Members of the Impact trade union at the UL group of hospitals have been taking part in industrial action since last week in protest at the €250,000 salary paid to a senior manager.
Staff at the six hospitals in the UL grouping, including Nenagh, have been engaging in a work-to-rule action for several days.
Impact members are refusing to report to, or co-operate with, the executive concerned who they say is being paid over twice the going rate for the role.
Last month the chairman of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee John McGuinness raised concerns that a company known as Starline Management Consulting Ltd was paid €258,000 to fill the position of chief operations officer/deputy chief executive officer at the hospital group.
Under the industrial action the union said that staff “will refuse to acknowledge instructions from the manager, provide data to him, co-operate with changes directed by his office, or agree to relocate, redeploy or change assignments if instructed”.
The action was supported in a ballot by 90% of the IMPACT members – the union says it will not affect service delivery but warned that it could escalate if staff are penalised for refusing to work with the manager.
Efforts to resolve the dispute will get underway this morning at the Labour Relations Commission.
