MORE THAN 4,000 staff in the Health Service Executive have expressed an interest in taking either the new voluntary redundancy or early retirement package put forward by the Government.
Unions said yesterday they had been informed by the HSE that more than 2,800 personnel in managerial, clerical and administrative grades had made inquiries about the deal.
In addition, an estimated 1,200 support staff have expressed an interest. Staff are not guaranteed to leave by expressing such an interest.
Under the rules of the €400 million voluntary redundancy and early retirement schemes set out earlier this week, staff have until November 19th to apply and must confirm they want to leave by the end of the month. All staff taking the package must leave the HSE by December 30th.
HSE management and unions are to meet at the Labour Relations Commission on Monday to discuss controversial proposals for the voluntary redundancy and early retirement schemes.
The Department of Health said no decision had been made on a request by the trade union Impact for a meeting with Minister for Health Mary Harney.
Earlier this week Impact asked the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) to intervene urgently on the terms of the voluntary redundancy scheme being offered to staff. It has also said that the timeframe for the deal was too restrictive.
In a letter earlier this week sent to the Labour Relations Commission, 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.
Talks are also to continue between the Department of Finance and trade unions regarding proposals for reform in the Civil Service under the terms of the Croke Park agreement. The parties held discussions on Thursday.
Members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) have voted by a huge margin to suspend industrial action and enter talks on the Croke Park agreement.
The decision follows threats by the Department of Education that third-level lecturers who were not party to the agreement could be dismissed. The margin of the vote was 84.2 per cent for Yes: 15.8 per cent for No.