Housekeeping staff at St Joseph’s nursing home in Shankill are to take strike action next month in what they say is a long-running dispute over grading at the facility, which is part of the St John of God group .
About 20 staff at the centre, which provides residential, respite and day dementia care, are scheduled to strike on six separate days over the latter part of July after what their union says is a long campaign to have their grades altered to take account of the changed working practices.
Their claim to be regraded to Multi-Task Attendants was recently the subject of talks at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), but Siptu, which represents the staff , says no progress was made on the issues involved. Staff have since voted in favour of industrial action.
“This has been going on since 2023, when I started in this role,” said Siptu health official Helen Waller. “We have been trying to find a resolution, and we finally got management to attend the WRC, but they didn’t come forward with any new proposals and so we’ve had no alternative but to ballot our members. We are still open to new talks aimed at finding a solution that would avoid the action, though.”
Waller says the role of the staff involved has come to include the provision of some elements of care to patients, but that is not recognised in grades rooted completely in housekeeping work.
The first strike is scheduled to take place on July 15 th with a further five one-day stoppages due to take place over the following two weeks.
St Joseph’s Centre said it was “aware of the notification of industrial action” but that it was inappropriate to comment on the issues in dispute..
“We also consider it premature to speculate on the potential impact of industrial action at this point, given that the proposed date is several weeks away and there remains time for further engagement through the appropriate industrial relations channels,” a statement by the centre said. Contingecy planning is underway, it added.
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