Restore pay cuts to lower paid health staff, union tells Varadkar

Pay cuts imposed on lower- and middle-income health workers should be restored by the Minister for Health, the trade union Siptu has said.

It said today that Leo Varadkar, who has just brokered an agreement on a salary scale for new consultants, needed to show the same concern for lower-paid members of the health service.

Siptu health division organiser Paul Bell said lower-paid health service workers had proportionally suffered the most due to funding cuts.

“The continued attacks on the earnings of lower-paid health workers will not be accepted.”

Mr Bell said Mr Varadkar should set out his plans to lift the burden on lower- and middle-income health workers.

The union’s comments follow remarks by the Minister in which he said he would support newly appointed hospital consultants receiving pay parity with colleagues employed before October 2012 as part of any new public service pay deal.

Mr Varadkar has said revised pay rates for senior doctors proposed last month by the Labour Relations Commission "cannot be improved on".

Members of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) are voting on the new pay proposals which go some, but not all, of the way towards reversing a controversial 30 per cent reduction in pay put in place by the Government in autumn 2012 for consultants appointed after that date.

Mr Bell said he found the Minister’s commitment to total pay restoration for new entrants to the medical consultant grade “interesting especially in light of the substantial pay increase negotiated under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission which is now under consideration”.

"Minister Varadaker has been frank and open on his commitment to facilitate upward pay adjustment both now and in the future.

It is now time for the Minister to indicate his position on lifting the burden experienced by the lower- and middle-income health workers who have been severely struggling as a result of constant cuts in their pay and earning capacity in order to maintain services to the public.”

Mr Bell said his members were “developing a legitimate expectation” that not only would Government follow through on the commitments to address pay issues in the spring of next year but also that it would end continuing attacks on the pay of lower on the pay of lower paid health workers.

Staff such as porters and caterers at six Dublin voluntary hospitals have already voted in favour of industrial action in the event of management unilaterally introducing measures which would reduce their earnings.

The Minister’s comments on consultant pay followed reports which suggested the IMO’s ballot on the revised salary arrangements could be very close. The ballot result is due before the end of the week.

On foot of the Government decision to reduce the pay of new entrant hospital consultants in 2012, the HSE found it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain specialist doctors in public hospitals.

The Minister said the revised pay scales being offered to entrant consultants ranged from €125,000 to €190,000. Mr Varadkar said this was “a very good salary by any comparison”.

He said consultants returning from overseas and those with locum experience will start in the middle of the new scale.

“I really hope the ballot passes so that we can fill some of the 200 or more consultant posts that are vacant around the country. Patients on waiting lists need it to pass,” he said.

“The proposals are not Government proposals but one brokered at the Labour Relations Commission and cannot be improved on. But I will support new consultants getting full pay parity as part of any successor to the Haddington Road agreement which expires in 2016.”

The Haddington Road pact on public service pay and productivity is scheduled to run until the summer of 2016. Mr Varadkar, in his earlier comments, was the first Minister to give public backing to any specific outcome that could emerge in any accord succeeding it.

He said whatever emerged from talks on the next public service deal should be equal pay for equal work and that this should not just apply to consultants.