Ambulance workers’ strike talks to continue

Members of Siptu and Unite unions on the picket line outside National Ambulance Service (Dublin South Central) depot at Davitt Road in Dublin, as paramedics go on strike. 

Unions representing ambulance workers are to return to talks with the HSE on Thursday in the “final opportunity” to resolve a pay dispute before a strike next week, Siptu said.

The HSE entered into direct talks with Siptu and Unite at the Labour Court on Monday, with discussions concluding without agreement on Tuesday night.

A planned paramedic strike for Tuesday was called off as the two sides entered the negotiations, after a 24-hour work stoppage last week.

Paramedics and emergency medical technicians in Siptu and Unite have been engaged in a work-to-rule amid a dispute over pay and conditions.

The unions say qualifications, clinical responsibilities and operational duties of emergency medical technicians (EMT), paramedics, advanced paramedics, paramedic specialists and paramedic supervisors have expanded significantly in recent years.

They also say a 5% increase recommended under a previous process has not been delivered.

The unions want the HSE to drop pre-conditions around its previous pay proposal which critics have said would see a reduction in the number of trained paramedics in a crew, and because of changes to overtime, could see some pay decrease.

A planned 72-hour stoppage was still in place for next week pending the outcome of the talks.

The Labour Court has asked parties to return on Sunday, Siptu sais.

The union’s ambulance sector organiser John McCamley expressed “disappointment that more progress has not been made”.