INMO and SIPTU members employed at Caredoc facilities have announced their intention to commence industrial action in the form of a withdrawal of labour, effective from December 17th.
The INMO and SIPTU have been engaged in prolonged efforts to secure alignment of Caredoc pay and conditions with those of HSE employees,
Caredoc nurses provide a range of services around the country, including GP out-of-hours services, telephone triage and community intervention.
The unions are seeking the implementation of the 2023 WRC pay agreement for Section 39 organisations, specifically the 8% increase due to members working in Caredoc.
The HSE has already provided €647,834 to Caredoc for the purpose of paying this increase to staff the unions are seeking for this to be applied without delay. Thus far money paid by the HSE has not been applied to members’ salaries. This warrants a special inquiry into the funding model and fiscal responsibility.
The unions’ position is that any funding shortfall is now the responsibility of the employer, pending further negotiations with the HSE regarding the service-level agreement (SLA).
INMO Industrial Relations Officer Grainne Walsh said:
Caredoc nurses provide such an invaluable service around the country, taking significant pressure off acute and public health services.
There is no justification for these valuable roles to be compensated differently from their colleagues in the HSE, and retaining staff in these services will become increasingly difficult if pay and conditions do not match up.
Our members have no desire to withdraw their services in the middle of winter, but all other avenues have been exhausted. We will be meeting with workplace representatives to discuss next steps and ensure that all contingency and organisational arrangements are in place for work stoppages.
The employer has had more than enough time and opportunity to resolve this pay issue, and our members are now forced to apply additional pressure to ensure they are fairly paid.
SIPTU Health Organiser, Ger McNally said:
Our members are left with no alternative but to engage in industrial action to achieve the pay increases as set down in the October 2023 Workplace Relations Commission Agreement.”
He added: Despite numerous attempts to engage with management, no resolution has been found. Our members deserve to be paid properly for the important role they play in ensuring the public has access to healthcare 24/7. It is not acceptable for our members who work in a number of roles including call takers, drivers, receptionists, and administration staff to not have received their pay increases. This is creating huge financial pressures for them as they meet the cost-of-living challenges facing all workers.
McNally concluded: Our INMO nursing colleagues have also notified the employer of their decision to engage in industrial action. It is hoped that this joint approach will leave the employer in no doubt that members of both unions are clearly saying they have had enough and are willing to engage in industrial action to ensure the pay increases due to them are applied. We call on Caredoc to come to the table with a proposal to pay the increases due to our members to avoid any escalation of this dispute.