Electricians, plumbers and carpenters at hospitals and health centres countrywide are set to be balloted on industrial action after a claim relating to the use of mobile phones and tablets led to six workers being suspended at the Coombe maternity hospital in Dublin last Thursday.
Trade union Connect said it is preparing to ballot about 600 craft workers in the health sector after, it says, a move to suspend its members at the Coombe breached agreed procedures concerning a national claim.
The union has been seeking payment to its members for using handheld electronic devices — effectively mobile phones and tablets — in the course of their work after, it says, a similar agreement was made concerning similar workers employed by local authorities.
The claim was due to be considered by the health sector National Joint Council, a body intended to deal with claims and disputes within the sector which management and unions are supposed to go through before escalating problems.
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Connect general secretary Paddy Kavanagh said the union was happy to have the claim dealt with under the agreed structures but that six of its members employed at the Coombe were instructed by management last week that if they did not co-operate immediately with rollout of the devices they would be removed from the payroll.
They refused and on Thursday morning were suspended. The union says they have been reporting for work since but have voted for industrial action which is now due to start next Monday. Meanwhile, because the union sees the move as breaking existing agreements, it is preparing to ballot all of its members in the sector.
“This is the result of a dispute brought about by management seeking to ignore the terms of national public sector agreements and unilaterally enforce a change to our members’ terms and conditions of employment,” said Mr Kavanagh.
“As this move by the management in Coombe hospital undermines a national agreement, we have been left with no option but to ballot our members throughout this sector on industrial action.”
He said the union “always abides by national agreements but in this case, the management at the hospital have decided not to”.
He said the matter has been referred to the Workplace Relations Commission and that the union would be happy to attend talks as long as their members are reinstated.
Asked if using mobile phones at work should be the basis for additional payments, he replied that pay across the public sector was standardised and because an award had been made on the issue to comparable local authority workers, those in the health sector were entitled to lodge a claim for parity.
He said that in the event of industrial action being taken, emergency cover would be provided at hospitals and other health facilities but that any action involving electricians and plumbers would inevitably lead to disruption.
In a statement, the hospital said it has been “endeavouring to implement a move away from a paper-based system to the use of digital handheld devices for the assignment of work to maintenance staff and has been engaging with their representatives for over 18 months on this matter.
“The Coombe last communicated with the Connect Trade Union on Friday afternoon, stating that it remains open to engagement and, while we await a response to this communication, that continues to be the case. The hospital can assure the public that contingency plans are in place to ensure services are uninterrupted while these discussions continue.”
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