Industry Correspondent
Health service support staff have overwhelmingly backed Labour Court proposals which will see them receive pay increases of between six and 13 per cent.
The staff - who include healthcare assistants, laboratory aides, technicians and porters - staged a one-day strike in June over what the trade union Siptu said was a failure on the part of the Government and the HSE to pay increases on foot of a job evaluation scheme.
About 7,000 staff will receive the increases under the terms of a Labour Court recommendation which was issued in August.
Siptu said on Wednesday that its health service support grade members voted by 95.65 per cent to 4.35 per cent in favour of the Labour Court recommendation.
In a separate ballot, chefs working for the HSE, who are members of Siptu, voted by a margin of 98.1 per cent to 1.9 per cent in favour of a Labour Court recommendation in a dispute related to a grading process that could see an improvement to their payment and conditions.
Siptu health division organiser, Paul Bell said: "It was never our members' desire to engage in strike action but after months of obstruction our members were left with no option but to express themselves and their frustrations.
“Their strength and resolve is the reason we are here today with this emphatic result and a mandate to pursue (the next phase) phases three and of the job evaluation scheme for support grades.
“We expect that the Government will respond positively and quickly to these ballot results and they our members will receive the payments due to them without any unnecessary delay.”
The increases under the job evaluation scheme are in additional to rises under the overall public service agreement.
