Nessa Cosgrove (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue with two different Ministers today. Both are work-related and are about two vulnerable groups of workers. Like Senator Collins, I raise the issue of section 39 workers.These workers are very close to taking industrial action, which they do not want to do. No one wants to go on strike but their hand is being forced. I urge the Minister, Deputy Foley, to intervene. An agreement was reached at the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, in October 2023 and I know that the former Minister of State, now Senator Rabbitte, was involved with this. There were two parts to that agreement for section 39 workers who were doing exactly the same job as people employed directly by the State in the areas of disability, elderly care and social care but had lesser contracts and much poorer working conditions. Pay parity is an issue and in fairness to the WRC, the first part of the agreement was that some of the gap would be filled with an initial pay increase but the other part of the agreement was that the overall issue would be addressed, once and for all, with a view to achieving full pay parity between section 39 workers and those employed by the HSE. Just before the election, Government Ministers could not say enough about support for section 39 workers but, unfortunately, it is not mentioned anywhere in the programme for Government. The last update I got from SIPTU was that the Minister, Deputy Foley, had said she wanted to talk and discuss how to progress this further. Members have been balloted for industrial action and unless the Minister intervenes very quickly, strike action is going to happen. People do not want to do that. The people who are working in section 39 organisations are working with the most vulnerable groups in society. I urge the Minister to make contact with SIPTU to ensure that agreement can be reached and the Government fulfils its promise.

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