Planned industrial action at Oberstown deferred

IMPACT and SIPTU trade unions, representing residential care staff at the Oberstown detention centre, have accepted an invitation to attend a meeting with Oberstown management on Monday (5th September) at 11am under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission.

The meeting will seek to address outstanding issues in an ongoing industrial dispute concerning the safety of staff working at the Oberstown campus.

Notified industrial action, which was due to take place on Monday, has been deferred.

Residential staff to hold eight-hour work stoppage in Oberstown youth detention centre

Residential care workers and supervising staff will take part in an eight-hour work stoppage at the Oberstown youth detention centre today (Monday 29th August) in a dispute over poor safety measures and increasing assaults on the campus.

SIPTU and IMPACT trade unions have said that the action is part of an ongoing industrial dispute in response to the increase in attacks on staff at the State’s only youth detention centre.

Staff at Oberstown took part in a four-hour stoppage in May, while attempts to resolve the issue through talks at the Workplace Relations Commission have so far been unsuccessful. The unions have served notice of more stoppages due to take place on Monday 5th, 12th and 19th September.

IMPACT official Tom Hoare said: “While there has been consistent efforts to resolve this dispute, the staff are still facing the daily risk of assault and injury. Oberstown care workers are doing the work of prison staff with the facilities and equipment of a residential care home. The number of assaults on staff has continued to grow since the expansion of Oberstown to facilitate the transfer of offenders from the prison service.”

Mr Hoare has said the new campus is badly designed, with inadequate safety equipment to deal with a mix of vulnerable young people and violent offenders. “The result is a daily risk of serious assault, which leaves many of the staff literally in fear of their lives as they leave for work each day,” he said.

SIPTU Organiser, Ray Stanley said: “Recently, through a third party mediator, union representatives and senior management in Oberstown agreed a document aimed at addressing staff concerns through comprehensive structures and timeframes. We believe this document has the potential to create a platform to deal with members’ deeply held safety concerns. Unfortunately, the solutions identified by the IMPACT and SIPTU members were flatly rejected by management and union members have no choice but to take this action.”

The most recent official figures (supplied by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs) revealed over 100 violent incidents in Oberstown last year, almost half of which were classed as ‘critical’. Critical assaults and injuries necessitated a total of 3,005 employee sick days, involving 65 staff members.

Full emergency cover will remain in place during the stoppage, which will commence at 8am. The action will see residents confined to their rooms between 8am and 4pm.

The unions say:

  • The expansion and refurbishment of the complex was badly planned and implemented, resulting in a totally unsafe living and working environment
  • Subsequent stop-gap measures, which were supposed to minimise risk to staff and residents, have been both inadequate and ineffective
  • Staff are denied appropriate personal protection and safety equipment
  • Staff recruitment and retention problems, coupled with absences due to assaults, mean the facility is often understaffed and, therefore, incapable of dealing safely with the numbers of offenders
  • The unions have continuously raised urgent concerns over time delays involved in supporting colleagues in units where disturbances and violent situations arise
  • A request by IMPACT not to move existing units that are clustered together, a move which would significantly increase the response time and potential injury rate in the event of a serious incident, was dismissed by the employer.

The staff concerned work at three schools on the campus: Oberstown Boys School, Oberstown Girls School and Trinity House. Responsibility for the campus was transferred from the Department of Justice to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in 2012. The Oberstown campus currently caters for 48 under-18s, including a mix of vulnerable young offenders and violent criminals with multiple convictions for serious offences.

SIPTU reissues notice of industrial action at Oberstown Detention Centre

SIPTU members working in Oberstown Detention Centre in Lusk, County Dublin, have reissued notice of industrial action following a decision to reject Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) proposals relating to the dispute at the facility concerning health and safety conditions.

SIPTU Organiser, Ray Stanley said: “Earlier this week, workers voted to reject WRC proposals aimed at bringing an end to this dispute because of a concern that they failed to address health and safety issues within an acceptable timeframe. 

“During the coming days, union representatives will seek engagement, through the WRC, with management in an attempt to secure from it a fair and realistic timeframe for the full implementation of the proposals.”

He added: “Our members are at daily risk of serious injury. They have on numerous occasions over the last 15 months, along with their colleagues in IMPACT, raised concerns regarding health and safety issues with management. These concerns have not been adequately addressed. This situation must change so that a positive solution can be found for the workers and the young people they care for.”

SIPTU members serve notice of industrial action at Oberstown Detention Centre

SIPTU members working in Oberstown Detention Centre in Lusk, County Dublin, have today (Wednesday, 25th May) served notice of a series of work stoppages beginning on Tuesday, 31st May, from 8.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m.

The action is a result of a management refusal to adequately address serious health and safety concerns highlighted by staff.

SIPTU Organiser, Ray Stanley, said: “Our members, along with their colleagues in IMPACT, have on numerous occasions over the last 15 months raised concerns regarding health and safety issues for staff and the young people that they care for. These include the fact that our members are at a daily risk of serious injury and assault.

“Due to management intransigence, the workers have been left with no option but to take industrial action in an attempt to have their concerns adequately addressed. Management must immediately engage with staff and their representatives with the aim of agreeing changes at the facility that will ensure that a safe environment is created for staff and the young residents.”

He added: “The work stoppages between 8.00 a.m. and 12.00 p.m. will begin on Tuesday, 31st May, and continue each Tuesday throughout the month of June. It is deeply regrettable that staff have had to undertake this action. During the industrial action the staff will continue to provide the best care possible. They are also committed to ensuring that the action will not interfere with the state examinations being held at the Centre during June.”

Care workers back industrial action at Oberstown young offenders’ campus

Residential care workers and night supervising staff have backed industrial action by a margin of 95% in a dispute over the safety of clients and staff at the Oberstown detention centre in Lusk, County Dublin. IMPACT and SIPTU, say staff and residents at the understaffed centre, are exposed to daily risk of violent assault.

The most recent official figures revealed over 100 violent incidents in Oberstown last year, almost half of which were classed as ‘critical’. Critical assaults and injuries necessitated a total of 3,005 employee sick days, involving 65 staff members.

The Oberstown campus currently caters for 48 under-18s, including a mix of vulnerable young offenders and violent criminals with multiple convictions for serious offences.

The industrial action is likely to include work stoppages, during which emergency cover will be provided. The turnout in the ballot was 91%.

The move comes against the background of a high and growing number of attacks on staff since the expansion of the State’s only youth detention centre to facilitate the transfer of offenders from the prison service.

SIPTU official Ray Stanley said the unions had raised safety concerns on a daily basis in recent years. “While there has been a management response, it has been wholly inadequate and totally in effective. Meanwhile, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs don’t want to know. As a result, dedicated staff feel they have been forced to back industrial action,” he said.

The staff concerned work at three schools on the campus: Oberstown Boys School, Oberstown Girls School and Trinity House. Responsibility for the campus was transferred from the Department of Justice to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in 2012.

IMPACT official Tom Hoare said: “A series of policy decisions has left Oberstown care workers doing the work of prison staff with the facilities and equipment of a residential care home. The campus is badly designed and understaffed, with inadequate safety equipment and procedures to deal with a mix of vulnerable young people and violent offenders. The result is a daily risk of serious assault, which leaves many of the staff literally in fear of their lives as they leave for work each day.

The unions say:

  • The expansion and refurbishment of the complex was badly planned and implemented, resulting in a totally unsafe living and working environment
  • Subsequent stop-gap measures, which were supposed to minimise risk to staff and residents, have been both inadequate and ineffective
  • Staff are denied appropriate personal protection and safety equipment
  • Staff recruitment and retention problems, coupled with absences due to assaults, have left the facility understaffed and incapable of dealing safely with the numbers of offenders in the unit.