An extra pay point worth €1,100 is to be added to the top of the special needs assistant (SNA) pay scale after Fórsa members backed the deal in a ballot last month. The increase, negotiated under the Building Momentum sectoral bargaining clause, was backed by just over 54% of SNAs in a national ballot of the union’s 12,000 SNAs.

The ballot turnout was 62%, and he deal sees maximum earnings for SNAs rise from €41,090 to €42,190.

Fórsa’s head of education Andy Pike said negotiating an option to increase pay at the top of the SNA scale was the right thing to do.

“Our members had the choice of accepting a higher maximum salary or taking the one per cent general pay increase. Backing the proposal to raise salaries at the top of the scale will raise maximum earnings and improve pension benefits.

“However, it is also clear that more should be done to improve starting pay for SNAs. The length of the scale means that many thousands will have to wait years before they access the new scale maximum due to the length of the current pay scale,” he said.

The ballot of SNAs on the two options arises from terms built into the Building Momentumnational pay agreement. Its sectoral bargaining fund was designed to deal with outstanding adjudications, recommendations, awards and claims that are relevant to specific grades, groups or categories of workers within the various sectors of the public service.

Negotiations between Fórsa and the Department of Education produced a proposal to replace the current 'long service increment' (LSI) on the SNA pay scale with the new increment.

Andy said SNA pay would now increase above and beyond the maximum of the clerical officer scale for the first time. “This demonstrates that it’s possible to adjust and increase the pay of SNAs in our schools, and this is a permanent and pensionable increase,” he said.

Andy said the ballot result nevertheless illustrated the reality of the low salaries offered to SNAs, especially at the lower end of the pay scale: “SNAs have a starting salary of €25,102 per annum, which is 41% below the average industrial wage of €41,912 per annum.

“The outcome of this ballot should be seen as both an endorsement of the long-held view that our SNAs have been undervalued and underpaid, as well as a clear signal to the Government that public servants are worried about rising prices and the increase in their cost of living. This has to be reflected in the next public service pay agreement which will be negotiated over the coming months.”