Campaigns

General Election Fórsa Manifesto

We are the largest public sector trade union in Ireland, and the second largest in the country. Though we are not aligned to any political party, we advocate for and campaign on behalf of our members every day. This manifesto outlines what a society that works for workers would look like. It outlines the policies that would address the major challenges faced by Fórsa members at work and in their lives.

Our members were clear, they want the next government to prioritise:

  • Pay increases which go beyond rates of inflation,
  • Protection of remote work and the introduction of a four-day working week in the public and civil service,
  • The provision and availability of high-quality, world-class public services.

Here is our full General Election Manifesto.

Below are summary points, from across our national priorities and our divisions in public and private sectors.

  • Pilot a four-day working week in parts of the public and civil service, without loss of pay or productivity, to be undertaken in consultation and agreement with the relevant trade

  • Use directly employed public servants to carry out and deliver public services and avoid the outsourcing of duties and services to agency staff, external consultants, and third-party commercial Negotiation should take place with trade unions in line with the Public Service Agreement where outsourcing is deemed necessary.

  • Fully implement the vision of Sláintecare, including investment in elective-only hospitals for day surgeries and surgical hubs which will ultimately free up beds in general Increase investment into community health services, preventative care including health promotion and mental health services.
  • Adequately resource the HSE to meet existing and future service demands and the needs of Sláintecare.
  • Increase the number of course places in the health and social care professions to increase the supply of Health and Social Care Professionals (HSCPs).
  • Establish a structured, fair and sustainable funding model for ‘section 39’ agencies, to underpin services and ensure fair pay and working conditions for those who are delivering services that would otherwise have to be provided by the State.
  • Ensure representation of Health and Social Care Professionals (HSCPs) in the Senior Management Team in the new HSE Health Regions.
  • Ensure that all relevant workers who delivered frontline services receive the pandemic special recognition payment (PSRP). In cases where workers are excluded from the PSRP, unions should be allowed to make their case for inclusion (a case-by-case review).
  • Commission a third-party review of the implementation of the PRSP to ensure relevant organisations were not excluded from the spirit of the scheme.

  • Provide adequate investment and independent funding powers for local authorities.
  • Fully implement the EU Charter on Local Self-Government, inclusive of the Additional Protocol.
  • Support initiatives for directly elected mayors in each local authority.
  • Begin the processes required to provide for the return of waste collection services to local authorities, including but not limited to introducing legislative changes to the Waste Management Act 1996.
  • Hold an early referendum to ensure that Ireland’s water services remain in public ownership and control.
  • Negotiate with water workers’ trade unions prior to any significant change in arrangements for the delivery of water services.
  • Work with unions and other stakeholders to ensure an ongoing role for local authorities in the provision of local services.
  • Deliver a large-scale public home-building programme that takes account of accurate existing population and future population projections.
  • Support an increase of local-authority-led cost rental public
  • Increase local authority direct labour for the delivery and construction of public homes, home energy upgrades, preventative maintenance and effective void management.
  • Endorse the holding of a referendum which would establish the constitutional right to housing.

• Amend the industrial relations acts to give civil service workers access to the WRC and Labour Court OR completely overhaul, as a matter of priority, the conciliation and arbitration scheme to modernise the process for dispute resolution, so that civil service workers can have similar recourse to almost all other workers in the state by involving the WRC in the scheme.
• Legislate to modernise the outdated practise of excluding the majority of civil servants from engaging in political activity.
• Engage with unions on issues of serious concern in relation to the Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2018.

• Complete the review of the national SNA Contract for the start of the academic year in September 2025.
• Confirm that the new minimum essential qualification for SNAs will be set at QQI Level 6.
• Continue funding the National SNA Training Programme and introduce a funding model for SNAs to access continuing professional development training.
• Provide access to the Single Public Service Pension Scheme for School Secretaries and Caretakers.
• Progressively increase higher and further education funding to OECD average levels over the lifetime of the next government. This includes increased funding for student grants and supports.
• Phase out the student contribution charge over the lifetime of the next government in a move towards the full introduction of publicly funded higher education.
• Confirm a new employment framework for School Completion Programmes, including the introduction of a single employment structure within ETBs and granting of public service status to all those working within School Completion Programmes.
• Implement a job evaluation scheme for Technological Universities and Institutes of Technology, alongside an appropriate funding model to allow this scheme to be fully realised.

• Introduce legislation that strengthens the legal right to be represented by the relevant union and outlaw the victimisation, harassment or penalisation of staff for joining a union or for organising for better pay and conditions at work.
• Provide workers with the right to access trade union representatives in their workplace so that they can get information on their rights and can talk about workplace issues.
• Provide union representatives with statutory rights which enable them to effectively carry out their duties as representatives during work hours. This includes facilitating meetings during paid work hours.
• Re-introduce tax relief on trade union subscriptions within the first year of government.
• Introduce strengthened legislation to outlaw bogus self-employment arrangements and close loopholes that allow bad employers to exploit staff in this way, while avoiding their duty to contribute through the PRSI and tax system.

• Amend Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act and Employment Equality Act to protect employees affected by period or menopause-related symptoms in the workplace.
• Provide free access to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to alleviate painful and uncomfortable symptoms of menopause.
• Increase the existing statutory provision for paid leave for victims of domestic violence to 10 days.
• Fully implement the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual & Gender-Based Violence 2022-2026.

• Deliver publicly provided and publicly funded affordable childcare that is accessible for all families.

• Deliver increased and sustained investment to create employment in new and emerging green jobs and in training for upskilling in line with current climate and biodiversity plans.
• Increase investment in public transport to ensure workers can access reliable public transport options.
• Negotiate and agree AI policies with trade unions to ensure a smooth and positive adoption of AI.
• Create upskilling programmes designed to boost worker complementarity. These programmes should be targeted at high-risk workers with high exposure and low complementarity.

More than 20,000 public sector workers who are Fórsa members completed a recent survey, conducted by Amárach Research, which shaped the direction of this manifesto.

Not only do public servants want to see these changes, but high proportions of those surveyed are also willing to change their voting intentions to support political parties and candidates who commit to these policies.

We are calling on all political parties and candidates for election to support these policies. We are asking for their inclusion in the next Programme for Government and for the next Government to commit to their implementation.

We invite parties and candidates to engage with Fórsa on the issues outlined in this manifesto, and we look forward to working together to strengthen our public sector, for our workers, for service- users, and for society as a whole.