Our Lady of Lourdes staff protest ‘unfair recruitment’

Fórsa members at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda held a lunchtime protest today (Friday) in response to what the Louth branch of Fórsa has described as a ‘failure’ by management to address the process of promoting staff fairly within the hospital group. The union said post upgrades and promotions have taken place “with no regard to any agreed processes.”

Fórsa said post upgrades and promotions at the hospital are taking place outside of fair, clear and transparent procedures.

Issues with the recruitment process emerged earlier this year, and Fórsa made representations to both Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and RCSI senior management. However, the branch said that post upgrades and promotions continued “outside of fair, clear and transparent procedures.”

The branch said it is willing to engage with all of the appropriate industrial relations mechanisms to resolve the issue. Fórsa has sought the assistance of the WRC (Workplace Relations Commission), and an engagement through the WRC is expected to be scheduled shortly. Fórsa’s Louth branch has said it wants management to put an immediate stop to the current practice of appointments into post “without an agreed fair, clear and transparent process” until the matter is resolved.