Efforts to prevent a 48-hour work-stoppage at the State’s only child detention centre next week will get under way on Thursday at the Workplace Relations Commission.
A spokesman for the trade union Fórsa confirmed it had accepted the invitation by the commission to talks with Oberstown Children Detention Campus management.
Talks will begin at 12.30pm, he said. As things stand, however, a planned stoppage by members, from 12.01am on Monday, August 31st until 11.59pm on Tuesday September 1st would “absolutely” go ahead.
It will be the fourth in a series of stoppages over staffing numbers at the centre, which began earlier this month.
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On Tuesday, members engaged in a 12-hour stoppage and mounted a picket outside the campus.
About 40 Forsa members took part, carrying placards with slogans including: “Oberstown in Crisis” and “Staff Crisis = Care Crisis”, with the Fórsa logo printed on them. Another featured a photograph of Minister for Children Norma Foley and the words “protect your staff”.
Director of Oberstown, Damien Hernon, called for a “ceasefire” in the escalating dispute on Monday, warning that industrial action could increase risks to both staff and young people detained at the campus.
[ Oberstown staff ‘fearful of consequences’ of industrial actionOpens in new window ]
He urged workers to “step this down” to allow efforts to resolve the dispute to progress.
The facility, which accommodates children aged up to 17 years on remand or sentenced by the courts for serious criminal offences, has recently seen an increase the number of boys it is certified to accommodate – from 40 to 42.
Its capacity is for 46 young people, including up to four girls. As there are rarely more than three girls detained, the increase in capacity for boys is an effective increase in overall numbers.
The increase, pushed through by the Department of Children, happened in March despite resistance by Oberstown management who warned of the impact of staff morale and on therapeutic services to the young people.
Minister Norma Foley is understood to be under considerable pressure from Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to increase capacity for boys at the centre as courts report being unable to send children convicted of serious offences, including dangerous driving, there due to lack of space.
During Tuesday’s stoppage, children were confined to the their rooms and were reportedly provided with takeaway meals.
Deirdre O’Connell, assistant secretary general of Fórsa, which represents the care workers, said “the catalyst” of the prolonged industrial action was Foley’s announcement “there was definitely going to be a bed increase” at the detention facility.
“It was always mooted in the background, but it was never confirmed. In February, it was confirmed that it is going to happen,” O’Connell said, “and not only was it going to happen sooner rather than later, there were no negotiations with the stakeholders, which is ourselves, Fórsa.”
In a statement, Oberstown management said next week’s planned action “creates a direct and unacceptable risk to the safety, security and wellbeing of staff, young people and all those on campus”.
“Oberstown fully respects the right of staff to engage in lawful industrial action. However, industrial action in a children detention campus must be managed in a way that protects the rights, welfare and safety of the children in our care,” it added.
