Fórsa members in community and voluntary health services in Galway, Mayo, Cork and Kerry will take part in a series of one-day strike actions next week.

The action will take place in Western Care and Ability West on Thursday 22nd September, and at Enable Ireland Cork and Kerry on Friday 23rd September as part of the ICTU-led Valuing Care, Valuing Community campaign.

Other coordinated strike action by SIPTU and INMO members will take place in Cork, Mayo and Donegal on Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd September.

The campaign aims to achieve improved terms and conditions of employment for social care professionals and other staff employed in agencies funded by the HSE, where staff are employed on lower pay and lesser conditions than equivalent grades in the HSE and other agencies.

Unions say urgent Government action is needed to address the funding of organisations in the sector, to make pay improvements for staff, stem the high rate of staff exits each year and fulfil recruitment targets for vital health services, including disability and homeless services.

Fórsa national secretary Ashley Connolly said: “Government is failing to grasp the link between its chronic underfunding of the services we’re talking about and the failure to meet the HSE’s recruitment targets in, for example, disability services.

“The outgoing head of the HSE has acknowledged they’re having problems meeting targets for disability services nationally, including unfilled roles in 18 organisations funded by the State. This has led to service delivery issues and growing waiting lists.

“The HSE leans heavily on the community and voluntary sector to deliver these services. These are the same organisations struggling to attract enough qualified and experienced staff in a very tight labour market. Why? Because they can get better paid work elsewhere.”

“The high level of staff turnover drives up HR and related recruitment costs. The failure to fund the services adequately has led directly to shortfalls in services, growing waiting lists and an intolerable burden placed on nursing and other care staff in the sector,” she said.

Please show your support

Take just 5 seconds to show your support for striking Fórsa members! 

The community and voluntary sector provide incredibly vital care in disability, homeless and other services, but they’re in crisis. The HSE relies on them to care for our communities but won’t pay them equally, so they can’t recruit and waiting lists are growing. They’ve been forced into industrial action with rolling strikes over three days next week.  

Tweet out your support by clicking on this link so the government knows we support them! Or copy and post it wherever you use social media.  

Both the professionals and those that rely on these services deserve so much better than this. 

Please show your support for the #FundUsFairly #ValuingCare campaign!