Pay increases for 28,000 health workers could be withheld by HSE

PAY INCREASES due to about 28,000 workers in the health sector may be withheld as a result of industrial action which has been under way since May.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) said yesterday that it had cited members of the union Impact in the health sector for breaches of the Towards 2016 national agreement under performance verification rules.

The 28,000 people concerned, who include administrative and managerial grades as well as therapy staff, were due to receive a final instalment of 2.5 per cent under the Towards 2016 deal this month.

Separately, the HSE has also cited over 200 public health doctors for refusing to agree to the introduction of new out-of-hours cover arrangements.

The citings are effectively a recommendation by HSE management that the 2.5 per cent increase should not be paid.

It will now be up to the Department of Health secretary general Michael Scanlan to make a final decision next week on whether the increase should be paid. If Mr Scanlan refuses to sanction the increase, the union can appeal the matter to the Labour Court.

Impact members in the health service have been engaged in industrial action since May 21st in protest at recruitment restrictions and cutbacks, which were put in place a year ago to deal with the HSE’s financial difficulties.

Impact has argued that earlier this year the Labour Court backed union claims that the HSE had itself breached the Towards 2016 agreement in the manner in which it put in place the cutbacks without consultations with staff representatives.

As part of the industrial action, Impact members have been refusing to cover for posts left vacant as a result of the HSE’s recruitment restrictions and are not co-operating with HSE advisers or the organisation’s transformation programme.

In July the union agreed to lift a ban on the provision of financial information to HSE management in return for a four-week moratorium on job losses among temporary staff.

Talks between Impact and HSE management on the substantive issues in the dispute are continuing at the Labour Relations Commission.

Meanwhile it is understood that the HSE will seek increases in funding of about €1 billion for next year in the run-up to the budget next month.

The HSE told trade union leaders yesterday that the current information suggested that it would face a financial shortfall of about €1 billion if it had to provided the same service levels in 2009 as this year, based on known costs.

The HSE has signalled to the Department of Finance that it would need about €400 million more to take account of the increasing cost of the various community drug schemes.

The HSE would also require €150 million for implementing the new contracts for hospital consultants and €50 million more for a new pharmacy payment system.