More than 2,000 frontline staff at the National Ambulance Service are to be balloted on industrial action after renewed efforts to address a long-running dispute over pay and conditions failed to produce a deal.
The staff, mostly emergency medical technicians, paramedics and advanced paramedics, have twice rejected proposals to resolve the situation by big margins, most recently in September when 70 per cent of those who participated in the ballot voted against terms put forward by the Workplace Relations Commission. Both unions recommended acceptance on that occasion.
Now seeking to improve on the terms offered at that stage, Siptu, which represents the bulk of those involved, said the recommendations contained in The Independent Review of Roles and Responsibilities report published in May 2020 should be fully implemented.
This would, it said, involved a review of grades and pay that would provide for recognition of the much higher levels of qualification and responsibility involved in certain roles.
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“We need to look back at all of the changes that have been introduced over the past 15 or 20 years,” said senior Siptu official John McCamley, “but every time we try to do that, management said: ‘Never mind about all of those other things you’ve already taken on, we have this whole new bunch of changes we want to make now too.’”
McCamley said that while an ambulance attendant, as was, had to complete a 30-week course, a paramedic now holds a level eight qualification equivalent to an honours degree, while an advanced paramedic needs to have completed a level nine.
“We’ve gone from a point when we were providing a patient transport service to one where we are running a pre-hospital admission one. Many patients arrive at the hospital having already received life-saving treatment, and that has required a vast amount of upskilling,” McCamley said.
Management has sought changes in what it says is a process of modernisation, but union members have claimed these would compromise patient safety.
The proposals voted on last year provided for significant increases to basic pay across the grades, but opponents argued that staff were having to give up too much for them in terms of changes to rostering and premium payments, among other things, and a sizeable majority of the unions’ members agreed.
After the ballot last autumn, the two sides restarted talks. However, after a meeting in November and another this week, McCamley said the gap between the two sides is now too great to expect it to be resolved through the current process.
The ballot is due to be concluded by the end of March, after which the action would likely initially involve a work to rule – although the mandate for actions up to and including a strike is being sought. The union says provision would be made for patient safety in the event of work stoppages.
In a statement, the HSE said it had supported the WRC proposals intended to resolve the dispute and “remains committed to engagement through the dispute resolution processes set out in the Public Service Agreement”.
It said the two unions should continue to participate in those processes as the “ballot for industrial action is unwarranted and presents a potential for impact on service delivery to patients”.
