Health and medical information is provided by qualified nurses from 9.00am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public and bank holidays. If you call outside these times, you can leave a message and you’ll get a call back. Phone: 1890-254-164.

And you can get information on our other free legal, counselling and domestic assistance helplines – exclusive to Fórsa members – HERE.

The union-negotiated ‘new entrants’ pay deal came into force last week, well ahead of the earliest date envisaged in the current public service pay agreement. The new arrangement will see public servants recruited since 2011 skip their fourth and eighth increments.

The change now kicks in on the date on which each individual affected hits their fourth and eighth increment date. It will boost pay, and ensure that new entrants’ reach the top of their pay scales over the same time period as their more experienced colleagues.

The term ‘new entrants’ refers to people who started work in the civil and public service, and organisations linked to it for pay purposes, after 2011 when inferior pay scales for new staff were imposed by the Government without agreement.

These inferior scales, which were worth 10% less at every point of each scale, were abolished at unions’ insistence under the 2013 Haddington Road agreement.

But, until now, new entrants continued to have more lengthy pay scales than their longer-serving colleagues, with two lower pay points at the beginning of each scale.

The Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) established a process to address the problem. Following detailed discussions and inputs from Fórsa and other unions, this resulted in the solution that took effect last week.

Get more detail HERE.

Read the DPER ‘frequently-asked questions’ document HERE.

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has asked Irish Water to set out its rationale for creating a single water authority by 2021, following meetings involving Fórsa, local government management, departmental officials and the WRC last week.

Fórsa and other water unions agreed to the WRC-assisted talks about the future of water services, following consultation with the union’s two divisions that represent water staff in local authorities – the Municipal Employees’ Division and the Local Government Division. 

The union has insisted that the engagement must yield “simultaneous movement” on four strands:

• The future sustainability and revitalisation of local authority services
• A constitutional referendum on public ownership of water services
• The structure and governance of the proposed single water utility, and
• Employment and industrial relations issues that arise from the proposal.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) is coordinating the union side in the talks.

Fόrsa has asked the Local Authority Oversight Group, which monitors the implementation of the national pay deal in the sector, to intervene in a dispute about annual leave for staff who are acting up in a higher grade.

This follows moves by some local authorities to put staff on reduced leave levels while they are performing the duties of a higher grade.

Fόrsa National Secretary Peter Nolan said local government workers had previously been kept on existing leave levels, even after new national leave levels were introduced, until they were properly promoted.

“This is simply unfair. There is no basis for the employer’s position in the Public Service Stability Agreement. That’s why we have asked the oversight group to intervene,” he said.

The founder of one of the first large organisations to switch to a shorter working week has called on others to follow suit, following a successful eight-week trial. New Zealand finance company Perpetual Guardian switched its 240 staff to a four-day week, with no pay reduction, last November. The result has been higher productivity, increased profits and significantly better staff wellbeing.

The trial was supervised by the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology, who surveyed staff after the eight week experiment. They reported marked improvement compared to a 2017 survey in the same workplace.

Results from the trial, which has been closely watched by trade unions, employers and policy makers globally, indicated a 20% increase in productivity, with staff stress down 13% and work-life balance up 14%.

The company’s chief executive Andrew Barnes said staff initially wondered how they could do five days’ work in four days. “Not only could they do their work in four days but they were better able to do the work in four days. That, for me, was the one result from the research which was extraordinarily surprising,” he said.

Fórsa added its voice to international trade union calls for a move to a four-day week at an international conference hosted at the union’s Dublin office last November.

The conference, born from a number of motions brought to Fórsa’s national conference last May, explored the future of working time with a number of experts in the field, who highlighted the evidence-based positive results of shorter working time.

The conference also heard from Fórsa senior general secretary designate Kevin Callinan, who said that reduced working time was again emerging as one of the central issues in international debates over the future of work.

For more information on the study click HERE and HERE.

A ballot for industrial action by Fórsa members in the Cathal Brugha Street campus of Dublin’s new technological university, TUD, has been put on hold. The ballot, by members of the union’s Municipal Employees’ Division, was planned because of the delayed implementation of a 2015 Labour Court recommendation about the introduction of cost saving measures at the college.

Fórsa has told management that the ballot will go ahead if the provisions in the recommendation are not signed off by 1st March. The recommendation provides for promotional opportunities, funded through cost-saving measures.

Fórsa has written to Scouting Ireland to seek assurances after concerns were raised over child safety protection protocols in the organisation. Minister for Children Katherine Zappone told the Dáil last week that child protection agency Tusla had raised concerns over security and procedures in Scouting Ireland.

Fórsa official Dessie Robinson said he has written to Scouting Ireland’s management seeking engagement on the concerns of staff and other issues. “It’s been an extremely difficult 12 months for staff in Scouting Ireland, with funding withdrawn on several occasions, and numerous issues around governance structures,” he said.

Mr Robinson commended the organisation’s staff for their continued commitment in extremely difficult circumstances. He has called on Scouting Ireland’s stakeholders to work towards a swift resolution to the issues and concerns raised.

The Department of Education and Skills (DES) has agreed to review general operative-related staffing levels in the City of Dublin Education and Training Board (CDETB) and revert to the union before Easter. The development follows a meeting between Fórsa and department officials, at which the union outlined concerns about falling auxiliary staff numbers at the facility.

Union representative Una Faulkner said no general operative, porter or cleaning grades had been hired at CDETB in recent years, despite the lifting of the moratorium on public service recruitment. “This has led to considerable stress and strain on municipal members working in this sector,” she said.

The recent meeting was arranged after the union referred the matter to the National Oversight Body, which monitors the implementation of the public service pay agreement. Another meeting has been arranged in order to make progress on the issue before Easter.

Fórsa has welcomed the creation of 15 housing support officer posts as part of a special team in Dublin City Council (DCC). The grade V level posts will be set in a new team operating under the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive.

Fórsa official Dessie Robinson said the creation of the posts was a welcome development. “It’s an acknowledgment of the increasing severity of the homeless crisis and the need for urgent action on the issue,” he said.

The roles will primarily involve interacting with homeless families in emergency accommodation with the aim of helping them into more permanent social housing arrangements. There is also scope for the creation of a further 10 posts should the need arise.

A rally in support of the union-backed ‘Raise the Roof’ housing and homelessness campaign will take place outside Cork City Hall at 5.00pm next Monday (11th March).

Protesters will be calling on Cork City Council to support a housing motion being tabled that evening.

‘Raise the Roof’ brings together a wide range of civil society bodies, including trade unions, political parties and women’s organisations, to demand fundamental action on the housing crisis. The ‘ONE Cork’ network, which brings together trade unions in the city, has been driving next week’s event.

The campaign is calling for a local authority house-building programme, greater security for tenants, and a constitutional right to housing.

Fórsa organiser Joe O’Connor wants the union’s members to show their support. “Fórsa activists and branches are right at the heart of this. We are encouraging all our members based in Cork or nearby counties to attend this rally and give Raise the Roof their full support,” he said.

This will be the first in a series of regional rallies, building up to a national demonstration in May. A similar event is scheduled for Galway on 8th April.

Meanwhile, a new research and advocacy group has been established to campaign on constitutional issues relating to the proposed legal right to housing. ‘Home for Good,’ which is part of the Raise the Roof campaign, is backed by Fórsa and other groups campaigning on the housing crisis.

Figures released by the housing department last week showed a record 9,987 people were homeless in January. Over 3,600 of them were children.

Get more information HERE.

A new Fórsa youth network was launched in February, and the group is now working hard, establishing their presence. Nominations to the network were sought from branches late last year and the newly constituted group, made up of just under 30 young members, held their first meeting last month.

The committee, chaired by Fórsa President Ann McGee, has been charged with highlighting issues relevant to younger members and advocating on their behalf. The inaugural meeting kicked off with a busy agenda, and an engaging and robust discussion around workplace and social issues ensued.

Fórsa’s youth network is open to any member under the age of 35. The union has advised anyone who wants to get involved to contact their branch secretary or email the network HERE.

Welfare supports and weak labour market protections are combining to facilitate low pay, poor working conditions, and insecure and precarious employment, according to the social change think-tank TASC.

The state we are in: inequality in Ireland today says Ireland ranks among the worst in the EU in terms of labour market protections and the regulation of temporary contracts. And inequality here is boosted by relatively high living costs and the lack of universal provision in public services like health, childcare and housing.

Coupled with poor labour market regulation, the report says welfare payments like child benefit, family income supplement and jobseekers’ allowance for part-time workers act as State subsidies for low-paying employers.

Ineffective regulation also puts governments under pressure to subsidise lower middle-income earners in precarious work, it says.

The study finds that the share of income among middle earners is generally stable across many countries. “Where Ireland differs is not that the poorest are unusually poor, but that groups above the bottom 10% get a smaller share compared to our more equal European neighbours,” it says.

TASC also says a high proportion of the population – 24% – are at risk of poverty. Over 27% of children are at risk, while adults with disabilities and lone parents are also particularly vulnerable groups.

Read the report HERE.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has called on the Government to abandon plans for tax cuts, and instead earmark €500 million to deal with the possible fallout of a hard Brexit. In a briefing document published last week, ICTU says a British crash-out from the EU later this month would bring substantial job losses, food price hikes, and a dent in public finances.

The implications of a no-deal Brexit, ICTU’s fourth Brexit briefing, says fears of a hard Brexit have increased, but argues for the softest possible settlement between the UK and the EU.

“The best way to achieve this is to agree the closest possible relationship between the UK and the EU, ideally with the entire UK staying in the single market and the customs union. Only be achieving this can we ensure that jobs and citizens’ and workers’ rights are not negatively affected,” it says.

Meanwhile, Paschal Donohoe has said 400 extra customs staff will be recruited before the end of the March to deal with a new Brexit customs scenario. And another 200 will come on stream soon after that. Speaking in the Dáil last week, the finance minister also said he would provide extra resources to Revenue if they were needed.

Last week, the chief executive of Dublin Port said the number of lorries travelling through Dublin from outside the EU would rise by 800,000 if there was a hard Brexit.

Fórsa’s probation branch will be running a clothing drive to mark International Women’s Day (IWD) on Friday (8th March). The event will support ‘Dress for Success Dublin,’ an organisation that helps women to access employment.

The branch is collecting suits, shirts, unworn tights, shoes, handbags and jewellery. Donations are welcome any time before March 8th to Fiona Daly on the fourth floor and Linda or Mary on the first floor at 9 Haymarket, Smithfield, Dublin 7.

Dress for Success campaigned alongside Fórsa and multiple other groups for the introduction of gender pay gap reporting legislation in Ireland. If enacted, the law would oblige companies above a certain size to publish details of their gender pay gap. The Bill is currently before the Dáil, having passed through the Seanad last October.

The gender pay gap in Ireland today is approximately 14% which is significant to the theme for this IWD - #BalanceforBetter.

Also on this IWD, Fórsa president Ann McGee will speak on a panel at the Irish Congress of Trade Union’s (ICTU) Women’s Committee seminar. The panel, to be chaired by ICTU president Sheila Nunan, will discuss the challenges and opportunities that women in leadership positions face in the trade union movement. Contributors include leading women from various unions across Ireland and the UK.

The event takes place on Thursday and Friday (7th and 8th of March) in Newcastle, County Down, and you can follow proceedings on our Twitter.

At the international level, the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU), of which Fórsa is an affiliate, is sending a delegation to the 63rd UN Commission on the Status of Women. This global event coincides with IWD, and will examine the theme of “social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.”

For more information on this you can follow the hashtags #IWD #EPSUIWD and #publicservicesforequality on Friday.

An increased role for trade unions and collective bargaining, along with improved social security supports and a broader focus on skills, is needed to protect job quality in the face of workplace automation, according to a new report from the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI).

The future of work: The impact of automation technologies for job quality in Northern Ireland, examines the effects of increasing automation on the nature of work and job quality. It draws on previous experience of new technologies to understand how automation might affect the quality of jobs in the future.

The report says that automation may destroy some jobs, but will likely create more employment. It adds that assessing the impact of this for workers requires evaluating both the jobs lost and those subsequently created.

It says that, while the economy has been able to create new jobs to avoid overall employment reductions, lost jobs in sectors like manufacturing have not been replaced with identical roles.

The report also found that industries and occupations with the lowest risk of automation are more susceptible to lower job quality in Northern Ireland, and it is unlikely job quality will improve without direct policy intervention.

Read the report HERE.