FULL RECOMMENDATION
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1990 SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : HSE DUBLIN NORTH EAST - AND - INMO DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Duffy Employer Member: Ms Cryan Worker Member: Ms Tanham |
1. Re-assignment of staff at weekends whilst on-call.
BACKGROUND:
2. This dispute concerns the re-assignment of theatre nurse staff in Cavan General Hospital who are rostered on-call at weekends. This dispute could not be resolved at local level and was the subject of a Conciliation Conference under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached, the dispute was referred to the Labour Court on the 2nd November, 2012, in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A Labour Court hearing took place on the 20th November, 2012.
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
3 1 The Hospital's failure to consult the Workers prior to implementing these changes is in breach of best industrial relations practice, the Protection of Employees (Information & Consultation) Act, 2006 and the Public Service Agreement.
2 The Hospital's proposals would increase the time it takes theatre nurses to respond to an emergency.
3 The Hospital's proposals are in breach of international best practice.
EMPLOYER'S ARGUMENTS:
4 1 All nursing staff have always provided flexibility.
2 Reassigning nursing staff is an accepted practice and yields significant cost savings.
3. The theatre staff are reassigned when there is no activity in theatre to augment staffing levels in other areas.
RECOMMENDATION:
In this case the Union has raised issues relating to patient safety and appropriate standards of clinical care. Such matter are not within the competence of the Court and accordingly the Court can express no view on the merits of the arguments directed those issues.
There are also industrial relations issues in dispute concerning the deployment of staff and the rights and obligations of the parties under the Public Service Agreement 2010 – 2014. Under that Agreement both parties are committed to cooperation with measures designed to improve efficiency and make better use of available resources. In that regard proposals for change should be fully explained and where necessary discussed between the parties.
The Court believes that further engagement between the parties may assist in resolving the outstanding issues in dispute. It recommends that the parties re-engage, with a view to reaching agreement, on all outstanding issues. That re-engagement should commence as soon as practicable and extend over a period of not more than four weeks. In the interim the arrangements currently in place should continue.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Kevin Duffy
17th January, 2013______________________
JMcCChairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Jonathan McCabe, Court Secretary.