THE TRADE union Impact has asked the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) to intervene on the terms of the voluntary redundancy scheme being offered to staff in the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The union is also seeking a meeting with Minister for Health Mary Harney. It said the timeframe for the deal was too restrictive.
In a letter last night to the LRC, Impact said it also had concerns about the level of information being made available to workers, the plans by management to address gaps that would emerge in the system after the departure of up to 5,000 staff and the lack of consultation before the announcement of the scheme. If agreement is not reached at the LRC, the union may take the issue to the Labour Court in a bid to have the terms of the scheme changed.
Senior Government sources said yesterday there would not be any changes to either the terms of the voluntary redundancy deal – for which €400 million has been allocated – or the timescale.
Under the plan staff in administrative and managerial grades as well as support staff such as porters, cleaners and catering personnel are being offered either an early retirement deal or a voluntary severance package.
The voluntary redundancy scheme would see staff receiving three weeks’ pay per year of service in addition to their statutory entitlements up to a maximum of two years’ salary.
The deal could see some senior managers receiving between €200,000 and €300,000 depending on their level of service.
However, staff have only been given two weeks to make up their mind on whether to accept the packages on offer. The plan envisages staff who take the packages leaving the health service by December 30th.
In a letter to Ms Harney yesterday, Impact’s national secretary for health Louise O’Donnell expressed concern about the manner in which the redundancy scheme was announced. She said most staff received news of the proposal through the media, prior to any notification from their employer. She criticised “the HSE’s lack of adherence to processes set out in the relevant employment legislation (Protection of Employment Act, 1977)”.
“The timescales set out are too tight in terms of allowing people to make an informed decision in relation to availing of the package and allowing services to be reconfigured to take account of the staff reductions without impacting on service delivery,” she added.
The union said it would also be seeking assurances from the Minister that the jobs left behind by personnel who availed of the package would not be outsourced or carried out by agency staff.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said its members would not take over roles currently carried out by support staff who left the health service under the schemes. However it backed the plans to reduce the numbers in administrative and managerial grades.