A proposed strike involving some 5,000 health and social services at 17 voluntary organisations providing services on behalf of the State has been called off after agreement was reached shortly before 3am at the Workplace Relations Commission.
The strike had been expected to impact on thousands of service users, many with disabilities, across the country but was avoided after a breakthrough in negotiations that began on at lunchtime on Monday and ended about 4am this morning.
The proposal contains pay increases worth 8 per cent the first portion of which is to be backdated to April this year, along with commitments to address the funding issues in the sector..
The proposed deal which will be put to workers at organisations across the entire sector over the coming weeks is said to contain a mechanism unions hope will address their claim for parity between the workers at the voluntary organisations and those working directly for Government agencies who enjoy significantly better pay and conditions.
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“The discussions have been really long and difficult,” said Kevin Figgis, Health Division Organiser, one of three unions involved in the talks along with Fórsa and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
“We’ve been very conscious on the one hand of how a strike in these services would have impacted the people who avail of them and, on the other, of the need to achieve parity for our members. The talks have culminated in a package we believe will resolve that issue and sets out a map setting out how that is going to be done.
“In order to consult our members on that, we have decided to suspend the strike action and ballot on the issue, probably over the next few weeks,” he said.
The Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) expressed relief as industrial action was deferred. However, the association criticised the Government, saying it allowed “widespread disruption, fear, and angst to spread” across their community. The IWA said this could have been avoided.
IWA acting chief executive Chris Hoey, said “we are grateful for the increased offer”. He said it was “crucial that the relinking of pay salaries is established to ensure security in the sector and prevent workers from seeking higher pay rates elsewhere.
Disability campaigner Leigh Gath also welcomed news the strike due to begin today has been called off.
However, she said that many people were “very, very angry” that an agreement was left to the last minute.
Ms Gath who is spokeswoman for The Leaders Alliance, a national group of disabled people who have come together for the specific purpose of helping people understand the critical nature of disability rights and services and putting a stop to unnecessary strikes or service stoppages, told Newstalk Breakfast: “Hundreds of people went to bed last night not knowing if there would be somebody to get them out of their bed this morning, not knowing if they would be able to get a drink of water today, not knowing if they would be able to get breakfast this morning.”
A lot of people would still be impacted today because drivers could not be rearranged at short notice and people would not be able to get up and go, she said.
Fully addressing the entire issue, which has developed over 15 years since parity between the workers in the wider sector and those working for public sector agencies like the HSE would require substantial investment from Government.
The cost at Enable Ireland alone would be €5.7 million, the organisation estimates, and though it provides services to some 13,000 adults and children at 40 centres around the country, it has just a small portion of the staff that have been seeking the increases.
On Monday, the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, had said the Government was eager to see a workable solution reached.
Speaking on RTÉ television on Monday night, Niall Collins TD, a Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education had said he was personally in favour of the restoration of pay parity with the public sector workers, the demand at the heart of the dispute.
