Community sector unions seek fair pay

TRADE unions representing 60,000 employees in the community sector have demanded that their members are fully and fairly represented in the upcoming round of national pay talks.

Those working in the sector are involved in helping others faced with major personal obstacles in areas such as homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction and disability. Yet, according to SIPTU and IMPACT, the workers are faced with obstacles themselves, mainly due to a lack of government funding. As a result they must endure low pay, poor or non-existent pension provision and job insecurity.

According to IMPACT many are placed on temporary contracts “in organisations that operate hand-to-mouth on short-term funding”.

A conference in Dublin yesterday drew together those who represent community sector workers and representatives of employer groups.

The conference, entitled Setting the Agenda, examined how employers and employees can work together and separately to improve employment conditions in the sector, as well as discussing how they can be represented more effectively in national pay agreements.

“The significant contribution made by the large number of community sector workers, delivering essential public services and activities, has never been adequately recognised or compensated by the Government over the years,” said David Connolly chairman of the Community sector/Trade union campaign group. “As a result there is a whole range of inequalities of treatment and a lack of fairness in relation to wages and conditions of employment across the sector.”

Mick Creedon of the Community Sector Employers’ Forum said: “A major problem we face as community sector employers is that government funding for the programmes we deliver does not adequately cover employee costs involved.

“Also, because there is no coherence between government departments on which employee costs to cover, we end up with employees doing similar work receiving different pay and conditions.”

Yesterday’s conference resolved that unions and community sector bodies will be working to ensure that the sector is formally recognised in its own right and employment conditions and other key issues are on the table for the next round of national pay talks.