“Section 39 care workers for people with disabilities, older persons or who require mental health supports deserve a pay rise”
Labour TD Ged Nash says Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have shirked their responsibilities to care and community sector workers for too long and that it’s time that workers in the community and voluntary sector in get equal pay for an equal day’s work.
“Thousands of workers across Section 39 and Section 56 bodies provide vital services in communities across Ireland” Deputy Nash said. “They deserve the same respect and pay restoration as other publicly funded bodies have implemented.
“This government has failed care and voluntary sector workers, the workers who keep communities going, for too long. On Wednesday, Labour TDs will demand that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil put the pay and conditions of care workers in Section 39 organisations on the same footing as HSE workers.
“I joined the picket line with Community Employment supervisors, care workers and others in September to demand that government takes its responsibilities to these workers and service users seriously. This seems to have fallen on deaf ears and so on Wednesday, Labour will push again for change.
“Unlike trade union members in the public or private sector, so many care and community sector workers have no way to negotiate a pay increase. Their work is comparable to workers directly employed by the State who will shortly be earning nearly 10% more than they do as a result of the extension to the current public sector pay deal. It’s simply not fair.
“Change can only come by the Government agreeing to increase funding to their organisations which is what Labour will demand on Wednesday. We need the Government to do as it did prior to 2008 which was to provide increases in funding to most Section 39 care and community organisations and community groups at a level which allowed them to then pay the wage increases agreed as part of national public service pay agreements.
“There are high rates of annual turnover of Section 39 workers, for example – up to a third annually as per the Harvey report. Anecdotally, we have heard reports of recruiters from the NHS in the UK coming to Ireland headhunting Section 39 workers, offering them decent terms and conditions and acknowledging the value of the work that they do. The real victims in this are the vulnerable people that they care for and the organisations they help manage, and the communities who rely on the services they provide. Until this government steps up to the mark, we will continue to see the exodus of workers to other markets.
“Care workers in Section 39 and similar organisations provide an immeasurable contribution to society, filling the gaps left by the State, providing a range of vital health and personal social services. The wheels of care and community services in this State could not turn without them. It’s time that they were treated fairly by this government. The Labour Party is demanding that the Government stops dodging its responsibility and gives these essential key workers the equal pay they so deserve.”
