Doctors and university lecturers latest to vote in favour of industrial action

Hospital and community doctors who are members of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), along with members of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (Ifut), are the latest public-sector workers to vote for industrial action in the ongoing row over the new national pay deal.The IMO represents more than 7,000 doctors including a significant number of the HSE’s consultants and non-consultant hospital doctors.In a ballot for action conducted over the past week, 94 per cent of those members in the public pay system voted in favour of industrial action. The union’s executive was scheduled to meet on Tuesday afternoon to decide what form this will take.Ifut’s membership backed a proposal to take industrial action with a 92 per cent vote in favour.READ MOREThe votes come after similar ballot outcomes in the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, Fórsa and Siptu which, between them, represent about 160,000 staff across the public sector.Those unions have previously announced that industrial action would initially commence on September 30th when thousands of staff are expected to participate in a work-to-rule, before a scheduled one-day strike by health and other public-sector workers on October 14th.The IMO had recommended voting in favour of action to its membership, arguing that “the only narrative heard from the Government about our health services is overspending in the health system and cost-cutting”.On Tuesday, the union said the outcome was the result of the Government’s “inaction on a new public sector pay deal and failure to conclude local bargaining arrangements due under the last agreement”.The ballot comes too late for the IMO’s members to participate in the work-to-rule next Wednesday but just in time for the required three weeks’ notice to be served on the HSE and other hospitals before the October 14th strike, should the executive decide to participate.In the event that hospitals are hit by strikes, unions are obliged to work with management to ensure necessary levels of basic cover are provided. It is likely that elective procedures, outpatient appointments and other non-emergency work would be disrupted or postponed. Ifut said its members would stage a one-hour stoppage on October 5th, which it noted is World Teachers’ Day, and participate in the October 14th strike.The Irish National Teachers Organisation (Into) has also voted in favour of action, with primary schools across the country likely to be closed on October 14th if the action goes ahead. The other teachers’ unions are balloting on the issue.The wider group of 19 public-sector unions has accused the Government of failing to give commitments on pay measures in preliminary talks on a new deal. The Government side said it was willing to attend talks without preconditions. Ifut general secretary Frank Jones said the “Government has spent months saying it is willing to engage. Engagement without a serious approach to pay is not enough. If Government wants a new agreement and the industrial peace that comes with it, it must put forward a proposition that gives public servants confidence that their living standards will be protected.”