Richard Boyd Barrett Condemns 'Pay Apartheid' for Home Care Staff
Richard Boyd Barrett confronts the Taoiseach about a planned protest by Northside Home Care Services staff who were excluded from the section 39 WRC pay restoration. He highlights thousands of home care workers on poverty pay and the suspension of a shop steward after protest action.
Richard Boyd Barrett raises a protest scheduled for tomorrow by Northside Home Care Services workers. He explains the group did not receive the pay increases that followed the WRC decision on section 39 pay restoration and that many are now paid at or just above minimum wage.
He points to the suspension of a shop steward for taking part in the protest and reports meeting other workers facing the same issue. Barrett underlines that this group of around 80 is one example of thousands of home care staff across the country who missed out on the pay uplift.
The Taoiseach and Deputy Boyd Barrett acknowledge that industrial relations, WRC agreements and the structure of not-for-profit providers create complex read-across effects for different worker groups. The debate explains why a WRC resolution can have uneven application across employers contracted to the HSE.
Barrett urges the Taoiseach to engage with public expenditure officials to find a way to address the pay disparity. He frames the issue as a systemic problem rather than an isolated dispute and calls for action to prevent a two-tier pay system for home care workers.
What happened
Richard Boyd Barrett raises a protest scheduled for tomorrow by Northside Home Care Services workers. He explains the group did not receive the pay increases that followed the WRC decision on section 39 pay restoration and that many are now paid at or just above minimum wage.
Disciplinary action and worker anger
He points to the suspension of a shop steward for taking part in the protest and reports meeting other workers facing the same issue. Barrett underlines that this group of around 80 is one example of thousands of home care staff across the country who missed out on the pay uplift.
Industrial relations and legal complexity
The Taoiseach and Deputy Boyd Barrett acknowledge that industrial relations, WRC agreements and the structure of not-for-profit providers create complex read-across effects for different worker groups. The debate explains why a WRC resolution can have uneven application across employers contracted to the HSE.
Government engagement called for
Barrett urges the Taoiseach to engage with public expenditure officials to find a way to address the pay disparity. He frames the issue as a systemic problem rather than an isolated dispute and calls for action to prevent a two-tier pay system for home care workers.
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Transcript
Taoiseach, tomorrow there's another protest by Northside Home Care Services workers who have been engaging in a series of one-day protests and strikes over the fact that they did not benefit from the pay increases arising out of the section 39 WRC decision on pay restoration. A lot of these workers used to be on a par, paid par, with HSE employed, directly employed workers. Now they're on rates barely above the minimum wage and there are thousands of them. Even though this is one group of 80, their shop steward is also now being disciplined because of their engagement to the protest, been suspended, their shop steward, by the company, by the not-for-profit company who provide services to the HSE. But I met with some of these other other workers doing the same thing. There are thousands of these people all across the country on poverty pay rates who didn't get the pay increase that other section 39 workers got and they are very angry Taoiseach and it is not fair. There shouldn't be a pay apartheid for home care workers. Deputy Boyd Barrett, obviously the industrial relations can be quite complex in terms of section 39s, in terms of WRC agreements and the specifics of this, because of course every decision taken in relation to any one group doesn't stay with the one group, it has read across to other scenarios as well. So I don't know whether that's the core issue here, in terms of the nature of how the company that the Northside home care workers are working with, the structure of that, is that the problem in terms of the application of the section 39? And I think Deputy Heenan raises this as well, in terms of the the application of the section 39 resolution of this through the WRC, which took quite considerable length of time, following the public service pay agreement. Look what I will do is I'll endeavour to get engaged with public expenditure on this and we're all concerned to see can we find a way to deal with this. Sorry? Yeah, well that's the point, that's what invariably happens with industrial relations, so that's maybe the factor here.