The strike will begin next Wednesday
The Minister for Health, Brian Cowen, has expressed his deep disappointment at the result of the nurses' strike ballot. Brian Cowen said that such a strike would inflict hardships on patients and clients of the health service. Strike notice has issued by the four unions individually, and the Chief Executive of the Health Service Employers' Agency, Gerard Barry, said that he did not expect to see any last minute intervention before the strike goes ahead.
The four nurses' unions voted by more than 9-1 for all-out strike action, beginning tomorrow week. The largest union, the Irish Nurses' Organisation, voted 96% in favour. The Psychiatric Nurses' Association voted for strike action by 94 %; SIPTU by 92% and IMPACT by 89%. The strike ballot by nurses began just under a fortnight ago after they voted by more than 9-1 to reject a £60 million Labour Court pay offer. The final votes were cast around the country over the weekend. Union leaders say that the resolve of the members was galvanised by Government warnings that their claim could put social partnership in jeopardy and that they were "hell bent on national chaos" as the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy put it on Friday.
Tomorrow, and on Wednesday, nurses are expected to picket Leinster House when Fine Gael table a motion calling on the Government to engage in constructive dialogue with the nurses unions. Next week, on the first day of the strike, nurses in uniform plan a full-scale march on the Dáil.
