Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Members may remember that in the late 1990s on behalf of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, I brought forward the first trade union recognition Bill to the House. That was in the early part of the struggle to win trade union recognition for SIPTU baggage handlers who worked for Ryanair. So it seems incongruous tonight, so many years later, that we should need to have this debate regarding the negotiation rights of a significant cohort of key public service workers, the National Ambulance Service Representative Association, NASRA, which is a branch of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, PNA.

As my colleague said, for the HSE to present this dispute as a breakaway union issue is not remotely tenable as the PNA has negotiated for and represented its members in the health service for almost 50 years. From 2010, the membership of NASRA has continued to grow and this union branch has represented its members on different issues at the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court. The Oireachtas had an excellent briefing yesterday from NASRA, which was organised by my colleagues, Deputies Joan Collins and Pringle. The HSE simply refuses to negotiate with this union branch about members’ very serious grievances and work conditions, as mentioned by my colleague. I note also that since 2010, NASRA union subscriptions were deducted by HSE from members' salaries but in January 2018 the HSE stopped these deductions at source for new members. Last August, the HSE ceased deducting union subscriptions from all NASRA members.

It is deplorable that the PNA and NASRA have had to resort to the current 12-hour stoppages today and tomorrow to secure their right to trade union recognition and negotiating rights. We are in the third and fourth days of industrial action on this matter and all Deputies believe this could be swiftly and easily resolved by the HSE with the encouragement of the Minister of State. I urge the Minister and the HSE to abandon their approach and immediately negotiate with the PNA and NASRA and work closely with the branch and the PNA to advance all the very serious problems felt by ambulance staff that my colleague referred to.

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