Ballot for industrial action approved with 95% support

Tuesday 6th February 2018.  The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has warned that strike action could take place in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) if overtime payments which are owed to NCHDs are not paid by Thursday 22nd February.

The IMO has now held and completed a ballot of NCHDs at the hospital and the vote was 95% in favour of industrial action up to and including strike action.  The ballot allows the IMO to announce industrial action at the hospital with as little as two weeks notice. 

The ballot was taken by the IMO in the face of repeated refusals by hospital management to honour commitments made in January 2016.  At that time the hospital management agreed to pay overtime due and to reform and improve its processes so that underpayments for unrostered overtime would not continue into the future.

Speaking today, the IMO said: “It is regrettable that the regime in University Hospital Limerick has forced NCHDs to resort to the threat of industrial action for payment of hours they have worked in service of patient care. However, the legitimate frustration among these doctors has now reached a critical point.”