MORE THAN 11,000 health workers across 30 hospitals are set to strike for a full day on Wednesday 14 October, trade union Siptu has announced.<\/p>\n
The union\u2019s Health Division said today that it has notified the HSE and voluntary hospital employers of the planned action as it escalates a dispute over negotiations for a new public service pay agreement.<\/p>\n
The strike is due to follow a one-day work-to-rule on Wednesday 30 September, during which members will withdraw voluntary flexibility, including non-rostered overtime and additional duties.<\/p>\n
Siptu said the action follows what it described as the government\u2019s failure to establish a forum for negotiations on a successor to the previous public service pay agreement, which expired on 30 June.<\/p>\n
The planned strike will affect hospitals across the country, including Beaumont Hospital, Cork University Hospital, University Hospital Galway, University Hospital Limerick, St James\u2019s Hospital and University Hospital Waterford.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, members of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) have also voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action, up to and including strike action, in a separate dispute over public service pay.<\/p>\n
Some 94% of doctors balloted supported the move, including consultants, non-consultant hospital doctors and public and community health doctors.<\/p>\n
The IMO said action is set to begin on 14 October, the same day as SIPTU\u2019s planned strike.<\/p>\n
Its national committees are meeting today to decide what form the action will take, before the organisation issues three weeks\u2019 notice to the HSE and voluntary hospitals.<\/p>\n
Siptu Health Divisional Organiser Kevin Figgis said members had shown \u201cextraordinary patience\u201d since the agreement expired.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have continued to provide essential health services while facing soaring costs for food, fuel, electricity, gas, rent and mortgages,\u201d Figgis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet the Government has failed to provide any meaningful forum where public service unions can engage on a new pay agreement which addresses the concerns of our members.\u201d<\/p>\n
Figgis said the work-to-rule would demonstrate how much the health service relies on staff goodwill and flexibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen that goodwill is withdrawn, the pressure within the system will become immediately apparent,\u201d Figgis added said.<\/p>\n
He warned that members would proceed with the full-day strike on 14 October unless the government engaged with their concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe responsibility for avoiding that outcome rests squarely with the Government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The union said its members had voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial and strike action and were seeking a pay agreement that addresses rising living costs.<\/p>\n
Siptu said the action was intended to secure meaningful negotiations with the government.<\/p>\n
The union has not outlined what arrangements, if any, will be made for emergency or essential services during the planned strike.<\/p>\n
The strike action will take place in the following hospitals:\n<\/p>\n
Beaumont Hospital
\nCavan Monaghan Hospital Group
\nChildren\u2019s Health Ireland at Connolly Hospital
\nChildren\u2019s Health Ireland at Crumlin
\nChildren\u2019s Health Ireland at Tallaght
\nChildren\u2019s Health Ireland at Temple Street
\nConnolly Hospital, Blanchardstown
\nCork University Hospital
\nCork University Maternity Hospital
\nKerry University Hospital
\nLetterkenny University Hospital
\nLouth County Hospital
\nMater Misericordiae University Hospital
\nMayo University Hospital
\nMercy University Hospital
\nMerlin Park University Hospital
\nMidland Regional Hospital, Tullamore
\nOur Lady\u2019s Hospital, Navan
\nOur Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda
\nPortiuncula University Hospital
\nSligo University Hospital
\nSt James\u2019s Hospital
\nSt Luke\u2019s General Hospital
\nSt Vincent\u2019s University Hospital
\nTallaght University Hospital
\nTipperary University Hospital
\nUniversity Hospital Galway
\nUniversity Hospital Limerick
\nUniversity Hospital Waterford
\nWexford General Hospital<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MORE THAN 11,000 health workers across 30 hospitals are set to strike for a full day on Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,86312,3267,43,268816,20445,20167,1562,40,38,41,39,46712],"class_list":["post-633177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-health-workers","tag-hospitals","tag-news","tag-pay-talks","tag-public-service","tag-siptu","tag-strike","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trade-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}