Sir, – On Wednesday I woke up in the 1970s and read Emmet Malone’s piece “Hospital staff set to ballot on industrial action” (News, February 7th).
Electricians, plumbers and carpenters at hospitals and health centres countrywide are to be balloted on industrial action. And why? Management is seeking unilaterally to “enforce a change to our members’ terms and conditions of employment”. What is that change? Staff are being asked to move away from a paper-based system for the assignment of work to maintenance staff and instead to look at their mobile phones. Old habits die hard so the union is naturally seeking payment for this severe imposition. Is it any wonder that “digital transformation” comes dropping slow in our public health service? Only last month public sector trade unions secured pay increases of 10.25% over 2½ years. In welcoming the deal, Paschal Donohoe said the agreement would provide a pathway to changes in working practices that would allow the public sector to make more effective use of technology (“Donohoe welcomes ‘fair and affordable’ €3.6 billion pay deal”, News, January 27th). At the time I was suspicious of his use of the term “pathway”. But now the Minister for Public Expenditure and (lest we forget) Reform has an early opportunity to show what we are to get for our money. – Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.