Thirty-six hospitals to be affected by support worker strike

There will be 36 hospitals impacted by strike action by some 17,000 support workers who are in dispute with their employer over a jjob evaluation scheme.

There will be 36 hospitals impacted by strike action by some 17,000 support workers who are in dispute with their employer over a job evaluation scheme.

The thousands of chefs, porters and other support staff voted overwhelmingly in support of stoppages and could commence industrial action in June as a result of the vote.

Siptu said that the dispute stems from the government's failure to deliver on the outcome of an official review of the work of healthcare assistants under a job-evaluation scheme established as part of the 2015 Landsdowne Road public service pay agreement.

The review, according to Siptu, found that some staff had been underpaid for a decade and that they should receive pay rises of approximately €2,000 per year.

Siptu also noted that about 1,000 chefs in the sector are also seeking to move onto higher pay scales in accordance with their duties. The union said they have been waiting for movement on this since 2017.

The result of the ballot was announced at a special conference on pay justice at Croke Park today.

Siptu members working as health support staff voted by 94% to 6% in favour of strike action.

In a separate ballot, chefs working for the HSE also voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action by a margin of 97% to 3% in favour.

Siptu deputy general secretary for the Public Sector, John King, said that the response is "clear and emphatic".

He said: "Our union is demanding meaningful engagement with government on the resolution to this longstanding issue once and for all. Our members have played by the rules and kept the health services going in recent times. They deserve to get the pay justice they have waited so patiently for.

Our members have the full backing of our union on this as it was conceded as part of a previous national public sector agreement.

Siptu health division organiser, Paul Bell said: "The size of the vote in favour of strike action undoubtedly demonstrates our members’ anger with the Government due to their failure to give them the fair and equal treatment they demand.

"It is a fact that this vote was brought about by the failure by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to honour the provisions included in the Lansdowne Road and Haddington Road agreements."

He said it was never the union members’ desire to engage in strike action which will put additional pressures on the health service.

"However, after months of obstruction, our members have been left with no option but to express themselves and their frustrations," he said. "The ball is now in the court of the Government and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. They can either pay our members what they are owed or face the consequences."