Cleaners at Letterkenny University Hospital vote for industrial action

Cleaners working in Letterkenny University Hospital have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.
SIPTU members at the Donegal hospital voted to strike over a decision to outsource the cleaning of the facility’s Out Patients Department.
SIPTU Organiser, Declan Ferry, said: “Management has shown a complete disregard for its obligations under the Lansdowne Road Agreement in this decision to outsource cleaning services in the Out Patients Department.
“On a number of occasions, SIPTU representatives have raised with management the need to employ additional staff in the domestic services department due to the number of workers who retired or left while the public sector recruitment moratorium was in place. We re-emphasised our concerns over the lack of cleaning staff following the publication of a highly critical HIQA report earlier this year. These concerns were ignored.”
He added: “The result of this ballot on industrial action reflects the strong commitment of our members to fight the creeping privatisation of services in the hospital. The attempt by management to outsource the cleaning of a public hospital to private ‘for profit’ contractors will not be accepted.”