Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

What is this dispute about? It is about equal pay for equal work. Medical scientists and biochemists do the same work in the same laboratories in the same public hospitals. More than 20 years ago, it was agreed there would be pay parity and, more than 20 years on, there is still no pay parity. Medical scientists are paid at least 8% less.

In the National Health Service in the UK, there is a grade of clinical scientist. It is a natural career progression for medical scientists to move to the grade of clinical scientist and to develop their career path. That is not available to medical scientists here although it could and should be. That is an important part of the issues in this dispute. It is no wonder there is a brain drain to the private sector, that 20% of posts have been left unfilled and that there has been an industrial dispute. The dispute has caused disruption, which is entirely the responsibility of those who have refused to deliver on pay parity, that is, the Government.

I heard the point the Minister made about his definition of insufficient funds and Building Momentum. However, people cannot help but look at this situation and see that the Government does not believe there are insufficient funds to give developers subsidies of up to €140,000 for building apartments. The Minister for Defence does not believe there are insufficient funds to increase defence funding in this State by up to €1 billion, primarily spending it on extra guns and weapons.

The injustice that has been done to these workers is illustrated well by the fact that some other laboratory workers, when they receive a promotion to the grade of medical scientist, do not receive a pay increase but instead receive a pay cut. That is a bizarre situation. The Tánaiste receives a salary of €195,000 per annum. The Taoiseach receives a salary of €211,000 per annum. How would a Tánaiste feel if he or she were to receive a promotion to the post of Taoiseach and receive a pay cut? Of course that would never happen. The political establishment would never allow it to be the case. It is a double standard. It is allowed to happen in our public hospitals.

The example I just gave illustrates another part of the problem. Government politicians, who pay themselves enormous salaries, cannot begin to understand the problems of working people who are forced to live on a fraction of those wages. Many of the medical scientists who have taken to the picket lines last week and this week spend a big proportion of their salaries on paying rent to put a roof over their heads. Some of them to whom I spoke cannot even afford to do that. They have been to college and got degrees, and some have masters degrees, and yet some of them are still forced to live at home with their parents. It is a different world from the world of the Ministers who have perpetuated this injustice.

At least 70% of the State's 2,100 medical scientists are women. Is there a connection between this fact and the fact an injustice has taken place here? It is a fact there has not been equal pay for equal work for decades. The Minister, of course, will deny it but I cannot help thinking that such an injustice might not have been left to fester for quite so long if the majority of the workforce were not female. There is a long history of second-class citizenship for women in our health services. They have been treated as second-class citizens. I wonder is that being reflected, to some extent, in this situation.

The role performed by medical scientists is vital to our public health services. Never was this seen more clearly than in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic when they played a key role in the roll-out and implementation of the testing programme. This country could not have got through the pandemic in the way it did if not for these workers. That makes it all the more scandalous that they are being treated the way the Government is treating them. Their vital role is also shown by the strike. Without their labour, the public health service slowed to a virtual standstill last week and again yesterday. These workers got a taste of their own power on the picket lines. If the Labour Court does not deliver justice and pay parity, it is power that can and should be used again, if necessary. I hope the Minister is fully aware of that.

Reference has been made to Building Momentum. There are different kinds of momentum. The Minister and the political establishment are aware of the fact this strike had built momentum. There was unity and solidarity on the picket lines. There was considerable support across the board from fellow workers in the hospitals. There was massive support from the public. You only had to stand on a picket line and listen to the sound of the horns blaring as cars passed. I have no doubt, despite all the sweet-talking we have heard today, that there are some in the Government and in the Department of Health who hope the Labour Court talks might be used to slow or break the momentum of this strike. We have seen it before. The Government is the master of this approach. It wants to spin out the dispute for weeks and weeks, letting the momentum of the strike fall off. The workers are then back to square one with perhaps a tiny bit more. They are left to start all over again. I say clearly to the workers in the Gallery and to the workers in the MLSA that if the strategy of the Department of Health and Government is to try to break the momentum of the strike by spinning out these talks for weeks and weeks, do not let them do it. The workers absolutely should go before the Labour Court to talk, negotiate and engage. They should see if justice and pay parity are on offer. However, if they are not on offer relatively quickly and the Government tries to spin out talks, I say to those workers not to let the Government break the momentum of the strike. The workers have power. It was used last week and this week, and can be used again. The Minister needs to be clear about that.

Every worker in this country deserves a pay increase. I hope a victory for the medical scientists will spur other workers to press for cost-of-living pay increases. The trade union movement as a whole must get behind the medical scientists and see a victory for them as a signal that justice for all workers through the protection of living standards in this inflation crisis needs to be fought for now. I will conclude by saying, victory to the medical scientists, equal pay for equal work, pay parity now, an injury to one is an injury to all, and a victory for the medical scientists will be a victory for every worker in this country.

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