Thousands of health workers at charities and voluntary organisations providing key services and supports to older people and those with disabilities have voted for industrial action as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions in the sector.
Trade union Siptu, which balloted about 5,000 members at more than 20 organisations operating across the country including Ability West, Cheshire Ireland and Rehab, said on Thursday 97 per cent of its members in the organisations had voted in favour of taking action, with 70 per cent having participated in the process.
No decision on what action might be taken will be made until after talks between government departments and unions, which also include Fórsa and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, at the Workplace Relations Commission on Monday.
“The reality is that this issue goes back almost 15 years to when the government side took the decision to impose the public service pay cuts on people working for these organisations despite the fact that they aren’t public servants,” said John King, Siptu deputy general secretary.
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“Then, when pay restoration happened for the public service in 2017, the government didn’t apply it to the Section 39 agencies.”
The staff involved are employed by Section 39 organisations, a reference to the segment of legislation providing for the contracting out of the health services involved to charities and voluntary organisations. Thousands more staff working for organisations operating in homessless and family services will also be impacted by any agreement.
“In October 2023 we got an agreement for pay increases and, critically, a commitment to deal, once and for all, with the restoration of the link that previously existed between these workers and people in many cases doing the same work in the public service but unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
Officials from the government department involved had told unions before Christmas they did not have the political mandate required to complete a deal but, Mr King said, “if that continues to be their line, then we’re heading for a strike”.
The staff taking industrial action would include large numbers of healthcare assistants providing vital supports to vulnerable adults and children, whether in centres or individual homes, as well as specialised healthcare professionals and administrative staff.
Siptu has up to 15,000 members working in the sector, “doing really important work”, he said. About a third of those members were balloted on this occasion but the dispute extends far beyond this number.
A strike scheduled to take place in October 2023 was averted by the deal that included pay increases and provisions for a process intended to resolve wider issues.
The problems involved were highlighted during the general election campaign when then taoiseach Simon Harris encountered Charlotte Fallon, a staff member at St Joseph’s Foundation in Cork, during a campaign event and she accused the government of ignoring the disability sector and its workers.
Mr Harris denied the accusation but a video clip of the encounter went viral and he said a resolution to the dispute would be found but talks since then have again failed to produce an agreement
Employer organisations in the sectors involved, some of them employing large numbers of staff, will be watching the process closely. Many have said any deal needs to address related issues such as the funding of social insurance payments and pension contributions.
The full list of organisations where staff have voted to take action is: Ability West, Aiséirí, Bray Home Care Service, CareGivers Ireland, Caredoc, Cheshire Ireland, CoAction Cork, Cobh Community Hospital, Disability Federation of Ireland, Kerry Parents and Friends Association, Northside Homecare Services, Praxis Care – Cork, Rehab Group, St Joseph’s Foundation, St Lukes Home Cork, SouthDoc, St Cronan’s Association, St Joseph’s Day Care Centre, Social Action Group Rathmore, Trinity Community Care, Western Care Association and Waterford Intellectual Disability Association.
