Two Fórsa committees that bring together clerical, administrative and executive grades across all sectors of the civil and public service are to pilot a joint survey of workplaces. The two ‘equivalent grades committees’ will use the exercise to help identify the most important inter-divisional issues for the grades.

The survey will be open to relevant grades in workplaces across four of Fórsa’s divisions: civil service, health and welfare, local government, and education. It will seek the views of union members and non-members. 

The pilot will see the distribution of survey material to workers in DEASP Letterkenny, Portlaoise hospital, Central Statistics Office Cork, and IOT Waterford in April. It is anticipated that the exercise will be rolled out in other workplaces following analysis of the pilot results.

Fórsa general secretary Eoin Ronayne encouraged all available participants to engage with the pilot. “As these surveys are pilots it is important that we encourage a high level of engagement in these areas. This will give us a significant snapshot of the issues affecting members across divisions nationwide,” he said.

The two Fórsa cross-divisional committees have been exploring differences in pay, working time, and other working conditions for clerical, admin and executive staff in different parts of the civil and public service.

The clerical officer/grade III equivalent grades committee has identified differences in annual leave, pay, working time and flexitime for members of the grades across the civil service, health, education local government, and the non-commercial semi-state sector.

A separate equivalent grades committee for executive grades/grades IV-VII also found significant differences in annual leave, pay, compassionate leave and flexitime.