Siptu said today it has accepted an invitation to attend the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) on Monday to try end the strike over plans by Mount Carmel private hospital to outsource its catering services.
Over 60 members of the union have been on strike since Wednesday over the transfer of their jobs to Aramark/Campbell Catering Ltd under the same terms and conditions of employment they have had up to now.
Mount Carmel said that in addition the new employers had promised a more beneficial pension scheme to all transferring employees
However, Siptu has said that its members are angry at being forced into the transfer without agreement.
Temporary workers supplied by a labour agency have filled in for the striking employees for the past three days.
Siptu official Paul welcomed the intervention of the LRC but added that management at the hospital had today issued striking staff with notices informing them that they were no longer employed by the hospital. Mr Paul called on the management to withdraw the notices as a gesture of goodwill while discussions continue.
"Our members took industrial action on Wednesday as they were given no alternative but to leave the hospital's employment, with a job with Aramark as the only alternative. We have applied to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for an all-out picket, because what is happening at Mount Carmel will be visited on workers all over this country if trade unionists do not make a stand," said Mr Paul.
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