Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad. I raise this issue on the day 500 ambulance personnel refuse to work additional shifts. Hopefully, we can address the current industrial relations issues between the Psychiatric Nurses Association, PNA, National Ambulance Service Representative Association, NASRA, and the HSE. The situation is escalating with an increasing number of ambulance personnel taking industrial action. They are protesting the continuing refusal of the HSE to engage in negotiations with them when representing their interests or to make payroll deductions for union subscriptions. I was a member and branch secretary of the PNA in 2010 when this commenced. At that time, the union representing ambulance personnel members was SIPTU. In the years of austerity, the idea was to protect core pay with 24-7 workers accepting that shift work, Christmas work, night duty, Easter work and so on would be foregone. They would agree not to fight for that. We marched in 2010 down Parnell Street in what was termed the "24/7 alliance", which included gardaí, soldiers, nurses, ambulance personnel and firefighters. From that came a request by 500 ambulance and paramedic personnel to join the PNA. While it seemed a bit strange at the time, it has worked well. The ambulance personnel believed the PNA would stand up for them and protect their shifts and allowance instead of only core pay.

The current dispute commenced on 10 October and there was a protest last week outside Dr. Steevens' Hospital, which is the location of the headquarters of the HSE. The HSE is refusing to recognise this branch, give it powers to negotiate terms and conditions and take union subscriptions directly from members' pay. Mr. Peter Hughes is the general secretary of NASRA and Ms Sinead McGrath is the national chair. The refusal of the HSE to engage with ambulance personnel or facilitate payroll deduction of union subscriptions amounts to nothing short of an effort to dictate to which union ambulance personnel should belong and to frustrate the continued development of the NASRA branch. There is no law to stop people joining the union of their choice. However, the HSE has put down the blocks and refused to allow the PNA to represent the members of NASRA. I plead with the Minister of State to get involved and to get the HSE to the table to recognise the rights of union members, including the right to negotiate on terms and conditions of employment.