On Friday, 31st May 2024, Fórsa’s Skills Academy hosted a well-attended Lunch & Learn session focused on domestic violence awareness. This session, facilitated by Niamh Wilson from Women’s Aid and Fiona Dunne, Fórsa’s director of training, covered key areas including Women's Aid’s crucial role in raising awareness about the prevalence, forms, and impacts of domestic abuse. 

The event is the latest in a long string of actions with roots in multiple motions that were passed at national conference back in 2022, with the aim of improving workplace interventions related to domestic violence.
 
The workshop also looked at the intersection of domestic violence and the workplace, and how to respond to disclosures. A recording of the session is available on Fórsa’s YouTube channel.  

"Supporting women to stay in work is so important. One in ten women who experience domestic abuse will end up losing their job because of domestic abuse. And this is where employees, colleagues, managers, HR people can really make critical interventions to help avoid that terrible outcome for women," outlined Niamh Wilson. 

For more information and support options, members were encouraged to visit Women’s Aid services. Ideas for workplace awareness initiatives can be found here, and general awareness videos in multiple languages are accessible here. These videos feature women from diverse communities in Ireland, sharing signs of domestic violence and how to access help safely.

Tackling domestic violence has been a key focus for Fórsa. At the union's national conference in 2022, eight separate motions on domestic and gender-based violence were presented by various branches. The delegates in the hall demonstrated a keen sense of feeling and determination on the issue. Recognising the importance of domestic violence leave, the National Executive Council (NEC) then prioritised this issue, ensuring it was placed prominently on the industrial agenda across all divisions.

This led to extensive campaigning, a cross-divisional membership survey, and cooperation with Women’s Aid. In 2023, paid domestic violence leave became law through the introduction of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill (2023).

Despite initial proposals capping domestic violence leave payments at 70% of salary or €110 per day, interventions by Fórsa and other stakeholders resulted in increasing the payment to the worker’s normal daily rate of pay.

As the new law only provides for five statutory days of domestic violence leave, the union is continuing to campaign until ten days is achieved, a measure supported by Women’s Aid and international research.

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