Members of SIPTU and Fórsa have voted to accept a pay deal for community and voluntary sector workers that was agreed at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in March.
The deal includes a 9.25% pay increase for up to 40,000 workers backdated to October 2024 with phased increases in 2025 and 2026.
The workers will also have an automatic link to future public sector pay agreements.
The deal applies to workers in organisations grant funded under Section 39 which relates to healthcare, Section 56 which relates to child and family services, Section 10 which relates to housing, and Section 40 which relates to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agencies.
SIPTU members voted 87% in favour of the agreement.
“We will now engage with the Government funding departments confirming our members’ acceptance of the pay proposals and will also seek urgent engagement with employers to discuss the full implementation of the agreement without delay,” the union said in an update to members.
SIPTU Deputy General Secretary John King expressed concerns that some of the union’s members, who work in home support services and GP out-of-hours providers, were deemed to be outside the terms the deal.
“While we welcome this agreement for those who will benefit from it, we are expressing our absolute determination to deliver for other workers who have been left behind,” Mr King said.
Fórsa members voted 86% in favour of the deal.
“While the terms acknowledge that pay for some in the sector has fallen behind public sector levels and allows for future increases in public pay agreements to be applied to the community and voluntary sector, we need to see the funding bodies move quickly to ensure our members receive these pay improvements as they fall due,” said Fórsa’s head of Health and Welfare, Ashley Connolly.
