ICT workers in Ireland’s local authorities will begin work-to-rule industrial action from tomorrow (Wednesday 28th January) in a dispute over the failure of management to address longstanding concerns around workload, staffing levels and the lack of recognition for the specialist nature of their work.
Approximately 500 Fórsa members will take part in the industrial action, which is expected to affect every local authority in the country. These are staff responsible for maintaining and supporting the computer systems and digital services used by councils to deliver essential public services, including housing, planning, finance, and customer-facing online services.
From 7am tomorrow (Wednesday) local authority workers in ICT services will stop out-of-hours work and will refuse engagement with third parties, including contractors and external service providers.
The decision to take industrial action follows a ballot, overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action (98.4%), in December.
While the precise impact of the action may vary from council to council, the withdrawal of out-of-hours support is expected to cause disruption if the dispute continues, particularly where ICT staff are required to respond to urgent system failures outside normal working hours.
The union maintains the issues can be addressed quickly, but only through genuine engagement, and a commitment from local authority management to address the issues affecting ICT staff in local authorities.
The union is seeking a sector-wide review of ICT grading and pay, benchmarking ICT roles against other professional groups and public sector bodies where equivalent roles are graded higher. Fórsa has also sought the establishment of a national CPD (Continuing Professional Development) committee for these workers, a joint body to oversee career paths, training, and skills development, in addition to a nationally agreed framework for out-of-hours work.
Fórsa national secretary Richy Carrothers said: “ICT staff in local authorities play a critical role in keeping essential public services running, yet their work has been consistently undervalued and under-resourced, and local authorities are struggling to retain ICT workers as a result.
“Morale is low and the Government’s digitalisation goals are at risk. Our members have shown enormous patience in trying to resolve these issues through normal industrial relations channels. This action is about securing fair treatment and sustainable working arrangements,” he said.
Paul Barker, chair of Fórsa’s ICT Committee in local authorities, said: “ICT staff are under increasing pressure as councils become more dependent on complex digital systems. Members are being expected to carry unreasonable workloads and to provide round-the-clock cover without proper staffing or recognition. This dispute is not about withdrawing services, but about forcing long-overdue engagement on how these services are properly supported,” he said.
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