The second phase of the transition of school secretaries to new packages of pay and working conditions is also due to kick off soon.

Fórsa has called for the abolition of the Statutory Special Needs Assistant Scheme and its replacement with a national SNA service with staff allocated to every school, in its latest presentation to the Oireachtas Committee on Autism policy and education.

Fórsa has strongly condemned IBEC’s objection to the introduction of paid leave for workers who are victims of domestic violence, citing it as “distrustful and deeply insulting”.

Fórsa is looking to open formal discussions with the Department of Education and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on an agreement in respect of salaries and various leave entitlements for grant paid caretakers.

Non-union employers could potentially face penalties for failing to negotiate with trade unions following the publication of the final report of the high-level working group on collective bargaining last week.

Fórsa has welcomed the news that Government has approved a bill to introduce a long-awaited auto-enrolment pension scheme.