TALKS WERE continuing last night at the Labour Relations Commission in a bid to resolve a row between the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the trade union Impact over the ban on the provision of key financial and activity data as part of an ongoing campaign of industrial action.
The HSE wants Impact to provide a derogation for financial and activity data from the scope of the industrial action over pay cuts which has been under way for three months.
Separately, Impact is understood to have sought clarifications from the HSE on how proposals in the new Croke Park deal on public service pay and reform for the introduction of standardised terms and conditions would apply in the health sector.
It is understood that the union has pointed to different arrangements that apply in areas such as holidays and sick leave provision between staff who are HSE employees and those who work for voluntary hospitals and agencies funded by the health authority.
The Irish Times revealed earlier this week that the HSE was considering removing staff from the payroll if the industrial action did not end soon.
HSE management told the board of the organisation last week that the data concerned was “mission critical”.
The HSE said it did not know precisely how its €14 billion budget was being spent.
The agency was not be able to get information on whether the €400 million in savings required for this year were being achieved.
The HSE has also warned that patient services could be hit later in the year if the required level of savings did not materialise.
Arriving at talks at the Labour Relations Commission yesterday, the HSEs national director of human resources, Seán McGrath, said that the consequences of the Impact industrial action were very serious for the public.
Impact national secretary Kevin Callinan said the union was at the LRC to be constructive and resolve various issues. However, he said that if the HSE wanted to bang the war drums, Impact would respond.
Mr Callinan said it was unrealistic to expect that the union would lessen the scope of its industrial action before it secured clarifications on aspects of the Croke Park agreement which it had sought.
He said the industrial action had been in place for three months, but there had not been any difficulty about it until now. He said that the motives of the HSE had to be questioned.
Nursing unions also attended the LRC yesterday to seek clarifications on aspects of the Croke Park deal.
A number of trade unions have asked the Government to clarify elements of the deal.