Eighty healthcare assistants at the Northside Home Care Services, in Coolock, Dublin, were left out of a pay rise last year because the HSE declared the non-profit charitable organisation ‘out of scope’.
The deal they were excluded from was the 9,25% pay-rise granted to Section 39 workers, which also gave them an automatic link to the increases in future public sector pay agreements. NHCS Health Care Assistants are doing the same work as Section 39 Health Care Assistants.
Their shop steward, Sonya Borwick, blames the government for standing over this blatant discrimination. ‘Decent care in the community can only be won if the government decide to stop hiding behind what NHCS is saying. This government has decided to stand over treating us as unequal and disposable which will suffocate care in the community.’
The last straw
NHCS workers have already put up with cutbacks in the past. The carers are on the minimum wage. Even though some of the workers have worked there for 20 years, they are stuck on this low pay. They can only increase to €15.04 per hour on completion of FETAC 5 qualification. But the company often avoids sending their workers to do this training.
The younger care assistants are faced with rising rents and say they cannot continue in the job with the low pay they are getting.
All the workers say that rising prices has just been the last straw. Dublin City Council has recently imposed rent hikes. The housing crisis means that older kids are still at home and this puts even more pressure on them. They need this pay rise.
Management digging their heels in
It is not as if Northside Home Care Services cannot afford it. They are part of a consortium – Dublin Home Care Partners – of six not-for-profit companies. They are an HSE approved provider and so their services are paid for directly by the HSE. Northside Home Care Services have something like 1,900 clients between homecare and meals on wheels provision.
Management at NHCS are digging their heels in. They pick on strikers, intimidating them by saying that other people can take their jobs. To add insult to injury, their shop steward, Sonya, has now been suspended – pending an investigation into supposed ‘breaches of work practices’ on her part. This is a blatant case of victimisation by management towards the union shop steward. As she says, not only did she not recognise any of the supposed breaches, particularly one person’s twenty-two page long unfounded accusations, but it was a hurtful insult to the pride that she takes in her job. Sonya has worked for over 20 years for the company with not a blemish on her record.
All these workers go beyond the call of duty in so many ways for their clients: often buying them extra things, visiting them to see that they are ok even when they are not due in on that day.
During the pandemic, for example, these workers risked their health and safety. They continued to call to the clients, sometimes walking for over an hour to get to clients to make sure they were OK.
Breaking the mould and fighting back
These workers have shown how determined to get what they are due.
For two weeks, at the beginning of January they held mass pickets outside Northside Home Care Services on Bunratty Drive, Coolock. From 7am, through rain and cold, these workers stood their ground. As from 26 January, they suspended their strike; but their battle is not over.
They have had one day strikes. On 18 February, they protested outside the Dail. People before Profit TD Paul Murphy raised their case inside. Again, they protested outside the Dail on April 15, and their case was raised again in the Dáil. The Taoiseach promised ‘to look into the matter’. The workers are not holding their breath. “We will keep asking for and demanding equality until he realises we are in it for the long haul”.
Lifeline for the community
The workers want to see the HSE take over the company and make it properly funded public sector service for the community.
Sonya puts it well: ‘Our work is vital. It helps people stay in their own homes and communities for as long as possible, while also saving the government significant care costs. Home care is what most people want—they want to remain in familiar surroundings and need only a little support to do so.’
‘We are qualified health care assistants, and we are continually upskilling staying on top of new policies and procedures. This is why our work is so important to the local community. We are part of the community, we know the community and we are always there for the community.’
‘It comes down to what we as a society want. Do we want decent care and proper help for those that need the care or do we just want to do the minimum, put heads in houses, and on paper have the job done? Pay and a proper job structure is vital to ensure we give what all our clients need. It’s simple: low pay is low care; decent pay is decent care”.
What’s more, this vital work, given Ireland’s aging demographics, will require even more workers in the future.
Capitalism doesn’t care
Their work in any decent society would be respected and properly rewarded. Yet care in capitalism, despite being vital to keep society ticking over, is left up to individual households to provide. When the elderly or the disabled need care and when this cannot be provided by a family member, the HSE outsources it to the non-profitable charity sector.
More generally our society, the everyday care of people – of children, of elderly people, the sick and disabled as well as the daily stuff of refreshing and making people ready for work – also falls back on individual households. It is mainly women who do this care work at home which puts them at a disadvantage for paid work. They end up on lower pay and often in part time jobs.
The NHCS care workers themselves -overwhelmingly women – are at the sharp end of this double burden.
Striking together ‘a bond like no other’
By striking, they are at the sharp end of taking on the cost-of-living crisis. But they are also taking on the issue of low pay and discrimination that so many women workers face.
Sonya Borwick explains what she has learnt from the strike:
“From the employers I’ve learned they would hang you out to dry in a heartbeat. They have no problem saying things that are not correct or even turning things around to suit their agenda.
I have also learned there is no bond stronger than that of your work colleagues that stood beside you and had your back all the time. On the picket line, you form a bond like no other. It is hard to describe but these work colleagues they weren’t my friends. They are now and more than that. I would be there for them no matter what. Even after I do get sacked, I would still be there for them. I know the majority of them have been for me as well.
You get to the stage of thinking ‘Great another strike day can’t wait to see how such and such is doing!’. This is a very lonely job. You mainly work by yourself you very rarely get to see a work colleague and meet people you have heard of. To get to know them on a different level while on the picket line is lovely”
The workers used to be in SIPTU which was the union that originally made the deal with the government, which recognised their right as Health Care Assistants to be treated equally with workers in the HSE. Later this was gone back on, the two groups of workers were divided working under different funding schemes. Those employed directly by the HSE got grant funding while the NHCS workers were left with a tendering scheme. This involves every year applying for the contracts and work and which creates greater insecurity for the workers. SIPTU shamefully agreed to this. The workers decided to leave and join the Independent Workers Union who are now supporting their strike for parity.
There are SIPTU workers in other care providers – in three companies which have the same issues – in Blanchardstown & the Inner City. Ballymun and Ballyfermot. The Blanchardstown and the Inner City have taken their case to the WRC and will be protesting outside their offices in Finglas. Sonya understands just how important unity across the different workplaces is and she is in contact with the other shop stewards who she says are keen to show support and win pay parity for themselves.
This strike shows that workers can fight back against low pay and defend the right for decent care in the community. They are leading the way in taking on the rotten way this government treats working class communities. They need to win and they need your support.
Sign the Uplift petition here.
Protest outside the Dail: Wednesday, June 10th from 10 am
Join them and show your support for their strike!
