Ambulance staff represented by Siptu to ballot for strike action

Staff in the HSE's National Ambulance Service who are members of the trade union Siptu are to ballot for strike action in a dispute over the operation of a new payroll system.

The potential industrial action would involve ambulance personnel in Dublin,Wicklow and Kildare.

Siptu said on Monday that management at the National Ambulance Service had failed to rectify problems with a new payroll system.

Siptu industrial organiser John McCamley said: “Despite repeated calls to fix the IT problems and numerous engagements, National Ambulance Service management has failed resolve this matter to our members’ satisfaction. We have members who depend on every cent they earn to pay mortgages and childcare costs, left in the intolerable position of being short changed on their overtime, bank holiday and subsistence payments for over five weeks now.”

Brendan Grace funeral: Ceremony blends sadness and raucous laughter

---

Donations to rape crisis centre rise €70,000 after Belfast trial

---

Harris not informed of cervical screening issues until July 10th

---

Shannon pipeline not needed if Dublin water leaks fixed, study claims

---

“ We regret taking this action but our members have been left with no option. They perform an essential public service and are now in limbo with no sign of payment on the horizon. It is not acceptable. The dispute also involves the unilateral withdrawal of subsistence payments for ambulance professionals in some circumstances.”

Separately, other ambulance staff are to hold a further 24-hour strike later this week as part of their long-running campaign over trade union representation rights.

Members of the National Ambulance Service Representative Association (Nasra), which is a branch of the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) are to stage a 24-hour work stoppage from Friday, July 19th to Saturday, July 20th.

The PNA, which said it had about 500 Nasra branch members (including paramedics, advanced paramedics and emergency medical technicians) has staged a series of strikes since the beginning of the year as part of a campaign to secure representation rights.

The HSE does not recognise the PNA or its Nasra branch as a representative body for ambulance personnel.