Public sector craftworkers serve strike notice in pay equity fight

Workers seeking restoration of pre-crash analogue agreement

Unite said today (4 September) that it has served three weeks’ notice of industrial action on the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA).

Unite is part of a coordinated campaign by the Public Sector Craft Group of Unions (PSCGOU) in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to secure restoration of the analogue agreement. The agreement, which ensured pay parity between craftworkers in the public sector and comparators in the private sector, was suspended following the 2008 financial crash.

A recent ballot by PSCGOU affiliates, including Unite, returned a 95 per cent aggregate vote in favour of industrial action.

The nature and timing of the action will be determined by the PSCGOU National Strike Committee. The industrial action could begin as soon as 28 September.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Craftworkers help keep our public services running, from hospitals to roads. Yet nearly two decades after the financial crash, they are still paying the price for a crisis not of their making. Our members have Unite’s full support in their fight for pay equity”.

The decision to take industrial action follows numerous attempts by the PSCGOU to resolve matters. Even though the HSE and LGMA were signatories to the original analogue agreement, they have referred unions to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER).

Following a failure to advance matters with DPER, unions commissioned an independent review which identified significant pay disparities between public and private sector craft workers. DPER has refused to engage on the findings and declined an invitation to attend the Labour Court.

Unite regional officer Eoin Drummey said: “Unions have exhausted all avenues in trying to resolve this dispute. Our members have been left with no choice but to take industrial action to defend their living standards.

“DPER can easily resolve this dispute by recognising craftworkers’ skills and qualifications and restoring pay parity”.