'Pay up Paschal': Staff warns hospitals will come to standstill during planned three day strike

Support staff on the picket line in Cork have warned that hospitals all over the country will come to a standstill if they strike for three days next week.

They have urged Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe to come to the table and engage in meaningful discussion to resolve the pay dispute that prompted today's strike.

Thousands of support staff, including security, housekeeping, porters and chefs, downed tools to take part in yesterday's strike. It included some 700 at Cork University Hospital.

Chants of "Pay up Paschal" and "Pay justice now!" could be heard, with passing motorists showing their support for the striking workers. Several nurses, who had been on strike earlier this year, and some patients also came out from the hospital to show their support for the workers.

Essie McCarthy, who works in sterilising instruments for theatres and wards, said that staff are tired of not being listened to.

She said her colleagues took precautions before the strike to ensure that materials would be there for cardiac and cancer patients, as well as for C-sections, but the planned three-day strike next week could cause a much bigger issue.

"It would be a different ball-game. It is three days: the hospital will come to a standstill," she said.

"Everyone out here - the porters, the chefs, housekeeping - we are the backbone of the hospital. If we stop, the hospital stops."

Sharon Creegan, Siptu industrial organiser for the Cork Health Division, said that members are "cautiously optimistic" that they won't have to return to the picket line next week. But, she added, they will not hesitate to do so if the government doesn't engage.

SIPTU strike by support workers including porters, chefs and healthcare assistants pictured at Cork University Hospital. Pic Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

"Our members are the backbone of the health service. That is what we are talking about and you can lay the blame at the government's door," she said.

Among those that were on strike were members of the housekeeping departments in CUH and CUMH.

They say that their roles have evolved significantly in recent years and that there has been no recognition of this.

Susan Justice, the housekeeping shop steward in CUMH, said they have been "backed into a corner".

"This was a very difficult choice: our patients are our priorities," she said.

"But our jobs have changed. There is more being asked of every one of us. We have never said no, we have taken on extra jobs and come in on our days off but we don't get extra pay."

Her colleague Therese O'Sullivan added, "We are looking for recognition that our jobs have changed. We have taken the hits and now we just want what was agreed."