter Rigney, one of the authors of the report, said: “If this trend is left unchecked it will inevitably lead to greater levels of inequality across Irish society. We have yet to see conclusive evidence of a direct causal link between high CEO pay and company performance.”

Five of the seven companies being examined for the first time were quoted on the London stock exchange, and had seen the pay of their CEOs fall in the past 12 months. The report says increased political will to tackle rising executive pay in the UK is the main reason for this. The authors say this debate has yet to start in Ireland.

This year’s report also examined gender diversity at executive and director level. It identified just two female CEOs – at FBD and Glanbia – in the 27 companies examined. “Most companies have a long way to go if an average of at least two female directors was to be in place,” it says.

The report also found that three of the four London-based companies with no women board members were registered in Ireland. These companies say they are not bound by London codes of practice, which encourage companies to have at least two female board members. The authors call for this “regulatory gap” to be closed.

Read the report HERE.

Fórsa has written to the Low Pay Commission to endorse the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ (ICTU) call for the statutory minimum wage to increase by at least 3%. The unions made their submission earlier this month, and argued that, over time, the minimum wage should be aligned with the so-called living wage, currently defined by the Government as €10.50 an hour.

Last month, the statutory minimum wage increased by 3.2%, or €0.30, on foot of a majority recommendation from the Low Pay Commission. ICTU says this level of increase needs to happen every year if the Government is to meet its Programme for Government commitment of a €10.50 minimum by 2021.

The rate is currently €9.55 for an experienced adult worker, but it falls to just €6.69 for under-18s. The ICTU submission points out that most people on the minimum wage are women and younger workers, and says a higher rate would help tackle the gender pay gap and encourage labour market participation.

The submission says the relatively small number of people on minimum pay – compared to the total workforce – means an increase would have little impact on employment levels.

• Public ownership of Irish Water
• Government action plan on jobs
• Bogus self-employment
• Tax relief on union subscriptions
• Investment in early childhood education including a pre-Budget briefing
• National Civil Aviation Development Forum
• Social Protection appeal on behalf of Coillte employees
• Gender Pay Gap Reporting Bill 2017

The Technological Universities Bill is scheduled for committee stage in the Seanad today (Tuesday 6th February).

The Bill, which will combine the institutes of technology into four technological universities, completed the second stage in the Seanad at the end of January, following its completion through the Dáil in recent weeks.

Gina O’Brien, cathaoirleach of Fórsa’s Education division, said the main focus this week seems likely to be on the composition of the governing bodies as set out by the legislation. Gina said the Bill has been generally welcomed.

Related: Protections won on technological universities (Fórsa Education news bulletin 18th January 2018)

In the last edition of the Fórsa members' news bulletin we asked Fórsa members “Should healthcare professionals be compelled to have the flu vaccine?” on foot of an announcement by the Minister for Health Simon Harris that he would consider making it obligatory for healthcare professionals.

Almost half of our survey respondents disagreed that health workers should be compelled to get the flu vaccine and voted ‘No’, while 28% voted ‘Yes.’ However, a further 23% of respondents agreed that the vaccine should be mandatory for anyone working with the general public.