Feature Article
New union, better benefits
 

Fórsa members can save lots of money with our enhanced package of financial benefits provided or negotiated by the union.

 

Some of these are free to all Fórsa members.

 

Others are optional benefits, available only to Fórsa members, which can mean savings on insurance, salary protection, additional pension coverage and more.


Fórsa members can save lots of money with our enhanced package of financial benefits provided or negotiated by the union. Some of these are free to all Fórsa members. Others are optional benefits, available only to Fórsa members, which can mean savings on insurance, salary protection, additional pension coverage and more.
 
Fórsa members are entitled to*
  • €5,000 personal accident cover
  • €5,000 critical illness or death benefit
  • Spouses covered for death benefit too
  • €5,000 illness benefit if you’re out of work for more than 12 months
  • Evacuation or repatriation expenses up to €250,000 for members deceased, seriously injured or ill abroad
Free Fórsa helplines
  • 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
  • Free legal help in bodily injury cases  1850-77-66-44
  • Free 24/7 legal advice helpline   1850-77-66-44
  • Free 24/7 confidential counselling helpline 1850-77-66-55
  • Free 24/7 domestic assistance helpline  1850-77-66-44
Fórsa members can opt into Fórsa-facilitated financial benefits
  • Car insurance
  • Home insurance
  • Travel insurance
  • Additional pension benefits
  • Salary protection and life cover.
* Terms, conditions and some restrictions apply.
 
Get application forms and terms and conditions HERE

Articles A
Action on new entrants must be fast-tracked
by Bernard Harbor
 

Fórsa has called on the Government to allocate funds in October’s Budget to begin shortening pay scales for ‘new entrants’ to non-commercial semi-state organisations next year. This would be earlier than originally envisaged in the current public sector pay deal, the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA).


Fórsa has called on the Government to allocate funds in October’s Budget to begin shortening pay scales for ‘new entrants’ to non-commercial semi-state organisations next year. This would be earlier than originally envisaged in the current public sector pay deal, the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA).


Speaking at the union’s Civil Service Division conference in Killarney last week, Fórsa joint general secretary Tom Geraghty accepted that no money was budgeted to resolve the injustice in 2018.


“While it is correct to say that no monies have been allocated to do this in 2018, I believe that Ireland’s strengthening economic and exchequer recovery means it should be possible to start funding it next year, rather than delaying until 2020 or beyond. That would require funds to be allocated in October’s Budget,” he said.


Tom and other officers of ICTU’s Public Services Committee will meet senior Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) officials to discuss the matter on Friday (27th April). The talks are taking place under the PSSA agreement, negotiated last summer, which allows for an “examination” of the new entrants’ pay issue.


Measures in the agreement are applied in non-commercial semi-state organisations.


Friday’s meeting is likely to be the first of a series of engagements dealing with the practicalities of equalising the length of pay scales. The Government has not conceded Fórsa’s call for some money to change hands next year, despite recent media reports that pay adjustments may be “on the way” for new entrants.


The union has also cautioned that media reports of payments averaging €3,300 a year are overblown, as this figure includes employer costs – like employers’ PRSI payments – which do not appear in pay packets.


The term ‘new entrants’ refers to those employed in the public service and non-commercial semi-states since January 2011. Their pay scales are currently two points longer than those of other staff, which means it takes them two years longer to get to the top of their pay scale.


Negotiators must confront the technical challenges presented by the fact that the length of pay scales varies widely across the civil and public service. Unions also want to ensure that any solution is fair to all new entrants, regardless of how long they have been employed.


Tom said pay equity was a priority for all trade unions, which had addressed the inequity in various national pay talks. “Every bit of progress in addressing this injustice has been achieved by unions collectively, through national pay negotiations and public service pay agreements,” he said.

WRC wants flexi pilot by May
by Bernard Harbor
 

The oversight body that monitors the implementation of public service agreements has said it wants a pilot flexitime system in place in Roscommon county council in time for the May and June flexi periods.


The oversight body that monitors the implementation of public service agreements has said it wants a pilot flexitime system in place in Roscommon county council in time for the May and June flexi periods.

 

In a letter to unions and employers involved with the longstanding row over the county’s refusal to allow staff the same flexitime rights as those in other local authorities, the chair of the oversight body also clarified its understanding of how a flexitime system should work, saying it “is generally applicable, but is subject to restriction or limitation on occasions when required by work peaks or flows.”

 

Fórsa sees this as significant because the Roscommon county manager has sought to all-but-abolish flexitime on the basis that a business case must be made for each individual flexi request.

 

The oversight body also said it believed that the differences between the union and management were surmountable.

 

Fórsa official Padraig Mulligan welcomed the oversight body’s conclusions. “We look forward to working with Roscommon council and the Local Government Management Association to finally resolve our significant, but not insurmountable differences,” he said.

Scouting staff fear for service
by Bernard Harbor
 

Fόrsa official Dessie Robinson has written to minister for children Katherine Zappone seeking assurances that her decision to withhold state funding from Scouting Ireland won’t undermine services or prevent the payment of salaries.

 


Fόrsa official Dessie Robinson has written to minister for children Katherine Zappone seeking assurances that her decision to withhold state funding from Scouting Ireland won’t undermine services or prevent the payment of salaries.

 

Significant state funding has been withheld pending an examination of the organisation’s governance, including its handling of child protection allegations.

 

Scouting Ireland received over €875,000 from the Department last year. A spokesperson for the minister recently told the Irish Times, that further funding would be withheld “until such time as she is satisfied with the governance of the organisation.”

 

In his letter to the Minister, Dessie said staff in the organisation agreed that Scouting Ireland should follow best practice regarding governance issues, particularly with regard to child protection. “However, they also have serious concerns that the sudden withdrawal of funding could impact negatively on the services they provide on behalf of their employer,” he said.

 

“You will understand that staff also have fears about the impact that funding withdrawal could have on their own livelihoods,” he added.

Muno backs Sweeney process
Agreement extends retirement age to 60 for fire brigade staff
by Niall Shanahan
 

Members of the Dublin Fire Brigade Section of Fórsa’s Municipal Employees‘ branch have voted overwhelmingly in favour of an agreement covering a range of issues including the extension of the retirement age to 60.


Members of the Dublin Fire Brigade Section of Fórsa’s Municipal Employees‘ branch have voted overwhelmingly in favour of an agreement covering a range of issues including the establishment of an option to extend the retirement age to 60.

 

Fórsa assistant general secretary Dessie Robinson explained there is a variance in the retirement age within Dublin Fire Brigade. "Fire fighters who joined the service before 1996 can continue working to 65 years of age. Those who joined the service after 1996 are required to retire at 55. Under the terms of this agreement the normal retirement age will remain at 55. Extension beyond that age will be by application and subject to satisfactory medical.”

 

The agreement, known as the ‘Sweeney Process’, also covers productivity, overtime rates, compensation agreement and stand down time.

 

The agreement followed discussions, facilitated by Sheamus Sweeney, between Dublin Fire Brigade management with Fórsa and SIPTU trade unions.

 

Dessie explained, “The discussions came about following a request to review the retirement age for fire brigade staff, which had varied between 55 and 65. The agreed process will require a change to retirement age legislation.

 

“The process covers a comprehensive menu of items that needed to be addressed. Members have backed this by a ballot so we expect discussions to implement these measures shortly,” he said.

14,000 carers to benefit from free GP care
by Niall Shanahan
 

The Department of Health is to draft legislation to allow 14,000 carers to benefit from free GP care. The legislation is to provide in law for eligibility for GP services without charge to be extended to all those in receipt of Carer’s Allowance or Carer’s Benefit.


The Department of Health is to draft legislation to allow 14,000 carers to benefit from free GP care. The legislation is to provide in law for eligibility for GP services without charge to be extended to all those in receipt of Carer’s Allowance or Carer’s Benefit.

 

Announcing that he had received Cabinet approval to draft the legislation earlier this month, Minister for Health Simon Harris said, "This Government recognises the need for further supports for those who are caring for the most vulnerable in our society.

 

“This measure will enable people who are in receipt of full, or half-rate, Carer’s Allowance or Carer’s Benefit to qualify automatically for GP care without fees. Carers willingly give up a great deal to provide care to family members and others, and I hope that this concrete support from the State for their mental and physical wellbeing will help alleviate some of the strain," he said.

 

Government plans to provide free GP visit cards, and additional spending on respite care, were announced last December.

 

The measures were welcomed by Family Carers Ireland. However, the family carers advocacy organisation said that, as only one in four carers actually receive Carer’s Allowance - mainly due to the means test - the group has called for all carers in receipt of the Carer’s Support Grant to receive the card, extending the service to 25,000 additional carers.

 

Further supports and information for carers are available from the HSE here.

 

Family Carers Ireland website.

Fórsa audio bulletin episode 6
by Hazel Gavigan (audio editor)

A special episode focusing on Fórsa's first ever services and enterprises and civil servcie divisional conferences. Starting with the services and enterprises division on the 12th and 13th of April and then the civil service division on the 18th and 19th, we cover some of the main motions discussed over the four days. Presented by Hazel Gavigan and Diarmaid Mac A Bhaird.


Also in this issue
Youth Committee events news
by Niall Shanahan
 

Forsa's Youth Committee has not one, but two events coming up.


Forsa's Youth Committee has not one, but two events coming up, kicking off with the next meeting of the committee this coming Thursday (26th April) from 2pm to 4pm at Nerney's Court. The meeting is preceded by training for members of the committee from 11am.
 
Fórsa lead organiser Joe O'Connor is actively encouraging Fórsa members, aged 35 or under, to contact him directly if you've an interest in joining the committee.
 
The Youth Committee is also hosting a quiz event at Nerney's Court on Thursday 3rd May, more details are available here, and Facebook event details are available here.
BLOG: When the man with a van is his very own man
by Bernard Harbor
 
We used to joke that my younger brother Kevin was from the Dutch side of the family. We were Harbors and he was a Van Driver. Geddit?
 
Anyway, he drove a van for a living and one day, much to our surprise, Kevin announced that he was now self-employed.
 
In our late-1980s working class circle, this seemingly entrepreneurial break from the world of employment was as unusual as it was unexpected.
 
Except it wasn’t what it seemed.
 
What had happened was this. One morning, Kevin’s boss told him he was now self-employed. He could rent the van and would do his deliveries as before. Only now he was a contractor, not an employee. And he’d have to sort out his own tax and insurance.
 
They privatised the buses around the same time. That’s another story but, like Kevin’s newfound small businessman status, back then it seemed as inexplicable as it was unsettling.
 
Sure enough, a short while later the ‘contracts’ from (though not the van repayments to) Kevin’s former boss thinned out. Then they disappeared. No redeployment. No holiday pay. No redundancy. No responsibilities.

(Contd.)
 
Cool platforms
 
Almost three decades later, as the Ubers, Deliveroos, Amazons and others rushed to explain that they were ‘platforms’ not employers, I started to hear the term ‘gig economy.’ I came to realise that my unwitting little brother was among its pioneers but, no matter how cool it might sound now, I was right about that unsettling feeling.
 
Countless workers who would simply have been employees in previous eras now work as ‘contractors’ without the protections against sub-minimum wage and unfair dismissal – or benefits like paid holidays and sick leave – that the rest of us take for granted.
 
Cue teams of legal, trade union and academic experts wrestling with the distinction between employed and contractor status, and the thorny challenge of maintaining employees’ rights in situations where – how to put it? – they just ain’t employees
 
One of those experts, Jeremias Prassl of Magdalen College Oxford, spoke at the prestigious Industrial Relations News conference in Dublin earlier this year. He reckons substantive aspects of laws governing rights at work need to be reviewed to protect workers in the new dispensation.
 
Confronted with zero-hour arrangements, bogus self-employment, and other new forms of work organisation, Professor Prassl said unions must address the limits of laws on unfair dismissal, minimum wages, and qualifying periods for job protection.
 
But he says reform of social welfare and taxation policy is as, if not more, important. That’s because the so-called gig economy is luring people away from standard employment relationships by offering them a “no income tax” proposition.
 
Less attractive
 
Stephen Holst of legal firm McCann Fitzgerald agrees that tax and PRSI reforms “could be the biggest driver of change” in this area. He says at least €60 million a year is lost to the Irish exchequer through the false classification of work as self-employment, which allows companies to avoid paying employers’ PRSI.
 
Holst said these arrangements – including the prospect of lower income tax bills – can look attractive to workers at first. But they are less appealing when you need to fall back on PRSI-related benefits like maternity leave, pensions and social security.
 
Prassi said there was evidence that the gig economy was causing huge tax losses in other jurisdictions too. And he added that moving workers out of the PAYE system meant they carried all the burden of tax compliance.
 
Yet this issue could be relatively easy to address because all the data about who works, who for, and for how much, exists on the platforms – like Uber and Deliveroo – that typify the gig economy.
 
Should those of us in steady employment be concerned? A recent report from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) found that precarious ‘gig economy’ working arrangements were now spreading, including into the seemingly safe neighbourhoods of public administration, health and education.
 
Insecure and Uncertain: Precarious Work in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, revealed that 8% of the Republic’s workforce – or over 158,000 people – see significant variations in their weekly or monthly working hours. Another 7% are in temporary employment, often simply because they can’t find permanent work.
 
The union study found that female and young workers are most likely to be stuck in precarious or insecure jobs. And, while uncertain work is most common in distribution, hotels, catering, retail and construction, it’s spreading to other areas including the public service.

Alarming
 
The alarming growth in precarious work since 2008 has prompted ICTU to urge the Government to legislate to address the problem. It wants new laws to guarantee the right to a minimum number of working hours, and to provide workers with a written statement of their terms and conditions from day one of their employment.
 
Meanwhile, Labour’s Ged Nash is to speak at Fórsa’s Services and Enterprises Divisional conference about his proposed legislation aimed at strengthening protections for precarious workers. His proposals go further than new laws envisaged by the Government, which would ban zero hour contracts in all situations except emergency cover, short-term relief work, or genuine casual work.
 
The Congress report says the coalition’s approach is insufficient against the background of a dramatic 34% rise in part-time work and self-employment, which it says is “indicative of significant growth in bogus or false self-employment.”
 
Meanwhile, Professor Prassl says unions must avoid “falling into a crazy Luddite trap,” and should instead take on the negative aspects of the changing economy while embracing technology and innovation. “Over the centuries, technology has never destroyed the net amount of work, but it has made it better, safer, and more fun,” he says.
 
Unions also face the practical challenge of developing services that gig workers actually want. Things like advice on contracts and intelligence about good and bad ‘gig’ employers are not standard trade union fare, but they would be a real boost to the Kevins of today.
 
On the plus side, Prassl makes the rather obvious point that reaching and communicating with gig workers shouldn’t be that difficult, After all, they are – they have to be – among the most IT and social media literate people on the planet.
 
In any case, unions will have to up their game to stay relevant if, as seems likely, the sector keeps growing at its current rate.
 
This article was first published in Issue No.2 of Fórsa magazine which is available in your workplace now. You can download the magazine here