Fórsa and Siptu trade union have sought the referral of their 2022 pay claim on behalf of Community Employment (CE) scheme workers to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

The unions lodged a pay claim on behalf of CE supervisors and assistant supervisors with the Department of Social Protection in May.

Fórsa official Tony Martin said local discussions had so far proved fruitless: “We’ve now sought the assistance of the WRC, and we’ve made department officials aware of the referral.

“Our CE scheme members haven’t had any form of pay improvement in more than 14 years. The effect of that delay is a rapid erosion of their current pay levels due to inflation.

“Despite this, efforts to negotiate an increase with the DSP have not produced a result. Consequently, the branch made the decision to refer the matter to the WRC,” he said.

The pay claim follows a protracted process with the DSP over several years on the issue of pensions for CE scheme supervisors and assistant supervisors. Union pressure and campaigning finally saw ex-gratia payments being made available, from June 2022, for those staff who had reached retirement age in respect of the time they were employed in the role.