Waterford hospital staff to go on strike
Over 100 staff members working in University Hospital Waterford, in the laundry, catering and portering departments, voted to engage in work-to-rule strike action.
Trade union Unite, which represents support staff at University Hospital Waterford (UHW), has accused the Health Service Executive (HSE) of leaving hospital staff and the union in the dark over “regrading plans” and is has set a date to take industrial action.
On Thursday, May 16, an announcement was made by the union that over 100 staff members working in the hospital located in Ardkeen, County Waterford, in the laundry, catering and portering departments will be engaging in a work-to-rule.
The work-to-rule is scheduled to take place from Monday, May 27.
Staff members within the union voted in favour of resorting to industrial action following the failure by the HSE to include laundry staff in a regrading scheme, leaving them financially worse off than others. Laundry staff have historically been aligned with catering and portering staff, which no longer seems to be the case.
In addition to the failure to include laundry workers in the regrading scheme, some upgraded staff were awarded incremental credits when calculating their new pay rates. However, the exclusion of portering and catering workers means that long-serving workers in these grades are required to work up their increments, which once again is resulting in a financial loss for the workers concerned.
“Support staff keep our hospitals running. These essential workers do some of the hardest jobs for the lowest wages in our health service, and it beggars belief that they have been sidelined in the HSE’s regrading scheme,” said the General Secretary of Unite, Sharon Graham.
“Unite always prioritises the jobs, pay and conditions of its members and the workers at Waterford Hospital will receive Unite’s complete support,” added Ms Graham.
Neither University Hospital Waterford nor Unite were consulted by the HSE regarding the parameters of the regrading scheme and it's the lack of communication which has driven the staff and union to announce the date for the work-to-rule to take place. However, Unite the Union states it "will be available to engage" with UHW during the industrial action, as required by the relevant dispute procedures.
Also commenting on the situation, Unite's Regional Officer Eoin Drummey explained why the union and its members are dissatisfied.
“The HSE’s shambolic implementation of this deeply flawed regrading scheme means that laundry, portering and catering workers will suffer an unjust financial penalty – not just because of the failure to upgrade laundry workers, but because long-serving portering and catering workers are required to work up their increments,” said Mr Drummey.
“This again means a financial loss for the workers,” he concluded.
