Caredoc employees begin strike over pay concerns

Caredoc employees have begun striking today, Thursday, December 18th, due to pay issues. 

They will be striking for 24-hours in five different counties, including Waterford.

The strike affects out-of-hours GP care clinics and the south east facilities affected are HSE Community Care in Waterford, St. Dympna’s Hospital in Carlow, the Primary Care Centre in Wexford, Ayrfield Medical Centre in Kilkenny, and The County Clinic in Clonmel.

CareDoc released a public information notice that their Out-Of-Hours GP Services and CareDoc Treatment Centres will not be operating between 6pm on Thursday, December 18th, and 9am on Friday, December 19th. 

Further service interruptions are also likely over the Christmas period. 

The dates are Tuesday, December 23rd, Saturday, December 27th, Monday, December 29th, Tuesday, December 30th, and Friday, January 2nd. In the event of an emergency the public are asked to ring the 999 ambulance service. 

For urgent medical needs, people are advised to visit your local hospital emergency department and for further advice, contact their own GP surgery.

Employees who are members of SIPTU and INMO, working at CareDoc facilities, are withdrawing labour, which began at 8am on Thursday, December 18th. 

They aim to implement the 2023 WRC pay agreement for Section 39 organisations and are striking in particular, for the 8 per cent increase, which is due to members working in  Caredoc.

It's that in May, the HSE provided €647,834 to Caredoc to pay staff the 8 per cent pay increase, but that increase has not yet been implemented. 

The unions want the pay implemented immediately and as it hasn't been added to the salaries of Caredoc workers, the unions say that a special enquiry into the funding model and fiscal responsibility of the HSE is warranted.

Gráinne Walsh, INMO Industrial Relations Officer, said that Caredoc seems to be “philosophically opposed to using their profits to pay their staff a fair wage".

"There is no justification for this employer holding this money and not paying it to their staff as stipulated when it was paid to them," she said.

"The employer has had more than enough time and opportunity to resolve this pay issue, and our members are now forced to apply additional pressure to ensure they are fairly paid," she added.

Ger McNally, SIPTU Health Division Industrial Organiser, said: “SIPTU members have remained available to engage with management to find a resolution throughout this process. "Unfortunately, in the absence of any meaningful proposal from management, we are left with no alternative but to engage in the proposed Industrial action."

"Our members deserve to be paid properly for the important role they play in ensuring the public has access to healthcare 24/7," he said.

"It is not acceptable for our members who work in a number of roles, including call takers, drivers, receptionists, and administration staff, to not have received their pay increases," he added.

"This is creating huge financial pressures for them as they meet the cost-of-living challenges facing all workers.”