Health, Ireland

(July 2016) Ambulance workers, members of the SIPTU union, have overwhelmingly voted in favour of industrial action. The union reports that its members have been through significant restructuring in recent years, without any recognition of this by management. The large majority in favour of action is in response of the failure of management to engage in negotations over implementation of an intermediate care service and an annualised hours system. Read more at SIPTU.

(July 2016) In separate votes, 87% of library staff and 93% of staff at the Centre Remedial Clinic (CRC) in Dublin have voted for industrial action. The CRC dispute is over plans to close the pension scheme while library workers in 13 local authority areas are concerned about the implications of plans to amalgamate services. The library restructuring decision has been taken without proper consultation with the union over the impact on staff. The CRC pension schemes was closed without consultation and with management refusing to provide the union with information. Read more on the library

(August 2016) The planned industrial action in the ambulance service is due to go ahead on 10 August. The Health Service Executive failed to respond to key demands from the SIPTU trade union at their most recent meeting on 28 July. These include compensation due to ambulance workers under the Public Service Agreement, the implementation of a fully developed Intermediate Care Service as recommended by the Labour Court and the application of an annualised hours system. Read more at SIPTU.

(August 2016) The all-out strike in the ambulance service planned by the SIPTU trade union was called off following guarantees on staffing levels, compensation for loss of earnings and the establishment of a working group to deal with other issues relating to the National Ambulance Service (NAS). The commitments include the recruitment of 150 new emergency technicians implementation of recommendations outlined in the NAS capacity review, 461 paramedics to be recruited over a five-year period. Read more at SIPTU and at SIPTU Health.

(August 2016) Just under nine out of 10 clerical, administrative and managerial workers in the health service have voted for industrial action if a job evaluation scheme is not reinstated. The scheme was suspended during the austerity measures negotiated with the Irish government but with a commitment to reinstate the scheme from 1 June this year but so far the Health Service Executive The scheme can lead to regrading where jobs have changed but all claims have effectively been suspended for the past eight years. Read more at Impact.

Unions representing public service workers have secured important pay improvements that reverse some of the main changes introduced as austerity measures. Changes to public service pay scales meant that workers taken on from 2010 were at a disadvantage as they had to work two years longer to reach the top of the pay scale. Pay progression for these workers will now be adjusted by cutting out two points of the pay scale. Meanwhile, workers in social services in the non-profit sector (Section 39 organisations) will get a EUR 1000 increase next April in the first stage of a three-year process to

INMO, the nurses' and midwives' union, is balloting its members over strike action in protest at low pay and staffing shortages. If agreed, there will be 24-hour strike with proposals already to escalate this to two days of action in the following week if the government fails to respond. INMO says that for every four nursing vacancies there is only one application and that the health service is paying employment agencies EUR 10000 for every nurse or midwife they recruit. It underlines the importance of tackling this issue to ensure the safety of patients which is under threat as a result of

Members of the INMO nurses' and midwives' union have voted 95% in favour of strike action over pay and staffing shortages. The union leadership was due to meet on 7-8 January to consider plans for a 24-hour strike. If it goes ahead it will be only the second strike in the union's 100-year history. INMO argues that urgent action is needed to tackle the major staffing shortages across the country with low pay one of the key issues. According to the union's figures, nurses and midwives are paid around EUR 5000-7000 a year less than other, comparable health professionals.

An official report supports calls by the SIPTU union for pay restoration for a wide range of social service workers employed by the non-profit sector in "Section 39" organisations. The workers often do jobs equivalent to those directly employed in the public sector. However, while public sector workers are covered by a collective agreement which should ensure that most see their pay restored to pre-austerity levels by 2020, there is no such commitment covering Section 39 workers. SIPTU says that the report also makes clear that the costs of pay restoration for these workers is entirely

Public service trade unions have secured talks with the government to deal with the issue of low pay for new entrants. In 2011, as part of austerity measures, the government introduced two new lower pay grades for new recruits. This was not agreed by trade unions at the time and they have continued to demand action by the government. It is estimated that 60000 workers have been taken on since 2011 and have started on these lower rates of pay.

Public service unions, including Fórsa and SIPTU, have met with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for discussions on dealing more rapidly with the problem of pay equity for new entrants to the public service. In the pay changes implemented as part of austerity measures in 2011, two additional points were added to the first two pay grades for new starters. This means that they need two more years to reach the top of their pay grades compared to higher grades. The unions argue that with economic growth and higher tax revenues, it should be possible to tackle this issue in advance

The INMO nurses' and midwives' union has announced a first day of strike action on 30 January with the possibility that five further 24-hour strikes will follow in February if the dispute over pay and recruitment is not resolved. In the meantime the SIPTU services union is calling the Health and Safety Executive to look at health sector pay in the context of the public sector pay deal and the Forsa public services union reports on the impact of the current pay deal which is delivering lower pension payments for some workers and a 1% pay increase for the lower paid

Following votes across all the public sector unions, a majority (14), accounting for 80% by membership supported the new agreement on pay and conditions with three voting against. The three-year deal includes six pay increases (two targeted at the lower paid only) and will mean that the majority of public sector workers (73%) will see an overall increase of 7% by the end of the agreement. There is a range of other conditions that have been confirmed as part of the deal including the retention of outsourcing protections, the option to negotiate on returning to a shorter working week and