PUBLIC health doctors will decide next week whether to ballot for strike action. Around 240 doctors are angry that aspects of an 1994 agreement have not been implemented by the Department of Health.
The chairman of the Irish Medical Organisation's public health doctors' committee, Dr Fenton Howell, said yesterday it was the only health dispute that did not involve pay but was about employment arrangements. "Posts are not being filled on a permanent basis and jobs are not being advertised. It's causing huge difficulties to our members."
The public service union IMPACT, representing more than 3,000 paramedics and social workers, has already issued notice for a strike from Monday week. The dispute is over outstanding pay claims under the PCW. And Yesterday SIPTU, representing 900 radiographers, said it would ballot its members on strike action over pay and conditions next week.
The public health doctors will discuss industrial action on Saturday at the IMO's agm. in Galway, which starts on Thursday.
Hospital consultants are also expected to decide whether to opt out of discussions between the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association and the Department of Health over pay and conditions.
The agm is expected to hear criticism of healthcare management. The opening session will deal with who the managers should be in the healthcare sector. The IMO chief executive, Mr George McNeice, said yesterday the topic was "timely" because of the many crises in the Irish health system.
