Oberstown workers picket Department of Children over staffing dispute
By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association
Workers from Oberstown Children Detention Campus have begun a protest outside the Department of Children as part of an ongoing industrial relations dispute.
The picket involving members of the Fórsa union coincides with a 10-hour work stoppage at the campus on Tuesday, which is the third such industrial action this month.
It comes after a ballot of Fórsa members, which backed industrial action up to and including a full withdrawal of labour, with the union saying workers have previously reported “assaults on staff and injuries requiring hospital treatment in circumstances where staffing levels were stretched”.
The union members have been engaged in a work-to-rule at Oberstown since the end of June.
Fórsa expressed “frustration” and said efforts to engage with management on key issues “broke down last week”.
It said: “Safe staffing in Oberstown remains a concern for Fórsa members employed there.”
Staff and residents face increased risks to personal safety.
The union’s assistant general secretary Deirdre O’Connell said: “Oberstown management has refused to include key elements of Fórsa’s claim in its business case to the Department of Children.
“These include measures to address the recruitment difficulties facing the service, which management has said should be dealt with separately through ‘local bargaining’, while also acknowledging that there are not enough resources allocated to local bargaining to resolve them.
“The consequence of this approach is that it stalls efforts to resolve the issues in dispute and prolongs a situation where staff and residents face increased risks to personal safety.”
Oberstown said it “regrets” the work stoppage, adding: “We are disappointed that this escalation is taking place while engagement through the established industrial relations process remains ongoing.”
It said it and the Department of Children had engaged “extensively” with staff representatives, including through the Workplace Relations Commission.
The facility said it remains “fully committed to working constructively towards a resolution” and had taken a “proactive approach to strengthening frontline staffing”.
