A ballot of Fórsa members employed in community and voluntary sector agencies funded by the HSE, has returned overwhelming support for industrial action.

In a communication to members this week, Fórsa national secretary Ashley Connolly reported that 99.5% of members balloted had voted in favour of taking industrial action – up to and including strike action - to secure a pay increase in line with the terms set out in the current public service agreement.

The ballot turnout was also high, with 77.5% of ballots returned.

Ashley thanked members for supporting the ballot and said union reps and staff “now look forward to working with members to ensure our campaign for pay parity is successful and deliver tangible results for members.”

Fórsa members in the following employments were balloted:

• Ability West
• Co-action West Cork
• Daughters Of Charity Child and Family Service
• Don Bosco Care
• Enable Ireland
• Enable Ireland ( Cork )
• Enable Ireland ( Tralee )
• St. Catherines Association Ltd
• St. Josephs Foundation
• St. Lukes Nursing Home
• Western Care Association

The ballot took place in response to what Fórsa and other health unions (the INMO and SIPTU) described as a “derisory” pay offer from the employer at WRC talks at the end of July, and follows years of pay disparity between these and health workers employed by the HSE.

While these agencies are funded by the state, Fórsa members employed in a range of health professional, clinical, clerical and administrative grades, are on lesser terms and conditions than their HSE counterparts.

Ashley commented: “Any prospect of an agreement was essentially extinguished at the end of July, which has made the ballot for industrial action inevitable.

“The Government has been dragging its feet on the issue for years, while making conciliatory noises to health workers who urgently need pay improvements. Their colleagues are walking out the door for better terms elsewhere, and there appears to be no sense of urgency at Government level, despite the growing waiting lists for the services these agencies offer.

“It’s been almost a year since the health minister acknowledged the State’s role as the main, or often sole, funder of these specialist care and community-based agencies. One year on, a yawning pay gap of more than 10% still exists.

“That gap in pay is feeding a huge recruitment and retention crisis in these services. The reality is that if this continues, services will be shut down, and the HSE will then have to step in to provide them.“

Health unions are set to announce a course of industrial action on Monday 25th September.

Are you ready for statutory regulation? Fórsa will be hosting a one-day conference that will go through all aspects of statutory regulation for Social Care Workers.

The event will take place on Wednesday 18th October at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin 8 and is organised exclusively for Fórsa members and is free of charge for members in benefit.

From how to register during grandparenting, to understanding what the code of conduct will mean, to what CPD requirements will be in place - this conference is not to be missed ahead of the Social Care Worker register opening on 30th November 2023.

Margaret Hynds O’Flanagan, Registrar of CORU, will give a keynote address to attendees and members will have the opportunity to ask any questions or queries they may have on the statutory regulation. Other speakers will be announced shortly.

Fórsa National Secretary, Linda Kelly is encouraging all members to register and attend given the importance of statutory regulation for the profession. To register for the event, you can click HERE.

Please register as soon as possible as spaces are limited. For further information about the conference,  you can click here or contact Sheena Clarke at sclarke@forsa.ie

On the 17th of October, Fórsa and the National Association of Hospital Pharmacy Technicians (NAHPT) will launch a position paper setting out the case for statutory regulation of hospital pharmacy technicians in the Republic of Ireland.

Senior decision makers from across the health service, statutory regulation, and the political system have been invited to the launch, which will take place in Buswells Hotel, Dublin 2.

In the Republic of Ireland there is currently no official definition for the hospital pharmacy technician role and no official regulation of education and training. The position paper looks to rectify this.

Hospital pharmacy technicians are skilled medical professionals responsible for a large remit of healthcare services. Some of their key responsibilities involve, but are not limited to, compounding chemotherapy drug treatments, administering to and counselling patients on drug treatments, managing hospital budgets for procurement, monitoring the use of regulated medications, and reconstituting vaccines.

Fórsa National Secretary, Linda Kelly has emphasised the importance of this paper: “This is a seminal moment for Hospital Pharmacy Technicians and the support of this position paper is key to ensuring that it becomes national policy.

“We hope that every hospital will support the launch by nominating a small number of staff to attend and encourage all members to sign up for the event.”

You can register for the event by clicking HERE. If you have any further questions, you can contact Sheena Clarke at sclarke@forsa.ie.

A new memoir by career social worker and author Patrick O’Dea has just been published. His third book - I, who had it figured out! – documents O’Dea’s personal experience of 40 years as a social worker in Ireland, including 17 years teaching social work at Trinity College, Dublin.

The memoir documents coming of age in 1970s Ireland. Taking his place as a social worker, O’Dea grapples with real lives, while trying to keep faith with social work that aspires to the “empowerment and liberation of people,” as he reflects on his professional journey.

O’Dea’s latest book has attracted a series of robust endorsements. Brid Featherstone, Professor of Social Work, University of Huddersfield, describes the book as “Beautifully written, full of hard-won wisdom, this short memoir asks us to reflect on hope in its many guises and how it has animated a life well lived.”

Former Oxford Vice-Chancellor, Dame Louise Richardson, hails the book as required reading: “Paddy O'Dea's reflections on his path, should be required reading for aspiring young social workers," while Harry Ferguson, Professor of Social Work at the University of Birmingham says the memoir is a ‘tour de force’: “A wonderfully idiosyncratic and entertaining account of a life devoted to care, love, relationships, equality, Dublin, Ireland and the central place of social work within it.”

This is Patrick O’Dea’s third book, following A Class of our own (1994) and Dear Frankie (1998).

I, who had it figured out! is now available to purchase on paperback and Kindle. To purchase, visit HERE.

Dear members,

We are now little more than two weeks away from Budget Day 2024. While the Government will be keen to unveil a financial package that improves its standing with the electorate, the Budget must respond to the continuing challenge of inflation.

Fórsa’s priority is to make sure that the Budget, and upcoming public pay talks, bridge the gap between wages and accumulated inflation.

As every Fórsa member will know, inflation has continued to erode our household spending power in 2023. Every household feels it. In back-to-school costs, groceries, fuel and other basics.

While the rate of inflation has recently shown signs of easing, the cost of living keeps going up, and the value of the money in our pockets can’t keep up.

The most recently published inflationary figures further reveal that, despite being introduced to curb inflation, rising mortgage interest rates are helping to fuel inflation. This means that rising mortgage interest rates have combined with continuing corporate profiteering to erode wages.

Union-negotiated pay deals - including the 2022 review of the Building Momentum public service pay deal - have played a vital role in meeting this challenge, but there remains a gap of close to 10% between wages and accumulated inflation over the past three years.

While the parties of Government have been keen to publicly dangle the prospect of tax cuts in recent weeks, it’s highly unlikely that any such measures will make much of an impression on household incomes, while inflation would quickly wipe out their value.

If the warnings about a possible fall in corporation tax receipts were to be realised, any cuts in income tax or USC may turn out to be temporary.

In any case we can see the need for more spending on services like housing, health and education. Our growing population requires more investment in most public services including childcare and social protection. Improvements that reduce the need to pay or to obtain services privately can help with the cost of living.

At the Labour Employer Economic Forum I have made it clear to the Taoiseach and other senior members of Government that the withdrawal of supports, such as the household energy credit, will place even more pressure on wage bargaining to make good the losses.

It is clear that new pay deals that address the impact of inflation on workers in the public and private sectors will be required to prevent a long-term decline in living standards.

Fórsa expects pay talks, on a successor to the Building Momentum public service pay agreement, to commence in the coming weeks, and we will continue to update you on that process as it develops.

Fórsa’s commitment is to continue to win positive results on behalf of its members. We’ve delivered our message to Government on what Budget 2024 must include to address the gap between inflation and current wages. In entering national pay talks, we are determined to ensure any remaining gap is closed.

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours,

Kevin Callinan

General Secretary.

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

Fórsa’s Skills Academy will host its next Lunch & Learn on Friday 29th September from 1–2pm on the topic of Menopause health and you can sign up here.

This month’s live Lunch and Learn is a great opportunity for members to gain a better understanding of menopause health. We are delighted to welcome guest speaker Dr Caoimhe Hartley, as our guest speaker this month.

Dr Caoimhe is a GP and specialist in women’s health and menopause accredited by the British Menopause Society and the North American Menopause Society. She is also the Clinical Lead of the Complex Menopause Clinic in the Rotunda Hospital and the Founder and Clinical Lead of Menopause Health in Dalkey, Co Dublin. She also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the European Menopause Society.

The aim of the Skills Academy Lunch & Learn series is to provide members with the knowledge to support them as union members or representatives whilst supplementing the broad range of training programmes currently being offered by Skills Academy. Whilst these sessions are predominantly for information, there will be opportunities for participants to ask questions via the chat function.

Closing date to register for this session is Wednesday, 27th September, at 1pm.

You can register to attend the one-hour lunchtime session here.

The Fórsa Skills Academy is the home for all of Fórsa’s training and development initiatives, offering you the practical training you need. We have training at all levels running in the months ahead. Take a look and sign up for the one that suits you best.

Fórsa 101 - New Members Information Session

Fórsa 101 is a short information session which takes place completely online. It’s a great way for new members to better understand the structure of the Union, how it works and how to get more involved.

The next sessions will be held on Wednesday, 11th October - one in the morning at 9:30am and one that evening at 6pm. The sessions will be between 2 to 2 1/2 hours long.

*Special Note to SNAs - due to issues in relation to release from the Department of Education for some courses, SNAs should only apply for the evening course.

Those interested in attending must complete the online application form here. The closing date for registration is: Friday 29th September 2023 at 13:00.

Foundational Workplace Representative Training programme

The Foundational Workplace Representative Training programme is a three-day course for newly elected workplace representatives, or those with less than 2 years representative experience and who have never received Fórsa training previously (except for the Fórsa101 information session). It covers all the basic skills and information that new representatives require to have confidence in the role and get through the first year.

Topics include:

• Branch structure and roles of the Executive Committee
• The role and responsibilities of the Workplace Representative
• Organising and recruiting members
• An introduction to Health and Safety
• An overview of Equality in the Trade Union agenda
• Industrial Relations, handling members' problems and local representation

This is an essential first course for any members undertaking a representative role and is offered in 7 locations throughout the country. Applications will close when the courses have been filled in each location.

Upcoming Foundational training dates:

Tuesday 26th - Thursday 28th September Galway

Tuesday 24th - Thursday 26th October Cork

Tuesday 28th - Thursday 30th November Limerick

Tuesday 27th - Thursday 29th February Sligo

Tuesday 26th - Thursday 28th March Wexford town (Local Trade Union Centre)

Tuesday 23rd - Thursday 25th April Woodford, Santry, Dublin.

You can register for the Foundational Workplace Representative Training programme HERE.

Expanded Workplace Representative Training programme

The Expanded Workplace Representative Training programme is open to those who have more than 2-3 years’ experience in the role of Workplace Representative and have NOT RECEIVED ANY training previously.

The first module focuses on Organising, on day 1 and Industrial Relations on day 2, and takes place on consecutive days on the first week of the month from September through April (except December), across all locations. The specific dates and locations are listed on application form and we would ask applicants to choose the nearest location to them to ensure as many representatives as possible gain access to these courses.

There are also two specialised modules, on Health and Safety, and on Equality. Workplace Representatives and Branch Executive Officers with these specific responsibilities are eligible to apply (provided they have not undertaken this training previously). The dates of these courses are also listed on the application form.

You can register to attend the expanded training programme here.

Upcoming Expanded training dates:

Wednesday 4th - Thursday 5th October 2023 Local Trade Union Centre, Wexford Town

Wednesday 1st - Thursday 2nd November 2023 Sligo

Wednesday 10th - Thursday 11th January 2024 Nerney's Court, Dublin

Wednesday 7th - Thursday 8th February 2024 Limerick

Wednesday 6th - Thursday 7th March 2024 Cork

Wednesday 3rd - Thursday 4th April 2024 Galway

Fórsa has recently donated €1,000 to the Wexford Marine Watch (WMW), a voluntary organisation which provides suicide prevention patrols along Wexford quays, estuary and harbour.

WMW is a registered charity established in December 2012 with the primary purpose to contribute to suicide prevention by identifying and intercepting vulnerable people who may be in difficulty before they harm themselves, by giving them immediate support and to get them to safety as soon as possible.

Previously, in tragic instances, many people in difficulty were not intercepted in time and those who entered the water got swept away by the very strong tidal flows in the harbour. This often resulted in drawn out lengthy searches by voluntary agencies, sometimes for weeks or even months, increasing distress & heartbreak for the families, relatives, search teams, and the wider community.

Fórsa Assistant General Secretary, Paul Moyer, who is a volunteer with the WMV, thanked Fórsa and its members for making this donation: “It is your membership fees that will directly impact in a positive way the communities, families, friends, and work colleagues who rely on Wexford Marine Watch. The donation will be put towards the running, training, and operations of the organisation.”

He added “The Wexford Marine Watch are extremely appreciative of the generous donation from Fórsa. Members across all divisions will benefit from this.”

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

If any branch would like to donate to the Wexford Marine Watch they can do so by contacting Paul at pmoyer@forsa.ie.

Fórsa has teamed up with Cornmarket to offer our members a fantastic opportunity to win a family holiday.

Details of the competition and information about the Fórsa Salary Protection Scheme, which is administered by Cornmarket and underwritten by New Ireland Assurance Company, are detailed here.

The Fórsa Salary Protection Scheme offers Fórsa members income protection, and various other benefits, in the event that they become too unwell to work. The benefits of the scheme are significant, and the cover is only available to workers who are Fórsa members.

To help publicise the benefits of the scheme, Cornmarket are giving away a €2,500 holiday voucher for Center Parcs. So, take a few minutes to read up on the benefits available to you and enter the competition by clicking here before it closes on 30th September 2023.