Over 2,500 healthcare workers have been exempted from a government-supported pay agreement established following a prevention of a potential strike within voluntary health and social service organisations. An industry employers’ group has branded this as a “betrayal of trust”. The National Community Care Network (NCCN) expressed in a letter to the Health Service Executive that denying the pledged 8% pay increment, as settled upon in the Workplace Relations Commission last October, would result in wage discrepancies among employees performing parallel tasks in the same institutions. This could subsequently present legal challenges.
Unions, representing employees from section 39, 56 and 10 organisations, insist that the government negotiators omitted exemptions while brokering the deal. They believed that these implementation terms would cover all employed in related sectors. The “sections” denote categories of law under which these bodies operate, providing services within health and disability (S39), child care (S56) and homelessness (S10).
As a solution for the present quandary, the unions are slated to liaise with Health Service Executive delegates where discussions regarding another round of salary hikes, in accordance with the recent public service pay deal, are expected to initiate at the Workplace Relations Commission next week.
The NCCN asserted that its workers reckoned that they would gain from the pay raise agreed upon last October. However, on 11th April, a collective entity comprising 22 independent organisations, including Rehab and some local service providers that offer approximately 2 million care hours at the residences of those in need, was informed by Kosi, the company hired by the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health, to overlook pay rises that those working under contract-based services wouldn’t qualify for the increases.
As per Susan Kelly, the NCCN’s chief executive, the result would leave out personnel catering to the elderly, whereas those aiding individuals with disabilities would be included. She stressed that the existing funds will be inadequate to cover the 8% pay increment, as the Health Service Executive disburses less than the overall cost of these services to the not-for-profit organisations they represent. Therefore, implementing the pay raise in current circumstances seems unfeasible.
This will lead to a bifurcated system, with two worker groups earning varying wages for equivalent work, which is untenable. A significant sum of money is involved… for one earning €15 per hour, this would increase to €16.20. For an individual working 20 hours each week, this amounts to a €25 increment. The decision to refuse to pay sends an entirely wrong impression to those performing difficult but critical work. It is outright wrong.”
The current predicament is among recent ones that emerged following the agreement reached late the preceding year, with several bodies voicing concerns about delays or issues regarding eligibility. The problem associated with the tendered contract has emerged in other sectors but is generally believed not to affect a large workforce.
The HSE, in its statement, noted that it “will be making modifications to suitable organisations in regard to the grant aid part of their funding, in line with the agreement, following the submission, scrutiny and approval of their application. This applies to outfits offering services to the elderly, and the procedure is still underway.”