The Tipperary Wheelchair Association Service says it is disheartened to learn of planned industrial action by staff due to commence on October 17th. The service also says that it fully supports the staff demand for pay parity. The IWA is calling on the Government to intervene to resolve the dispute.
Talks at the Work Place Relations Commission ended without agreement leading to the ballot for industrial action. Personnel in Section 39 organisations across the country are paid less that staff employed by the HSE for similar work. In addition, the staff have not had a pay increase since 2008.
Ms Josephine Carroll, manager at South Tipp IWA says an employee of the HSE is paid €20.02 per hour while staff employed by the IWA doing similar work are paid €15.82 per hour.
The IWA say they want their staff to be treated equally and are concerned about the long term situation as the recruitment and retention of staff is affected by the disparity in earnings. Ms Carroll shared that 73% of service users are concerned about the future of services – be it independent living, assisted living or day services.
Service users are invited to attend communication and engagement sessions to learn about the possible impacts of the strike if it is not averted. These sessions will be held in Fethard town park on Friday 29th September at 1.30pm and at the Tipperary Town IWA centre at Brodeen on the Cashel Road at 2pm each day – Monday to Thursday, October 2nd to 5th.
