WE NEED YOU!!!!!!

With over 5,000 Fórsa members in the County, we are encouraging all our Cork members to show their support of the union-backed ‘Raise the Roof’ housing and homelessness campaign, which 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.

Cork will be the first in a series of regional rallies since the Dublin Rally in October which saw over 10,000 people take to the streets outside Leinster House to protest over the national housing crisis, building up to a national demonstration in May. A similar event is scheduled for Galway on 8th April.

‘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.

Fórsa Cork members will be departing for City Hall from our Cork Regional Office’s on Fr. Matthew Quay at 4.30 pm under the Fórsa Banner.

More Stewards for the rally itself are needed and members to take some media interviews (particularly those experiencing housing difficulties) from 3.30pm on the day of the rally. If you are interested in being involved please contact organiser, Ruth Crowley by Friday, 8th March for further information.

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.

If you cannot attend the rally, you can support the Right to Housing and sign the petition here.

Support Our Secretaries

Fórsa is hosting a series of nationwide public meetings as part of its school secretaries campaign, Support Our Secretaries.

The series of meetings commenced last weekin Waterford. The Cork meeting takes place tonight (Monday 11th March) at the Imperial Hotel Cork at 7pm.

The meeting is open to staff, parents, and all members of the school community, as well as public representatives in each region.

More details here.