Fórsa is to reassess its participation in talks on plans for Irish Water to become Ireland’s sole public water authority after the chair of a key City and County Managers’ Association (CCMA) committee advocated the “seamless transfer of all existing local authority water staff to the new utility.”
In a letter to local government minister Darragh O’Brien, the chair the CCMA’s water services committee, Colette Byrne, said this was a “key priority for the sector.”
The vast majority of our members do not support any transfer to a new employer, but we have continued our engagement primarily based on the commitments given to the union.
In a subsequent letter to Ms Byrne, Fórsa’s head of municipal employees and local government divisions, Peter Nolan, said a previous minister, and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, had given clear commitments there would be no compulsory conscription or redeployment of existing local authority staff.
Fórsa and other water unions are participating in a Workplace Relations Commission-brokered process, which is exploring issues around the proposal to establish Irish Water as the country’s single water authority by 2021.
Over 3,000 local authority staff currently work in water services under ‘service level agreements’ (SLAs) with Irish Water. The SLAs don’t expire until 2025.
Fórsa only agreed to enter the WRC process on the basis that it would see “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.
Peter said the union expected the Government and relevant employers to stick to commitments that there would no compulsory redeployment of staff.
Fórsa and other water unions are participating in a Workplace Relations Commission-brokered process, which is exploring issues around the proposal to establish Irish Water as the country’s single water authority by 2021.
In a letter to Colette Byrne last week, he wrote: “The vast majority of our members do not support any transfer to a new employer, but we have continued our engagement primarily based on the commitments given to the union. Should the CCMA fail to urgently and adequately clarify [your] remarks, it will cause the union to review its current engagement in the process.”
Peter said the response, from Ms Byrne’s successor as committee chair “does little to reassure local authority workers.”
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