I completely agree with Deputy Ward as regards his frustration. The last time I raised this issue, a different Minister was present. However, I believe the Minister of State has responsibility it, which is a happy coincidence. The issue in question is section 39 workers. About 50 Northside Home Care Services workers engaged in industrial action during January. They are going to be outside Leinster House at 10 a.m. tomorrow. They have been involved in industrial action because they were reclassified as section 39 workers as a result of a WRC agreement between ICTU, employers and the relevant Departments. This agreement gave other section 39 workers who are healthcare workers and who do the same work as the Northside Home Care Services employees a pay rise. However, the Northside Home Care Services workers did not get a pay rise as a result of a difference that I will explain. The difference is that because their employer is a private company and had to tender for the work as opposed to another company getting a grant, they are treated differently in employment law. We have always had a principle of equal pay for equal work. The healthcare workers who work for the HSE do exactly the same work as those who work for Northside Home Care Services. What has happened to these workers is completely unjust. They have been left out on a limb and forced to leave the vulnerable people they look after in order to take industrial action. It is really unfortunate. I ask the Minister of State to intervene and possibly meet the workers tomorrow morning when they are outside the gates of the House.

Sentiment score: 0.13

Unfortunately, I do not think the reply will give much solace to the workers who will stand outside in the cold in the morning. The reality is that because of the way the cards have fallen and the agreement before the WRC, through sleight of hand we now have a State-sponsored discrimination between one set of workers who do exactly the same work as another. Even though they are employed by somebody else or are employed in a different way, both are funded by the taxpayer. That is the bottom line. Northside Home Care Services is a charitable organisation that gets all of its funding from the State. There is no reason on this earth why one healthcare worker helping the elderly in Dublin 5 should be paid or treated differently to another.

Sentiment score: 0.16