(Further Documents are appended to this document - Please see below)
Dear Colleagues,
This week the trade union that hold your negotiation rights have signed an agreement on your behalf concerning AP deployment. This agreement along with the agreement on the Intermediary Care Service has been made without any form of consultation with any member of the Ambulance Service. There has not been one meeting organised to debate these issues in order to gather collectively the opinion of members, there has not been one single ballot box produced in any station in any part of the country to obtain a clear mandate for discussion with the employer on any of these issues, in fact Siptu and the Iarc have consistently ignored the fundamental principles of representation for a very long time to date. Not one of the other unions, Impact or Unite who are involved in the making of these agreements, have objected in any manner, to these agreements. They are by association with the union who commandeer your negotiation rights guilty of ignoring the fundamental principles of the trade union movement. These agreements are being made by unions who have demonstrated a total disregard for the opinion of Paramedics of the National Ambulance Service. This not withstanding the fact that these negotiations are being conducted by officials who have consistently failed to understand the essence of the profession of the Paramedic.
This year we launched a new trade union to independently represent the opinion of National Ambulance Service Paramedics. The organisers of this union, the representatives of this union and the members who have already signed up, have shown leadership beyond expectation. They, have listened to their colleagues who have consistently expressed disappointment and disapproval with the trade unions representing Paramedics. They understood the level of frustration which was expressed in each argument, how people felt let down, disregarded, no ballot box, the unwillingness of the trade unions to consult with Paramedics, that the people who were negotiating did not understand the challenges of their profession. All this simply because they were not Paramedics. Resonating from this they formed a new trade union, Nasra, in order to correct this injustice.
The employer in collusion with the trade unions have actively attempted to frustrate and derail the progress of this union by refusing to recognise Nasra, in order to dissuade any more Paramedics from joining the cause for independent representation. The employers motive is clear- an independent trade union means no more easy deals, the larger trade union is fearful of losing control of a very powerful group of professionals whose strength and critical role to society is essential in enhancing the industrial strength of the other weaker grades in their relative sections. The motive for the objections of the smaller unions is to pick up the hundreds members of Nasra into their union so as to enhance their industrial strength, based on the assumption that no Nasra member will return to Siptu. All with a vested interest which excludes the issues and interests of Paramedics. Ironically these unions have a new found enthusiasm for Paramedic issues such as Officer grade and the eradication of on call, an illusion designed to demonstrate their new found commitment to our cause.
Following these recent agreements, the ICS and AP deployment, Paramedics have looked to Nasra for leadership to oppose this adulteration and to take action against it. The reality of the situation is that Nasra are not yet in possession of your negotiation rights and are not invited to the table to represent your opinion. In order to achieve this privilege we need the critical mass necessary to demonstrate and support a demand for recognition. This means that every single member of the National Ambulance Service needs to join this union if they are serious about having the right to consultation and inclusion. All unions are in-effective without your membership.
We have completed all the requirements needed to represent your voice on these and other issues concerning Paramedics but we require your vote. If we are serious about our professional entitlements, about the right to justice, about our appropriate grade and retirement age about a compensation scheme for Paramedics injured by assault in the workplace and achieving the respect from our employer our profession demands then we need you to join the movement to obtain this. There is very little we as a trade union can achieve without a mandate from the majority of Paramedics in the service. If you feel let down yet again by the trade unions misuse of your negotiation rights well then there is only one last form of demonstration left open to you. That is to march with your membership and join this union Nasra and protest in the strongest possible way by empowering yourselves and finding your voice for equality in the workplace.
Yours sincerely,
Tony Gregg.
National Secretary Nasra
Control Procedures - Practitioner Deployment
Draft Proposal - Practitioner Deployment
Draft Proposal - Structured Leave Review
