Longford paramedics address latest offer in pay dispute
The Labour Court today recommended pay rises for Emergency Medical Technicians, Paramedics, Specialist Paramedics, and Paramedic Supervisors.
Longford paramedics have welcomed today’s Labour Court recommendation of pay rises for ambulance workers.
The proposals were described by SIPTU representatives as “a major breakthrough” in the long-running dispute.
Speaking to the Longford Leader, advanced paramedic Brian McCaffrey said, “These recommendations represent the culmination of a process which has been ongoing for maybe up on 15 years of upskilling and changes in work practices, increased workload, etc, undertaken by the paramedics.”
He added, “That's all been taken into account (in the proposals) but as I said, it's still early days. There's going to be meetings over the next couple of weeks between the paramedics, the shop stewards and members of the union to discuss and fine tune the proposals. That's really it now at the moment.”
In addition to recommending pay increases for Emergency Medical Technicians, Paramedics, Specialist Paramedics, and Paramedic Supervisors, the proposals also protect the majority of the existing terms and conditions of ambulance personnel.
SIPTU, which represents around 90% of the National Ambulance Service personnel affected by the ongoing pay dispute, say the HSE have failed to implement the recommendations of the independent McHugh/Crabtree report on updating ambulance personnel’s pay scales to reflect changes in their responsibilities and workloads over the last 20 years.
Members of SIPTU spent four days in the Labour Court arguing the Union's case for recognition of changes and upskilling involving the NAS operational grades, which were the subject of the recommendations of the McHugh/Crabtree report.
Meetings to discuss the proposals will now take place over the coming weeks.