A SIPTU spokeswoman said it had been told that there was a shortfall of €3 million in the budget for Letterkenny General Hospital and St Conal's Hospital.
Non-nursing staff at Letterkenny General Hospital voted yesterday to take industrial action from next Tuesday in protest at reduced working hours being imposed by the North Western Health Board (NWHB).
Sixty-five staff members, including domestic, catering, maintenance, porter and ward assistant staff are to have their working week cut by 20 per cent from 39 hours to 30 hours per week. Strike notice was served yesterday on the NWHB and a series of work stoppages will begin next Tuesday with a two-hour stoppage by the 220 non-nursing staff involved.
She said the cutbacks were unacceptable and would affect patient care. Local representatives, including Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid, were invited to a meeting in Letterkenny last night where SIPTU called for "sufficient funding to be provided by the Government to avoid these cutbacks".
Meanwhile, porters at Sligo General Hospital are continuing a work-to-rule in protest at the laying-off of seven of their colleagues.
A SIPTU official said yesterday a decision would be taken over the coming days on whether to escalate the action.
The NWHB has said that it has to exercise budgetary control to live within its allocations.