The health and social care landscape is changing in Ireland, as in other countries, and with it the priorities for the delivery of healthcare services.
Health policy decisions and the significant fiscal challenges we face mean that resources expended on the provision of healthcare must be used effectively, and in a manner, that is justifiable in terms of improved patient outcomes so the provision of affordable and cost-effective Continuous Professional Development (CPD) options for health service workers is essential.
Last Tuesday (19th September) a SIPTU College for Continuous Professional Development, a collaborative partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI), was launched by the Minister for Health, Simon Harris and SIPTU General Secretary Designate, Joe Cunningham.
Continuous Professional Development is the systematic maintenance, improvement and broadening of the knowledge, skills and development of personal qualities necessary for the execution of professional and technical duties throughout a practitioner’s working life
The SIPTU College of Continuous Professional Development has been tasked to integrate the technological, psychological and sociological aspects of health care and facilitate the practise and development of healthcare professionals in an evidence-based environment. It is also to further the development of a range of skills appropriate in the current healthcare environment and provide practitioners with a broad perspective of the many facets of quality health care.
It will also further the development of a range of skills appropriate in the current healthcare environment and provide practitioners with a broad perspective of the many facets of quality health care.
As the largest Trade Union in the country, we have a responsibility to lead on the training and education of our workforce. This big step to work with the RCSI towards ensuring members get the best of education and training that will provide patients with the best possible healthcare and outcomes.
Continuous Professional Development consolidates the existing knowledge, skills and attitudes of the practitioner, and accommodates rapid technological change.
It becomes an ongoing, lifelong activity for the healthcare professional and the fact now that SIPTU can walk this journey with their member step by step can only provide better health care for patients and better jobs for workers.
SIPTU College for Continuous Professional Development will provide SIPTU Health Division members with access to world-class education programmes provided through direct and remote teaching methods.
The programmes will be accredited by the RCSI and will be provided to SIPTU Health members at a very competitive cost.
The Public Services Committee (PSC) of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has today (Monday 18th September 2017) voted to approve the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA). The deal was accepted by 80% to 20% on an aggregate ballot of the PSC at a meeting in the ICTU Offices in Dublin this morning (Monday, 18th September).
Individual unions balloted their members over the summer on the terms of the agreement, which was endorsed by members of SIPTU, IMPACT, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), TEEU and civil service unions the PSEU and CPSU.
The agreement ensures that, by 2020, more than 90% of public servants will be out of ‘FEMPI’ pay provisions, and almost a quarter will have exited FEMPI pension levy payments.
The deal guarantees public servants pay restoration, job security and pension certainty through positive pay and pension levy adjustments. 73% of public sector workers will receive a boost of 7% or more to their take-home pay while preserving the value of their pensions and protecting their jobs from outsourcing over the lifetime of the agreement.
The agreement also provides a clear road map to address outstanding issues like pay for new entrants employed since 2010 and any outstanding barriers to recruitment and retention of health professionals.
The unions will immediately seek to have discussions with the Government to activate these provisions.
Main provisions of the Public Sector Stability Agreement (PSSA):
1st January 2018: 1% pay adjustment
1st October 2018: 1% pay adjustment
1st January 2019: Pension levy threshold up from €28,750 to €32,000 (worth €325pa)
1st January 2019: 1% pay adjustment for those earning less than €30,000
1st September 2019: 1.75% pay adjustment
1st January 2020: Pension levy threshold increased to €34,500 (worth €250pa)
1st January 2020: 0.5% pay increase for those earning less than €32,000
1st October 2020: 2% pay adjustment
The proposed agreement includes a range of non-pay measures including:
The retention of outsourcing protections
A facility to revert to pre-Haddington Road working hours (with a commensurate pay adjustment)
An end to pension levy payments on non-pensionable earnings, including overtime
A process to address longer pay scales for new (post-2010) entrants
A process to assess recruitment and retention problems in certain grades and professions
Commitments on work-life balance arrangements, and
A commitment not to increase NMBI, CORU, or other professional registration fees, during the lifetime of the agreement.
SIPTU Health Division will launch the ‘SIPTU College for Continuous Professional Development’ this Tuesday (19th September) in the Albert Theatre, Royal College of Surgeons at 6 pm.
The college, a collaborative partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons, is set to formally launched by the Minister for Health, Simon Harris and SIPTU General Secretary, Joe O‘Flynn.
The college launch follows months of engagement with members of the need to provide support for SIPTU Health Division members achieve their professional development goals through lifelong learnings and specially constructed education programmes.
The need to achieve Continuous Professional Development is crucial for all health service workers. In addition, legislative requirements for the evidence of same will become a central factor for continued statutory registration with bodies such as Nurse Midwife Board of Ireland (NMBI) and the Health and Social Care Professionals Council (CORU).
Through this partnership, SIPTU Health Division members will be able to access world-class education programmes which will be provided through direct and remote teaching methods. The programmes will be accredited by the RCSI and will be provided at a very competitive cost.
For any member that wishes to attend the launch and reception, there are limited spaces available. To book a place please email pcole@siptu.ie
SIPTU representatives have condemned an apparent act of vandalism in which the windows of a Health Service Executive (HSE) ambulance, which was parked outside the Mater Hospital in Dublin 7, were broken in the early hours of this morning (Monday, 11th September).
SIPTU Organiser, John McCamley, said: “The driver and passenger side windows were smashed by a brick while the vehicle was parked outside the emergency department of the Mater Hospital as staff transferred a patient.
“While vandalism of this nature is fortunately not common, it is deeply regrettable that it occurs at all. When such incidents do occur all the relevant stakeholders must fully co-operate in the follow up investigation and with putting any relevant new safeguards in place.”
He added: “SIPTU representatives also insist that the management of the HSE make every effort to ensure our members are not placed in any situation which would put them at risk.”
Irish Ambulance Representative Council Chairperson, Peter Ray, said: “Thankfully staff were not in the vehicle at the time of this incident. However, it did result in an emergency vehicle being taken off the road for a period of time and its repair will have a financial cost.”
UNICARE, the fastest growing sector in UNI Global Union, held its international Organising & Steering Committee meeting in Geneva last week.
At the meeting, SIPTU representatives made a presentation to delegates on the progress the union is making in organising migrant workers and shared stories of the successes and challenges migrant workers experience in Ireland.
SIPTU Health Divisional Organiser, Paul Bell told delegates the SIPTU Migrant Workers Network has four main objectives:
To organise migrant workers and ensure their full participation in union activity.
To educate ALL workers, regardless of their country of origin, that we have a shared objective in sustaining & improving working conditions
To grow a union Support Network that enables migrant workers to support themselves & their communities.
To work in collaboration with like-minded groups to organise & campaign for a just, inclusive & equal society for people to live & work.
Speaking at the meeting Paul Bell said that largest percentage of migrant workers in the health service worked in the Care Sector and that union is campaigning to reimagine the provision of home care. “The first steps towards truly valuing home care is valuing the people who are using the service and the workers who are providing the service. By creating decent jobs with a living and social wage in the sector we are giving the workers, service users and their families the respect and recognition they deserve.
At the meeting, delegates were told that by 2030, it is likely that we will have a shortfall of 18 million care workers globally. The best way to combat this potential crisis is by trade unions working together to ensure that the home care sector has decent jobs that people want and aspire to work in, that enable home care workers to live full and decent lives.”
#UNICARE Global Steering Committee was a full success – we grow together and achieve better working conditions for the care workers! pic.twitter.com/CRjWKbPWRf
UNI Global Union Deputy General Secretary Christy Hoffman underlined UNI’s total commitment to growing UNICARE and the sector.
Hoffman, described by UNICARE President Carlos West Ocampo, as the moving force behind UNICARE, outlined the four ways in which UNI could contribute to the sector:
We understand corporate power: we must be strong to act as a counterweight to corporate power in care
We put a worker face on worker policy: we want decent work and our job to is give workers’ a voice and we’re proud we did this recently for UNICARE at ILO
We support organising in care: for example see our successes in Colombia, Nepal, New Zealand and elsewhere
We are facing up to the challenges of the future world of work in care: more independent work, homecare, platform work – and actively looking for solutions.
President Carlos West Ocampo said, “Undoubtedly the global care sector will grow because while technology will take over certain jobs, lots more people will need care as the world population increases and we live longer. Therefore, hundreds of thousands more workers will need to be unionised because growth doesn’t necessarily mean decent work. Our job is to be visible and impactful because UNICARE can bring them decent work.”
Adrian Durtschi, Head of UNICARE thanked all the affiliates and speakers who made the meeting vibrant, interesting and focused.
Those unions which spoke and presented at the meeting included:
SIPTU from Ireland about organising migrant workers
FIST-CISL about their organising in elderly care
FATSA about their training program for care workers
SINTISSSTE from Mexico about the challenges in their country
HSWU from Ghana about their successes in private care organising
FO-FEC from France about the need for strong social security systems
NCCU from Japan about Robots in elderly care
UNIFOR from Canada about their success in Fight for 15 in Ontario
Video messages from many of the contributors to the meeting on the UNICARE are on the website
To be the “Go to Union” for all HCAs and related grades and create a sector in which to organise and represent our members. Development of a ‘Go to Place’ for new members to join our Union.
Our Vision:
“To become a leading contributor and driver in the future development of the Health Care Assistants role, in a National, European and International context for the betterment of those we care for, and those who provide the service.”
Our Agenda:
Has twin objectives, recognition and development of the role, and SIPTU negotiated pay and conditions.
Registration and recognition
National job description and appropriate workplace uniform.
Ongoing education training, development and progression.
SIPTU negotiated pay and conditions.
Our Campaign:
SIPTU is the only trade union with negotiation rights for HCA’s and related grades.
The SIPTU Health Care (HCA) sector is organising and building a strong collective base so we can represent the grade collectively in Ireland Europe and beyond.
The SIPTU Health Care (HCA) sector are lobbying the Department of Health and the HSE to establish a permanent National Forum for HCA’s and related grades so that SIPTU members we will have influential voice in the future development of the grade and deliver the SIPTU Health Care sector (HCA) 4-point agenda.
Recent Developments.
The SIPTU Health Division made substantial progress and won accelerated pay restoration of all public service workers both the Lansdowne Road Agreement and its successor the Public Service Stability Agreement. This agreement included the increase of the pension levy threshold – removing all those earning under €34,000 from the pension levy over the lifetime of the agreement. SIPTU also fought hard for and won protections from the privatisation of public sector jobs.
The SIPTU Health Division championed HCA’s and related grades in relation to the changing roles and responsibilities of their practice and succeeded in securing a job evaluation scheme, which is underway in selected sites across the country.
The SIPTU Health Division stood up for workers who were employed under the HSE intern scheme, many of whom were HCA’s and we succeeded in gaining permanency after 18 months instead of the previously agreed 24 months.
In the recent public pay talks, SIPTU achieved incremental credit for any time now permanent members of staff spent as an intern.
1st AGM of SIPTU HealthCare Sector (HCA) Oak Room, Mansion House, 30th March 2016
At our first AGM we were able to report that a significant part of our agenda had been achieved, when the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive, agreed to SIPTU’ s request to set up a platform for all stake holders who have an interest in the future role and development of HCA’s and related grades.
SIPTU is representing HCA’s on this forum which was established in November 2016. Starting with a review of the HCA grade across all disciplines the forum will provide a platform for the SIPTU Health Care sector (HCA) to progress our agenda.
Launch of SIPTU HealthCare Sector (HCA) Royal College of Physicians, 26th March 2015
Over 100 HCA’s attended the Launch of the SIPTU Health Care Sector (HCA) in the Royal College of Physicians on the 26th March 2015. Together, with the Minister for Health at the time, Leo Varadkar, key decision makers, and influencers we set course to confirm without a doubt that SIPTU was the only recognised voice and Trade Union for Health Care Assistants.
That day, we called on the Department of Health and the HSE to establish a National Forum for HCA’s and related grades where we could pursue the sector’s agenda with the employer. The launch was attended by the SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor and ICTU General Secretary Patricia King.
Working the private Sector as a HCA or related Grade?
SIPTU also represents workers in the private sector and we are currently devising a campaign that will ensure all those working in the HCA sector, public or private, will be included in the SIPTU led campaign for recognition for the role. Join today.
We’ve been hearing a lot from Fine Gael recently, about wanting Ireland to be a country that rewards work, those who work hard and get up early in the morning.
Yet, Fine Gael have been in government since 2011, and they have presided over many policies (or lack thereof) that have left many workers and hardworking people on low wages, no job security and thus not rewarded for the important work they do.
One such sector is people working in private home care as home care assistants.
Private home care assistants well qualified, on low pay and no guaranteed hours
Most private home care assistants are qualified with a minimum of FETAC level 5, however, the rate of pay averages in the region of €10.50 per hour. The zero-hour/ “if- and-when contract” is the norm in the private home care sector, where there are no guaranteed hours.
Phil (pseudonym) has worked as a home care assistant for a private company for over two years for €10.10 an hour, no guaranteed hours and no sick leave.
Flexibility that suits the employer
Having no guaranteed hours makes it easy to be controlled by management because they can simply not allocate hours the following week if a home care assistant is not able to work. Also, when it comes to getting time off from work, management manipulate home care assistants by using a lot of guilt tactics because they know that carers build a bond with their clients.
Phil said that when he had to take time off because he or one of his children was sick, management tries to pressure him into coming in by saying, “that person needs care, are you saying you won’t go into them?”
While they are entitled to holidays, a lot of obstacles are put in place as to when they can take them. At the end of the day, it has to suit the employer. This practice occurs even when they’ve applied in advance and it has been sanctioned. Phil described how he had applied for a weekend off, five months in advance. As the weekend approached, he was told that they couldn’t find a replacement for him and that he had to work.
Travelling forty minutes for a half hour call
There is also a large amount of unpaid work that carers have to do, such as traveling from one client to the other. Neither do they get paid for staying longer with the client. They are monitored through a clocking in system, to the point that if they leave five minutes early in order to get to their next client, their wages are deducted.
As Phil noted:
I don’t even know what I earned minus petrol going from home to home because they were all over Dublin; sometimes you could drive for forty minutes for the half hour you’re going there to work for. And they don’t pay you an hour’s pay for a half-hour call, they pay you half of the hour, so it just isn’t worth it.
Phil still works a half-an-hour call in order to stay employed and keep his hours, even though it isn’t worth it.
Private carers aspire to public carer’s working terms and conditions
The HSE-run services are where most home care workers aspire to be employed in.
Compared to the private sector, the average rate of pay is €15 per hour, and they have guaranteed hours negotiated into their contract so that they must be paid for a set period of time. They also have a pension, which they can avail of. Public sector carers also get paid for going from one client to the next. These terms and conditions were negotiated by their union, SIPTU.
These terms and conditions were negotiated by their union, SIPTU.
Policy encouraging precarity in home care sector
When a person needs home help, they are allocated a care package. This is about to change to care-specific packages where the client’s family can decide who they choose, which is allowing the private sector access to hours that were naturally allocated to home care workers in the public sector.
Through this move insecure, low paid working conditions are being encouraged by State policy. Rather than building on the good terms and conditions that the home care workers already enjoy in the public sector, this move carries the risk of diminishing these, as more public money is diverted to private companies who hire home care workers on these poor terms and conditions.
Furthermore, private sector companies are advertising additional services, such as Alzheimer’s care, meaning they are no longer just providing traditional home help, (light domestic duties and light medical duties). This could make it more attractive to families, not realising the working conditions for these carers.
A secure, well-paid carer is good for the client and their family
Most home care assistants want to see that their clients are looked after and that the service is built upon. They would like to remain as home care assistants, but they find the lack of security a real challenge for them. As Phil said, “I struggle through every day. I don’t think about the future because I can’t, I’m living day to day. It doesn’t make for a very secure life.”
The precarious nature of home care in the private sector has made it very transient, which also impacts on the quality of the care that a client receives because that commitment to developing and delivering a good quality of life to that person in their home diminishes.
Rather than divert funding to the private sector, the government should be building and funding the public home care sector, so as to continue to promote working practices that are positive for both the home care worker and the client.
If you would like to participate in a collaborative project between FEPS (Federation of European Progressive Studies) and TASC (Think-tank for Action on Social Change) click here
SIPTU representatives met with HSE management today (Thursday, 24th August) to discuss the future of the Loreto Day Centre services for the elderly in Navan, County Meath. The facility was recently closed due to the building failing to comply with fire regulations.
SIPTU Organiser, John McCamley, said: “Following today’s engagement SIPTU representatives welcome the assurances from HSE management that day services will continue to operate in the Navan area. While all the details have not been agreed, further engagement and consultation are planned, in particular, around a proposed new facility for the service.”
SIPTU representatives will meet with HSE management on Thursday (24th August) to discuss the future of Loreto Day Centre services for the elderly in Navan, County Meath.
SIPTU Organiser, John Mc Camley, said: “The facility was recently closed due to the building not being in line with fire regulations. SIPTU representatives had previously written to the management of the HSE citing a number of concerns about the failure to adequately communicate with our members in the lead up to the closure of the facility. Following engagement with management the union had requested a number of assurances on the future of elderly day care services in the area.”
He added: “SIPTU representatives of nursing and care staff within HSE Meath Elderly Services have raised concerns regarding the redeployment of staff from the facility and the transfer of services to other locations. There is a particular concern around the adequate staffing in other day centres.
“At the meeting on Thursday, SIPTU representatives will be seeking clarification of these issues and impressing on management the urgent need for a revised service plan for the Meath area.”
This weekend, SIPTU Meath District Council remembered poet, Francis Ledwidge.
Ledwidge worked as a farm labourer, a miner, a road worker that went on to be secretary of the Slane branch of the Meath Labour Union. He then enlisted in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was killed in action at the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I.
To us, Ledwidge’s life will always represent the vital combination of the right of workers’ to be organised and the expression of workers’ culture.
SIPTU Health member and Vice-Chair of SIPTU Meath District Council, Tina O’Brien presented an award to Joe Ledwidge, nephew of Francis.
