Disability groups 'very angry' agreement was left to the last minute

Vivienne Clarke

Disability campaigner Leigh Gath welcomed the news that a strike by health and social care workers in the community and voluntary sector, which was due to begin on Tuesday, has been called off.

However, she said that many people were “very, very angry” that an agreement was left to the last minute.

Talks between unions and Government representatives at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ended shortly after 3am with an agreement on pay.

Ms Gath is a spokesperson for The Leaders Alliance, a national group of disabled people who have come together for the specific purpose of helping people understand the critical nature of disability rights and services.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast she said: “Hundreds of people went to bed last night not knowing if there would be somebody to get them out of their bed this morning, not knowing if they would be able to get a drink of water today, not knowing if they would be able to get breakfast this morning."

"A lot of people would still be impacted today because drivers could not be rearranged at short notice and people would not be able to get up and go."

On Monday, Enable Ireland announced they were going to go ahead with planned industrial action at all locations nationwide beginning on Tuesday.

“Following the notice of industrial action by Fórsa, SIPTU and INMO members at Enable Ireland locations nationwide, we anticipate that there will be substantial disruption to Enable Ireland services, including the closure of many services, from tomorrow onwards and to continue indefinitely."

They said industrial action is part of a campaign for equal pay now and in the future for staff of Enable Ireland who do similar work to colleagues in the HSE and other Section 38 voluntary organisations, but receive substantially lower pay.

"For many years, Enable Ireland has advocated for a return to pay parity and alignment for our staff and we fully support staff demands for equal pay with HSE and Section 38 staff.

"For 30 years, Enable Ireland staff pay was aligned with their colleagues in the HSE. This alignment was broken following the recession and since then, Enable Ireland staff salaries have fallen further behind and will continue to fall behind until this situation is addressed."

The planned industrial action has now been called off after the agreement with Government.