IMPACT suspended its strike by houseparents and assistant houseparents in the intellectual disability sector after meetings with the National Implementation Body (NIB) and the Labour Court yesterday. The strike was called off at 2.20 p.m., and the union's national health secretary, Mr Kevin Callinan, urged members to return to work as soon as possible.
The decision was widely welcomed. According to the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies Providing Services to People with Mental Handicap, about 700 clients and their families had been affected.
The federation's chief executive, Mr Brian O'Donnell, said it was hoped that most of the 59 affiliated organisations would have resumed normal services by the end of the week and he looked forward to a speedy resolution to the dispute.
He was one of a number of employer representatives who attended talks at the Labour Court on the dispute with SIPTU yesterday afternoon. The chief executive of the Health Service Employers' Association, Mr Gerard Barry, said he welcomed IMPACT's decision to join the process, which paved the way for the Labour Court to make a comprehensive investigation of the dispute.
IMPACT, which had been invited to the talks on Sunday but declined, will now attend the court next Monday to make its case. After yesterday's opening discussions at the court, SIPTU's national industrial secretary, Mr Matt Merrigan, described the meeting as "a constructive one that allowed us a real opportunity to address the needs of workers we represent within the sector".
Shortly before those talks began, the chairman of the Labour Court, Mr Finbarr Flood, met IMPACT leaders to discuss their entering the process. He is understood to have indicated they could do so as soon as industrial action was suspended. Later he said he was delighted IMPACT had agreed to enter the process.
IMPACT leaders also met the NIB on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. The NIB stressed the need for the union to stay within the procedures of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, including the industrial peace clause.
However, it also said the employers acknowledged the "historical pay relationship between houseparents and assistant houseparents in the intellectual disability area and those in childcare".
It added: "As part of the agreed arrangements for the operation of benchmarking, the employers and unions have already agreed that care assistants will benefit from any increase recommended by the Benchmarking Body for assistant houseparents in the intellectual disability sector."
Mr Callinan said the NIB statement had significantly changed the dispute. "The resolution of IMPACT members, and the massive support they have received from parents and carers of those with disabilities, has resulted in a significant shift in the employers' position," he said.
"We can now confidently argue our case for equality in the Labour Court. I salute the determination of staff who were forced into a strike against their will. I want to thank parents and carers who have stood shoulder to shoulder with us. IMPACT will now be employing all its efforts in the Labour Court to achieve justice and equality for people with disabilities and those who serve them," he added.