THE PLANNED national public sector strike later this month will see the health service reduced to a Christmas Day level of activity and local authorities only providing an emergency fire service, while the Civil Service will be mainly restricted to the Coast Guard and a limited Met Office operation. However, the Oireachtas will remain open.
The details emerged yesterday as unions began setting out their plans for contingency arrangements for the strike which is scheduled for November 24th in protest at proposed Government cuts in pay levels.
Last night the Health Service Executive (HSE) said the level of emergency cover proposed by the health sector unions was “totally unsatisfactory, and would pose a serious risk to patient care and safety on the day”.
In a separate development, Peter McLoone, the chief union negotiator in the talks with the Government on its plans to reduce the public sector pay bill, warned of possible further work stoppages in the public service.
Mr McLoone, general secretary of Impact, the country’s largest public sector union, said the level of emergency cover to be provided during the nationwide strike would be “tightly defined”.
Impact’s central executive decided yesterday that emergency and essential cover to be provided during the strike “would not extend to matters other than life or immediate health-threatening situations, or other situations where it would be irresponsible not to provide cover”.
“Impact has already told education employers that no services at all will be provided in the sector on November 24th, and it has written to local authority employers to say that only emergency fire services will be considered essential.
“The union has also told management that cover in the Civil Service will be limited to the Coast Guard service, a limited Met Office service to ensure safety at sea, emergency forensic investigations, opening the Oireachtas, and court appearances where failure to appear would be deemed contempt of court,” it said.
Health sector unions, meanwhile, told the HSE yesterday that they envisaged shutting down the system to a Christmas Day level of activity at best. The secretary of the health group of unions, Kevin Callinan, said the unions asked the HSE to make preparations for closures of this scale.
Brendan Mulligan, the HSE’s head of corporate employee relations, said it was looking for a whole range of national specialities such as cancer services to be exempted from the strike. It was also asking that the swine flu vaccination clinics be excluded.
Doctors are expected to work normally on the strike day. The Irish Medical Organisation said yesterday while it supported the action it would not be taking part.
Mr McLoone said there was now little prospect of the proposed strike being averted, and warned that “further stoppages may be necessary to stop a second cut in public service pay in the forthcoming budget”.
The Irish regional secretary of Unite, Jimmy Kelly, also said yesterday that a sustained campaign was necessary “beyond a one-day strike”. CPSU general secretary Blair Horan said he believed a one-day stoppage would not be enough to persuade the Government to change course.
Psychiatric Nurses Association general secretary Des Kavanagh said its officer board had decided to take part in the strike subject to this being confirmed in a ballot result due today.