SIPTU have urged action to safeguard Dublin City Council workers from physical assaults while they are carrying out their duties assisting communities throughout the city following a recent attack on a caretaker in the North Inner City.
The worker involved is a 61-year-old grandfather with 28 years of service with the City Council.
Dublin City Council workers are being attacked on a weekly basis, according to SIPTU. The organisation is calling for government intervention to tackle the problem, which it says is making workers afraid to carry out their jobs.
SIPTU Organiser, Jay Power, said: “There has been a marked rise in assaults on our members in recent times. The most recent incident was an unprovoked attack on a Caretaker in the Ballybough area of the North Inner City on 9th January.
“He was left with cuts and bruises following the physical attack while he carried out his duties in a flats complex. The Gardai were called to the incident but did not arrive and the worker only escaped more serious injury due to the intervention of a colleague. Unfortunately, such attacks are becoming a more frequent occurrence for many workers and it was not the first time that this individual has suffered an assault.”
The Caretaker, who does not wish to be named, said: “Most people do not realise the effects such attacks have on the employee and their families. It can change your entire personality, where you once viewed people in a friendly open manner, now you view them with suspicion and anxiety. It takes a long time to regain your confidence after such an incident.”
He added: “When you no longer have a visible injury, people assume you are ok and should just get on with it. However, it changes you, when you hear footsteps coming up behind you, you become anxious, and in some cases anti-social, as it changes your perception of people and their actions.”
SIPTU Dublin City Council Convenor, Pat McCormack, said: “Public services are an essential element of a fair and decent society. The SIPTU Dublin City Council committee condemns the unwarranted attacks on our members, Dublin City Council staff and all public servants. These cowardly attacks need to be addressed. Staff going about their daily job should not have to do so in fear.”
Jay Power added: “SIPTU is highlighting the need for vigilance and proactive management responses to protect public sector, and wider services industries, workers who may be vulnerable to work-related assaults. Dublin City Council workers supply essential services to residents of the city. Our members need to be able to go to work without fear, it is a shocking indictment of where we are as a society that workers are in fear just going to work.”
