Section 39 - Workers Strikes Can Put Manners On Government

Care workers working in what are called Section 39 funded organisations were in the news during the general election campaign after the interaction between Simon Harris and Charlotte Fallon in a supermarket went viral.

She spoke passionately about the issues of low pay they face while he showed the establishments real face when he dismissed her before coldly walking away.

Section 39 workers are currently fighting the government for better pay and proper funding for the services they work in. They provide care in residential, respite and day services for people with disabilities around the country in organisations like Western Care, CRC, Enable Ireland and the Irish Wheelchair Association.

They are funded by a different funding model than similar organisations such as Section 38 Charities and the HSE. These Section 39 workers provide essential services while on lesser pay and worse terms and conditions than their HSE counterparts.

As a consequence up to a third are leaving these roles each year. But why is there different funding for services that are providing the same level of care around the country?

The different funding models and names in reality are made up by the government to confuse and underfund vital services. They should all be publicly funded equally and run through one single State run Health Service. This would ensure the same high standards across the board for people who need it the most.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail do not want money going to services like these - they would rather money go to private providers who will run services for profit which frees up tax money to go elsewhere - to subsidise developers and give bankers tax breaks.

They are happy to make measly savings where they can and the government thinks people in vulnerable groups like people with disabilities won’t fight back. The government might be temporarily embarrassed like Harris was by Charlotte Fallon but the news cycle moves on.

So what’s happening in the dispute?

In 2010 Section 39 workers took pay cuts in line with the public sector following the financial crash but they have not seen the same level of pay restoration. Imagine your pay was cut over 14 years ago and you have never had an increase since but your gas, electricity and grocery bills have gone up, not to mention rents.

How are people in these jobs supposed to live? The result is these services are hemorrhaging staff which has meant that with no staff to safely run services these same services have been cut. Before the cost of living crisis and the high inflation during that period Section 39 workers were on pay 10% lower than colleagues in Section 38 and HSE roles.

With people leaving these roles the reduced staffing levels has meant people with disabilities have got their day services cut from 5 days a week in previous years to reduced weeks and respite services for families have been stopped altogether in many cases.

The workers are fighting not just for pay but for the future of these services. With no workers there simply won’t be any disability services in large parts of the country. They have fought for fair pay for over a decade through the Labour Court and WRC but the government and the HSE have continually refused to provide the funds to pay these staff the fair pay they deserve.

What does this tell you about Fine Gael and Fianna Fail’s priorities?

In October 2023 after a long campaign which was ignored by government workers were left with no choice but to strike. A pay deal was agreed at the 11th hour the night before, averting the strike.

Workers accepted the pay deal even though it wasn’t full pay equality with HSE roles. They simply couldn’t let down the people they support and allow services to close. But more could have been won.

The money was readily available with the famous record corporate tax surplus of €8 billion but the pay deal was deliberately drawn out with small increases spread out over a year and a half.

This was a political decision to remind workers who had the power. These workers were already far behind HSE workers’ pay and fell further behind when they were left out of the 2024 Public sector pay deal. Another political decision by Fine Gael/Fianna Fail to remind workers who is boss.

This is an opportunity for workers to organise and strike back. The unions have been looking for pay on their behalf for over a decade but they have largely failed. They secured a pay increase but it was not good enough.

They have worked slowly through the WRC and the small increase they eventually got has been delayed by organisations or in some cases not passed on at all. The union leaders have shown they are a buffer between workers and the government and act to protect the government from disruption by strikes and disputes.

The union bureaucracy slows down potential disruption and their conservative nature means they will never fight to the fullest for workers. This has been clear in many disputes. Workers need to push unions for a clear strategy of protest and strike action that continues until victory.

What is at stake for all workers:

The attack on Section 39 workers pay and jobs since 2010 by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is a wakeup call for all workers. Our rights are under constant attack by the rich not just in public in the media but behind closed doors on the golf courses as establishment TD’s wine and dine with their rich pals.

Pay is worse than ever with inflation of the last few years destroying any modest pay increases. In care work job security is at its worst. Casual work in the form of “Agency staff” is replacing permanent roles with the typical buzzwords of providing “flexibility” for workers and “choice” of shifts.

In reality “Agency staff” are forgoing any rights such as sick pay, maternity pay or pension rights that permanent contract colleagues working the same shift while on less pay. The service suffers also as service users lack familiarity with constant changing faces and no chance to build up trust and relationships which is vital.

This is the aim of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. They relate to the rich elite. They do not relate to ordinary workers. They see an opportunity to make money everywhere. Their aim is to run down all public services so that they can be privatised and replaced with for-profit services.

We need to organise and fight back:

As workers we demand trade unions that fight. Workers need to join their union and organise in their workplaces but you can’t just wait for union officials to do it for you.

The pay cuts should not have been imposed on these workers in the first place. A strong union leadership should have stood up to them with mass mobilisation until the government backed down.

The following decade with the appearance of working towards Section 39 pay restoration keeps them looking busy and the union dues rolling in. But the time has long passed for action. Workers need to go to union meetings and push officials to fight for real pay equality now.

Unions need to go all out and use the only power workers have - withdrawing our labour. Parties of the left, that claim to represent workers, need to move away from focusing solely on parliamentary issues. They need to get back to organising and agitating in workplaces.

If you are a socialist you need to join your union in your workplace and start building solidarity with your co-workers. It is not easy to put your head above the parapet but unions do provide support and training - you can use these and get value for your dues.

We are stronger together.

The price of failing to give voice to fighting workers is the rise of the Far Right across Europe and in Ireland. Their rise is precisely because so called socialist parties have withdrawn from workplace organising and agitation in line with trade unions and focused on just winning elections.

Socialists in councils and the Dáil can help promote struggle as long as they remember that class struggle comes first.

The result of electorialism is a growing disconnect with the working class and as we have seen in Ireland in the last year - a perception that parties of the left, like Sinn Féin, are a part of the establishment.

Support the Section 39 workers and let’s fight back.