Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The cost of living crisis is bearing down hard on working people. The pay increase in the public sector is less than the rate of inflation. It constitutes a de factopay cut. The increase in the national minimum wage due in January is also below the rate of inflation and also constitutes a de factopay cut. But the situation is worse again for the nation's community and voluntary workers in section 39, section 56, section 10, homeless services and others.

The majority of these workers have not had a pay increase now in 14 years. Despite the fact that some of these workers transferred recently to the Department with responsibility for equality, there is anything but equality when determining how they are paid. Despite the fact that many of them do the very same work as section 38 HSE workers, they are paid less, are not entitled to public sector pay increases and so on. These workers provide vital services in our communities such as those to people with mental health pressures, those with disabilities, community employment etc. yet the unjust pay mechanism for these workers is now undermining the services as workers are forced to look elsewhere for jobs which provide a decent pay pocket for their family households in a cost of living crisis and as the organisations that directly employ them struggle to recruit new staff when conditions on pay are so low. So when these workers strike, they strike not only for justified pay increases, but to defend the services that they have devoted years of service to. On the last strike day, the Irish Examiner quoted the words of Gerald Madigan. Gerald is a social care worker for people with disabilities at the St. Joseph's foundation in Charleville, County Cork. Gerald said that they did not want to go on strike again but that they would have to if a pay linkage with the HSE on section 48 workers was not formed. His words show the determination of these workers. This issue is clearly not just going to go away. Enough is enough. The State should reinstate the pay link and increase the pay of these vital workers providing vital services in our communities and they should do it now.

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