Financial Services Union Annual Report 2022

A Message from John O'Connell, General Secretary

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Dear Colleagues,

The beginning of 2022 brought little respite from Covid 19 and the effects on families, communities and society were evident to see. Fortunately, as the year progressed, and the vaccine was rolled out some form of normality began to reappear. I would like to thank all our health and emergency services for their dedication, professionalism, and tireless work. They faced unbelievably difficult challenges but there is no doubt that many lives were saved through their selfless work. I would also like to acknowledge all our members in essential roles who also faced into work to serve the public in very difficult circumstances.

2022 brought about many changes to the workplace. Remote working had become the norm since covid, and the importance of family friendly workplace policies gathered traction. The FSU produced our remote working booklet and had an opportunity to present our findings to the Dail Finance Committee. The Government would publish their own legislation later in the year. Together with ICTU and other Unions we campaigned for significant changes to be made to the bill and were successful in getting the Government to agree to look again and explore better options for workers.

In February the Minister of Finance in Northern Ireland, Conor Murphy MLA held a roundtable discussion on the future of Banking in Northen Ireland and in May Minister for Finance in the Republic of Ireland Pascal Donohue TD held a roundtable discussion with key stakeholders in Tullamore. The FSU had campaigned throughout 2021 for such forums and it is a testament to the strength of our union that forums where held in both jurisdictions. The results were published later in the year and a number of recommendations put forward by the FSU were included in the final reports.

The rising cost of living was a constant throughout the latter stages of the year and the FSU campaigned for employers to recognise and support staff with rising costs and bills. We were successful in many employments in achieving pay top ups and once off payments to help alleviate the worst aspects of inflation.

Ulster Bank and KBC continued their exit plans and negotiations between the Union and both Banks were intensive and sometimes tense. We managed to ensure that hundreds of jobs were saved with staff transferring to either Bank of Ireland, AIB or PTSB and redundancy terms were agreed following a ballot of members.

We will continue to fight and campaign on behalf of our members and ensure that your priorities are our priorities. Many family friendly workplace policies were agreed on and in the games sector we had the first employer to sign our living wage charter. There were many challenges throughout what a very busy year, but it is a privilege to work on your behalf and on behalf of all our members.

I look forward to a busy and rewarding year in 2023.

John O’Connell General Secretary