Fórsa has said the HSE’s new acute waiting list action plan, published last week, must focus on the community-led, integrated care plan central to Sláintecare or face failure. The plan aims to reduce projected acute waiting lists by 150,000. The union has welcomed the initiative, which identifies a number of actions designed to reduce a projected spike in waiting lists toward the end of this year. But it warned that failure to utilise the integrated care model, where service users can access initial treatment in a community setting, will prolong reliance on acute hospitals and drive up waiting lists. The Sláintecare […]

SIPTU General Secretary, Joe Cunningham, has said that the report of the Pensions Commission has vindicated the union’s campaign against the increase in the state pension age to 67 years from 1st January, 2021. However, he said that if the Government attempts to legislate for the recommendation by the Commission to increase the state pension age from 2028, it will only ensure that the issue will continue to be a subject of public concern and controversy, in advance of the next election. “We may not have prevented the increase in the pension age but the campaign by SIPTU and the […]

Fórsa has raised concerns about ongoing staff shortages in Dublin fire brigade with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA). This came after Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) talks aimed at alleviating staffing problems collapsed last Monday (27th September). The union highlighted a serious shortage of fire brigade staff – estimated to be 20% – in the WRC talks. It said this was placing both the public and firefighters at risk. The union presented its concerns to the Health and Safety Authority yesterday, and highlight the unsafe conditions associated with staff shortages in the emergency service. Dessie Robinson, who heads Fórsa’s two local […]

Today’s demonstration starts at the Merrion Hotel in Dublin’s Upper Merrion Street at 12 noon and finishes at 1.30pm. Fórsa and SIPTU members, working in Local Employment Services (LES) and Job Clubs are set to demand an immediate intervention from Taoiseach Michael Martin today (Monday) at a protest outside the Department of the Taoiseach. Unions say the protest will highlight the threat to the livelihoods of their members and the vital services they provide to the community from the imminent threat of privatisation. The unions have said a Government-imposed tendering process favours for-profit providers over the current community-focussed, not-for-profit service. […]

Ireland’s school secretaries are to stage a one-day strike on Wednesday 15th September, and will gather in the capital for a national rally on the same day. Their union Fórsa said pickets would be placed on the Dublin headquarters of the Department of Finance and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), which stand accused of blocking implementation of a Government commitment to standardise pay and conditions of school secretaries. Most of them earn just €12,500 a year, with irregular short-term contracts that force them to sign on during the summer holidays and other school breaks. Almost a year ago, the […]

Patricia King, General Secretary has written to An Taoiseach Micheal Martin TD to outline the principle concerns for the next phase of the return to work.  You can read the full text of this letter here.

Covid – one health worker’s story As part of the RESPECT = RECOGNITION campaign by the group of unions representing health service workers, we reached out to a few Fórsa members to tell us about their experience of working during the Covid pandemic. JACKIE BROWN works in emergency department admin at one of Dublin’s main acute hospitals, and provided this thoughtful account. The experience of working at the frontline, in an emergency department during the Covid pandemic, has been both challenging and rewarding.  For this generation it’s changed the world and how we work. In January 2020 the world didn’t […]

    Press Release – 16.8.21 Trade unions representing health workers have asked Micheál Martin to help resolve the row over recognition for health workers’ efforts and commitment during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a letter sent last Friday (13th August), they called on the Taoiseach to “intervene immediately to authorise the HSE and relevant Government departments to engage with health service unions to agree and implement the promised recognition without any further delay.” The move reflects growing frustration among health workers, which was compounded by the HSE’s failure to put forward any proposals at a recent Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) […]

SIPTU members at the biopharmaceutical company, AbbVie, in Carrigtwohill, county Cork, are considering an escalation in their industrial action in a dispute resulting from the refusal of management to engage with representatives of the workers’ union for collective bargaining purposes. SIPTU Organiser, Allen Dillon, said: “Members at the plant are currently in their second week of industrial action in the form of an overtime ban in the manufacturing process. They are considering escalating their industrial action if management continue to fail to fully implement two Labour Court recommendations, from 2017 and 2020.  “These recommendations call on the company to engage […]

Press Release – 19.7.21   members in the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar will protest outside the hospital today (Monday) against understaffing and an excessive workload – which they warn is compromising patient care. Mullingar is facing 50 unfilled nursing shifts over the coming fortnight, falling short of the minimum staffing levels required for safe care. Attendances have increased, while there are currently 50 nursing vacancies (29 permanent) in the hospital, which is putting staffing under pressure. The INMO have engaged with the HSE to try and find a resolution to this issue and are not satisfied with the response to […]