Ms Orla Carroll:

Regarding the reality on the ground, I used to work in an acute hospital. Fórsa has members who are agency staff. One was pregnant and has gone on maternity leave. She had been working in the service for well over 12 months and was fully trained by management. Management is pulling its hair out because it does not know what she is going to do when she returns. It does not have a crystal ball, so it does not know whether it can give her a job. She now has a new baby at home but has no job security because the agency could only give her two-week rolling contracts. We represent these agency workers as well. The job is still there and will probably remain so, but management cannot guarantee it. A great deal of training has been provided to her. Agency staff, especially in clerical administrative work, are normally job hopping and locums and can slot into different areas, so she would be considered highly trained, but now management could lose her on the basis that it does not know whether it can give her a job.