Healthcare assistants in Cork set to strike next month over pay and rostering dispute

Siptu members working as healthcare assistants in the HSE home support service in Cork are to engage in strike action in February.

The strike will be on a regional basis — including workers from Cork and Kerry, as well as Clare, Limerick, and Donegal — in a dispute arising from their employer’s failure to honour agreements on terms and conditions.

Healthcare assistants in the HSE home support service will implement 24-hour work stoppages in Cork and Kerry on February 19 and 26, with other dates being chosen for the other regions.

More than 1,000 Cork Siptu members voted overwhelmingly for strike action this month.

Cork Siptu representative Natasha Linehan Treacy told The Echo at the time: “Striking is the last thing our members want to do.”

Detriment

Siptu organiser Graham Macken said: “The failure of the HSE to honour agreed improvements in [healthcare assistants’] terms and conditions has negatively impacted services, to the detriment of workers and the clients they care for.

“The issues which remain unresolved include underpayments dating back to 2018 and the non-implementation of rostering agreements.

“There are also ongoing breaches of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, resulting in worker burnout due to excessive split shifts and inadequate breaks.”

During the work stoppages, staff will not be available for their normal roster, and pickets will be placed at the offices of their employers.

Contingency arrangements for emergency issues relating to service users will be agreed with the employer.

Siptu sector organiser Liz Cloherty said the union is available to engage with the HSE in order to resolve the dispute: “However, our members will be left with no alternative but to withdraw their labour should no meaningful engagement be forthcoming.”