DUBLIN ambulance drivers are expected to vote overwhelmingly for strike action on pay when their votes are counted this morning. Provincial drivers voted by 95 per cent for industrial action last week.
If the Dublin drivers vote for industrial action their union, SIPTU, is expected to serve strike notice for April 14th. The provincial drivers, also members of SIPTU, have served strike notice for April 10th.
The Health Employer Services Authority has sought urgent meetings with the union to discuss the claims. Representatives of the provincial drivers are expected to meet management tomorrow.
The provincial drivers are seeking parity with the Dublin drivers, who earn about £30 a week extra in basic pay and have some allowances taken into account for overtime and fringe benefit purposes. The Dublin drivers are seeking to maintain their own parity with ambulance controllers within the city.
A SIPTU official, Mr Terry Cowap, who represents Dublin drivers, said last night his members were determined to preserve their parity with the controllers, which had been won in a six-week dispute during 1993. That parity had been confirmed by a Labour Court recommendation and, he warned, members were prepared to take industrial action to ensure it was maintained.
The ambulance drivers are the first among 5,000 paramedics to seek substantial pay increase in the wake of the nurses' dispute. Some 3,000 IMPACT members, including 2,000 social workers attached to the health services, are currently balloting for industrial action in pursuit of their own pay claims.