An agreement on engagement and average pay increases for the next two years has prompted the suspension by staff at the Football Association of Ireland, represented by Siptu, of their campaign for collective bargaining at the organisation.
After several meetings involving interim chief executive David Courell and Siptu shop stewards representing football development officers and a number of administrative staff, the two sides have agreed a framework for future engagement including participation by the union’s representatives in the association’s internal staff council.
The deal follows an awareness campaign in recent months that included leafleting League of Ireland games by Siptu which complained the association refused to properly engage with it as it sought to negotiate pay and conditions on behalf of its members. It had accused the management of failing to properly engage at the Workplace Relations Commission when talks were previously held there.
The union was also unhappy about an existing system of deciding pay increases on a case-by-case basis with staff earning about what they did 15 years ago potentially receiving no increases to address inflation based on personal reviews by individual managers.
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It is understood this system will continue but is to be reviewed with a view, from the union’s perspective, to make it more fair. The association has agreed that pay increases for staff generally will average 3.5 per cent in the next two years. Engagement on future increases and how they will be decided are to continue.
“We welcome the proactive engagement between the FAI and our shop stewards in recent days, said Siptu deputy general secretary Greg Ennis on Friday. “This leadership team has shown more respect to its workforce than many others our members have sought to engage with over the years in the FAI.”
Development officer and shop steward Paul Keogh said: “We hope that we can now progress to working as a united team at the FAI where the voice of the workforce is represented by an independent trade union. All of us have one goal, which is the improvement of football in Ireland.”
FAI people and culture director Aoife Rafferty also welcomed the agreement.
“The senior leadership team places a strong importance on staff engagement and consultation. We are delighted that the local Siptu shop stewards have agreed to join the FAI staff engagement group and we are committed to having continuous, collaborative discussions.”
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