HSE: 10-day Covid-19 compensation leave for staff would cost €377m
The unions, acting as a staff panel, said HSE workers were burned out, and warned of an 'exodus' this winter if supports were not given. File picture
The HSE has said giving health workers 10 days' extra leave in recognition of their pandemic efforts would result in "possibly, the single most costly claim ever served on a single employer” in Ireland, at potentially €377m.
The Labour Court said the HSE had told it health unions were looking for the 10 days in compensation for what they have been through since March 2020.
The court has now recommended the HSE and eight unions discuss what form the compensation should take “at the earliest opportunity”.
The unions, acting as a staff panel, said HSE workers were burned out, and warned of an “exodus” this winter if supports were not given.
Staff panel chair Tony Fitzpatrick said they welcomed the Labour Court’s recommendation.
Mr Fitzpatrick, a member of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, said rewarding staff in other countries was “very straightforward”.
EU countries offered extra leave, additional pay and bonus payments.
He said, however, that despite the claim from the HSE around a 10-day leave demand, unions told the court they had not actually specified their demands as yet.
In Cork Siptu organiser Sharon Cregan said: “People are exhausted, burned-out, stressed-out. The pandemic has been unprecedented.”
She said many members caught Covid-19 at work.
“Some people sacrificed a lot,” she said.
“In the initial stages you had people who didn’t travel home to their families; mothers and fathers who didn’t see their children for weeks on end.
“There were situations when visiting was not happening, patients hadn’t seen their families so they relied on the staff for everything,” she said.
Fórsa members stepped up without hesitation to work in private nursing homes when Covid-19 swept in last April, health division head Éamonn Donnelly said.
“We are not dissatisfied with the ruling of the court. It gives us room to go back to the employer [the HSE] but based on what happened before, we are not filled with confidence,” he said.
A HSE spokeswoman said it would discuss the recommendation with the Departments of Health and Public Expenditure and Reform.
