Ambulance union hold strike outside CGH

 

As the temperatures dropped below zero on Tuesday there was an equally chilly relationship between the HSE and the National Ambulance Service Representative Association (NASRA). Up to 500 members of the NASRA took part in a ten-hour strike in a dispute with the HSE over union recognition.

The industrial action saw one quarter of all ambulance personnel not be available for work. NASRA are affiliated to the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA).

Dermot Gannon is a Paramedic Supervisor for the Nation Ambulance Station based in Cavan and a NASRA member. He was one of the strikers picketing outside Cavan General hospital on Tuesday morning.

Speaking from the picket line the union member said the public have been supportive: “We have had a very positive reaction from the public. Our colleagues in the INMO nursing union are out on strike next Wednesday. Nobody want to go to the gate, but it is gone to the stage where the HSE and our management won't recognise us.”

Mr Gannon said strike action is a final effort to get the HSE to engage: “There are between 1,600 and 1,700 paramedics in the country. SIPTU used to have a majority of our membership, but we wanted a more focused representative. Management have not engaged with us, they say NASRA have no rights of representation, even though there are over 600 members. They won't engage in talks. The WRC ruled on it two weeks ago, but management won't even acknowledge that, so we had no other option.”

He said workers are looking for basic recognition: “It's not about money. It is about rights and conditions and being represented by our own union,” he said. Contingency plans during the strike included the deployment of Defence Force ambulances around the country.

Commenting on the strike Fianna Fail Deputy Niamh Smith said that action raises other issues about the provision of service in the region: “On numerous occasions I have raised the need for investment in our ambulance service in Cavan and Monaghan. There are not enough ambulances on the road. Families have contacted me about their cases and how outcomes might have been different if ambulance staff were given additional resources.”

There are four ambulances available across Cavan and Monaghan on Saturdays, compared to nine ambulances or care vehicles during the week. Six vehicles are available on Sundays.

Deputy Smith described the cover as “worrying”: “This leaves large parts of Cavan and Monaghan without adequate cover. While I recognise the fact that services are reduced at the weekend, I am very worried about the provision for Saturdays. There are only two ambulances available at the two stations in Cavan and Monaghan. None are available in Virginia or Castleblayney. The intermediate care vehicle in Castleblayney is also unavailable at the weekends.”

Mr Gannon acknowledged the issues, but said solutions are tied in to the current dispute: “That's a problem for another day. We just want to get around a table with management and the HSE. If we could do that we could sort an awful lot of things within the ambulance service nationally.”