Limerick hospital staff act on high pay
by Niall Shanahan
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A 90% majority of IMPACT members working in the Limerick group of hospitals has backed industrial action out of anger at poor corporate governance and the salary being paid to a senior manager. The staff have refused to report to the manager of the hospital group.
IMPACT assistant general secretary Andy Pike said the action would highlight staff opposition to the “excessive and unwarranted” salary paid to a senior manager through a management consultancy. “It is not envisaged that the action will affect the delivery of services in any way,” he said.
“The HSE director general has said the mid-west hospital group needs additional administration staff to provide vital services to patients. The money spent employing just one management consultant would cover the costs of at least five clerical staff to help the hospitals cope with increasing demands. In these circumstances, staff very much resent reporting to a senior manager who is being paid at least twice the correct rate for the job,” he said.
IMPACT welcomed a decision earlier this month by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to ask the chiefs of the HSE and Department of Health to investigate the sanction of a €250,000 salary for one senior manager in the Limerick hospitals group.
The union had written to PAC chairman John McGuinness in May to set out its concerns on corporate governance and senior staff salaries in the hospital group. Mr Pike said any proper investigation would show the expenditure – which is being channelled through a management consultancy – was unjustified.
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