Strike action that was due to take place at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda tomorrow has been suspended following an exhaustive round of talks at the workplace Relations Commission between unions and hospital management.
Fórsa and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation had served notice of industrial action to the HSE on Monday 10th March, marking an escalation in the dispute over the effect of the HSE’s ‘Pay and Numbers Strategy’ which imposed a fixed employment ceiling across all health services, in addition to suppressing all posts that were vacant on the 31st December 2023.
INMO and Forsa officials stated they were working together to call out the glaring issues with the HSE’s ‘Pay and Numbers Strategy’ and its ongoing impact on staff and patient safety.
The two health unions served three weeks’ notice of the action and union members in both the HSE and Section 38 voluntary hospitals had been instructed to engage in the action, commencing with a work-to-rule and other non-cooperation actions, from Monday 31st March.
That threat of strike action was escalated when the unions also served notice of a one-day work stoppage at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, to take place tomorrow (Thursday April 3rd). However, that crisis has been averted following an exhaustive round of talks that took place over 22 hours between union officials and hospital management.
Members of the INMO, along with Fórsa, Unite, Connect, and the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association, arrived at proposals with hospital management to recruit and retain staff into the public health service.
Some of the proposals include:
• The HSE are committed to replacing all current posts which became vacant through retirement, resignation, transfer, or other means, within its WTE and affordability limit. The HSE are also committed to streamlining the approval process.
• Those on career breaks may return based on the provisions of the scheme which were in effect when the career break was approved for the individual.
• The HSE have agreed to expand the current agency conversion programme.
• A process will be put in place around accelerating the backfilling of vacant posts and speeding up the approval process
• The HSE is committed to expediting the backfill of approval for replacement for maternity leave. Direct employment and/or agency, including temporary use of other vacancies, will be prioritised for maternity leave cover. The principle is that every effort will be made to ensure the work of a staff member on maternity leave is not left unfilled where an option exists within the ceiling and limits.
• The HSE will offer a permanent job to each graduate in 2025.
• The HSE acknowledges the challenges for resourcing of community nursing and will engage with relevant trade unions by end April 2025 on bespoke resourcing plans.
• The HSE is committed to the establishment of a number of Diversity, Equity and lnclusion posts to support staff across all grades; two of these posts will be filled in 2025 at national level who will design the actions and measures for implementation. Further posts for each region are to be progressed in 2026.
A meeting will take place shortly to give union members a chance to vote on the proposals. Until that vote takes place it has been confirmed that all threats of strike action have been postponed.
