A continuing disagreement between the Dublin and Cork centres of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service has worsened following complaints to the Minister for Health from unions representing Cork staff.
Mr Martin was told by letter that staff at the Cork centre would be balloted for industrial action unless management "changes its attitude" to the centre and its staff.
In an unusual step, the letter was sent to Mr Martin by the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association on December 21st, bypassing the board of the IBTS. However, the letter was copied to the IBTS chairwoman, Dr Patricia Barker.
The letter, which has been seen by The Irish Times, refers to tactics adopted by senior management and the c.e.o., Mr Martin Hynes.
The Irish Hospital Consultants' Association and the AGEMOU, which is part of SIPTU, also represent staff at the Cork centre. They also have complained by letter to the Minister about the incident.
Tension between the centres developed following the discovery at the Cork centre of the hepatitis C scandal in 1994. It worsened when the IBTS decided to centralise the testing of blood samples in Dublin, a move resisted by Cork staff, medical personnel in Munster and the joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children.
The Minister has not yet commented on a recommendation from the joint Oireachtas committee that testing be continued at both centres.
The director of the Cork centre, Dr Joan Power, has been removed from a range of key bodies and committees, and a number of her managerial functions have been removed. Staff fear this is part of an attempt by the IBTS to centralise services in Dublin and downgrade the Cork centre.
It emerged yesterday that a senior staff member in Cork has been threatened with dismissal unless he begins reporting to Dublin rather than to Dr Power next week. The Medical Laboratory Scientists' Association is to meet executives of the IBTS at what is being described as a crisis meeting next week. Unless the matter is resolved at the meeting, there is the possibility of industrial action within the blood transfusion service.
In its letter, the Medical Laboratory Scientists' Association said industrial action was not an option it would pursue lightly, "but unless IBTS management changes its attitude to the Cork centre generally, and to our members specifically, we don't see that we have much choice."
A spokeswoman for the IBTS in Dublin said yesterday the board's decision to centralise blood-testing did not mean the Cork centre would be downgraded.