DUBLIN: Health-care workers, including nurses, are protesting the failure to pay increased wages under the public-sector pay agreement. In October, unions and the government reached an agreement on a new pay agreement in which public sector workers will receive a 6.5% pay increase over two years. A 3% raise beginning in February 2022 must be paid by the end of this year.
All other public-sector employees received this amount. However, nurses, midwives, and other health workers have yet to receive the raise. In this context, the ICTU Group of Healthcare Trade Unions has demanded that the salary agreement be implemented as soon as possible. The unions also requested that the HSE provide funding for voluntary hospitals and voluntary organisations.
Other members of the public sector have received increased salaries. However, the SIPTU stated that it was unclear whether union members would receive the sanctioned raise. The country as a whole is experiencing an unprecedented cost of living crisis. With this in mind, SIPTU’s Kevin Figgis stated that immediate action is required to secure a pay increase for health workers before Christmas. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization has deemed a pay agreement with the government “unacceptable” for a pay rise. Yet employers cannot be given any clarity on when they will receive it, Forsa said, which is a source of great frustration.
An HSE spokesperson stated that they are trying to implement the wage hike. Meanwhile, the Department of Health has directed the HSE to pay all salary hikes due to Section 38 staff as soon as possible.
INMO, FORSA, CIPTU, IMO, MLSA, Connect trade union, Voluntary Hospitals Craft Group, and UNITE comprise the ICTU Group of Healthcare Unions.
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