Plans for 48-hour ambulance strike postponed following Labour Court meeting

Plans for a 48-hour strike action among members of the National Ambulance Service have been postponed following a meeting of trade unions at the Labour Court this morning.

Members of the service partook in a 24-hour strike action on Tuesday, May 12, with plans to escalate the protest for the following weeks.

“The discussions were constructive and facilitated by the Labour Court in an effort to establish a basis for meaningful engagement between the parties,” said Eoin Drummey, Unite the Union's Waterford Regional Officer, in a letter to members. 

“Following today’s discussions, it has been agreed that direct talks between the unions and the HSE will now take place under the auspices of the Labour Court next Monday.

“In light of this development, the planned 48-hour strike action due to commence on Tuesday 19th May has been suspended pending the outcome of those discussions.

"While today’s engagement represents a positive step, members should be clear that no agreement has been reached at this stage and significant issues remain outstanding."

Industrial action and Work to Rule remain in place.

Union representatives have argued that the job requirements across the National Ambulance Service have expanded significantly in recent years, and that the expansions have yet to be accounted for in terms of pay.

Union representatives are campaigning for the implementation of an independent 2020 review that recommended an increase of pay scales for workers across the service.

Ambulance service protesting outside of University Hospital Waterford spoke to the Waterford News & Star on the increasing responsibilities that have been placed on ambulance service workers over the years.

Sean Wade said that traditionally, the ambulance service would have been a patient transfer service which attended emergency calls to transfer people to hospitals for treatment.

Nowadays, ambulance service personnel diagnose and treat patients on the road, making vital medical decisions to save lives.

Mr. Wade added: “In the past twenty years there has been a huge emphasis on upskilling all the practitioners. Every emergency technician, paramedic and advanced paramedic you see in an ambulance have advanced all their skills and the job has completely changed. The only thing that has not changed is the level of pay and recognition."

Another worker on the picket line today was Tony Madigan, who has been in the ambulance service for 25 years.

He said: “In the past, we would place patients into an ambulance and drive them to the hospital. Now we do most of our interventions on the road and try to help or revive people as we go, because it can lead to a better outcome.

“In the past we would have brought patients to whatever the nearest hospital was. Now we diagnose on the road to determine what is the most suitable hospital to bring patients to. If it’s a brain injury we bring them to Cork, if its cardiac we bring them to the cath lab in Waterford. All these clinical decisions are made by the people on the road, and we have already started treatment in the ambulance before we even reach the hospital.

"We fight against nature every day, trying to bring people back to life, trying to save people, and its not reflected in the recognition we receive."