Staff at Longford's St Christopher's 'always available' for talks to resolve ongoing pay row

Over 130 staff at St Christopher's in Longford are set to commence industrial action in one and a half weeks due to an ongoing pay row with little recent movement and no clear signs of a resolution.

The dispute centres on the non-payment of increments promised under a previous pay agreement.

In May, proposed industrial action at St Christopher's Services, Longford was postponed, pending the start of talks in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

Management stated that a HSE directive had prevented the payment of the increments to staff at the intellectual disabilities provider.

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A Fórsa trade union, which represents the workers, served notice of industrial action on St. Christopher’s on Thursday, October 24 and the industrial action is scheduled to commence on Monday November 18.

A Fórsa spokesperson, who was asked by the Longford Leader if there will be further dialogue, said they “always remain available to talk” to management.

"Our preference would be to do that under the auspices of the conciliation services of the WRC," she said. "If further talks were to occur the priority for our members would be to have the issue of non-payment of increments, which were arbitrarily removed by management, resolved."

The Fórsa spokesperson said there has been little change to the situation but workers are meeting with their employer on a regular basis to discuss how the industrial action will function.

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Local Fianna Fáil TD Joe Flaherty(pictured) stated he welcomes the decision by Fórsa that they are willing to engage in dialogue nobody, least of all the parents of service users and the staff, want to see a work-to-rule situation.

"I am hopeful and confident that there is the capacity and opportunity within a dialogue framework situation to negotiate a settlement here and I would certainly encourage both sides, unions and management, to take up the offer from the unions to engage on this issue," he said. “I think we are probably closer now to a resolution than we have ever been and I am sure a solution to this will be secured through dialogue.”

Deputy Flaherty has previously stated that he has 'immense sympathy and understanding' for staff.

The Lanesboro-based politician said the 'difficulty' is that it is a 'Section 39' organisation and they have their terms and conditions at St Christopher's as opposed to the Department of Health/ HSE.The situation is set to be a major canvassing issue in county Longford as the 14 candidates in the Longford-Westmeath constituency visit homes and campaign for votes following confirmation this week of the General Election date. 

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CEO Marian Keigher, who replaced Derek Scanlon in an interim capacity in June after he stepped down from the role, stated St Christopher's are meeting the unions

"I do totally appreciate the distress of the staff in relation to their position and we want to talk to unions and try to get a resolution," she said. "It is a national issue and an issue that needs to be addressed nationally as well as locally."

Ms Keigher said discussions are taking place and they want a "just outcome" for everyone.

"I want to negotiate with the unions and we are meeting about what we need to do insofar as the work-to-rule but we do want to sit and talk with them to negotiate with the unions," she added.

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