Sinn Féin councillor Donna McGettigan has called on the Government and the Local Government Management Agency to move quickly to resolve the staffing crisis in the local government sector.
The call comes as Fórsa trade union members have initiated industrial action involving an indefinite ban on engagement with all political representatives.
Expressing her concerns, Donna said “the local government sector is in the midst of a retention and recruitment crisis. This is impacting on all levels of service provision. At the centre of this crisis is the refusal of Government and the Local Government Management Agency to work with workers and their representatives to address issues around job evaluation and pay. During the financial crisis many staff were laid off, leaving the remaining staff to carry out duties above their pay grade. This has never been addressed, but staff should be properly paid for the work they do.”
“Fórsa, one of the largest unions representing local government workers has been calling on Government and the LGMA to undertake a formal job evaluation process to ensure workers jobs are properly graded and remunerated. Such ongoing job evaluation processes are standard in other jurisdictions.”
“Despite initial engagement between the parties at the Workplace Relations Commission on this matter, the employer’s side are now refusing to negotiate. In turn Fórsa members have initiated industrial action starting with an indefinite ban on engagement with all political representatives. Union members voted in favour of this action by 85%. That shows the depth of feeling around this issue.”
“This will obviously have an impact on the ability of councillors to fully represent our constituents. However, the responsibility for this situation does not rest with the Local Government staff. The blame is solely the responsibility of Government and the LGMA, but the Government is silent on an issue which is impacting on thousands of workers and the people who rely on the services they provide.”
“I am calling on all elected representatives to contact the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien, the LGMA and the Chief Executive of the Local Authority demanding that they return to the negotiation table and to agree a mechanism for progressing the job evaluation process and as key element of addressing the retention and recruitment crisis in Local Government.”
