Theatre nurses at Limerick Regional Hospital and at the general hospitals in Ennis and Nenagh have begun a work-to-rule over pay rates for on-call duty.
The nurses, who are members of the INO and SIPTU, have described the rate of less than €1 per hour for theatre nurses' on-call duty, as "totally unacceptable".
From today, they say they will not be doing any non-nursing duties, such as answering phones or pagers, pushing trolleys, filling in x-ray forms or washing or sterilising equipment.
The Mid Western Health Board said it was disappointed at the nurses' refusal to defer today's action.
No operations have been cancelled, but the Board will keep the situation under review on a daily basis. It says it is available for third-party conciliation at the LRC or the Labour Court to try to settle any issues that cannot be resolved at local level.
