A senior Fórsa official has called on the Public Service Pay Commission (PSPC) to press on with examinations of recruitment and retention difficulties in all parts of the public service where it has identified issues, now that it has concluded its work on nurses and medical consultants.

Fórsa has added its voice to international trade union demands for reduced working time to ensure that workers share the benefits of in increased productivity from technological change.

Fórsa has said its members working in the Department of Social Protection’s illness benefit section are experiencing significant difficulties with a new IT platform designed to process claims.

Fórsa has welcomed government plans to increase paid parental leave from two to seven weeks for each parent by 2021, but says the move is long overdue.

The persistent gender pay gap means that women have to work the equivalent of 67 extra days each year to earn the same as their average male counterpart, according to Fórsa official Geraldine O’Brien.

Employers are to be legally obliged to include their employees in a pension scheme, and make contributions to the fund, on foot of a new government scheme.

The closing date for civil service clerical officers, who are members of Fórsa, to make claims under the union’s benefit scheme is Friday, 11th January 2019.