Donegal healthcare assistants defer strike action following breakthrough talks

Healthcare assistants (HCAs) working in the HSE Home Support Service in Donegal have deferred planned industrial action following last-minute breakthrough talks between SIPTU representatives and HSE management.

The 24-hour work stoppages had been scheduled for Friday, February 13 and 20. However, following extensive discussions in Letterkenny over the past two days, an agreement was reached addressing the key issues of overtime rates and the outsourcing of staff.

The dispute centred on claims that healthcare assistants working in the community were not receiving agreed overtime rates and that additional hours were being outsourced to private operators instead of being offered to directly employed staff.

During the planned strike days, HCAs would not have been available for their normal rosters, and pickets were due to take place outside employer offices. Contingency arrangements had been planned for emergency cases involving service users.

Welcoming the suspension of industrial action, Donegal SIPTU Organiser Ciaran Sheridan said members were relieved that an agreement had been reached.

“Our healthcare assistants in the community across Donegal, despite working over 39 hours, were not being paid the same overtime rate as healthcare assistants in community hospitals or other healthcare professionals. That has been ongoing since 2018, and our members were treated unfairly,” he said.

Mr. Sheridan also highlighted the role HCAs played during the COVID-19 pandemic. “In March 2020, there was no PPE, and this was before vaccinations. Our members took on extra work to keep people out of the hospital and cared for them at home, often at great personal risk. Yet the HSE refused to pay them the agreed overtime rates,” he said.

The second issue concerned the outsourcing of hours to private operators while directly employed staff on reduced-hour contracts were seeking additional hours.

“National WRC agreements clearly state that additional hours should be offered to directly employed staff in the first instance. That was not happening,” Mr. Sheridan said.

He confirmed that the HSE has now committed to paying the agreed overtime rates, backdated to 2018, and has given assurances regarding the prioritisation of direct employment over outsourcing.

“Our members are delighted the strike is off because we care for vulnerable clients in the community. The last thing they wanted was to cause fear or concern. We have been trying for eight years to get to this point,” he said.

Mr Sheridan added that SIPTU members across Donegal had stood united throughout the dispute and said the union is satisfied that the commitments given are being made in good faith.

Donegal is currently the only county where industrial action has been deferred. Strike action is still scheduled to proceed in the coming days in Clare, Limerick, Cork, and Kerry, where local issues remain unresolved.

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The agreement is expected to be formally signed at the Workplace Relations Commission, a step described as a formality. Once finalised, next Friday’s planned strike will also be officially called off.