Oberstown work stoppage to protest assaults on staff
The Impact and Siptu trade unions have served notice of further stoppages, on September 5, 12, and 19.
Oberstown staff staged a four-hour stoppage in May, during which residents had to be locked in their rooms from 8am to 12pm, could not go to school, and could only be given breakfast when some staff agreed to break with the industrial action.
The unions said talks at the Workplace Relations Commission to resolve the impasse have been unsuccessful.
Impact official, Tom Hoare, said: “While there has been consistent effort to resolve this dispute, the staff are still facing the daily risk of assault and injury.
“Oberstown care workers are doing the work of prison staff, with the facilities and equipment of a residential care home.
“The number of assaults on staff has continued to grow, since the expansion of Oberstown to facilitate the transfer of offenders from the prison service.”
Mr Hoare said the new campus was badly designed, with inadequate safety equipment for dealing with vulnerable young people and violent offenders. “The result is a daily risk of serious assault, which leaves many of the staff literally in fear of their lives, as they leave for work each day,” he said.
The unions said the most recent official figures from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs showed more than 100 violent incidents in Oberstown last year, half of which were classed as ‘critical’.
Critical assaults and injuries necessitated 3,005 employee sick days, involving 65 staff members.
The unions said emergency cover would remain in place during the stoppage, which will commence at 8am. “The action will see residents confined to their rooms between 8am and 4pm,” the unions said.
They said the 48 under-18s at Oberstown include “a mix of vulnerable young offenders and violent criminals with multiple convictions for serious offences”.
The unions are concerned that:
- The expansion and refurbishment of the complex was badly planned and implemented, “resulting in a totally unsafe living and working environment”
- Subsequent measures, to minimise risk to staff and residents, have been inadequate
- Staff are denied appropriate personal protection and safety equipment
- Staff recruitment and retention problems, coupled with absences, due to assaults, mean the facility is often understaffed and, therefore, incapable of dealing safely with the offenders
- The unions have continuously raised urgent concerns about time delays in supporting colleagues, in units where disturbances and violent situations arise.
