As opposition to health cuts gathers pace among trade unions, SIPTU members in Galway voted for a work-to-rule over job losses. IMPACT says its members will not provide cover for unfilled jobs.
Ward clerks at University College Hospital, Galway, voted unanimously for industrial action in protest at the threatened loss of 169 posts within the Western Health Board.
The 35 clerks, who are members of SIPTU, voted for the industrial action at a meeting yesterday in Galway. The action will take the form of a "staggered " work-to-rule, which is designed to have minimum effect on patients and maximum effect on health board management, Mr Colm Keavney of SIPTU said after the meeting.
From next Monday afternoon, the ward clerks will refuse to answer phones at UCHG. From Monday week a second duty will be added to the work-to-rule. If there is no breakthrough, the work-to-rule will continue with refusal to carry out three responsibilities from the third week, Mr Keavney said. Ward clerks play a central role in the administration of hospital wards.
Also last night, support staff who are members of SIPTU met for an emergency meeting at UCHG. It was expected that the staff, including porters, domestics and attendants, might take a ballot on industrial action in response to the proposed cutbacks.
Officials from IMPACT are due to resume talks with the Western Health Board in Galway this afternoon. IMPACT's health executive committee met in Dublin yesterday to consider its reaction to the Government's instruction to health boards not to fill 800 posts. The union says it is clear from what is happening in the Western Health Board that this instruction will involve the loss of jobs which are already filled.
The union also says the Government sees clerical and administrative staff as soft targets for cuts. The bulk of its 25,000 members in the health services are in the clerical and administrative area.
Yesterday's meeting decided to instruct clerical, administrative and managerial staff in hospitals and health boards to refuse to cover the work of the 800 posts axed or left vacant by the cuts.
Speaking after the meeting, IMPACT national secretary Mr Kevin Callinan said the union had held a ballot of clerical and administrative staff and was instructing them to boycott vacant posts with effect from September 23rd.
The action would demonstrate the crucial role of administrative staff and expose the impact of health cuts on services, he said. "The Government is singling out administrative staff for cuts because it thinks the public can be persuaded that 800 administrative jobs can go with no impact on services. But every health worker is either providing a direct front-line service or fulfilling essential support functions."