Siptu warns of ‘imminent’ national strike in State-funded health services

A national strike in State-funded organisations providing health and social care services now looks imminent, the trade union Siptu has warned.

A dispute over pay restoration for several thousand staff in what are known as Section 39 bodies in the health sector was deferred in February to allow the HSE to carry out an audit regarding remuneration in the various organisations.

However, Siptu health division organiser Paul Bell called on the Government to intervene in the dispute "or run the risk" of imminent strike action.

“Having given the employer the space to complete its work and while we await the publication of the HSE audit of 50 selected Section 39 organisations, there is nothing that I have heard in the interim which convinces me that conflict and industrial unrest in the form of a national strike in this sector is anything other than imminent,” he said.

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“Should Siptu be forced to reactivate strike notice, it was confident that our sister unions will join us in this struggle, and commit to strike action in a number of selected employments.”

Staff in many Section 39 organisations experienced pay cuts similar to those imposed on public service personnel working in State agencies offering similar-type services after the economic crash, the union said.

However, Siptu maintained that unlike public servants working in the health and social care sectors, those in Section 39 organisations had not been offered pay restoration proposals.

The Department of Health and the HSE have argued that staff working in Section 39 organisations are not public servants and are not covered by public service pay deals.

Financial assistance

In a joint statement given to the Oireachtas health committee in January they said the HSE provided financial assistance amounting in total to about €800 million to 2,224 Section 39 organisations.

The joint statement said such grants could range from very large amounts in their millions, to much lower amounts of just a few hundred euros.

“As the employer, it is a matter for Section 39 organisations to negotiate salaries with their staff as part of their employment relationship and within the overall funding available for the delivery of agreed services.

“All agencies had their budgets cut during the financial crisis and were expected to make savings. Given that a large part of the budgets of these organisations are spent on pay, the pay budget was the logical place to start.

“While it is understood that pay cuts were imposed on Section 39 employees, this was not uniform. Even where pay reductions were made, it is not clear how and when these cuts were actually applied in each case. We understand that different organisations did different things depending on their specific circumstances.

“There may have been increment freezes. There may have been a stop to all recruitment. The number of staff working in the agency may have been reduced over time. They needed to do more with less which is what they did.”

It said the Minister for Health Simon Harris had asked the HSE to undertake, as a matter of urgency, an evidence-gathering exercise with Section 39 organisations to establish the position regarding pay reductions and restoration. That report has not yet been published.