In 1997, the Labour Court recommended conceding in full a pay-parity claim involving 15 leading ambulance controllers employed by Ehb/Voluntary Hospitals. The recommendation was dated 7 October 1997. The concession was conditional on immediate, constructive negotiations over flexibility and productivity measures, and acceptance of a proposed move to a new control and command centre at Townsend Street.
The Irish Municipal, Public And Civil Trade Union Services Industrial Professional Technical Union sought to maintain the pay relationship agreed in 1992, when the controllers’ scale was linked to the last eight points of the clerical officer scale. The Board opposed parity, arguing it would breach public-service pay guidelines and include a long-service increment not available to the controllers.
The Court said the claim had substance in light of the 1992 job evaluation, later settlements and the 1996 agreement listing ambulance controllers among grades tied to the clerical officer grade. It also noted that flexibility and productivity measures remained to be agreed, and described the proposed Townsend Street move as critical to reorganising the service.