IMPACT has accepted an invitation to attend a meeting with Oberstown youth detention centre management in the Workplace Relations Commission today (5th September). The meeting will seek to address outstanding issues in the ongoing industrial dispute over poor safety measures and assaults on the campus.
Notified industrial action, which was due to take place today, has been deferred.
Residential care workers and supervising staff took part in an eight-hour work stoppage at Oberstown last Monday (29th August) and had also served notice of more stoppages due to take place on Monday 12th and Monday 19th September.
In advance of the industrial action, an emergency cover plan was agreed with management in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the detainees in their care.
An incident, in which a member of staff was assaulted and badly injured, took place during the work stoppage. Up to 12 workers voluntarily left the picket line immediately to respond to the incident. IMPACT members reported that this meant there were more staff on-site responding to the incident than there would be in the course of a normal working day.
The most recent official figures (supplied by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs) revealed over 100 violent incidents in Oberstown last year, almost half of which were classed as ‘critical’. Critical assaults and injuries necessitated a total of 3,005 employee sick days, involving 65 staff members.
The staff concerned work at three schools on the campus: Oberstown Boys School, Oberstown Girls School and Trinity House. Responsibility for the campus was transferred from the Department of Justice to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in 2012. The Oberstown campus currently caters for 48 under-18s, including a mix of vulnerable young offenders and violent criminals with multiple convictions for serious offences.
