Kerry Fianna Fáil County Councillor, Michael Cahill has called on both the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) and the Fórsa Trade Union to agree a conciliation process to resolve the issues at the heart of the present industrial action.
As part of this dispute, members of Fórsa have put an indefinite ban on engagement on all non-statutory political representations, verbal and written.
This was to be escalated today to an additional 24 hour ban on all emails and all telephone call on September 26th and 27th but these action have been paused.
Widespread Disruption
“Conciliation talks are a must now to avoid the widespread disruption to council business. Both sides in the dispute know that they will have to sit down and talk, sooner or later. Sooner would be the better option, as further escalations in either side, would be to nobody’s benefit” said Councillor Cahill.
“It is not acceptable that access to information on services and facilities is being withheld from the people of Kerry, some of them very urgent, whatever the rights and wrongs of the labour issues involved.
Come to the Table and Talk
“I would appeal to representatives on both sides to come to the table and talk” said the Rossbeigh based Councillor .
“There are State dispute resolutions mechanisms in place through the Labour Court when disputes arise and they should be availed of where possible, as a matter of urgency.” added Councillor Cahill.
Fórsa Update
In an update Fórsa and the LGMA are to return to the Workplace Relations Commission on Monday, September 25th regarding the ongoing dispute.
The planned escalation of industrial action, namely the 24-hour email ban due to take place today and the 48- hour phone ban, due to take place on Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th September are now paused.
However, the ongoing ban on non-statutory political representations continues.
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