Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It may not be an ongoing strike anymore, but in any event it is hard to think of a more blatant example of unfair and unjustifiable work practices and workplace situations that exists in our hospitals. Qualified scientists who worked through Covid, dealt with the cyberattack and accepted extra work are paid 8% less than colleagues who did the same work and who sit by side with them in the lab. Some earn less than those they supervise and others' wages decrease if they qualify. Whatever about pay, many hospitals, like University Hospital Kerry, have introduced compulsory on-site rosters on-call. This in effect is mandatory overtime.

Staff must work obligatory overtime of 12 to 36 hours extra per week. Many staff at the hospital in Crumlin work 24 hours of extra overtime. In Kerry, the Monday to Friday staff must work the daytime as well as the night which means, in effect, a 20-hour shift, and from 8 p.m. they are on their own covering two departments and they get no proper break. On Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays in Kerry, there used to be a 24-hour shift but that changed last year to a 12-hour shift so staff are working on twice as many weekends.

I spoke to one scientist who has worked for 30 years and never had a strike day. In fact, I understand that the last industrial action was 50 years ago. Medical scientists have waited decades for this pay inequality to be resolved because clearly their pay and working conditions are not fair or reasonable. As a result, as the Minister of State may know, an increasing number of staff have become unwell due to burnout and are leaving. When trainees are about to qualify, they see the work pressure that staff must undergo. As a result, pharmaceutical companies are mopping up newly qualified staff. Whatever about the history of what has gone on - the expert group's recommendation for restored pay and for pay levels to be the same as the biochemists was accepted by the Minister for Health and Children at the time, who is now the Taoiseach - and whatever about benchmarking and procedural errors, I know that exploratory talks have begun or are due to begin today but I believe the Government must intervene and the HSE must engage properly. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform must be involved. The HSE must enter meaningful discussions, provide a timeline and not look over its shoulder at any other workplace situations. The Government must resolve this inequality and the two-tier pay system that continues to exist.

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