Cleaners Protesting Outside Ardkeen

Motivator wrote: »

I was in the hospital this afternoon and on the way in I passed an angry group of people protesting about their pay. I understand these people are meant to be the cleaners in the hospital? My word, some of these people look as if they can’t clean themselves never mind a public hospital. What exactly are they complaining about? I was speaking to a hospital employee who said it got very heated because someone had said to the group that if they did a proper job cleaning then they’d get a proper wage.

You should have asked them.

That hospital is in a mess, security men out there who think they are cops. Tough conditions for anyone to work in

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

They should start telling people how much they will be paid before they start working in places so they can avoid getting angry afterwards..........

Well, in fairness, yesterday's CSO wage figures did state that the services sector were the most poorly paid in the state.

wsopchamp wrote: »

Long term cleaners out there are on well above minimum wage,€13+PH.a lot of people might find that good pay nowadays .
lot of confusion among hospital staff as to why exactly they are out ( pay ,change of work practice ??)
but as long as there is a picket on gate a lot of people wont pass and unfortunately for all concerned this may drag out.

According to CSO qtr 4 2019 Earnings and Labour costs survey, the wages for Accommodation and Food Services staff is €381 avg per week.
The lowest in the country.

From what I can see (and you can take it or leave it): the workers who transferred over from ISS to momentum are upset because they are now being held to account over their existing work practices which to put it bluntly, are not up to scratch!
Some personal observations (as a long term hospital employee, obviously don't want to give too much identifying information)
- Female cleaning staff in certain areas of the hospital not empting domestic bins/waste stating that "that is man's work"
- Staff on a four hour shift (4.30pm to 8.30pm approx) standing around until they can gain access to office areas at 5pm (ISS tried to change the shift times to match office hours but there were IR issues around this)
-Same staff on shift above on tea break for up to 30min (no entitlement to same based on length of shift, but just enough time to watch their nightly dose of Corrie before heading home)

- during washing of floors staff washing around desk chairs and not moving them to wash underneath, generally doing the bare minimum to ensure the supervisor doesn't cotton on)

My personal highlight....
During one of the recent "switch it off" campaigns to reduce the hospital's energy impact I asked the cleaner if they could switch off the lights on the way out of a room after cleaning it. They refused as they are not paid to do it!!!!

During the strike momentum have drafted in auxillary staff to cover and I hate to say it but where I work has never been cleaner, floors washed, countertops wiped down, glass on doors cleaned, door handles, mirrors surfaces all cleaned, compared with the quick sweep and mop of the usual crowd.

And as far as the actions of the strikers themselves...they should be ashamed of their carry on. When the nurses were out they did it in a dignified and peaceful manner.

These guys have so far:
Blocked the footpath for wheelchair users at the main entrance by parking a car on the footpath at the zebra crossing
Stopped antenatal patients from driving through the picket to get to their appointments
Blocked vans delivering blood to the hospital from getting through until security were called to escort.

Whatever level of understanding I had for these guys by means of a peaceful picket has been eroded by these actions.

I am one of the people on the picket line. I have done duty on all 4 entrances to the UHW. No has been stopped entering the hospital. Green Star have been passing collecting the waste compactors. All suppliers to the catering and all courier deliveries to other parts of the hospital have driven passed pickets with no problems. I have to say the cleaner bashing is really starting to kick in. We just want to do our job but when you have Momentum support ignoring the TUPE agreement seemingly with the full support of senior hospital management, we have no other option.

dlnv27 wrote: »

Can you please tell me what part of this is nonsense

For clarity, do you disagree with the points made by the likes of azimuth17 and barraseaclaid?

I would disagree with azimuth17 post. We are picketing all gates into the hospital not to stop people or deliveries. As I said in my previous post I have not seen any vehicle or person stopped from entering the hospital. Regarding barraseaclaid post. The women cleaners are employed to clean and the men are employed to empty the bins. Momentum support have employed women on lower rates of pay and expect them to clean and also empty the bins. Regarding the staff on the evening shift I work days so I could not comment on that. If barraseaclaid is so upset about that they should contact the Momentum support office and let them know what's going on. Regarding the car parked on the footpath, I have to say I have seen that and I totally agree with their opinion.

Oh i forgot to say, that there are calling people scabs when they pass the picket line.Some of the people that pass have to go into work they can't afford to lose a days pay.scabs is such a horrible dirty word they should be ashamed of themselves.

Damien tiernan has been covering this issue nearly every morning this week. If all this threatening behaviour and damaging of cars was happening do you not think the phone to WLR would be hopping.

Have to say I am totally disgusted with some of the comments on this particular thread. I can't speak for all the cleaners, only for the ones i know, but the level of nastiness on here is appalling, i can understand why they stand up for themselves when people on here treat them like dirt on the bottom of their shoes. There is one particular poster on here making some wild allegations in relation to intimidation and calling people evil and wanting them all sacked. There is a serious level of keyboard warrior on this thread, one with an agenda and another who seems to be a newbie.

First of all they do not earn €13 + per hour, they earn €10.80 + a site rate of €1.49 = 12.29/hr. Most are part time workers so are not working 39 hours per week either. Momentum since they won the contract have been spoiling for a fight. they have brought in people from up the country on minimum wage and are only willing to pay this rate. would any of you that are so high and mighty in your opinion of the lower working class accept minimum wage to clean in the hospital? Some of these people are single mothers and rely on this job for an income, so do you think they are taking this action lightly. P.S We can all find fault in anything we want to, there are plenty of people who do very little and get paid a hell of a lot more in the hospital, some of your time would be more well spent highlighting these people rather than the easy target of the lower working class.

In relation to the porters and the kitchen staff, they came out in support yesterday, but the HSE has taken out an injunction against them and is threatening to sack them if they join the industrial action. They are having a meeting about this on Monday. Whatever decision they make will be personal and with the threat of the sack hanging over them, not a nice or an easy decision to make.

A relation of mine has been on the picket all week, in the area where they work none of the staff have any issue with cleanliness of the area etc, in fact this person is held in high regard by the consultants, nurses and doctors in their area and also did not along with a lot of their colleagues pass the picket by the Nurses in their action... There has been no throwing of stones or rocks at cars, no spitting at people, no blocking of cars entering or leaving, no intimidation, that is pure and utter fabrication.

As someone pointed out earlier, if there was this type of aggression then surely someone would have brought it up on Damien Tiernans radio program? Also if its true then someone should ask the Garda, who by the way are passing by the hospital on a regular basis, to see has anyone reported this so called intimidation. Nobody on the picket has heard people being called scabs, nobody has blocked wheelchair access, nobody has blocked any service traffic. it is a peaceful picket. If staff are so intimidated then how is it that staff from inside the hospital are bringing out tea and sandwiches to the ladies on the picket all week?

What gets me is one, there seems to be a deliberate campaign either by Momentum or certain parties in the hospital to sully the name of the cleaners, some of it is going on here with people calling local people scum and evil. Secondly, it also appears that certain people on here think cleaners are second class citizens, like i stated earlier, maybe you should try their job for a week and see what you think.

By the way, Momentum have been taking on this so called auxillary staff with no Garda vetting which is paramount in relation to people working in the hospital. won't go into details of that here only to say some local characters with history are part of this auxillary staff and no way could one of them in particular pass any kind of Garda vetting! Also not so sure where people think the hospital is cleaner all of a sudden seeing as some of it is on lock down with the vomiting bug, so no traffic internally plus i have personally seen bags of "mixed" and "clinical" waste thrown all together in a corridor in the hospital beside a patient on a trolley. will post photo later if someone wants clarity.


What should be looked into is how Momentum ended up with the contract and maybe have a look at their history in other hospitals and maybe also have a deep look at the person who is the common link between them, this and previous Momentum contracts, the background to what is going on here is not as straightforward as some people may think.