Retiring school secretary Kathleen O’Doherty was among the former members of Fórsa’s School Secretaries branch committee given a hero’s farewell at the branch AGM last Saturday in Loughrea, Co Galway.

Kathleen, a long-standing and passionate trade union activist based in Donegal, received a standing ovation from 200 delegates who had travelled from 20 different counties to attend the AGM.

Leading the tributes was incoming branch chair Luisa Carty and Fórsa president Michael Smyth.

Michael acknowledged Kathleen’s key role in driving the campaign for pay fairness for school secretaries over several years.

Those efforts saw school secretaries move on to a standardised pay scale, and move to a centralised payroll system, since last September.

Michael praised Kathleen’s “total commitment to the campaign for pay fairness, and her strong belief in the power of trade union solidarity.”

Outgoing branch committee members Marion Jackson and Anita Reilly were also in attendance at the AGM and received presentations and thanks from the branch.

There’s never been a better time to join a union, and it’s never been easier. Join Fórsa today.

Fórsa is reminding SNA members of their access to the Department of Education’s scheme for leave of absence following assault, following a recent incident in which an SNA received a permanent injury following a workplace assault.

Education division organiser Séamus Ryan said the union is keen to ensure that SNAs are aware of the scheme and how to access it, because workplace absences due to injuries from workplace assault are treated differently to sick leave absence.

“Of necessity the union sought to have this scheme in place as it became apparent that many SNAs had, prior to the creation of the scheme in 2017, accessed the sick leave scheme when they were recovering from injuries due to an assault in the workplace.

“Injury due to assault is a uniquely difficult, and sometimes traumatising, experience for any SNA who has been through it. This scheme is designed to recognise that and allow time for an SNA to recover. It’s a process that both SNAs and school management need to be familiar with should an incident arise,” he said.

Séamus added that Fórsa also recognises the term ‘assault leave’ can have negative connotations, both for SNAs and for management:

“There may be a reluctance to apply for the leave scheme because of a perceived blame that might be attached to a particular child involved.

“We understand that SNAs don't want to assign blame to a child who, due to their unique situation may have caused an injury through assault.

"This is not the purpose or intent of the circular, but it’s very important that people use assault leave so that there is a record of the incident, and a trail to follow to help reduce the likelihood of other injuries through assault happening in the future,” he said.

Procedure

The procedure for applying for a leave of absence following an assault is outlined in detail in the department’s circular, and Séamus has also compiled this useful quick guide to the scheme.

The circular defines assault as “physical contact from a third party causing physical injury to a special needs assistant (SNA) in the course of the special needs assistant’s duties and during approved school activities,” and leave may be granted under the scheme to an SNA who is unable to perform their duties due to a physical injury following an assault in the course of their work.

Séamus said: “The scheme only exists because injury due to assault has, unfortunately, been part of the experience of many SNAs. It’s crucial, therefore, that SNAs know their entitlements should such an instance occur in the workplace.

“Nevertheless, for school management and all stakeholders, eliminating the risk needs to be part of the process of the planning and delivery of the unique work carried out by SNAs.

“Our SNA colleagues were shocked to hear about the most recent incident, and in circulating this message Fórsa wants to ensure that SNAs know they have the necessary supports should they experience an assault-related injury at work,” he said.

More details on the scheme can be accessed in the Circular

You can read Séamus’s quick guide to the scheme HERE.

There’s never been a better time to join a union, and it’s never been easier. Join Fórsa today.

Speaking at last Saturday’s AGM of Fórsa’s School Secretaries branch, assistant general secretary Shane Lambert urged delegates to speak to their school caretaker colleagues about joining the union.

With discussions with the Department of Education and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ongoing, Shane said it is vital to ensure school caretakers are in union membership before the process ends.

An inaugural AGM for caretakers last November saw a formal branch executive committee established, elected by members, to represent caretakers in the ongoing WRC talks.

Shane told the School Secretaries AGM that there is an agreement in principle, reflecting the terms of last year’s breakthrough deal for school secretaries while some outstanding issues, specific to caretaker roles, require further discussion with the department.

Shane urged the 200 school secretaries present to talk to their colleagues and ensure that caretakers in their schools are aware of the benefits of union membership:

“Building our schools caretaker membership will be the key to providing the necessary strength to deliver a deal, and to take the new branch from strength to strength. The School Secretaries branch have shown how it can be done, there is a great foundation there for us all to build on,” he said.

There’s never been a better time to join a union, and it’s never been easier. Join Fórsa today.

Fórsa is awaiting an imminent response from the Department of Education following on from the union submission on the Special Needs Assistants (SNA) Contract Review.

On foot of the initial contract review meeting in October, the union made a submission to the Department with details of the items it would like to see properly addressed.

In its submission Fórsa said it believed there was no longer any legitimate rationale to retain the current model of the SNA redundancy scheme and subsequent model of allocations.

The union said SNAs endured hardships, angst, and difficulty year on year while waiting for the allocations to be announced and figure out whether they have a job for the coming year.

 The submission also emphasised the following:

• The need to tighten and clarify the provisions in the contract regarding appropriate work.
• The current allocation system is not fit for purpose and would like to see a robust transfer scheme put in place
• A review is needed for the minimum education qualifications for SNA’s
• A clarification on break times for SNA’s

Fórsa official Shane Lambert indicated that the union would present the best-case arguments for all the issues outlined and try to get commitments to address them, but the discussions must be realistic and don’t necessarily mean a positive outcome is guaranteed.

“We have outlined several important issues to be addressed as formal discussions progress. SNAs are public servants and should not be precluded from benefits enjoyed by colleagues across the wider public service. Once we receive a response from the department, Fórsa will review and keep members informed through branches and the e-bulletins,” he said.

The union will be issuing the comprehensive submission to branches in the near future. The full document outlines the entire range of issues officials have raised in these initial discussions.

On Wednesday (1^st February), Fórsa, sent a message of solidarity to trade unions in the UK as the TUC held a national ‘right to strike’ day.

An estimated 500,000 workers took strike action, marking the biggest day of industrial action in decades in the UK, while dozens of rallies organised by the TUC also took place across the country.

In a message to TUC leader Paul Nowak, Fórsa general secretary and ICTU president Kevin Callinan said the union’s national executive fully supports the stand taken against the UK government’s new anti-strike laws: “Nobody should lose their job if they take lawful action to win a better deal. Our union recognises the scale of the threat posed by this anti-strike bill being pushed through parliament.

“The UK government is acting with impunity regarding workers who have been forced to withdraw their labour in the face of an intense cost-of-living crisis. As an employer we’ve witnessed this Conservative government transition from applauding essential public service staff to threatening them with the sack at alarming speed.

“As union members across the UK rally against this legislation, Fórsa applauds their efforts and supports them every step of the way. We share the view of the TUC that the legislation is unworkable and almost certainly illegal,” he said.

Among the half million striking workers were teachers across England and Wales. Kevin said a decade of meagre earnings in the UK’s state-funded school system has forced many take up second jobs, or to leave the profession altogether: “That any public servant is forced to do this, or relies on food banks to put food on their table, is indicative of policies that have inflicted very serious damage to individual workers, households, communities and society.

“Legislating to ban or restrict the right to strike is damaging in the same way. It demoralises workers, breaks down any sense of social cohesion, and tears up any remaining idea of a social compact.

“The UK government needs to stop and consider how much harm it’s doing, to consider why there’s so much industrial conflict at its door, and to be realistic about the value of a negotiated solution,” he said.

There’s never been a better time to join a union, and it’s never been easier. Join Fórsa today.

Fórsa has successfully negotiated a large settlement to the sum of €26,000 for a member of the school secretary branch based in Munster.

The negotiation was conducted by Fórsa official Gary Honer who worked tirelessly up to Christmas week to ensure a fair and adequate settlement was achieved for the member.

The school secretary in question had been underpaid by the school for over twenty years, and had been working a second job to build up enough contributions for access to a pension later in life.

Gary said that it was a difficult case but one which ultimately brought about the best outcome.

“The negotiations that took place were difficult as the member of staff had spent over 20 years at the school. Ultimately workers must be paid fairly for the service they provide, and, in this instance, it was not the case. A fair outcome was achieved through open negotiations, and I’d like to thank all involved for their co-operation,” he said.

Fórsa has said that Government’s reliance on the private sector to build social housing is “disappointing but not surprising”.

Figures obtained from the Department of Housing show that 2,706 new-build social homes were delivered up to the end of September last year, of which more than two thirds were procured directly from private developers, underscoring the State’s reliance on the private sector to deliver housing.

Only twenty-eight per cent (760 homes) were delivered directly by local authorities via the Social Housing Capital Investment Programme or by approved housing bodies through the Capital Advance Leasing Facility.

Fórsa’s head of Campaigns and ‘Raise the Roof’ organiser Kevin Donoghue said that while the figures are frustrating, they should surprise no one:

"While obviously disappointing these figures should surprise no one. Successive Governments have been increasingly reliant on the market to provide local authority housing. Continuous divestment from local authorities in favour of market forces has been a deliberate policy for decades.

"To put this in perspective local authorities delivered 9,000 units in 1975, which amounted to a third of all housing delivered that year. Raise the roof has been calling for state investment in local authority led housing for years," he said.

Fórsa has been involved with the ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign since its conception which brings together a wide range of key civil society bodies to demand radical new action on the housing crisis.

Supported by ICTU, the Raise the Rood steering committee will be meeting in the coming days to plan the year ahead.

If you’d like to find out more about the ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign and Fórsa’s involvement you can click here.

An Post has successfully achieved a ‘zero’ gender pay gap for the second year running.

In the rake of figures reported under the gender pay gap law that recently came into effect, the commercial semi-state body maintained its last year’s gap of 0% and according to the company’s chief executive, trade unions played a key role in achieving that.

Chief executive David McRedmond said: “We’re heavily unionised. Unions are very progressive.” 

The head of Fórsa’s Services and Enterprises Division, Katie Morgan said it was a momentous achievement for staff at An Post, some of whom are Fórsa members.

“The union has long been campaigning for the introduction of gender pay gap reporting and the reduction of the gap, and what better example to lead by now than the State postal service achieving this for two years in row," she said.

Separately, the generally reported figures showed that for every €1 a man earns, a woman earns €0.88.

An analysis of figures of Ireland’s largest firms revealed women were paid 12.3% less than men, on average. This gap nearly doubled when it came to bonuses.

However, the reports also showed women were paid more than men at organisations such as Lifestyle Sports, FIFA creator EA Games, fruit grower Keelings’ logistics arm, SuperValu owner Musgrave and Bus Éireann who all had double-digit gaps in favour of women.

The public appointments service which is predominantly female, had the highest gap in favour of women at 21.5%.

Further, an almost zero percent gap existed in the several of the country’s county councils, drinks maker Heineken, Irish tech unicorn Stripe, computing giant Microsoft, retailers H&M and Avoca Handweavers.

The cross-industry reporting also revealed that the gaps were widest in traditionally male-dominated sectors such as construction, law and finance. Out of those, the construction sector took the top spot, with men paid an average 23% more than women.

Fórsa members can now save 50% on their AA Roadside Rescue plan, through a new and exclusive union negotiated scheme.

This new AA Roadside Rescue offer provides for 24/7 roadside breakdown assistance in Ireland and the UK for just €6 a month, and will provide cover whether driving or as a passenger.

This new offer can be accessed exclusively through this portal.

Contact the AA here for more information.

Fórsa’s Mid-West office, in conjunction with Siptu and Connect, has made a presentation to Limerick Animal Welfare Rescue, on foot of their Christmas appeal.

The joint collection saw local branches drop much needed supplies to the Mid-West office during the Christmas period.

Fórsa’s official Helena Pryor thanked members for their generous contribution to such a worthy cause.

“Limerick Animal Welfare rescue and rehome dogs, cats, rabbits, horses and many other animals when they find themselves homeless through no fault of their own. Lots of our members saw the appeal and made separate trips to the sanctuary with their own donations when the office closed for Christmas which was great,” she said.

Irish Labour History Society

At fifty years old, the Irish Labour History Society (ILHS) celebrates the contribution, and promotes knowledge of, Irish labour and Irish people in labour history, and provides a rich resource of material for history students, writers and makers.

Website. Publications. Archive

Run by volunteers, most trade unions are affiliated to the ILHS and there are also several hundred individual members. The website is updated regularly and contains material of interest to researchers. The annual journal Saothar (now in its 48^th year) is published by the ILHS, as are several other studies of labour history personalities and events.The society also:

• Maintains archives and a library at Beggars Bush in Dublin
• Displays museum pieces and union banners at its premises
• Has a collection of individual papers and material, and
• Makes its study facilities available without charge by appointment.

Much of what is stored at Beggars Bush would have been lost had not the ILHS collected and preserved it.

Join Us!

As we celebrate our half century, the ILHS invites you to join us, whether your interest is based on personal, educational, or general interest in labour history. Individual membership costs €35 per year and includes posting of a copy of Saothar to each member on publication.

At the close of 2022, the ILHS published the latest (and the 18^th) in our Studies in Irish Labour History series, Luke Dineen’s “A City of Strikes - The Cork General Lockout of 1909”.  There is a full list of such publications on our website. Among the Society’s activities in 2023 will be a series of essays to mark our half century, publication of Saothar 48 and an international conference in Dublin in September.  

Join with us in the work of promoting and preserving labour history.

Join on our website at www.irishlabourhistorysociety.com.