Some 38,000 Health Service Executive employees are to ballot for strike action in a dispute over delays in the introduction of a job evaluation scheme.
The dispute involves 30,000 health support staff represented by SIPTU and a further 8,000 administrative staff who belong to IMPACT.
Unions have argued that during the recession, the responsibilities of many employees have expanded but that the staff in question have never received adequate recognition or reward for taking on new duties.
The Lansdowne Road Agreement provided for the introduction of a scientifically-based method for evaluating and measuring healthcare roles to establish if the staff in question were on the correct grade and pay rate.
Where responsibilities have expanded, staff could be entitled to a re-grading and a pay rise.
Such a system existed up to 2008 and unions are anxious to see it reinstated.
However, SIPTU Health Division Organiser Paul Bell said staff were frustrated at the delay in introducing the job evaluation scheme and have now decided to ballot for strike action of up to two days' duration.
The SIPTU members affected include healthcare assistants, laboratory staff and technicians.
Meanwhile IMPACT notes that last April the HSE agreed to reinstate the job evaluation scheme from June but the union accuses management of now seeking to renege on the deal.
IMPACT National Secretary Eamonn Donnelly says that the eight-year suspension of the scheme has led to a significant backlog of existing and potential applications from workers who have taken on substantial extra responsibilities particularly as staff numbers fell significantly during the economic crisis.
The IMPACT ballot will close on 12 August at which point they will decide what form of industrial action will follow.
The HSE said the job evaluation scheme was currently being finalised and that it anticipates it will be operational in early September.
