The government is being urged to heed the serious concerns of health and community workers in Donegal, who are planning a strike over staffing concerns.
Donegal Sinn Féin TD, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Independent TD Thomas Pringle visited the Irish Wheelchair Association in Donegal this week to hear the challenges facing workers and service users.
Deputy Mac Lochlainn said that workers feel that they have no choice but to take industrial action to demand action on persistent funding, recruitment and retention issues.
He said: “Strike notice was issued last week following a ballot of health and community workers represented by Fórsa, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) and Siptu. This strike is now only a fortnight away”.
“In recent days, I met with the workers and service users of the Irish Wheelchair Association in Donegal to listen to their serious concerns.
“None of these workers want to be on a picket line – they want to be providing the services that so many families across the state rely upon. But they feel that they have no choice but to take industrial action because of the government’s failure to address persistent funding and recruitment and retention issues.
“These workers quite rightly feel like they are being treated as second class citizens. They deliver all the services that public servants deliver, but these workers do so without the same or comparable terms and conditions. In some cases, staff have significantly worse terms than their HSE counterparts at similar grades.”
Deputy Mac Lochlainn was speaking after his party again appealed for urgent government intervention in the Dáil on Tuesday.
He added: “This strike notice must serve as a wake-up call for the government, in particular the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe.
“There will be no resolution to this issue until the decision-makers are in the room with the workers’ trade unions and representatives. Ministers Donohoe and Donnelly must come to the table to negotiate a fair deal for workers, and the many families who rely on the services they provide.”
