SIPTU condemns NAS management for failure to pay members’ wages in full
SIPTU representatives have today (Tuesday, 1st September) condemned the National Ambulance Service (NAS) management for failing to pay emergency medical technicians (EMTs) their full wages due to staff shortages in the payroll department.
SIPTU Ambulance Sector Organiser, Miriam Hamilton, said: “Since the beginning of the pandemic, our members in the NAS have gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide a full emergency service in communities across the country. Our members also took on a substantial amount of additional and crucial roles to swab and test for Covid-19. They have visited people’s homes, residential services, meat factories and established pop up testing facilities in communities to stop the spread of the coronavirus. This is no way to treat these loyal and dedicated workers who have been on the frontline from day one.”
She added: “It is deeply frustrating and of great concern that the NAS management has today advised us that due to staffing shortages in the payroll department emergency medical technicians in Intermediate Care Services will only get basic pay, with no shift pay or overtime. It’s not acceptable. Our members working on the frontline are essentially being financially penalised for the failure of the HSE to recruit vital frontline staff into the service.”
