Chaos for thousands in Kildare if community employment supervisors’ strike goes ahead

Up to 50 Kildare Community Employment (CE) schemes with potentially thousands of participants will stop work for five days starting Monday, May 13, if strike action by the supervisors goes ahead.
The supervisors are protesting that, despite decades of service and a Labour Court ruling in 2008, they are not provided with a pension scheme.
The strike action is a national one but, says local supervisor Ken Nolan, it will affect many in Kildare.
“CE schemes operate in every facet of the county that you can imagine,” he said.
Mr Nolan himself works with a scheme in Cuain Mhuire in Athy.
Supervisors have been waiting for more than 10 years for the government to provide them with a pension scheme in line with a 2008 Labour Court ruling.

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According to Mr Nolan, the then government responded to the Labour Court ruling by setting aside €12 million to establish a pension for supervisors and assistant supervisors.
But when the recession hit, that money was retrieved by the government.
Now that the recession is over, the supervisors believe they have waited long enough.
There are 1,250 supervisors and assistant supervisors nationwide, supporting up to 25,000 people who are engaged in CE Schemes.
Their role is to mentor, identify and source relevant training for the participants, which is crucial to their ability to find work.
Mr Nolan says that 450 supervisors have retired since the 2008 ruling, with no pensions. In fact, some have died since that date, he said.
There are approximately 50 supervisors in Kildare, some working with as many as 60 or 70 people, and they are located in every town and village in the county.
The schemes provide a range of services, from general maintenance of buildings and sports clubs to care takers, cleaners to classroom assistants and even clerical work in the community and voluntary sector.
Some are linked to organisations like KARE and Cuain Mhuire.
A variety of TDs from across the political spectrum have expressed support for supervisors, and Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty has indicated a desire to sort the issue out.
Unions Siptu and Fórsa, however, say that Fine Gael has refused to implement the recommendation of the Labour Court, which is leading to the strike action.