The recent pay award to childcare workers could lead to knock-on claims costing over €150 million from nurses and other health service personnel.
The Irish Nurses Organisation has written to the Benchmarking Body on public service pay to point out that since childcare workers in the sensory disability sector won their dispute last January they have the capacity to earn up to €10,000 more than the nurses they report to. The Benchmarking Body is due to report in June.
Yesterday the INO's general secretary Mr Liam Doran said the award to childcare workers had created "an untenable anomaly" the Benchmarking Body would have to address if its findings were to be credible. He wrote to the Benchmarking Body last week to highlight INO concerns.
He also confirmed that any increase conceded to 1,500 nurses working with children in the sensory disability sector could have a knock-on effect for nearly 30,000 others nurses in the health services. The pay anomaly varies from about €5,000 a year for staff nurses to significantly more for grade two clinical nurse managers (senior ward sisters).
Last April childcare workers dealing with children who had learning and behavioural problems secured pay rises worth up to €10,574 a year, or 44.8 per cent. The increases, negotiated by IMPACT to meet problems recruiting staff set a new headline for the care sector just as public service unions were entering the benchmarking process.
About 1,300 people were estimated to gain from the deal and it led to last January's strike by childcare workers performing similar duties for children suffering from sensory disabilities. A pay review for these staff is currently underway that will lead to substantial pay rises by September.