In recent weeks, several meetings have taken place between Fórsa and the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation concerning the local bargaining claims submitted on behalf of clerical, administrative and executive grades, under the local bargaining clause of the Public Service Agreement (PSA) 2024-2026.
As the claims Fórsa has submitted are cross-sectoral, representatives from across the union took part. These discussions focus on claims related to civil service grades and the public sector grades linked to them. Claims for other grades not linked to these will be submitted and discussed separately within each sector.
Deputy general secretary, and head of the civil service division, Éamonn Donnelly, explained that while the first meeting had focused on agreeing the process, it was also confirmed that many grades for which claims have been submitted will follow the ‘marker grade claims’.
Éamonn said: “Members will be aware that we submitted several core claims earlier this year, the first for clerical officers and grade 3 roles, the second for executive officers, administrative officers, higher executive officers and those working in grades 4-7, and the third for engineer grades 1, 2, and 3. These are being considered as marker grades, which means that whatever is agreed for these claims will be applicable to the grades across the public sector which are linked to those civil service grades.”
The subsequent meetings discussed methodology for costing of the claims and clarity on details of the claims.
On the nature of the claims Éamonn said: “These are reasonable claims. It takes a CO 19 years to get through their pay scale, the claim would reduce it to 11 years. Long Service Increments (LSIs) were created as rewards but now the waiting times penalise people’s pensions. These issues need to be addressed, and local bargaining is a great way to do that.”
The parties will re-convene on 27th August. In the meantime, work will continue between the parties to agree on the detail of the established pay relationships between professional and technical grades and the marker grades.
Commenting on the meetings, Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan said: “It’s encouraging that these talks are now underway. We want to make sure this new process of collective bargaining is done properly so that our members get the full benefit of what’s on the table, not just in the civil service but for all Fórsa members in every part of the public service.”
In relation to the 1st of September date cited in the agreement, Kevin said: “It’s unfortunate that this process is behind schedule, even though we submitted the first claim over 7 months ago, discussions didn’t begin for a long time.”
He continued: “For years grades, groups and categories couldn’t have specific issues addressed, and now they can. The PSA allows for local bargaining claims up to 3% of payroll, and we went directly to members to ask them what they wanted to lodge claims on. In many cases you were very clear that you want us to negotiate on the length of time it takes to advance through a pay scale, and an end to the waiting time for long service increments. The result is a clear mandate that we will continue to pursue.”
Read previous coverage of local bargaining here:
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