Unions lodge community sector pay claim by Niall Shanahan
The unions say the pay claim, set at 3%, would bring tens of thousands of workers in the community and voluntary sector in line with pay patterns across all sectors, including the pay provisions in the Building Momentum public service agreement.
Fórsa, SIPTU and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) are to a lodge a pay claim for thousands of workers employed in the voluntary and community sector. The unions are also seeking to establish an appropriate collective bargaining forum for the sector where pay, terms and funding can be properly established.
The unions say the pay claim, set at 3%, would bring tens of thousands of workers in the community and voluntary sector in line with pay patterns across all sectors, including the pay provisions in the Building Momentum public service agreement.
Workers in the community and voluntary sector provide a huge range of community-based services, including community development, local employment services, jobs clubs, homework clubs and family resource centres, providing a comprehensive range of services for “everyone from nought to a hundred years of age.”
The unions this week launched a joint campaign called ‘Valuing Care/Recognising Work,’ which aims to find “a fair way forward” for workers in the community and voluntary sector.
The unions confirmed that the vast majority of workers providing these services have not had any pay improvements since the collapse of social partnership in 2009, and the subsequent decoupling of the sector from pay provisions included in public sector pay agreements.
The also identified a significant issue with the retention of staff in the sector, up to a third of whom are leaving their jobs each year to avail of better terms in other employments.
Fórsa official Lynn Coffey said political leaders need to show they’re serious about valuing workers, and about providing services where they’re needed most.
“This means funding them properly. We need to stop the firefight year after year to ensure that services are maintained and build something more sustainable, which is the battle we’re currently waging for our local employment services.
“Meanwhile, we can see the flight of workers to employment opportunities elsewhere. This creates additional recruitment costs, but also illustrates that the community sector can’t compete with more attractive terms for the same skills in the public and private sectors. The loss of experienced staff has an immeasurable negative impact on the continuity of service they provide,” she said.
The unions also issued a joint letter to the Taoiseach, which said that while the Government is the principal funder of the sector, it has consistently denied any responsibility for the terms and conditions of employment which exist within it.
“The adoption of this position by successive administrations has led directly to a highly dysfunctional industrial relations environment where recommendations by the Labour Court and other Employment Law Bodies remain unimplemented because the relevant government department will not fund the employer to comply with same,” it said.
Union leaders have sought a meeting with the Taoiseach on the issues raised by the campaign.
They added: "The only viable and sustainable industrial relations solution to this claim, and the further multitude of industrial relations issues which bedevil the sector, is through the creation of a collective bargaining platform whereby terms and conditions of employment can be addressed and resolved.”
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