Fórsa has agreed the establishment of a dedicated SNA industrial relations forum with the Department of Education. The establishment of the forum follows a series of representations by the union over the last year.

Its establishment means Fórsa now has a dedicated forum for claims to improve or repair SNA terms and conditions. Prior to this each issue had to be dealt with on an ad-hoc basis.

SNAs will be represented at the forum by their elected representatives and Fórsa officials. The first meeting is set to take place next month.

Assistant General Secretary Seán Carabini explained: “This is a very important step forward for SNAs as we finally have a dedicated place to bring collective issues. Elected branch representatives from Fórsa’s four SNA branches will work with union officials to establish the issues that need to be brought to the forum.

“This means the department will hear about the issues of concern directly from SNAs themselves, and these will be issues that would not normally feature in national pay talks. There are a lot of particular issues that SNAs want addressed. Now, we finally have the right forum to address them,” he said.