Siptu highlights harrowing stories of workers without sick pay schemes

Michael Taft Siptu researcher. File picture.

Up to one million workers have no access to a sick pay scheme, the country's largest trade union has said.

Siptu held a webinar, titled Healing Our Sick Pay System, to highlight the difficulties many workers face in obtaining sick pay.

One of the speakers, Linda Scully, a community worker and a member of Siptu National Executive Council, read out an email she had received from a union member.

“I'm a mother of two young children," the email read. 

"I work in a mainstream Hospital in Dublin, as a contracted cleaner.

“I earn €10.20 an hour. No overtime, no premium, no pension, my wages barely keep a roof over our heads. Last year, I got into trouble at work. 

"My manager called all the cleaners into the office, said he got word that stock was missing from the hospital and that he would sack all of us unless somebody came clean and put up their hand. It was humiliating.

You see I was the one that took the stock. I had no choice. I was very sick at the time. 

"I had a bowel infection. I don't have sick pay. I could not afford not to have wages to pay my rent to feed my babies. I took two nappies from the stockroom to wear while I was working my nightshift. I can't afford to be sick.” 

Not covered

According to Ms Scully, this email captures the “dire circumstances” many workers are left in.

According to Siptu economist, Michael Taft, most private, community and voluntary sector employees are not covered by a company sick pay plan and are wholly reliant on Illness Benefit. 

This benefit takes six days, not including Sunday, before the first payment is made.

“While there is no official data, surveys estimate that 55% to 60%, and possibly higher, of employees in the private, community and voluntary sectors do not have a company sick pay plan. That is equivalent to 800,000 to 1,000,000 workers,” Mr Taft said.

Last month, the Government stated they would report back, within six months, on a Labour Party proposal that would ensure workers who fall sick continue to get paid for up to six weeks.

Across the EU, 22 countries already have a statutory right to sick pay, as does the UK. Ireland is one of only five EU members that doesn’t recognise it as a right.

Siptu says a new sick pay scheme will likely be a mixture (hybrid) of employer obligation and social insurance.

According to Mr Taft, keeping the link with employers, through obligation payments, can help create a more "equitable and sustainable" scheme.

“Whichever model emerges, it must vindicate Siptu’s two principles: universal access and comprehensive income coverage. 

Further, it should involve a ‘levelling-up’ whereby sick pay conditions are raised to best practice levels in the public sector and private sector companies that currently operate sick pay schemes,” Mr Taft added.

According to Siptu, a new sick pay regime would be paid through increased social contributions. These are broken into two types.

‘Actual’ social contributions which are those paid into a social insurance or similar fund, such as PSRI, and ‘imputed’ social contributions, which Mr Taft says are estimated based on social benefits paid by employers directly to employees.

.