Child social-care workers in the eastern region are to seek improvements in pay and conditions next week.
If their concerns are not "adequately addressed", some 1,500 workers - including residential care workers, high-support unit staff, child psychiatrists and child social workers - will consider industrial action, a union spokesman has said.
Mr Sean McHugh, assistant general secretary of IMPACT, which represents health board workers in the eastern region, said the union would begin talks on a three-year plan with the Eastern Area, the Northern Area and the South Western Area Health Boards in a spirit of "joint partnership".
"We want this approach to work. One of the difficulties in terms of industrial relations is that child social-care workers are not inclined to take industrial action, but if this process does not produce necessary results we will, as a union, have to consider reverting to our traditional role."
A number of reports and an intervention from the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, last August, were among the factors compelling next week's talks.
The McKendrick Report, which was obtained by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, "hits the nail on the head, setting out the issues as far as we are concerned", said Mr McHugh.
IMPACT had been bringing the issues to the attention of health board management "for years", he added.
These are: inadequate training for child social-care workers, inadequate managerial structures and supervision, inadequate pay, inhospitable and dangerous working conditions, a lack of suitable residential places for vulnerable children, a lack of family-support workers, as well as the impact of these on morale.
"People have been coming in to the union for years saying `This is a disaster', and a plan to undo the problems never seemed to be forthcoming," he said.
However the signs were positive, he continued, that the forthcoming process would "produce a plan this side of Christmas which will map out ways to address these problems over the next few years".
