Notice of Industrial Action by Fórsa, SIPTU and INMO Members at all Enable Ireland Locations Nationwide to begin on 17/10/23

Press Release 25 September 2023

Enable Ireland issues the following statement in advance of planned industrial action at all locations nationwide to begin on 17/10/2023.

“Enable Ireland confirms that Fórsa trade union has served notice of industrial action on all Enable Ireland services to begin on 17/10/23 and to continue for an indefinite duration.

This planned industrial action is part of a campaign for pay parity for Section 39 union members in Enable Ireland who do similar work to colleagues in the HSE and other Section 38 voluntary organisations, but receive substantially lower pay.

For many years, Enable Ireland has advocated for pay parity for our staff and we fully support staff demands to permanently align pay scales on an equitable basis with their peers in the HSE and Section 38 voluntary organisations.

Our valued employees are essential to deliver the critical services to children and adults and their families for which we are contracted by HSE to provide each year.  This pay inequity has created a recruitment and retention crisis for Enable Ireland’s services resulting in significant vacancies in teams across children’s and adult services.

High vacancy and staff turnover rates negatively impact the quality and quantity of services we can offer to children, adults and their families. This issue will continue to impact the long-term sustainability of Enable Ireland.

While we support the requested pay increase, we are not in a position to fund it directly. The pay parity gap in Enable Ireland is currently costed at €3.6 million per annum and this gap will increase further from October 2023 as the next phase of the Building Momentum agreement is implemented.

Enable Ireland continues to call on Government to implement pay alignment.

We do not yet know the impact the planned strike action will have on children, adults and families using our services. We will engage with Fórsa, SIPTU and the INMO over the coming weeks to try to minimize the disruption to our services.

We will keep staff, parents and service owners informed of the planned strike action and its impact on individual services over the coming weeks once we have more information.”