State treating Longford differently as strike action looms at St Christopher's

Strike action at St Christopher’s Services, Longford has moved a step closer.

An overwhelming majority of the 130 staff at the centre have voted in favour of strike action (98%) following a ballot that took place in the past week.

The threatened strike centres on the failure of the HSE to sanction incremental pay rises that unions claim are due to staff, due to pre-existing agreements.

The increases are due to the lower paid staff in the facility, which comprises up to 50% of the workforce, which is in excess of 300, including part-time staff.

Longer serving staff are not affected by the pay issue.

The facility has a budget this year of €16.5 million.

The management of the facility are unable to provide the pay rises, due to a HSE directive.

Speaking to the Longford Leader, Forsa Media Relations Director, Niall Shanahan, said that “the situation will be assessed over the next few days” following the overwhelming vote to take industrial action.

“The workers now have the option to withdraw their labour. The engagement of all three parties - staff, management and Forsa is required,” he added.

Mr Shanahan went on to say that the service users are “absolutely a priority.”

“The service users have developed a close working relationship with the staff,” he continued.

"The result of the ballot illustrates the depth of feeling among Fórsa members, and the determination of members to take action in order to reverse the unacceptable policy of suspending pay increments.

The result sends a clear message to management that workers at St Christopher's will not accept this unfair treatment as a result of the HSE's profligate spending elsewhere, and will not accept the breach of an existing industrial relations agreement,” a media statement from Forsa said.

“The employer has been notified of the result, and Fórsa representatives remain available for discussion to resolve the matter in dispute. Nevertheless, the ballot result provides a clear and comprehensive expression of members' determination to take industrial action at St Christopher's if the matter is not resolved promptly", the statement from Forsa added.

St. Christopher’s CEO Derek Scanlon told the Leader that he was “not surprised” by the ballot outcome, but he remained hopeful that the mechanisms of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) could be utilised.

“We entered into the WRC, which was a valid meaningful process,” he explained.

“We are in constant contact with the union. We would pay the increases if we could,” Mr Scanlon continued.

The dispute is rooted in a 2013 decision to reclassify these workers. The decision was made at that time by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that these workers would not be classified as public servants.

However, the board of St Christophers made a decision in 2021 to grant these workers an increase in pay.

“We have had a long battle since 2013 to get pay increases for staff,” Mr Scanlon explained.

Mr Scanlon has worked hard to get the 2013 decision reversed. “I have written 51 letters and lobbied consistently on this issue almost every day,” he commented.

“A person with disabilities has the same rights as you or I but the state is treating Longford differently,” he added.

He lashed out at the HSE decision to order that the pay rises would not be given at this time.

“It is an irresponsible decision by the HSE. You have a situation whereby people in the HSE who are on the correct pay scale are now enforcing a decision that we cannot pay our staff on the correct pay scale,” he stated.

The initial issue is a section 39 pay issue where the State is not providing St. Christophers with sufficient funds to pay their staff as appropriately as other section 38 or HSE staff.

Mr Scanlon denied recent media reports that a report from consultants had found weaknesses in internal financial controls.
“The HSE confirmed to our board that they found no anomalies in our finances,” he stated.

It was also reported that Mr Scanlon had stood down as a director of the board St Christophers. Mr Scanlon confirmed this was the case.

However, he explained that his decision was down to a “difference of opinion between regulators.”

“We have 14 regulators. There was a difference of opinion between two of these and that is why I stood down as a director,” he explained.