Fórsa and other public service unions are expecting contact from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) after Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told RTÉ that the Government was prepared to make an improved offer in pay talks.

The negotiations ended without agreement last Friday (17th June) after Government proposals fell far short of 2021 inflation and projected 2022 cost-of-living increases.

The talks were convened after the ICTU Public Services Committee invoked a review clause in the current public service agreement, Building Momentum, on foot of high and sustained inflation that wasn’t predicted when the deal was agreed.

But union negotiators today said the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) had offered supplementary pay rises of just 2.5% for the period 2021-2022, despite expected annual inflation of at least 9% over the two-year period.

Another 2.5% was proposed for next year – despite inflation projections of up to twice that figure in 2023 – as Government negotiators sought to extend Building Momentum into a third year.

Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan, who is leading the union team in the talks, said the Government proposals fell far short of projected inflation, and could not credibly have been put to members in union ballots.

He added that they would send a signal to employers across the economy that workers should bear the brunt of large and sustained increases in the cost of home heating, fuel, food, housing, childcare, and other essentials.

“The real-term shortfall between the modest pay increases in the current public service agreement and rising living costs is huge and could yet grow. In 2021, the gap between annualised Building Momentum increases and annualised inflation was 2.15%. If inflation averages 7% this year – and it could well be higher – the 2022 gap would be 6.75%. Who knows what 2023 will bring?

“Against this background, the Government’s proposals would leave low and middle-income public servants struggling to pay essential bills. And it would send a message to employers across the economy that workers alone must pick up the tab for out-of-control price hikes. Workers don’t cause inflation, they and their families are the victims of inflation,” he said.

Kevin added that, if the WRC saw value in another engagement, the union side would be available.

“Earlier this week I warned that the Government’s objective of extending the Building Momentum agreement into 2023 could not be a substitute for addressing the 2021-2022 living standards deficit, and that these talks would fail if this cost-of-living shortfall was not adequately addressed.

“We worked in good faith to avoid this breakdown, but the proposals we were presented with overnight could not credibly be put to union members, who rightly decide whether we enter or extend any agreement. The Government now needs to return with a more realistic offer that can maintain stability in public service delivery and industrial relations,” he said.

The so-called Haddington Road hours - additional working time introduced in the public service in 2013 – are abolished with effect from next Friday (1st July), when thousands of civil and public servants will see their working time restored to pre-austerity levels.

The hours were introduced in 2013, but most people who saw their working time increased will now return to pre-2013 levels, albeit with a floor of 35 hours a week.

The reduction in working time also benefits thousands of people who joined the civil and public service after 2013.

When the Government accepted the report that recommended restoration of the hours last April, it said measures would be required to ensure safe implementation in the health service.

A document since published by the HSE includes a target of maximising the number of health workers returning to pre-austerity house on 1st July. Payment arrangements will be put in place for those who can’t return to the reduced hours immediately.

The breakthrough was achieved following the formation of Fórsa, which brought 80,000 public servants – including thousands of activists and workplace reps – into one strong and united trade union.

The union made the restoration of the hours a top priority in the negotiations that led to the current public service agreement, and insisted there’d be no deal unless the issue was addressed.

Fórsa’s strategy won support from other unions, and Building Momentum established an independent body to resolve the issue. Its January 2022 report recommended a return to 2012 working time, with a minimum working week of 35 hours.

The union’s general secretary Kevin Callinan said the achievement was won because Fórsa had the determination, capacity, belief and collective strength to make it happen, despite dogged management resistance.

“Now we need to build our collective strength to tackle the big challenges facing working people and their families today – issues like pay and the cost-of-living crisis, remote and blended working, childcare, and flexible work arrangements,” he said.

Civil service circular 14/2022  which was published at the end of last month, confirms the details of the union-negotiated restoration of pre-Haddington Road working hours, albeit with a floor of 35 hours a week.

The circular, which is now set to be rolled out across the public service, implements an independent body’s recommendation that public service employees’ working time should be restored.

Read our FAQs HERE. 

Fórsa has backed the growing calls for domestic violence leave legislation. The union’s national secretary Ashley Connolly said the Covid-19 pandemic had exposed the need for a better response to victims of domestic violence.

Last month, delegates at Fórsa’s national conference called for new laws to establish the right to statutory paid leave as part of a package of workplace measures to assist victims of domestic violence.

Ashley said these measures were necessary because women living with, or escaping from, domestic abuse are far more likely to have several urgent and important appointments to attend.

“These include medical visits, legal proceedings, counselling for themselves or their children, changing children’s schools. Most can’t do this outside working hours, either because the services aren’t available or, worse, because they need to hide this from their abusers.

“Victims end up having to take unpaid leave, use up annual leave, or even miss work and risk losing the very job that gets them out of an abusive situation, if only for a few hours each day,” she said.

Women's Aid chief executive Sarah Benson recently said that extra leave was important as many victims have to take annual leave or even unpaid leave to deal with the upheaval that comes with domestic violence.

“Many women already have a limited income and a wage cut due to unpaid leave may be very difficult to manage. In certain cases, they may leave or lose their job,” she said.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions policy officer Laura Bambrick said the issue of who pays for the domestic leave also needed to be addressed. She called for cooperation from representatives for employers’ bodies.

Delegates at the union’s conference last month had unanimously backed a conference motion from the union’s national executive calling for statutory paid leave for victims of domestic violence.

Data from the advocacy group Safe Ireland, found that nearly 3,500 women and 600 children contacted a domestic violence service for the first time during the opening six months of the pandemic.

Ashley said that 249 women have died violently in Ireland between 1996 and 2022, one in four women in Ireland have been subjected to some form of abuse, while studies have found that 40% of victims said the abuse affected their ability to get to work, and almost 60% said they had to take time off work because of the abuse.

The conference motion commits the union to actively campaign to legislate for an effective statutory entitlement to paid leave for victims of domestic violence, encourage the union’s networks to raise the issue of workplace supports for victims and survivors of domestic violence with employers in their sectors, and investigate the potential of extending the union’s existing counselling service to include a dedicated confidential service for victims of domestic abuse and gender-based violence.

Fórsa and other health unions have called on the health minister to follow through on his commitment that healthcare workers will continue to receive special leave with pay if they are suffering from long Covid. The move follows the Department of Social Protection’s extension of the Covid enhanced illness scheme until September.

The union’s welcomed the extension and called on minister Donnelly to mirror the move for public sector healthcare workers by extending the special leave scheme.

They have also referred the issue to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), which has offered to arrange a meeting next Monday (27th June). But neither the HSE nor the health department have yet agreed to attend.

About 0.2% of the health workforce are suffering from long Covid, and unions say they should be protected from financial loss due to an injury sustained at work.

Union membership is becoming an increasingly female phenomenon, as there are now more women than men in trade unions. That’s according to the latest findings from the UCD Smurfit business school.

Drawing from a nationally representative sample of over 2,000 workers across the country, the research looked at the structure of union membership, attitudes towards unions, the perceived effectiveness of unions, and collective bargaining coverage.

The Working in Ireland Survey found that the growth in female participation in the labour market is matched by growing numbers of women joining trade unions.

The study also found considerable support for union representation among non-union employees, with as many as four out of every ten non-union workers saying they would vote to establish a union in their workplace.

Young workers were particularly well disposed to seeking union representation, although membership levels are currently highest among workers aged between 55 and 64.

The public sector boasts the highest concentrations of union membership.

Read the findings HERE. 

A new academic study has found that working at home is less likely to lead to work intensification in organisations where there’s a recognised trade union. The UCD report also said unions helped tackle increased stress and other health and wellbeing issues associated with remote work.

Like most similar studies, the report found that most employees favour a hybrid form of working where they work some days at home and others in the workplace. This preference was strongest among workers living in cities and commuter belts.

Just a over a third (35%) expressed a preference for returning to work in the workplace all or most of the time.

The study also found that remote working increased productivity as workers were able to concentrate better, increase their effort and save commuting time when working from home.

But it said this intensification of employees’ effort levels could lead to increased stress, an inability to disconnect from work, and poorer health and wellbeing. These outcomes were particularly associated with women workers and parents of children aged 8 to 18.

The report said unions can play an important role in moderating the more harmful effects of homeworking, but warned that the challenges of protecting a dispersed workforce were significant.

“The advantages of homeworking for our society and communities are considerable: less commuting, less pollution, more time spent with our families and in our communities, and greater flexibility to organise our work around our domestic duties and caring responsibilities,” it said.

Read the report HERE.

Fórsa’s Health and Welfare Divisional Executive Committee has published a strategic plan for 2022-2024. The paper outlines how the union will meet health service challenges and pursue better outcomes for workers across the sector.

The plan sets out five core objectives:

• Organising to create a stronger more powerful union
• Delivering for members
• Campaigning and influencing
• Building an efficient and effective union
• Futureproofing Fórsa for the challenges ahead.

It is underpinned by motions passed by local branches at the 2020 divisional conference in 2020, and also takes inspiration from Fórsa’s overall strategic plan for 2021-2025. This looks to create a stronger, more powerful union.

The union’s national health team has identified the recruitment of health and social care professionals (HSCPs) as a priority objective. They say that higher union membership in this area will enable the union to improve their career structures.

The strategic plan includes a continued focus on the delivery and funding of quality public services and lobbying Government to adequately fund health and welfare services. The Health and Welfare Executive Committee is committed to working with Fórsa’s campaign and communication teams to maximise success.

The report also highlights the situation faced by section 39 and section 56 agency workers, particularly the disparity between their pay and conditions and those of staff directly employed by the HSE and section 38 agencies.

In September 2021 Fórsa launched a report on a new systemic funding model for the voluntary and community sector. It examined the need to rebuild and refinance the voluntary and community sector with a more sustainable and appropriate funding model. The report underpins and will guide the union’s strategy in the sector in the coming years.

Read the full strategic report HERE.

A new 80,000-member strong salary protection scheme was launched on 1st June. The culmination of two years of work and packed with new benefits, the Fórsa Salary Protection Scheme is a merger of four separate schemes available to members of the three unions that amalgamated to create the new union in 2018.

The merger of the schemes will also stabilise the price, while ensuring fairness and equal access for all union members. Had the schemes remained separate, it’s likely that there would have been significant increase in rates for all the schemes.

All scheme members are now covered for:

• Disability benefit up to 75% of salary*
• New death benefit, which is typically two times annual salary
• New specified illness benefit: A once-off lump sum of 25% of annual salary for 55 specified illnesses**
• New partial payment specified illness benefit: A once-off lump sum of €12,500 or 12.5% of annual salary (whichever is less) for one of the 36 less severe, but still life altering, conditions
• New children’s specified illness benefit: An additional benefit of €15,000 if your child suffers a specified illness, or €7,500 if your child suffers a partial payment specified illness
• New Fórsa MyDoc: An easy phone and online healthcare service for you, your spouse or partner, and dependent family members living with you. Book free consultations and get prescriptions, sick certs or referrals
• Terminal illness benefit: 25% of death benefit, accidental death benefit
• New breast and prostate education and preventative programme run through Beaumont and Bon Secours hospitals
• New tax return service for claimants
• New will service for members.

The new scheme is open to Fórsa members in hundreds of different grades, professions and occupations. And it means that members in civil service executive and clerical grades will now have access to the full suite of benefits that were previously only available to other Fórsa members.

These include life cover, specified illness, and retired members life cover.

It also means civil service clerical officers won’t have to apply to transfer to a different scheme if they’re promoted. Existing executive and clerical scheme members will benefit from the additional benefits at no charge for the first six months from the date of the review.

After that, the cost of full membership is 1.99% of gross salary with effect from 1st December 2022. But existing executive and clerical scheme members can opt out of the full benefits prior to September and maintain the income protection benefit only at a cost of 1.44% of gross salary.

Cornmarket, which administrates the merged scheme, is to write to members individually to notify them of the changes. Meanwhile, all existing schemes members will automatically transfer to the new scheme on the enhanced benefits set out above.

Find out more

If you have questions, or want to make a claim, you can speak to a member of Cornmarket’s team on these numbers:

• Queries and questions: 01-408- 6280 or spsadmin@cornmarket.ie
• Claims: 01-408 4018 or spsclaims@cornmarket.ie.

Watch a short video about the new scheme HERE.

Read the full terms and conditions, including a full list of specified illnesses and the policy definition and criteria of each illness, HERE. 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

*Less any other income that you may be entitled to (eg, half pay, ill health, early retirement pension, temporary rehabilitation remuneration, state illness benefit or state invalidity pension).

** There is only one specified illnesses benefit and one partial claim per member per scheme.

The head of Fórsa’s local government and municipal employees division, Dessie Robinson, is retiring from the union today (Friday).

From 1975, Dessie worked for years in Semperit Ireland, where he was a leading workplace representative. An expert in health and safety, he then went to work with the Education and Training Services Division of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in 1997.

Dessie joined IMPACT as an assistant general secretary in 2003. His assignments included responsibility for the Dublin boards and voluntary agencies, Dublin hospitals, special needs assistants, school secretaries and the Dublin local authorities.

He took up the lead position in the union’s Local Government Division and Municipal Employees’ Division last June.

Apart from his outstanding work as a union official for over 19 years, Dessie’s popularity among staff colleagues and elected representatives is extremely difficult to match.

His sharp sense of humour helped buoy many of us up during good days and bad, and he has forged many lasting friendships in Fórsa.

In 2008, Dessie co-founded the Fórsa conference charity cycle, a project that has raised over €160,000 for small but crucial charities with weak funding streams.

He also has a keen interest in terrible music. The tan is real, and we think the teeth are too. And he definitely selects his own range of apparel, some of which comes equipped with volume buttons.

He will be greatly missed by all his friends and colleagues in Fórsa and the wider trade union movement.

A scaling up of local authority-built affordable housing would help resolve the housing crisis, according to speakers at an event organised by the Fórsa-backed Raise the Roof housing campaign earlier this week.

The seminar heard that the local council in Vienna, Austria, had reduced waiting times for social housing to under two years by building 6,000 apartments, and refurbishing around 4,000 homes each year.

Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan told the seminar that the housing crisis had got worse since the pandemic struck.

“The figures support that idea that we have moved from a crisis to a disaster. There are 60,000 households on the public housing list, as well as an estimated 30,000 ‘hidden homeless’ forced to share with family or friends,” he said.

The event was hosted by Dublin Lord Mayor Alison Gillialand, who called for more public housing and affordable rental properties. Christian Shantl of the Wiener Wohen Austrian housing group said Ireland could learn from the Vienna Model.

Kevin Callinan said local authorities and trade unions had a big role in fixing this crisis.

“Adequately supported local authorities can deliver housing. Local authorities are not motivated by profits and can deliver high quality housing at a fraction of the cost of private developers. In 1975 they built 8,794 new homes when resources were scarce while in 2019 only 1,000 homes were built.

“Trade unions also have an important part to play. Fórsa’s ‘more power to you’ campaign calls for investment in direct maintenance staff, a new local authority led public housing financial model for housing that operates on a cost-rental basis and a referendum on the right to housing,” he said.

‘Raise the roof’ is continuing its campaign with a series of meeting over the coming weeks. The first taking place in Siptu Hall in Galway, on 28th June. A meeting is also planned for the Glenroyal Hotel in Maynooth on 4th July.

Fórsa has welcomed draft Government proposals to replace the statutory minimum wage with a higher ‘living wage.’ Tánaiste Leo Varadkar last week announced his proposal to gradually introduce a living wage for all employees over four years, starting from 2023.

A living wage is the average hourly full-time salary needed by a single individual without dependents to afford a socially acceptable minimum standard of living. It’s currently set at €12.17 an hour, compared to the legal minimum of just €10.50.

The Government’s move comes on foot of Low Pay Commission recommendations on how the living wage could best be introduced. The Commission found that a statutory wage floor set at 60% of the economy-wide median wage could be implemented without substantial effects on employment.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ general secretary Patricia King said the decision was “a milestone towards addressing endemic low pay in the Irish labour market.”

The Low Pay Commission has also recommended that the rate could be adjusted from 60% to 66% of median earnings in the future.

ICTU said the the new living wage rate should be applied to all workers including young workers who do the same jobs, pay the same taxes, and have similar food and rent costs.

Its social policy chief Laura Bambrick said: “This living wage proposal will abolish hourly low pay. So, it is hugely significant not just for trade unions but the hundreds of thousands of workers on the lowest rung of the pay ladder.”

The Low Pay Commission’s report on the Living Wage, and the accompanying research report, are available here.

Fórsa has joined unions across Europe in applauding the work of public servants over the last two years and called for quality public services as it marked international public service day earlier this week.

Unions across Europe celebrated the workers who dedicate their lives to providing public services and make sure people enjoy human rights. The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) said international public service day was a day for all these workers.

The early days of the Covid-19 pandemic saw the world celebrating frontline workers cheering and clapping from the confinement of their homes. EPSU said this was a welcomed mark of appreciation, but that it was not enough.

It called for better pay and conditions for workers in light of the cost of living crisis, and demanded more staffing and better working conditions.

EPSU general secretary Jan Willem said the pandemic had exposed the consequences of liberalisation, austerity and inaction. “Critical staff and resource shortages left hospitals and long-term care facilities unable to cope with the pandemic, contributing to the shocking deaths that characterised Europe’s pandemic experience,” he said.

The International Labour Conference (ILC), organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), has recognised occupational health and safety as the fifth fundamental principle and right at work.

The ILO brings together trade unions and representatives of employers and governments from around the world.

Its original four rights were adopted in 1998, and have not been altered before now. The five fundamentals now in place are:

• Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining
• The elimination of forced or compulsory labour
• The abolition of child labour
• The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation
• Recognition of occupational health and safety as a fundamental principle at work.

This change is the first extension of workers’ fundamental human rights in a quarter of a century.

There were 490 work-related deaths in Ireland between 2010 and 2019.

Trade unions across the globe will now campaign to increase the number of countries ratifying and implementing the ILO health and safety conventions. This can include giving workers the right to consultation over risk assessments, the eradication of long hours and toxic work environments and the right to refuse dangerous work.

Fórsa assistant general secretary Lynn Coffey welcomed the announcement and said workplace health and safety is of the upmost importance.

‘Fórsa has been working tirelessly to ensure workers feel safe and secure in their positions no matter the circumstances. The union is constantly dealing with individuals who may feel in danger due to unsafe work practices or are put into difficult positions by a toxic work atmosphere,” she said.

Lynn added that, as well as the risk of physical injury, difficult work environments can lead to mental health problems. “Recognising occupational health and safety as a fundamental principle in work is a huge step forward in the right direction,” she said.

Fórsa hosted its annual campaign summer series event last weekend. Led by the union’s campaigns director Kevin Donoghue, the event aimed to equip senior union activists with the skills and tools they need to lead local campaigns.

The summer series offers opportunities to discuss and debate on some of the pressing issues of interest to Fórsa activists across a range of economic, social, equality and environmental topics.

This year there was a heavy focus on real-life scenarios and the best way to combat these situations. The two-day event kicked off with founding director of ‘Uplift’ Siobhán O’Donoghue leading a session on campaign development.

This was followed with lobbying training from Chloe Manahon, who is political advisor to Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik,  and media training from Fórsa’s head of communications.

Participans were asked to create a campaign using the skills learnt through the workshops. They were then grilled from makeshift politicians, councillors, journalists, and radio hosts all played by Fórsa staff. The event illustrated how a misplaced comment or quote can change the narrative in running a campaign.

Kevin Donoghue emphasised the importance of being prepared in all aspects when working on campaigns:

“It was important that members felt like this summer series gave a glimpse into what can happen when things go wrong. It was all about learning the skills from our expert speakers and putting them into use.

“I’d like to thank all the members who attended and hope they took home a lot of new information that perhaps they hadn’t known before. The event was certainly a success, and we hope to continue with more events like the summer series in the coming year,” he said.