Paid-up Fórsa members working in the civil and public service, and in non-commercial State agencies, will receive details of the voting arrangements in a ballot for a proposed new public service agreement next week.

If accepted, the proposed new public service agreement, Building Momentum, would run from January 2021 to December 2022. It allows for two pay increases, each worth 1% of annual salary or €500 a year, whichever is the greater.

Fórsa has made representations to a wide range of Government departments and organisations about staff being required to attend workplaces unnecessarily since level five Covid restrictions were introduced last month.

Civil and public servants whose working time was increased under the 2013 Haddington Road agreement (HRA) will see a reduction in their hours next year if the proposed new public service agreement is accepted in ballots of union members.

Fórsa has this morning (15th January) given an initial welcome to headline measures set out in the Government’s Remote Working Strategy, published today, which would make remote work “the norm” for 20% of public servants. But the union also called for engagement on the detailed roll-out of the proposals.