Fórsa members in the community and voluntary sector will join Siptu and INMO members in a national day of protest on Tuesday 3rd May in response to what the unions describe as the “neglect and underfunding” of community sector services.

The ‘Valuing Care Valuing Community’ protest will mark the commencement of a national campaign, which will include industrial action aimed at ending the State’s neglect of the community and voluntary sector.

Fórsa assistant general secretary Catherine Keogh said the Government’s failure to adequately fund the sector was having a severe impact on the retention of staff, which in turn was having a devastating effect on essential public services to some of the most vulnerable and marginalised citizens and communities. “Fórsa published a report last September which identified very high annual staff exit rates by health and social care professionals from agencies funded by the HSE. The rate of departure is up to 33% annually, and this has led, inevitably, to a decline in the quality of service delivery.

“The only realistic solution is to rebuild and refinance the voluntary and community sector with a more sustainable and appropriate funding model,” she said.

Unions have said the denial of funding for improvements in pay and conditions of employment is unacceptable and have been further critical of moves to privatise and commercialise some services, including local employment services (LES) and job clubs.

Unions have warned that privatisation of these services are likely to have profound negative consequences for society and the citizens and communities that rely on them. This week it was revealed that a US firm that has been criticised for its handling of social welfare schemes in America met with the Department of Social Protection weeks before a tender for local area employment services was announced.

Fórsa assistant general secretary Lynn Coffey said the entry of predatory US firms into the sector was a cause of deep concern.

“These are companies whose only objective is the generation of profit. The outsourcing of LES or jobs clubs to such firms can only lead to a decline in the quality of service delivery as they pursue profits at the expense of community-led services.

The three unions are coordinating the campaign with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), which has called on the Government to engage with unions and establish a process that ensures that representatives of community sector workers can engage in collective bargaining process to achieve real and deliverable outcomes.