Minister Harris welcomes deferral of industrial action by Section 39 workers
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From: Department of Health
- Published on: 12 February 2018
- Last updated on: 27 May 2019
Statement from Minister for Health, Simon Harris TD, in response to the deferral of industrial action by Section 39 workers.
“I welcome the deferral of industrial action by Section 39 workers and I’m pleased that services will not be disrupted."
"Section 39 agencies provide vital services to often the most vulnerable in our society."
"I would like to thank ICTU and the trade unions for their engagement, and the Workplace Relations Commission, who played a pivotal role in brokering agreement between the parties.”
ENDS
Notes to the Editor:
Summary of the Process
The Department of Health, the HSE and the Trade Unions have agreed that the HSE will carry out an analysis to establish, with supporting evidence, the following:
- Whether, when and to what extent reductions in pay rates were applied during the crisis in each relevant organisation;
- Whether, when and to what extent restoration of pay reductions has happened;
- Identify the financial implications for each organisation, taking account of all sources of funding, associated with addressing the issues identified and propose an appropriate plan for phased resolution in each case.
The HSE will commence the data gathering exercise immediately commencing with an agreed list of organisations.
The data gathering exercise should be completed as early as possible, but with an interim report expected by the end of March 2018.
The data provided by the organisations will inform the scope and nature of the follow – on work that may need to be done to complete the data-validation exercise.
An Oversight Group, to assist in implementation may be established, if required.
Where organisations are shown to have the financial capacity to make pay restorations themselves without adversely impacting service provision, they should proceed to do so as soon as possible.