Fórsa has served notice of a 48-hour work stoppage by members working at Oberstown Children Detention Campus, in an escalation of the ongoing industrial action over resourcing and safe staffing. The stoppage is scheduled to take place from 00:01hrs Monday 31st of August until 23:59hrs Tuesday 1st of September.
Fórsa members on the campus are to engage in a 12-hour work stoppage tomorrow (Tuesday 25th August) between 9am and 9pm.
The industrial action tomorrow is the fourth in a series of planned weekly work stoppages which began earlier this month. A picket will take place at the Oberstown campus throughout the work stoppage. The union has confirmed there will be no derogations for social care work. The only derogation in place will be for campus catering during the work stoppage.
The ongoing industrial action follows a ballot of Fórsa members, concluded in May, backing industrial action, up to and including a full withdrawal of labour. Oberstown staff engaged in a work-to-rule action from 25th June, including the withdrawal of cooperation with overtime. Fórsa members at Oberstown say that the campus relies too much on overtime in order to meet serious capacity challenges.
Engagements between Fórsa and Oberstown management, both locally and under the auspices of the WRC, have not been successful. When local engagement broke down two weeks ago, Fórsa criticised the failure of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE) to attend talks.
Fórsa assistant general secretary Deirdre O’Connell has said the current industrial action is taking place because members want a lasting solution, to ensure the safety of both residents and staff at the Oberstown campus, and that the DCDE has a role to play in resolving the dispute: “This industrial action is taking place to highlight the issue of safe staffing at Oberstown. These are social care workers working in an environment with a wide variety of needs, with an absolute focus on the safety of the young people in their care.
“The Minister and the department need to engage here. The DCDE’s plans to increase the number of beds at Oberstown fail to acknowledge the capacity challenges we are already dealing with. Staff and residents continue to face increased risks to personal safety. This dispute is set to continue if that reality can’t be acknowledged by Oberstown management and the department,” she said.
Ms O’Connell said the union has advised Oberstown management that it remains available for “meaningful, solution-focused engagement.”