Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to address this matter. I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Harris.

I raised this issue with the Government this morning and had discussions with Paul Bell of SIPTU at the weekend. The background to the dispute is that on 5 June SIPTU announced that up to 10,000 of its members working in 38 hospitals and healthcare facilities would engage in industrial action for 24 hours on Thursday, 20 June.SIPTU has advised the HSE of a further five dates of proposed action to take place on 25 and 26 June, as well as 2, 3 and 4 July. I genuinely hope we can avoid that. The grades to engage in this action include healthcare assistants, maternity care assistants, porters, laboratory aides, surgical instrument staff and cleaners. The HSE has advised local management in the healthcare providers concerned to engage in contingency planning on the basis of emergency cover arrangements.

The background to the dispute goes back to the talks that took place under the Lansdowne Road agreement. At the time, a chairman's note was agreed by all parties on the introduction of a job evaluation scheme in the health sector. This scheme had previously been in place but was discontinued in 2008. SIPTU sought the introduction of the job evaluation scheme for the support grades along the same principles that operated in 2008. On this basis, discussions commenced in 2016 between the HSE and the relevant unions, namely, SIPTU and IMPACT, which is now Fórsa, in respect of the establishment of the schemes. Successful engagement with Fórsa led to the approval of a job evaluation scheme for the clerical and administrative grades in August 2016. However, as agreement on a scheme for the support staff grades could not be reached, that issue was referred to the Lansdowne Road agreement oversight body in early 2017. The chairperson of the body issued a recommendation stating that the parties should proceed with the scheme as planned but that the question of its implementation would be considered at the conclusion of the exercise. The Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, agreement provided that the scheme was to be carried out in four phases. Phases 1 and 2 included support staff in the laboratories and the theatres. The larger categories of support staff grades, the healthcare assistants and the multi-task attendants were also included. In October 2018, a report was produced setting out the results of phase 1 and phase 2 of the exercise. The report recommended that a significant proportion of those grades evaluated should move to a higher pay band. While the WRC agreement states that any payments arising as a result of the exercise would apply no earlier than the completion of phases 1 and 2 of the exercise, there is no agreement at this stage on the implementation of the result of the exercise.

In a separate issue, the chefs are engaging in industrial action over a claim to have their roles and pay scales aligned with those of the craft worker grade. No commitment was given to this particular claim. Senators will be aware that the Workplace Relations Commission invited the parties to talks that took place last Thursday and resumed yesterday. These talks ended without agreement. While it is clear that all parties are committed to reaching a resolution to avoid this strike action, it is regrettable that this has not been possible at this point. The position is that we will continue to utilise the State dispute resolutions machinery to maximum effect. I will do anything in my power to assist that development.