Three of the four scheduled heart operations at the Cork University Hospital were postponed yesterday after more than 2,000 craft workers, members of SIPTU, engaged in an unannounced strike which began at 7.30 a.m.
According to the strikers, the unofficial action was the culmination of a two-year-old pay dispute which has remained unresolved. They defied their own union in taking yesterday's action, which resulted in plumbers, electricians, porters and carpenters not reporting for duty.
As a result, doctors, nursing staff and management had to organise food for the patients, clean toilets and change bed linen. "It was a case of all hands on deck," a spokeswoman for the Southern Health Board said.
Our Lady's Hospital in the city, the Erinville and St Finbarr's Hospitals in Cork and the Cork Orthopaedic Hospital were also affected, as were Mallow General Hospital, the Regional Hospital in Tralee and St Columbanus Hospital in Killarney.
The strike meant that all elective surgery and non-emergency procedures were cancelled yesterday in the SHB region. The board issued an appeal to people not to seek hospital facilities unless it was absolutely necessary, but the day-long strike action, according to the spokeswoman, did not result in severe interruption of services.
She said patients were being treated, laundry services continued to be provided and food was being delivered in accordance with normal procedure.
SIPTU members in Cork Corporation and Cork County Council also refused to pass pickets at the local authorities' headquarters and branch offices in Cork. Management and other staff not involved in the dispute were able to maintain essential water supplies to the city and county.
One SIPTU unofficial strike leader said those on strike had been forced into the position - one they did not relish - because for two years there had been no movement on the pay issue.
Refuse services were discontinued in Cork yesterday, and a row erupted between SIPTU's regional management in Munster and those who had ignored the union's plea for no unofficial action to be taken. Senior SIPTU officials said the action was "dangerously irresponsible" and undermined the union's democratic process. But the strike organisers said SIPTU had grown distant from the grassroots membership.
"This has been a difficult day but we have come through it and despite the postponement of elective surgery, patients had not suffered in any real sense. This was because of the tremendous effort put in by all other staff who remained at their posts to ensure that hospital services were delivered as normal," the SHB spokeswoman said.
The pickets on the hospitals in Cork and Kerry as well as on the local authority buildings were lifted at 8 p.m. It is expected that the striking workers will report as normal for duty today.