Staffing levels, Pay settlements, Ireland, Finland

Members of public sector unions have voted by a large majority to accept the pay agreement negotiated earlier this year. The agreement runs from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2026 and provides for pay improvements worth 9.25% but because of flat-rate elements this rises to 17.3% for lower paid workers. This agreement also provides specific provisions for local bargaining, which will give trade unions the scope to negotiate up to an additional 3% of pay costs, inclusive of allowances, for particular grades, groups or categories of employee. The agreement also sees the full and final unwinding of

The INMO nurses’ and midwives’ union has called on the Health Service Executive (HSE) to end the moratorium on recruiting frontline patient-facing staff. The HSE has revealed that emergency department attendances are up 13% compared to the same period in 2023 and 452 patients were admitted to hospital without a bed on a single day earlier this month. INMO warns that its members are bearing the brunt of public disappointment and in some cases aggression for the state of the health service while working in extremely challenging environments. The union says that staff who are leaving because of

Fórsa, SIPTU, INMO, AHCPS and other public service unions are consulting their members over the latest pay offer from the government which would provide for a series of pay increases over a 30-month period from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2026. The unions have until 25 March to complete the ballots. If an aggregate of the members of all the unions vote in favour then the agreement would provide the following pay increases: in 2024 – 2.25% or €1,125, whichever is greater, from 1 January; 1% on 1 June; 1% or €500, whichever is greater, on 1 October; in 2025 – 2% or €1,000, whichever is greater, on

JHL, Jyty and other unions have negotiated pay increases for employees of companies covered by the Avaintes employers’ organisation. This includes (joint) municipal companies and private companies providing services to municipalities. The pay increases also apply to the Seuretes staff supply company and cover the third year of the collective agreement which runs until the end of April 2025. There will be a general increase of 3.1% as of 1 May 2024 and from 1 February 2024, a previously agreed general increase of 0.3% will also be paid. As of 1 October 2024 there will be a further 0.3% increase

The leadership of the INMO nurses’ and midwives’ union held an emergency meeting on 10 November to discuss possible industrial action in response to the announcement by the Health Services Executive that it was extending its current recruitment freeze to almost all nursing and midwifery grades until the end of the year. The union said that the announcement came without documentation or consultation with the union and a request for a meeting was declined. INMO calculates that there are currently around 2,800 nursing and midwifery vacancies in the health service, which urgently need to be filled

After nearly nine months the JHL trade union managed to negotiate improvements to the pay and conditions of personal assistants but not before workers in the sector took strike action for the first time. A key aim for the union was to reduce the gap between pay for personal assistants and pay levels in the rest of the social care sector. There will be a €400 payment (adjusted for hours and length of service) to compensate for the delay in finalising the agreement. There will be different pay increases according to the pay level ranging from 3.98% to 6.77% on 1 January 2024 and then from 4.79%

Members of the Fórsa and SIPTU unions are taking or planning industrial action over staffing. The Fórsa action involves specific managerial and administrative staff in both directly employed and publicly funded healthcare providers and is in protest at a freeze on recruitment. The dispute had almost been resolved during September but the Health Services Executive pulled the plug on a draft agreement at the last minute. Meanwhile, radiographers at two major hospitals have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action up to and including strike action in a dispute over safe staffing levels. The

The strike by retained firefighters over pay and staffing was due to go ahead on 26 July after being suspended by the SIPTU union to allow for a Labour Court hearing. At the hearing the employers failed to produce an acceptable offer and the date for action was confirmed by the union. Meanwhile, the Fórsa trade union is balloting members in its health and welfare division over two disputes – one in relation to career development and the other in relation to the excessive use of agency staff and external consultants. Both unions, along with the INMO trade union are also continuing to campaign

The JHL trade union says that further industrial action may be necessary following the failure of conciliation to settle the dispute over a new collective agreement for personal assistants. Negotiations have been continuing since January and the last collective agreement expired at the end of April. JHL has been determined to secure a decent pay rise for worker in this sector characterised by low pay and high staff turnover. Meanwhile, industrial action by unions in the private social services sector – JHL, Tehy, SuPer and Jyty – helped deliver an improved offer from the employers and a 32

The SIPTU trade union has announced dates for industrial action by water workers and retained (part-time) firefighters in June. Water workers currently employed by local authorities face restructuring as a new national water company is established. The dispute is over the failure of local authorities to guarantee the protection of all pay and conditions if the workers choose to remain with their local authority. The firefighters’ action is over pay and the serious staff shortages in the sector which are putting extra pressure on existing staff who often forego holidays in order to ensure cover

The JHL trade union reports that negotiations have delivered a two-year agreement in the energy sector that runs to 31 March 2025. Employees will get a 3.5% general increase on 1 August this year along with a €415 lump sum paid on 1 July. Next year the general increase will be 2% from 1 June with 0.5% for the local level.

JHL, JYTY and other trade unions have negotiated an agreement on pay with the Avainta employers’ organisation that covers both municipal companies and private companies providing services to municipalities. The changes to pay reflect what was negotiated last year when it was agreed that pay rises in 2023 would be linked to developments in the technology and chemical industry sectors. The outcome is that there will be a general increase of 2.2% on 1 June and a further 0.4% distributed on a local basis. There will also be a one-off payment of €500 by the end of August 2023 for full-time staff

The INMO nurses’ union is to ballot intensive care unit nurses at University Hospital Limerick in pursuance of safe staffing, having exhausted local negotiations to resolve the problem. The union argues that the lack of consistent safe staffing is having a detrimental impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of workers and patients. This follows INMO’s executive council decision in February to sanction a campaign of industrial action in response to members reporting that unsafe staffing is the norm in many hospitals. The union has also called on the Department of Health and the Health

The JHL, JYTY, SuPer and TEHY have negotiated new two-year agreements on pay covering workers in municipalities and health and welfare services. The agreements include both general and local elements to the pay increases. For municipal workers the combined increases will mean rises of 4.1% in 2023 (plus a €467 lump sum) and 4.0% in 2024. There will be higher increases for health workers who are set to benefit from various elements that go towards a 6.7% increase in 2023 (plus a €467 lump sum) and 6.5% in 2024. Meanwhile, negotiations involving JHL and JYTY will mean that church employees will

The Fórsa trade union is planning to ballot its members in non-profit health and social care over a proposal for indefinite strike action. Along with other unions, SIPTU and INMO, Fórsa has been involved in a long-running campaign to secure pay increases for workers in the sector where pay has fallen behind public sector pay. Despite several years of targeted industrial action the government has failed to address the problem and the unions argue that this is unfair as many workers in the sector are doing the same work and delivering the same services as in the public sector. They also warn