Unions representing thousands of health workers employed by charities and voluntary organisations agreed a deal on Monday evening with government representatives intended to end the long-running dispute over pay and conditions in the sector.
Care workers, administrators and therapists, many employed by organisations such as the Irish Wheelchair Association, Rehab and Enable Ireland, had been seeking increased pay and the restoration of a link to colleagues doing similar or the same work in the HSE and wider public sector.
On Monday evening, after another long day of talks, the two sides reached an agreement that provides for pay increases of 9.25 per cent over two years, starting in October last year, and on a future link to public sector increases.
A separate deal is said to have been reached in relation to the funding of staff, other than doctors themselves, at out of hours doctors’ services, a key sticking point last week.
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After the talks Liam Berney of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) said “a set of proposals have emerged from the talks process and the unions will be consulting with our members on them over the next couple of weeks”.
Asked if the union side was happy with what was agreed, he said the members would have the final say on that.
The deal will cover tens of thousands of staff working in the care sector and disability support sectors at charities and voluntary organisations contracted to provide services on behalf of the State under Section 39 of the 2002 Health Act.
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It is intended to head off the prospect of industrial action by workers at about 20 such organisations where employees voted overwhelmingly in favour of action last month.
Those staff are members of Siptu, but Fórsa and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation also have significant numbers of members involved.
The deal will also apply to staff at organisations contracted by Tusla and the Department of Housing in areas such as family and homelessness, variously known as s10, and s56 workers, but not initially in some others funded by the departments of Justice or Education or by Pobal.
There is said to be an agreement to have a third-party conduct a survey to ascertain how the deal might be applied. One union source saying on Monday there was considerable uncertainly on both sides about the numbers of workers potentially involved and how pay and other increases would work given the multiplicity of funders in some instances.
One official from an employer organisation welcomed the reaching of an agreement, but said they hoped it would be followed by a wider look at funding of the sector, pointing out that about 20 per cent of costs on average lie in areas other that staffing.
“This is good news, though, and we are confident there is the goodwill required on the Government side to go on and address the other challenges the organisations employing the staff providing these vital services face,” they said.
