Care workers prepared for industrial action if talks with Government do not resolve pay dispute

Norma Foley is now seeking to reconvene pay talks at the earliest available date. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins

Up to 27,000 care workers will continue to wait for a resolution to a long-running pay dispute as the Government seeks to re-enter talks.

So-called Section 39 workers — those employed by privately owned charities and agencies that are contracted by the State to provide healthcare services — are paid less than directly-employed HSE staff.

In October 2023, pledges from the Government to address those pay gaps managed to avert strike action, but over a year later, unions are once again balloting members.

Talks at the Workplace Relation Commission were paused last November to allow for the general election and a new government to be formed.

Disability Minister Norma Foley is now seeking to reconvene pay talks at the earliest available date.

Ms Foley would not be drawn on whether the Government was bringing anything new to the table that might see the dispute on the road to resolution.

"I want to see a fair and appropriate structure there. I recognise the dichotomy where one can be working in one sector and another working in Section 39, and be in a completely different circumstance, so I do want that to be addressed," she said.

Ms Foley has maintained addressing the pay disparity is a priority for the Government and said there is "no shortage of willingness" to reach a resolution.

Responding to Ms Foley's announcement, trade union Siptu said it hoped any invitation to engage in renewed talks comes with the necessary mandate from Government to allow its officials scope to resolve the dispute.

"Our members are acutely aware of the journey this claim has taken to date. They are currently engaged in a ballot process at the moment arising from the failure of the outgoing government to honour previous WRC commitments," said Siptu sector organiser Damian Ginley.

Should the invite for imminent talks materialise, then it will be important for the Government to understand that we will be entering with the potential of a strong mandate for industrial action from our members arising from the outcome of the current ballots.

At this time, Ms Foley said she was not envisaging "any other strategy" other than getting everyone around the table in good faith.

She offered no plans to deal with industrial action if talks should fail and workers take action.

Raising the matter in the Dáil, People Before Profit-Solidarity leader Richard Boyd Barrett said workers he had met in Ballymun are earning a lower hourly rate than they had in 2008 when the austerity pay cuts took effect.

"They have never had them restored. They have never got cost-of-living increases and they still have not gotten the 8%," Mr Boyd Barrett said.

"What sort of respect are you showing the 27,000 Section 39 workers by not ensuring they get the pay increases they deserve?"