Union seeks arbitration in hospital row

The union representing suspended technical and engineering staff at acute hospitals in the south and southeast has called on the Health Service Executive (HSE) to accept a proposal from the Labour Relations Commission to allow arbitration in the dispute.

In a statement issued this evening, the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) said it was willing to accept the outcome of binding third party arbitration.

The union's General Secretary Owen Wills said: "This is the obvious way forward and if the HSE is agreeable it will remove the current impasse."

Refuting a claim by the HSE that the dispute is over the changing of light bulbs, Mr Willis said: "The issues involved are far more substantial and all of them need to be addressed calmly and rationally."

The TEEU says the dispute is over the non-payment of monies due to members under benchmarking, and disagreements over call-out arrangements amongst other issues.

The HSE says staff were removed from the payroll following their refusal to implement a Labour Court recommendation allowing non-qualified electricians or operatives to change light bulbs at Cork University Hospital.

Earlier today, the Irish Patients' Association (IPA) called for talks to resolve the impasse.

The IPA said that patients are suffering as a result of the dispute, which the Health Service Executive (HSE) says has seen 11 procedures cancelled at Kerry General Hospital since last week.

The association called on both sides to enter into a "meaningful negotiation process, in the interest of patients".

It said it was unbelievable that the dispute has lasted five years "with the entire dispute resolution processes under successive National Agreements".

"Patients must not be used as pawns by any party in an industrial dispute," the IPA said.