Warnings of strike escalation at University Hospital Waterford

Trade union Unite, which represents support staff at University Hospital Waterford (UHW), today (Monday) warned that the current work-to-rule by laundry, catering and portering grades may escalate unless the Health Service Executive (HSE) reverses its decision to withhold pay increases due to staff.

Workers have been engaging in a work-to-rule since Monday, May 27, following the HSE’s failure to include laundry workers at UHW in a regrading scheme and their decision not to award incremental credits to portering and catering workers.

The HSE wrote to Unite last Thursday, June 20, stating that it would not be paying Unite members at the hospital the pay increases due to them under the agreement.

Unite regional officer, Eoin Drummey said: “The HSE’s arbitrary decision to exclude UHW support staff from a regrading scheme and incremental credits caused the dispute in the first place. It then failed to put in place adequate contingency plans to ensure that patient services were maintained during the ongoing work-to-rule.

“Now, it is withholding agreed pay increases contained under the current public service agreement, in what Unite considers to be a blatant violation of the agreement, and has further threatened our members’ core pay.

“Such threats against workers cannot and will not be tolerated,” he concluded.