Fórsa has won an appeal to the civil service arbitration board in relation to the grade of assistant legal advisor (ALA) in the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Traditionally, the grades of ALA and development specialist (DS) were considered to have parity in the department. But this was undercut by different treatments of the grades following the introduction of austerity measures.

Fórsa assistant general secretary Seán Carabini said constructive discussions with management had explored different ways to remedy the situation. But navigating the austerity measures to resolve grade parity issues ultimately required the assistance of the arbitration board.

“This is a very technical but important win. The arbitration board recognised that the grade parity issue had important ramifications within the management structure of the department. In particular, it recognised that there should have been no difference in treatment between the ALA and DS grades within foreign affairs,” he said.