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SIPTU secures pay for student radiographers working on Covid-19 frontline
SIPTU representatives have today (Friday, 1st May) confirmed the union has secured an agreement offering student radiographers working on the frontline of the Covid-19 crisis a paid contract of employment.
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Kevin Figgis said: “Following an intense campaign and extensive engagement with both the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health we can confirm that 51 student radiographers currently assisting in the battle to stop the spread of Covid-19 will be offered a 3 month contract of employment similar to the terms agreed for nursing, midwifery and medical science students. From the outset of our campaign, SIPTU representatives argued that the essential work carried out by these students should be treated no less favourably than other student health professional categories. This agreement achieves that parity of esteem and recognises the hard work of these dedicated young health professionals serving our communities.”
He added: “Radiographers are in short supply and there is great demand for them in both public and private health care settings, at home and abroad. It was vital we sent these students a clear message they are needed in the Irish health service and that they will be offered valuable employment pending their graduation and registration as radiographers.”
SIPTU Health Divisional Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “A huge effort was made to ensure student radiographers were recognised for their effort in the fight against Covid-19. This virus has affected every community on the island of Ireland and health care workers are at the forefront of that fight every day. This positive result could not have been achieved without the support of all our members in radiography. We also like to thank the Minister for Health, Simon Harris for his intervention on the matter and welcome his remarks in Dáil Éireann yesterday.”
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SIPTU Workers Memorial Day Ceremony 2020
On Workers’ Memorial Day 2020, we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic that’s having profound effects on us all. The COVID-19 outbreak has shown us how vulnerable we are to an epidemic, and how devastating the effects can be: on life, on society, on our economy.
This crisis has demonstrated, as never before, the importance of protecting the safety, health and welfare of all people, whether at home or in the workplace.
It has also shown the importance of investing in good public health care, investing in good conditions for health care workers and other frontline workers, and the need to ensure good sick pay and other provisions to protect the wages and jobs of all.
Earlier today, SIPTU Health Division joined with our sisters and brothers from the private sector and the wider public service membership of our union to commemorate all those who died from Covid-19.
Ar dheis dé go raibh a n-anamacha dílse.
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Sunday Read: Covid-19: Our ‘1945 moment’?
In the storm of this public health crisis, we’ve seen a significant shift away from a four-decade market-centred economic orthodoxy, and towards some of the principles and tools associated with Europe’s post-war reconstruction.
This contrasts sharply with the 2008-2010 banking crisis, when political, economic and, initially, social consensus swung quickly behind the politics and economics of austerity.
Driven in part by public health imperatives, and accompanied by an inspiring spirit of social solidarity, strong support for a State-led response to the massive economic challenges of the Covid-19 crisis has emerged in Ireland and beyond.
Indeed, Pope Francis himself called for a post-war spirit of solidarity in his Easter message last weekend.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen what can be achieved when the State mobilises financial, organisational and human resources for the common good, when people work together collectively, and when citizens have equal access to essential goods and services.
The next challenge will be to embed these principles into our economic, social and business model on the other side of the emergency.
There are strong reasons to believe that we may be experiencing a ‘1945 moment,’ where the enormity of loss and sacrifice, the scale of economic devastation, and fatigue with austerity, combine to create the conditions for a radical shift in European public policy.
And the sheer scale of the coming economic storm means we need a fundamentally different approach to the one adopted during the banking crisis.
As Irish government formation efforts intensify, any unity of national purpose will, at the very least, require a progressive counterweight to the centre-right if we are to avoid a repeat of the mistakes of the past.
This is also a challenge to the left, as the development and display of untested ‘alternatives’ will be as irrelevant to today’s citizens as they are to tomorrow’s historians.
That means trade unions, civil society organisations and others must stand ready to play their part, together, in the implementation of practical solutions.
Recent events suggest that a genuinely new social and political consensus is possible on the basis of:
- A high-productivity, high-skills competitive economy supported by public investment in education and infrastructure
- An economy where all workers can expect an income capable of supporting a decent standard of living
- Social solidarity, in the form of a strong safety net to support those unable to work
- A social wage, with essential public services provided on a universal basis
- Flatter wealth distribution
- Supported by adequate taxation, social dialogue, collective bargaining, and legal rights to equality and civil and political freedoms.
Without the US leadership displayed in 1945, the responsibility for rebooting our economies now rests squarely with the leaders of Europe and its nations.
In this context, the makeshift deal testily hammered out by EU finance ministers last week is utterly inadequate to the scale of the challenges before us.
The distinction they made – between debt directly associated with the virus and debt that isn’t – may look like fancy footwork today, but it will seem laughable when the full cost of economic recovery emerges.
Once the health crisis abates enough for us to properly assess that damage, the priority will be to kick-start our economies and maintain living standards, not to classify and pay back debt.
This will require effort and imagination from politicians, the financial sector, public services, businesses, civil society, and representative organisations.
Just as in the post-war period, the strongest available tool of recovery will be investment in infrastructure. Critical public services like health, education and childcare will need to recoup. Jobs permanently lost in the Covid crisis will have to be replaced. Incomes must be supported in the meantime.
That’s before we step up our response to the climate crisis, tackle the pre-coronavirus shortcomings in housing and other public services, or address the reasonable expectation that recently-introduced universality in public provision will be maintained and expanded.
The crisis has also exposed the vulnerability of people in low-paid and insecure employment, while its impact on the organisation of work – in particular the rapid shift from office-based to remote working – holds huge potential for productivity, public services, regional balance, quality of life, and the environment.
In recent weeks, we have witnessed some extraordinary things, not least the loss and fear that the coronavirus has inflicted.
We’ve also seen the inspiring bravery of our health and other essential workers, the many thousands of volunteers who have put themselves forward, and a community spirit that has both helped limit the spread of the virus and found new ways to socialise and support others.
If we build on that, our country and our continent can become more secure, more equal, more united, and better prepared for future shocks.
If we fail, we risk a descent into long-term economic hardship and political chaos, here and across the European Union.
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SIPTU to participate in global campaign calling on Governments to protect home care workers
SIPTU Health representatives will today (Friday, 24th April) join trade unionists from dozens of countries around the world including New Zealand, Australia, India and the United States in a global campaign calling on governments to protect all home care workers on the frontlines of the Covid-19 crisis.
SIPTU Health Divisional Organiser Paul Bell said: “SIPTU is supporting this global campaign to protect all home care workers. The Government’s belated change of policy on the issue of Health Care Support Assistants wearing facemasks has caused serious confusion among our members. There is also a lack of confidence in the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) ability to supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to all our members working on the frontline in the community. We have sought clarification from the HSE as in one Community Healthcare Organisation (CHO) area alone 75,000 face masks would be required per week.”
He added: “Over the past weeks we have become aware of Health Care Support Assistants having to purchase their own PPE, including face masks from local pharmacies in order to maintain their safety and the safety of their clients. We are now calling on the HSE to reimburse our members for any costs incurred. Many of our members could not afford to purchase equipment and had to make do with reusing protective items. This campaign will help to shine a global light on these workers and on the issues they face in keeping our older people safe in their homes and away from residential settings.”
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SIPTU says government childcare plan has caused huge anger on Covid frontline
SIPTU Health representatives have today (Thursday, 23rd April) said the Government’s plan to meet the childcare needs of health and other essential workers falls well short of what is required by all workers on the frontline of the Covid-19 crisis.
SIPTU Divisional Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “The announcement by An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar yesterday was initially met with huge disappointment by our members but overnight it has turned to huge anger among a large number of extremely hard pressed health and other essential workers.”
“This childcare issue has been going on for too long as demonstrated by the number of health workers presenting for sick or annual leave to take care of their children. The Covid-19 crisis will be deepened in the coming days and weeks with many health workers unable to attend work through exhaustion and the continued unavailability of childcare.”
He added: “Our members believe the Government has completely misread their concerns and produced a policy that will not work for the majority of frontline health and other essential workers. It must immediately agree a more realistic childcare plan with NPHET that covers all essential workers in both the public and private sector.
Resolving this childcare crisis must be given top priority.”
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SIPTU says government should take control of private nursing homes
SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, has called on the Government to bring the private nursing home sector into State control for the period of the Covid-19 crisis as it did with the private hospitals. According to the Department of Health, some 40% of Covid-19 infections have occurred in the nursing home sector.
“The Government has agreed to take over 19 private hospitals, with State funding for a period of three to six months. Meanwhile, an alarming number of the most vulnerable senior citizens in private nursing homes are dying of the Covid-19 virus,” Paul Bell said.
“In response to pressure from a number of advocacy groups, the Government has announced a COVID 19 testing programme for all staff and residents of private nursing homes across the State. Nursing and other public health workers have also been deployed in the private nursing home sector. These initiatives, while welcome, have taken several weeks to sanction and we expect that many more cases of coronavirus will be uncovered in the sector.
“In order to ensure the most effective examination and oversight of the private nursing home sector, the Government must act now to bring the private nursing home sector under its direct control using the provisions of Section 38 of the Health Act.”
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SIPTU members mourn deaths of two health workers in Kilkenny
SIPTU Health Division has expressed its condolences to the families of two health workers at St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny who died after contracting the coronavirus.
The workers who were employed as support staff at the hospital were members of SIPTU and are deeply mourned by their colleagues and friends, SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said.
“We offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of our two deceased members. The colleagues of these two workers as well as the members and staff of the Union’s health division are deeply shocked by their deaths. These workers have made the ultimate sacrifice while assisting in the fight against the Covid-19 virus,” he said.
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SIPTU and HSE agree redeployment of health workers to private nursing homes
SIPTU representatives have today confirmed (Wednesday 15th, April) that agreement has been reached with the Health Service Executive (HSE) on the voluntary redeployment of health workers to private nursing homes to assist in their efforts to defeat the Covid-19 virus.
SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “Our members want to help deal with the increasing clusters of the virus among the most vulnerable service users in the nursing home sector in their catchment area. However, until now, there was no policy or protocol for members asked to provide assistance to private nursing homes which are not under the governance of the HSE.
“Under this agreement, the redeployment of SIPTU members is strictly on a voluntary basis and a volunteers register will be set up in each CHO area. Volunteers will come from across the nursing, health care assistant, cleaning, chef and catering assistant disciplines. Our members will remain completely under the management of the HSE and will be assigned for agreed periods of time. They will also be provided with an adequate supply of PPE for their tasks.”
He added: “This development arises because of challenges that have emerged in some private nursing homes in relation to staffing and their ability to manage the Covid-19 crisis. We will engage with the HSE and Department of Health for a critical review and analysis of this work when the crisis abates.”
Members can read documents below
Deployment of HSE S38 Staff circular
Agreement between HSE and NJC