The question of how many electricians it takes to change a light bulb is at the centre of a pay row in Cork's University College Hospital.
The dispute went to the Labour Court when the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) were left in the dark about how to resolve the crux.
What switched on the row was a direction by the hospital authorities that, as part of a work reorganisation, "small, non-essential electric light bulbs" could be replaced as required by non-electricians.
According to the court, the union objected, maintaining that this was electricians' work and should remain so. "Management contended that this would add considerably to the HSE costs as it would require an electrician to attend on overtime to change a bulb in a bedside lamp, for example," the court said.
The HSE acknowledged that some bulbs in specified areas would need to be replaced by the electricians. The union are not prepared to consider any changing of any bulbs by non-electricians, the court said.
As a result of the stand-off, the HSE withheld payments due under benchmarking. The union said the withholding of retrospective pay increases and bonus payments was "totally unacceptable".
The union contends that "it is important to note that this is not and never was an issue of the merits of who may or may not be involved in changing light bulbs, but rather an adherence in good faith" to benchmarking.
The hospital management said "performance verification" under the Sustaining Progress national agreement was required for the health department to sanction pay increases.
In a recommendation yesterday, the court found it was "not unreasonable to expect electricians to co-operate" in the proposed bulb changing regime.