Frontline healthcare workers who worked at three care facilities owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity - Caritas Convalescent Centre, St. Mary’s Centre Telford and St. Monica’s Nursing Home - are still awaiting meaningful redundancy talks, the INMO, SIPTU, and Forsa said.
This is despite the Labour Court issuing recommendations on 30th July, 15th October, and 27th October calling on the Sisters and the HSE, as the main funder, to meet with the unions to discuss payment of the public service redundancy terms to the staff concerned.
The unions have met with the HSE, however, to date they have not committed to making any payment to the former staff.
Over three months have passed since the unions first sought a meeting with the Sisters of Charity, however, they still refuse to meet.
INMO Assistant Director of Industrial Relations Lorraine Monaghan said:
The Labour Court has ruled in favour of staff on this matter, but we are still awaiting a meeting with the Sisters of Charity. We are available and waiting for talks and are not prepared to have the matter swept under the carpet.
For months we have been calling on the Sisters of Charity and the HSE to discuss a decent severance package for our members. They simply cannot continue to ignore the Labour Court, or the years of dedicated service provided by staff in these three facilities.
Forsa Assistant General Secretary Sean McElhinney said:
The Labour Court has been unequivocal in recommending that the Sisters of Charity and the HSE pay up a fair redundancy. It’s not a matter of benevolence; it’s a matter of duty. These workers must be treated as public sector workers, and it’s a degradation that the HSE and the Sisters of Charity have refused to honour their obligations in that regard.
We won’t let the Sisters of Charity and the HSE hide from us or hide from the Labour Court. They must talk to the Unions now; we’re going nowhere until they do.
Brian Condra Industrial Organiser of SIPTU called on those parties identified by the Labour Court, the Sisters of Charity, and the HSE to respect the office of the Workplace Commission and meet with the members and their representatives as recommended three times now. He said:
It is a matter of some concern that any organisation that claims to be a pillar of Irish society would choose to ignore their responsibilities to those who gave service through good times and bad and who are now left in a perilous and precarious situation, especially in light of the measured and fair recommendations of the Labour Court.