Senior Executive Officers (SEOs) and analogous grades have voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting payment of an outstanding award through the sectoral bargaining fund, included in the Building Momentum agreement.

The ballot concluded on 26th January, with just over 94% voting in favour of accepting the proposals.

The ballot results showed a clear support to move the sectoral bargaining fund - equal to 1% of the total Senior Executive Officer and analogous grades’ pay - onto the top (LSI 2) of the SEO pay scale.

The sectoral bargaining clause contained within the Building Momentum agreement, negotiated by Fórsa, provided for a fund equal to 1% of basic pensionable pay for each group which could be used to go towards settling the claims or awards. The alternative option was to take the 1% in the form of a regular pay increase.

This would mean that those on the top of the scale, or due to go to the top of the scale, would have received just over 2% increase in salary from 1st February 2022.

The members also voted in favour of Fórsa pursuing the 5% pay award provided for under the ‘Benchmarking 2’ report, subject to the terms of any future public service agreement

In 2007, as part of the second benchmarking process, a comparative study was carried out. The results of the study found that rates of pay for SEOs working in the local authority sector were less than an employee doing a similar role in the private sector.

Consequently, the benchmarking body awarded the SEO group a 5% increase. This was never paid, and it has been an outstanding issue since then.

Fórsa’s head of local government Dessie Robinson explained it was difficult to make progress in any of the national pay agreements during the austerity years: “However the union goal always was to achieve the payment of this award when there was an opportunity to do so.

“A 5% increase that was awarded under that report was never paid. Survey results show that members clearly want the union to keep the claim for the outstanding adjudication awards alive,“ he said.

In local authorities, the only group that has an outstanding award is the SEOs and related grades (Senior Executive Officers, County/City Librarians, Heads of Information Systems, Financial/Management Accountants).

In the talks leading to the most recent public service agreement, Building Momentum, Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan raised the issue of the outstanding benchmarking award. Following long protracted negotiations, it was eventually agreed that the new national agreement would contain a provision to try and deal with outstanding adjudications, commitments, recommendations, awards and claims.

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