Western Care call for increased funding and pay parity in disability sector
AHEAD of the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis this weekend, Western Care Association is calling on government to urgently address the need for ongoing increased funding to eliminate deficits and to ensure pay parity for all Section 39 and 56 workers in Mayo.
The Association has highlighted that this funding shortfall jeopardises the delivery of services to vulnerable individuals and their families across Mayo.
They also want government to address pay parity as it’s essential to retaining skilled staff and ensuring equality across the sector. Over 1,200 employees in Mayo would benefit.
Additional priorities include improving access to services in order to reduce waiting lists and retrofitting housing stock that are less than an A2 BER rating. €70,000 per house will be required to meet efficiency standards. Western Care Association see this as an investment in the future efficiency of the buildings.
Dr. Mary Boyd, CEO of Western Care Association, highlighted a number of key issues that need immediate attention from the new government. Dr .Boyd stressed the importance of addressing pay parity for employees to aid both in recruitment and retention of the staff involved.
Said Dr. Boyd: “There’s a critical need for access to funding for retrofitting the housing of people the Western Care Association supports, along with the provision of social and affordable housing for staff who have been priced out of the housing market and for the people that the Association supports.
“This is a major concern from a financial standpoint and these two issues alone would, in time, save the Association significant amount in energy costs and the cost of recruitment and training of new staff.
“These issues underscore the ongoing challenges in the social care sector, where financial constraints and staffing shortages are hindering the delivery of adequate support and services.”
Barbra Clinton, Western Care Staff member and SIPTU shop steward, said: “The staff on the front line are so frustrated, as seen by Charlotte Fallon's interaction with An Taoiseach Simon Harris during the election campaign.
“There was lots of talk during the government formation talks about parity of esteem between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. All we are calling for, as Western Care Association staff, is that we have parity of pay with our colleagues in the HSE and other organisations, who provide the same services at a different rate of pay.
“Hopefully this can all be sorted and that we don't have to ballot our members again as this causes such stress to the people we support as well as their families.”