The main health sector unions are to seek an urgent meeting with the HSE after doubt was cast this week as to whether a 3 per cent pay rise due to be paid and backdated to the start of February will be paid in time for Christmas.
Siptu described the uncertainty faced by the HSE’s more than 100,000 employees, many of them frontline health workers, as “unacceptable”. The union argued that the tone of the HSE’s communications about the matter have suggested a lack of urgency on its part.
Under the terms of the public sector pay deal agreed between Government and unions at the end of August, workers were to receive a 3 per cent pay rise from the start of February with a further 1 per cent from the beginning of October.
In addition, a significant number or employees were in line to receive an additional 1 per cent, also from the start of February, under the terms of sectoral bargaining.
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Separately, a much smaller group earning more than €150,000, but including around 3,500 hospital consultants and around 30 other HSE staff, were to receive the restoration of the final tranche of the salary cuts imposed under bailout era legislation. These staff are not due to receive the other pay increases agreed for this year under the terms of the extension to the Building Momentum pay deal.
The HSE wrote to staff on Monday to tell them that the sectoral bargaining increases have been implemented and that those affected “will see changes to pay rates and receive arrears in November and December pay dates”.
It described the situation with regard to the 3 per cent as “more challenging”, however, and said that “every effort is being made to implement the basic pay increase for all pay groups across December pay dates“.
In relation to the restoration of bailout era pay cuts and and the wider 1 per cent increase due on October 1st, the HSE said “both of these pay adjustments will be implemented in the first quarter of 2023 (January to end of March 2023)”.
Reacting to the email, Siptu health division organiser Kevin Figgis described the uncertainty over whether the main 3 per cent rise would be paid before Christmas as “clearly unacceptable”.
He expressed concern that the email suggested the increase only mentioned basic pay and not back pay. It appears that even if the latter was paid by Christmas, it would not reflect premiums received for working unsociable hours, overtime or having been on-call, a significant part of the income received by many health sector workers, he said.
“These people have worked very hard. A lot of them have families and all are facing increases to their cost of living due to the increased cost of food and fuel and mortgages or rent going up. This has been causing a lot of angst. We want them to be paid by Christmas,” he said.
“HSE staff are hearing from friends and neighbours about public and civil servants working in other areas getting the money they are due but the HSE are lagging behind and what they are saying here is that an increase that was due to be paid on October 1st will be paid anything up to five months late. The HSE seems to be just saying: ‘bear with us, we’ll get it to you’. That’s not good enough.”
He said the three main unions in the sector - Siptu, Forsa and the INMO - had sought a meeting the HSE’s national director of human resources by the end of last week but this did not happen.
“We will be writing to HSE again now to seek the meeting now as a matter of urgency,” he said.
The HSE was asked for a comment regarding the concerns raised by the unions.
