Fight for Fairness - Important Meeting for Consultants Appointed Since 2012 and SpRs
Monday 2nd July @ 7pm in Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry, Dublin
While the IMO welcomes the settlement by the State of the breach of the 2008 Consultant Contract we are extremely disappointed that, despite efforts by the IMO, that settlement failed to address the gross injustice visited upon our consultant colleagues employed since 2012. The State’s continued failure to deal with this issue is directly encouraging young doctors to leave Ireland and practice their skills abroad in health services that do not actively discriminate against them.
Your peers have established a Post 2012 Consultant Campaign Group to specifically progress a resolution to this unfair disparity by all and any means. The group is made up of your colleagues who fought IMO negotiators on behalf of NCHDs for better conditions and are now taking on this challenge to fight for fairness for post 2012 Consultants. The group is being led by:
Dr Anthony O’Connor, Consultant Gastroentrologist, Tallaght Hospital
Dr Matthew Sadlier, Consultant Psychiatrist, Mater Hospital
We are calling on all post 2012 Consultants, and all SpRs who aspire to a consultant post, to attend the meeting on July 2nd so that we can explore and consider all the options open to us to secure equal pay for equal work and end this discriminatory practice. The meeting is open to both IMO members and non members so please come along and bring your colleagues – we must be resolute, determined and united.
As President I made it clear from the outset that this was a priority for the IMO and I am determined, with your help, to pursue the issue.
Yours
Dr Peadar Gilligan
IMO President, ED Consultant, Beaumont Hospital
Statement Issued - 3 July 2018
IMO says Government enforced pay discrimination for Consultants leading to unfilled Consultant posts and longer waiting lists for patients
Tuesday 3 July 2018. The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has described the continued pay differential between Consultants in Ireland employed before and after 2012 as a “grossly unfair discrimination which differentiates between colleagues purely on the basis of the date on which they were hired”. The President of the IMO, Dr. Peadar Gilligan, said that the pay differential was directly leading to a shortage of consultants for Hospitals across the country and longer waiting lists for patients.
From 1st October, 2012 the Government unilaterally imposed a cut of 30% in the pay for any Consultants hired after that date. As a result, Consultants hired to work in Ireland since 2012 (including Consultants who have been given new contracts since then but who worked here prior to that year) faced a cut of 30% compared to their colleagues for doing the exact same work. The issue has fed a deepening morale crisis amongst young Irish Consultants with increased numbers emigrating to work in other countries and over 400 unfilled Consultant posts across the country.
The IMO hosted a special meeting on 2nd July for Consultants impacted by the issue. Speaking at the meeting, Consultant Gastroenterologist Dr. Anthony O’Connor, said that the pay differential cannot be justified and must be reversed: “The introduction of this differential and its focus only on newly employed Consultants was one of the most corrosive measures of that time. It has poisoned morale amongst the next generation of Consultants and is directly leading to our inability to fill vacant posts which is irresponsible in a time when over 700,000 people are waiting for hospital appointments. The Taoiseach in 2014 made a firm commitment to restoring pay parity and he needs to take personal responsibility for moving on it”
The IMO is committed to continuing to fight for the reversal of this pay cut for Consultants employed since 2012 and has committed to exploring legal, industrial relations and other avenues to make their case.