Fórsa trade union has said it will continue the fight for pay parity for its members delivering health and social care services in the community and voluntary sector.
Addressing delegates at the union’s Health & Welfare conference in Letterkenny this evening (Wednesday), Fórsa national secretary Ashley Connolly called on the funding bodies to fully implement and complete the independent data gathering process, in order to establish a clear picture of the pay and funding arrangements in the sector.
The 2023 WRC agreement provides for an independent data gathering exercise to be conducted over the next eight months.
She said this remains a crucial next step if the parties are to successfully engage under the WRC process next March: “The data gathering process will need to be completed because we are on a path here to securing pay parity with public service colleagues. There is a need to understand the pay levels across the sector and how they were determined and funded.
“It has taken a long time to secure these pay recovery measures. We secured an agreement that helps pave the pay to getting a fair and better outcome for members. But we recognise the necessity to keep applying pressure, otherwise we will be left waiting again to achieve pay justice. That can’t be allowed to happen,” she said.
Ms Connolly said the current pay deal, endorsed in a ballot of Fórsa members at the start of May, was a major milestone for a large group of workers whose pay had not been properly restored after austerity-era cuts to pay in 2009. Funding cuts led to a high turnover of staff in the sector, with employments in the sector experiencing a sustained average staff turnover of 30% per year.
Delegates at the conference in Letterkenny unanimously backed a motion mandating the union to continue to engage, under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), and secure a successor to the October 2023 agreement, which provides for 9.25% in pay improvements over two years (October 2024 to October 2026).
The conference motion also calls on Fórsa to collaborate with funding bodies to ensure an audit is conducted “to verify which organisations have paid in full the terms of the October agreement and any successor agreement.”
Fórsa is Ireland’s largest public service union and represents more than 35,000 health and welfare workers including health and social care professionals, clerical, administrative, management and technical staff. The conference in Letterkenny continues until Friday.
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