The three unions representing staff working in community and voluntary health and care services funded by the HSE – Fórsa, the INMO and SIPTU – attended the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Monday (17^th April).

The WRC meeting marked the commencement of conciliation talks on the long-standing problem of pay terms for staff working in state-funded agencies in Section 39, Section 56 and Section 10 organisations.

Last month the unions confirmed they had served fresh pay claims on a number of employers in the sector.

In correspondence to members issued on Monday, Fórsa national secretary Ashley Connolly said unions had outlined that the vast majority of workers in the organisations had not received a pay increase in many years: “They have fallen significantly behind the pay of workers in comparator employments.

“We further argued that arrangements for pay progression that had been historically in place should be restored,” she said.

Ashley added that management asked for time to fully cost the unions’ claim and to prepare a detailed response.

A further conciliation conference has been arranged for Monday 15^th May.

While funded by the State, employees working in a range of health professional, clinical, clerical and administrative grades are employed on lesser terms and conditions than their HSE counterparts.

Ashley said the unions continue to work together on the issue, and remain determined to secure a sustainable solution to the pay disparities for specialist staff in the sector: “We simply won’t accept anything less than a meaningful engagement and to focus on finding a solution to this longstanding problem,” she said.

Until 2008, workers in these agencies received pay increases under national wage agreements.

At the onset of the financial crisis they were subject to FEMPI pay cuts in line with the same cuts applied to public sector pay.

Unions eventually won limited pay restoration measures in 2019, but pay in these agencies remains significantly behind, and no formal mechanism for collective pay bargaining exists for workers in the sector.

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