Update: SIPTU to ballot support staff for strike action
SIPTU is to ballot support staff in the Health Service for strike action as a result of the HSE and Department of Health refusing to implement fully binding provisions of the Lansdowne Road Agreement and Haddington Road Agreement.
Management in hospitals will start receiving formal notifications of ballot dates tomorrow (Friday, 6th January). A full list of hospitals to be balloted on Monday, 23rd January, will be published on Monday, 9th January.
SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “We have communicated to the Minister for Health that we are available to meet with him and we are currently awaiting a response. Our members are bitterly disappointed at the intransigence of the HSE and the Department of Health in this matter. Furthermore, they are shocked that issues which are about fairness and equality have been disregarded. As a result, we believe a ballot for full strike action is necessary.”