Two Fórsa cross-divisional committees have been exploring differences in pay, working time, and other working conditions for clerical, admin and executive staff in different parts of the civil and public service. The union aims to pursue the issues in any negotiations on a successor to the current public service pay agreement, which expires in 2020.

The clerical officer/grade III equivalent grade committee has identified differences in annual leave, pay, working time and flexitime for members of the grades across the civil service, health, education, local government and non-commercial semi-state sectors.

A separate equivalent grades committee for executive grades/grades IV-VII also found significant differences in annual leave, pay, compassionate leave and flexitime.

Fórsa’s national executive committee (NEC) recently approved reports from the two committees, which both include representatives from relevant divisions across the union. The committees have been meeting since last spring to study and agree targets for cross-union progress in future negotiations.

Each committee initially identified ten areas where terms and conditions could be standardised and improved. Last month these were narrowed down to four priorities for each, before reports were made to the NEC.

Fórsa general secretary (organisation and development) Eoin Ronayne said the reports were an example of the benefits of the amalgamation of the CPSU, IMPACT and the PSEU last year. “We have always said there is much in common between clerical, administrative and executive workers in health, local government, education and the civil service. These reports highlight this very clearly and point to targets for future progress,” he said.

The committees will meet again early next month to review the potential for driving membership recruitment in the relevant grades through cross-divisional training for career progression and career development.