Council employees set date for industrial action

Employees of Mayo County Council will withdraw cooperation with politicians as part of industrial action which will commence on September 11.

The Fórsa trade union, which represents more than 12,000 local authority workers across the country, has today (Wednesday) written to local councillors, TDs and senators about fresh industrial action due to commence in local authorities from Monday, September 11.

Notice of the industrial action was served to local authority employers last Friday, September 1 and will involve an indefinite ban on non-statutory political representations from TDs, senators and councillors from September 11.

This means that local government workers will not respond to routine queries and requests for information from politicians. Fórsa said it will announce further action - up to and including strike action - in due course.

The union has said this is due to the failure of local authority management to engage meaningfully with the union on the establishment of a job evaluation scheme for workers in the sector. Job evaluation assesses if a job’s grade is properly matched to its duties and responsibilities.

The union said the industrial action had essentially been forced by the LGMA’s (Local Government Management Agency) 'strident' position in resisting the union’s claim for a job evaluation scheme.

Fórsa national secretary Richy Carrothers said: “Management representatives utterly failed to engage meaningfully in resolving this dispute, despite its commitment to do so in a joint referral to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

“There was no meaningful or constructive engagement from the employer side at conciliation hearings in July. Consequently, negotiations broke down. The LGMA has failed the process, and local authority workers, and has betrayed the good faith of the joint referral to the WRC.

“However, there is absolute determination among Fórsa’s membership to secure an appropriate job evaluation scheme in local government, and the action due to commence next week will illustrate that determination.

“Any attempts to circumvent or undermine the industrial action, or any attempts to intimidate or threaten Fórsa members engaging in this legitimate action, will likely lead to an immediate escalation of the dispute,” he said.

Fórsa represents more than 12,000 local government and services workers including clerical, administrative, management, technical and professional staff.