Talks on pay for voluntary sector to resume on Friday

Talks intended to resolve a long-running dispute involving thousands of staff at voluntary organisations providing health and social care services on behalf of the Government will resume at the Workplace Relations Commission on Friday. The parties failed to reach agreement last week.

Unions are seeking pay increases comparable to the 9.25 per cent over 2½ years agreed for those in the public sector back in January and the restoration of links that previously existed with staff directly employed by the State to do comparable work.

Differences in the terms on which the various workers are employed developed as cuts imposed in the wake of the financial crash were not reversed to section 39, section 56 and section 10 workers as they gradually were to public sector employees. This caused significant recruitment and retention challenges for the voluntary organisations.

The section numbers refer to the legislative clauses under which organisations provide services to various Government departments and agencies in the areas of health and disabilities, homelessness, and families and children.

The HSE alone provides more than €1 billion in funding annually to hundreds of organisations that provide services on its behalf to people with disabilities, older people and others with particular needs.

Three of the largest organisations, Rehab, Enable Ireland and the Irish Wheelchair Association, received almost €200 million between them in 2022.

Tusla and the Departments of Equality, Justice, Social Protection and Housing are among the other Government-side funders and all are expected to be represented at the WRC.

The negotiations follow on from an interim agreement that averted strike action in the sector last October.

Payment of the 8 per cent agreed last year has not been straightforward in many sectors, with the unions claiming attempts have been made to exclude many workers after the deal was concluded, something the employers argue could create additional inequalities.

The process this time has also been complicated by an attempt to include a substantial number of organisations not previously involved in the talks, as the Government seeks a wider ranging settlement.

The employers remain concerned, however, that any inadequately funded agreement could leave organisations that receive almost all of their revenue from Government in significant difficulty.

“Most organisations funded by Tusla have paid their staff the 8 per cent [from October] but have only received one payment back on the first of December,” says Marian Quinn, chairwoman of the Coalition of Tusla-Funded Organisations.

“I’ve had phone calls from a number of smaller organisations that are now in a real cash flow difficulty because they’ve made those payments. We want to hold on to our staff because they do amazing work but, actually for smaller organisations, that is now really problematic.”

Roderic O’Gorman, whose department has been leading the Government side in the talks, said on Thursday he did not want to comment ahead of the talks.