A first wave of strike action across the care and community sector has involved hundreds of workers joining picket lines and protests calling for pay rises that they have been denied for 14 years. The SIPTU union, along with public services union Fórsa and the INMO nursing union, are calling on the government to agree increased funding for the sector to cover pay increases. The unions argue that the pay rises are needed to keep workers in line with the public sector, aid recruitment to tackle staff shortages and so address the threat to the quantity and quality of services provided. The three unions, with the support of the ICTU confederation, are united in their Valuing Community campaign and will move to widen and intensify industrial action later this summer and into the Autumn.
Unions to step up industrial action in community and care sectors
More like this
Unions in care sector to step up industrial action
Workers in the care, community and voluntary sector will escalate their campaign of industrial action to secure a first pay rise in 14 years. This follows the failure of the government to engage with unions after the selected strike action earlier in July. The government is key to the dispute as the trade unions want a guarantee that it will increase funding to the organisations to ensure that pay increases can be paid. The trade unions, SIPTU, Fórsa and INMO, are supported by the ICTU confederation in their “Valuing Care, Valuing Community” campaign and they jointly agreed to ballot members
Health unions step up industrial action
The TEHY and SuPer nurses’ unions are stepping up their campaign of industrial action to secure a better pay offer from the municipal employers. The two unions have maintained an ban on overtime and shift changes since before the summer but have now tightened up those restrictions and also announced a series of strike actions beginning with a one-day stoppage in Kanta-Häme in the South West on 2 September. So far three further strikes – each of four days – have been declared in Turku, Helsinki and Oulu with two running from 6-9 September and the Oulu action running from 13 to 16 September. The
CPSU to step up industrial action
The CPSU, representing 13,000 low-paid civil servants, is balloting its members for full strike action in protest at further pay cuts being pushed through by the government. The union is already part of the public sector wide work-to-rule action which has also been joined by the SIPTU general union. Read more at > RTE news (EN)