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MEMBERS OF TRADE union Siptu have voted in favour of 72-hour strike action at a dementia care facility in Dublin after a “lack of progress in talks with management”.
St Joseph’s Centre in Shankill, Co Dublin, is the country’s largest care home dedicated solely to dementia care.
It is part of St John of God services and over 80 people use the centre daily.
Members employed as household/domestic staff at St Joseph’s Centre have already undertaken three days of strike action this month.
Siptu announced the escalation today following what it described as the “ongoing failure of management to regrade and pay the workers rates that recognise the duties they currently carry out, such as feeding residents”.
Further strike action will be held from Monday, 27 July to Wednesday, 29 July.
In June, Siptu members voted in favour of industrial action in a ballot concerning “management’s failure to recognise the union’s claim for the regrading of household/domestic staff”.
A Siptu member today remarked that “colleagues and I don’t want to be out on strike”.
“We are continually asked to fill the gaps due to understaffing,” they added.
“Over the years, other departments like laundry have closed, pushing the extra work onto housekeeping.
“We work extremely hard and want recognition for the work we do, but management has ignored us.”
Meanwhile, Siptu organiser Michelle Waller said the union is “extremely grateful for the support shown by the loved ones of residents, many of whom joined our members on the picket line”.
She said families “understand the valuable contribution our members make every day and recognise they have been carrying out duties beyond the scope of their current grade”,
“Our members are simply seeking recognition via a pay regrading, along with the appropriate training, to reflect the responsibilities they are already undertaking in the interests of residents,” said Waller.
She added that the residents are “incredibly vulnerable and deserve the highest quality of care possible, which means that our members should receive the proper training and regrading”.
Waller said “chronic understaffing should not fall on the shoulders of our members” and called on management to “come to the table and speak to us”.
“The ongoing staffing challenges within the centre cannot continue to be managed through the goodwill and commitment of our members alone,” she added.
Waller said Siptu members “do not want to be away from the residents whom they care deeply about” but that “management’s inaction has led to this escalation in the dispute”.
She said Siptu “remains available to negotiate a resolution to this dispute”.
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