Fórsa’s Local Government Division has postponed an industrial action ballot over job evaluation pending the outcome of the union’s national ballot on the proposed new public service agreement, Building Momentum. The decision was made to relieve pressure on local union branches, which are now having to conduct ballots on a ‘remote’ basis for the first time, because of Covid-19 restrictions.

The ballot got the go-ahead last year because of a dispute with the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) over the introduction of a job evaluation system for clerical and admin staff.

In the absence of progress on the issue, the union intends to resume the ballot once the Building Momentum vote is concluded.

Job evaluation is an established tool that allows the knowledge, skills and responsibilities associated with individual jobs – rather than grades or staff categories – to be assessed and appropriately rewarded. The union has recently negotiated job evaluation schemes in education and the HSE. These have enabled staff who have taken on substantial new responsibilities to have their roles re-evaluated.

But local government employers have so far refused their staff the same opportunity, even though the sector suffered the worst staffing cuts during the economic crisis.

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