Vote – “A heavily qualified endorsement and the start of a campaign to regain equal pay for equal work”

Tuesday 27th January 2015. Consultants and NCHD members of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) have voted to accept revised proposals on pay and career structures for hospital consultants. The Director of Industrial Relations at the IMO, Steve Tweed, welcomed the vote which followed an earlier rejection of the first set of proposals put forward on the matter by the HSE and the Department of Health and Children.

Speaking today Mr. Tweed said; “The vote in favour of these revised proposals is a heavily qualified endorsement of proposals which mark the beginning not the end of our campaign for improved terms and conditions for consultants in Irish hospitals. We are warning the HSE and the Department not to overestimate the support they have received for these proposals. The unilateral cut of 30% in pay for new consultants had had catastrophic impacts on our health services and forced 300 consultants to leave the country. Today’s ballot will only mean anything if it is seen by the Government as the beginning of a concerted effort to return to equal pay for equal work.”

Mr. Tweed said that the vote today also vindicated the decision of IMO members to reject the Government’s initial proposals on this matter; “the Government blundered by their initial cut for new consultants and then blustered with an unrealistic set of proposals to try to address consultant concerns. They have lost serious credibility through their mismanagement of this issue and they can not afford any further mistakes.”

Mr. Tweed said that the IMO would continue to argue and fight for equal pay for equal work and this point would be a key objective for the Trade Union in the forthcoming discussions on Public Service pay.