Lots of new information about recently-increased salary scales, Fórsa membership benefits, travel and subsistence payments, and rights at work have recently been uploaded to the union’s website. The site, which has been live since March this year, attracts around 6,000 visitors each week. It’s currently being updated with news pages and information, including a menu system based on the site’s most popular and most searched-for content.

Fórsa’s communication officer Niall Shanahan said a number of recent updates and revisions should enhance user experience and provide members with the information they need quickly.

“The membership benefits section has been updated with an improved layout. In our pay and conditions section we’ve published information on the latest travel and subsistence rates, updated salary scales for health, local government, civil service and education reflecting adjustments applied on 1st October under the current national agreement, and we’ve added a comprehensive section on employment rights.

“The menu on the left hand side of the homepage (underneath the Fórsa logo) has also been revised and now features the pages on the site most frequently visited and searched-for. This will help members find what they need more quickly and easily,” he said.

A new blog feature has also gone live. The first blog post offers insights on the working time event at the union’s Nerney’s Court office that took place last Thursday (22nd November).

Niall added that there’s also a few more additions to be made on the site. “We’re updating information on national agreements, and adding more information about third party schemes and benefits for members. Salary scales for members in the Services and Enterprises and Municipal divisions are also in development and due to be completed in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

Visit the website.

RTE’s Drivetime programme focussed on the precarious nature of work for most school secretaries in a special report recently. Journalist Barry Lenihan’s report outlined the problems facing 90% of the country’s 3,500 school secretaries, whose terms and conditions of employment are determined by individual boards of management.

Lenihan described the situation facing school secretaries as ‘roulette’, insofar as there are some schools where school secretaries are directly employed as grade III or IV civil servants by the Department of Education and Skills, working alongside school secretaries paid directly by the school.

The report, broadcast on Monday (12th November) was part of a series of reports on the programme about precarious work. Fórsa lead organiser Joe O’Connor spoke on the programme about the union’s school secretary campaign, which is due to launch in January.

Joe highlighted the experience of some school secretaries working in schools that were slow to implement the minimum pay terms set by the Department of Education and Skills.

He said the union has begun talking to a wide range of public representatives about the need for standardised and more secure employment terms for school secretaries, most of whom work without any pension provision.

The campaign, which is set to launch in January 2019, will include a campaign pack to be circulated to schools. Joe said the campaign would also involve reaching out to win support from teachers, special needs assistants and, above all, parents of children attending school.

Drivetime reported that school secretaries who spoke to the programme emphasised three things: uncertainty, isolation and fairness.

Liz Phelan, who works in a school for 460 girls outside of Dublin has worked as a school secretary for 20 years. She said the current arrangement for school secretaries “isn’t respectful, it’s not healthy, and you’re not getting the best from your workforce if you’re not treating them fairly.”

Maeve Hurrell is approaching retirement next year after 28 years of working as a school secretary. When Maeve retires next June she will have to sign on the dole as she won’t reach the age to receive a state pension until August. She told Drivetime: “It’s not about the money, it’s about the treatment (of school secretaries).”

Fórsa has welcomed the launch a new gender equality action plan for higher education institutions, which is intended to accelerate the achievement of gender equality in the sector.

Although the media coverage of the Gender Equality Action Plan for Higher Education Institutions 2018–2020 emphasised academic grades, Fórsa has stressed that it relates to all grades in the sector, including clerical administrative and support roles in higher education.

The union also says action is needed to deliver gender equality in across the education sector, including in schools where the lowest paid staff grades – like SNAs and school secretaries – are overwhelmingly female.

Fórsa National secretary Andy Pike said the union was taking practical steps to improve gender equality in the sector. This includes the recently-secured job evaluation scheme for library, clerical, administrative and support staff.

“The job evaluation scheme should be an effective tool to tackle gender equality in the clerical and admin grades. We also welcome the proposal to establish a number of female professional posts in institutions as a serious attempt to address the appalling record of the higher education sector on promoting women to senior posts,” he said.

Andy said Fórsa would continue to work to ensure that the lowest paid grades are not left behind as the plan is implemented, and to build upon the agreement on job evaluation.

Fórsa has added its voice to international trade union demands for reduced working time to ensure that workers share the benefits of increased productivity from technological change.

Speaking at an international conference on the future of working time in Dublin last week, the union’s deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan said reduced working time has emerged as a central issue in international debates about the future of work.

He also told delegates that the union would continue to seek to reverse increases in working time introduced in the civil and public service during the economic crisis. He said increased working time went against international trends in public policy.

“Trade unions don’t want to impede economic progress and we know that technology has the potential to create jobs and take the drudgery and danger out of current workplace tasks. But we are determined to secure a fairer share of the benefits of economic growth and technological advances for all workers in all sectors of the economy, including through reduced working time,” he said.

The conference also heard from Kate Bell, head of economic and social affairs at the UK Trade Union Congress (TUC), which has put the demand for a four-day week at the centre of its response to automation and productivity-driving technological change.

“Technology enables us to work cheaper and faster, and that should make us all better off. The British government estimates that robots and autonomous technology could boost GDP by around £200 billion a year. But if we raise our productivity, isn’t it worth asking whether we could be working four days rather than five while producing the same amount?

“That’s how workers have historically benefited from improvements in technology. The reduction in average working hours from over 60 a week in 1868 – 150 years ago – to just over 30 today is one example. The weekend, which was seen as an unaffordable luxury until around the middle of the twentieth century, is another. Several generations on, we have the chance to fight for a fairer share for everyone, including through a four day week,” she said.

Kevin Callinan told the conference it was almost 90 years since economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that productivity improvements would eventually lead to a 15-hour working week.

“His reasoning was straightforward enough. By producing more with less, our needs would be met through less work and there would be more time for leisure. Even Keynes could scarcely have conceived of the gains in productivity that have been achieved since he made his prediction, especially in recent decades. And yet the length of the working week has remained more or less the same,” he said.

The conference, organised by Fórsa, brought together trade unionists and working time experts from Ireland, Germany and the UK. It came in response to the large number of motions about working time submitted to Fórsa’s national conference last May, when an executive motion committed the union to work with others to reduce working time in all sectors of the economy.

Aidan Harper, director of the UK-based ‘4-Day Week Campaign’, said international studies show no positive correlation between working hours and wealth. “Countries who work fewer hours tend to have higher levels of productivity, as well as greater amounts of wealth per person. A reduction in working time is entirely feasible with current levels of technology and the benefits for society, gender equality, the economy and the environment can be significant. Time must become political once again,” he said.

Conference speakers also highlighted the gender aspects of working time, specifically for women with childcare and other caring responsibilities, as well as the need for workers to have control over their working hours in an era of zero-hours’ contracts and other new forms of work organisation.

Fórsa live streamed the event so if you'd like to watch one or all of the speakers' presentations, you can do so over on our Facebook page. 

Fórsa has welcomed government plans to increase paid parental leave from two to seven weeks for each parent by 2021, but says the move is long overdue. Along with existing paid maternity and paternity leave, the change would increase to 42 weeks the amount of paid leave available to new parents during the first year of a child’s life.

This follows the announcement of two weeks paid parental leave to be rolled out late in 2019.

The development stems from a recent EU directive on work-life balance, which obliges governments to increase access to paid parental leave for both parents. Payment will be at the same rate as prevailing maternity and paternity leave – currently €245 per week.

The paid leave must be taken in the first year of a child’s life. 

Fórsa official Andy Pike said the change was welcome but long overdue. “It is perhaps regrettable that it took an EU directive to prompt the Government to act and improve parental provision. Much more needs to be done to support children and families, especially in access to housing, education supports and affordable quality childcare,” he said.

Andy also called for reform of the early years’ education sector. “The Government must regulate the sector to provide affordable childcare, which would help many people return to and stay in the workforce.

“It is also high time action was taken to regularise and improve pay and conditions of service for staff working in this sector. Therefore we view the additional parental leave provision as a positive step but one only one of many steps necessary for government to fulfil its promises,” he said.

The persistent gender pay gap means that women have to work the equivalent of 67 extra days each year to earn the same as their average male counterpart, according to Fórsa official Geraldine O’Brien. Ireland’s gender pay gap currently stands at 14%.

Speaking at a recent Oireachtas committee hearing, Geraldine also highlighted the paucity of women in top jobs. “If an equal number of men and women started work at the same time, only 24% of women will progress to senior management level,” she said. 

Geraldine acknowledged the co-operation of government departments in bringing the issue to the fore, but said further steps were needed.

“Over the last 20 years, senior management across the civil and public service have been fully aware of the gender imbalances in their organisations. Many have taken a conscious decision to address the issue, but reporting on pay by grade will give a more accurate picture of the problem,” she said.

Geraldine was part of an ICTU delegation that last week gave evidence to the Joint Commission for Justice and Equality, which is discussing the general scheme of the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill.

The bill would establish mandatory reporting by employers on the gender pay gap in their organisation. The measure would first be applied in firms with 250 or more employees, but that threshold would drop to 50-plus over time.
The legislation would also require reporting on differences in bonus pay, part-time pay and the pay of men and women on temporary contracts.

Fórsa has been at the forefront of the trade union campaign for legislation on gender pay gap reporting, which it says would encourage employers into tangible action to bridge the gap.

In June, the union criticised the Government for publishing its own Bill on the issue, rather than amending an existing opposition Bill that had already passed its second stage. The union said the move would delay the introduction of pay gap reporting.

Unions have welcomed proposed legislation on mandatory reporting of gender pay gaps in individual enterprises despite concerns that the 250 employee threshold is too high.

For more information on the gender pay gap bill click here.

The Central Bank has approved plans for the Dublin City Council-based credit union Dubco to provide services to special needs assistants (SNAs).

Head of Fórsa’s Local Government division Peter Nolan welcomed the announcement. “Access to the Dubco credit union is a welcome option for SNAS who can’t avail of credit union services through their employments,” he said.

Dubco holds its annual general meeting tomorrow (29th November) when it is expected to ratify the plans.

Peter added that a number of the unions’ SNA branches had already expressed an interest in the credit union services.

The Central Bank has also given the all-clear for Dubco services to be provided to local authority staff who don’t have access to a credit union through their workplace.

A senior Fórsa official has called on the Public Service Pay Commission (PSPC) to press on with examinations of recruitment and retention difficulties in all parts of the public service where it has identified issues, now that it has concluded its work on nurses and medical consultants.

Head of the union's Health and Welfare division, Éamonn Donnelly also warned of pressure for further pay claims if some groups of workers were to be granted pay benefits beyond those set out in the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA).

The PSSA applies to most staff in non-commercial semi-state organisations, and to workers across the civil and public service.

Éamonn’s comments echoed warnings that the union made earlier this year in the context of recruitment and retention problems in the civil service and the health sector. Earlier this year, Donnelly said no profession or union had “a monopoly” on the issue, and he warned the Government to be even-handed in its response to the pay commission’s work.

Last April, Fórsa’s civil service conference heard that the sector is struggling to recruit staff in many areas because salaries are not keeping pace with those available in comparable private sector jobs. State bodies are finding it difficult to recruit a wide range of staff including cleaners, solicitors, meteorologists, radio officers, technical agricultural officers, valuers, Oireachtas researchers, translation staff, and special education needs organisers.

Union official Andy Pike told the conference that service quality was being strained because of staff shortages, and he called on civil service management to be given the flexibility to pay staff above the usual entry rates, where necessary, in order to attract suitably qualified staff.

“The problem is starkest in professional and technical areas, but it’s not confined to these specialisms. Some civil service bodies have even struggled to hire cleaners in recent months,” he said.

Fórsa has already identified a range of civil service grades where public bodies are struggling to hire in its submission to the Public Service Pay Commission (PSPC), which is examining recruitment and retention problems in parts of the public service.

A motion to the conference said changes to starting pay arrangements introduced in some parts of the civil service in 2010 meant that, in a tightening labour market, management was now trying to recruit new staff at salaries €20,000 below those paid at the height of the economic crisis.

The Public Service Pay Commission’s examination of recruitment and retention issues was one of the measures won by unions in the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA). The commission has been asked to establish the extent and nature of recruitment and retention problems and, where they exist, to recommend measures to address them.

The standard overnight rate of civil service expenses has been increased to €147 in line with inflation following agreement at Civil Service General Council. There were no changes in motor travel or foreign subsistence rates this year.

An official circular setting out revised subsistence allowances has been issued to civil service departments. The wider public service is expected to follow suit as usual.

Read the circular here.

We've received queries concerning SNAs who do not work full time hours and how their rate of pay should be calculated. Part time hours are calculated as a fraction of full time hours. However, is this a fraction of 32 hours or a fraction of the ‘bell to bell’ hours of a school?

There are two parts to this calculation. First, an SNA should know the bell to bell hours in a working week. Let’s say, for example, a school is open for 30 hours in a week and the SNA works for 15 hours. This means that the SNA works a 0.5 pattern and works half the bell to bell hours. In this case, the SNA gets paid half of the rate that a full time SNA would get.

The calculation is done in reference to the hours worked versus the bell to bell hours in a school. The calculation is NOT done on the basis of hours worked versus 32 hours.

This position in relation to 32 hours versus ‘bell to bell’ time has been clarified by the Department of Education.

SNA contract issues: archive

Since April we've been publishing a special segment focussing on contract issues facing SNAs. Devised and written by assistant general secretary Seán Carabini, It has proved to be one of the most popular items in the Education news bulletin. 

We've archived all of these items for ease of access, and will publish an updated archive in each future edition of the bulletin.

If you have SNA contract issues you'd like to see covered in the bulletin, please contact info@forsa.ie. Please include 'SNA contract issues for the news bulletin' in the subject heading.

• Notice periods
• Panel Appeals
• Displacement: Are You Doing Someone Else’s Job?
• Standard contract for 2018/2019 school year
• SNA allocation FAQs
• The NCSE's SNA review: main points and recommendations
• Q&A: NCSE Comprehensive Review of the Special Needs Assistant Scheme
• Post fragmentation
• I was a full-time SNA but have had my hours cut. Am I entitled to any redundancy payment?

Employers are to be legally obliged to include their employees in a pension scheme, and make contributions to the fund, on foot of a new government scheme. Unions have welcomed move in principal, but ICTU wants the proposed ‘auto-enrolment’ scheme to be strengthened in a number of ways.

Ireland is one of only two OECD countries without mandatory earnings-related pension savings. Currently 35% of the workforce are not in an occupational pension scheme.

The new automatic enrolment scheme targets low and middle income earners to ensure they save towards a financially secure retirement, with financial contributions from their employer and the state.

Fórsa backed ‘auto-enrolment’ proposals at its national conference in May.

Earlier this month, employment minister Regina Doherty released a draft proposal on how the scheme could work to generate a discussion amongst interested parties.

Under the current Government proposals, workers would have to contribute up to 6% of their salary towards their pension pot, with employers having to match that amount. The state would then pay €1 for every €3 the worker contributes.

Participation in the scheme would be compulsory for workers for six months. However, they could opt out after that time. Workers could also suspend their contributions in limited circumstances – but employer and State contributions would cease if an employee stopped saving.
 
ICTU has outlined its concerns in a recent submission. The union federation wants older workers to be included in the scheme which, as it currently stands, would only include workers aged between 23 and 60 who earn more than €20,000 a year. Congress wants this expanded to 16-60-plus with no income threshold.

Congress has also questioned the current opt out model, recommending that the opt-out, re-enrolment and saving suspension features proposed in the current draft are merged into a time-limited 'contribution holiday’, during which the employer and state would continue to make contributions. This contribution could be claimed as a single continuous period or a number of separate periods.

The submission also sparked concerns that workers paying income tax at the higher rate of 40% on pensions would lose out. Congress has questioned any move to impede the tax relief available to employees who currently pay into a pension fund.

Read ICTU’s simple guide to the scheme HERE.

For more information on ICTU’s submission click HERE.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has called for a ‘just transition forum’ to explore ideas for creating alternative employment for workers and communities likely to be affected by Ireland’s move towards a low carbon economy.

ICTU general secretary Patricia King said the forum could focus on developing alternative forms of employment, and also ensure that supports and resources are put in place to assist workers and their wider communities.

Ms King said the failure to act on the employment impact of necessary measures to tackle climate change had been highlighted by the recent announcement of job losses at Bord Na Mona.

“The just transition forum must be established as a matter of urgency and include all stakeholders in the sector. We now need to see a clear commitment from government to act on this,” she said.

Ms King added that ICTU had contacted the Government and was working “to identify the opportunities that exist for new forms of energy generation and employment creation across the sector.”

Fórsa has been among the leaders of the Irish trade union campaign on a ‘just transition,’ which would protect jobs and incomes as Ireland moves towards a low-carbon economy.

Commentators have credited Fórsa with forcing a Government U-turn on an Irish Water referendum after the Cabinet decided last week to consult the Attorney General (AG) on a plebiscite to guarantee that water services stay in public ownership.

Fórsa and other unions had pressed the issue as part of discussions on the future status of Irish Water and its relationship with local authorities, which deliver most water services on the ground.

The union, which represents water staff in local authorities and Irish Water, welcomed progress towards a referendum but called on the Government to ensure that the wording of a proposed constitutional amendment reflects and sustains existing all-party support for keeping water in public control.

Fórsa official Peter Nolan said: “The cabinet decision comes on foot of a sustained campaign for a referendum by Fórsa, ICTU and other unions. It should be possible to develop a wording that reflects public opinion and ensures that all the major political parties support the amendment when it is put in a referendum, which should take place on the same day as next May’s local and European elections.”

Fórsa has written to transport minister Shane Ross, and to the National Transport Authority (NTA), to express its support for the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network Plan.

Commissioned by the NTA and launched in 2013, the plan aims to provide an urban, inter-urban and green route network, for each of the seven local authorities in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA). This includes Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.

Fórsa national secretary Billy Hannigan wrote to Ross to “lend the collective voice of the union’s 80,000 members” to the support of the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network Plan. He urged the minister to ensure plans for protected cycle lanes are delivered without delay.

“Like many organisations in Dublin, a growing number of our 120 employees cycle to work. In addition many of our members commute to work by bicycle. Indeed, for many of our members they have no choice as they are working at times when public transport simply is not available.

“We are satisfied that many more of our members would cycle to their workplaces if they felt comfortable and safe on the roads.

“We value their safety and we want to promote active lifestyles for all our employees and members. Kerb protected cycle lanes throughout Dublin will help to make our members who cycle safer on the roads. They will also make Dublin a more attractive city in which to live and work,” he said.

Fórsa’s support for the plan has been welcomed by CyclingWorks Dublin, a group of organisations calling for segregated cycling infrastructure for employees, customers and students to travel safely throughout Dublin.

Campaign co-founder Stephen McManus said the union’s support for the campaign was significant. “We are now approaching 200,000 workers and students being represented in the call for government to invest in cycling infrastructure to afford people a safer commute to work and education,” he said.

The number of Irish workers who described themselves as stressed at work more than doubled between 2010 and 2015, according to new research from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

The study put stress among employees at 17% in 2015, compared to 8% in 2010. The finding was one of a number set out in Job stress and working conditions, which was funded by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).

Employees in the health sector felt most stressed (18%), followed by public administration (16%) and manufacturing (15%).

The report’s found that Irish workers were more likely than their European counterparts to be stressed by emotional demands and exposure to bullying, harassment and other forms of mistreatment.

It also linked stress with long working hours, with those who worked over 40 hours a week twice as likely to experience job stress as people working between 36 and 40 hours.

This finding echoes concerns raised at Fórsa’s working time event last week. The event highlighted the benefits of reduced working time for employers, workers and society in general, and called for a four day working week.

The report is available here and more information is available here.

It’s not often that we report on elections in the USA, but a recent, and economical, release by the American Federation of Labour (AFL-CIO) is well worthy of mention.

Following the defeat of Republican Scott Walker, the former Wisconsin Governor responsible for pioneering anti-trade union legislation and other attacks on working families, the federation issued the following statement: “Scott Walker was a national disgrace.”

Short and to the point!