Eight days to solve row - nursing unions
Tuesday, 3 April 2007
The two main nursing unions say their employers have eight days to negotiate a resolution to the dispute over pay and conditions, before it escalates.
The Irish Nurses Organisation and the Psychiatric Nurses Association today announced that rolling work stoppages at hospitals around the country would begin tomorrow week.
The unions said the nature, form and timing would be announced next Monday.
They say they decided not to commence the action until after the Easter weekend so that all patients currently in hospitals could receive treatment.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's News At One, Liam Doran, General Secretary of the INO, said his union had no wish for an all-out strike.
The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has insisted that the Government cannot agree to the nurses' demand for a 10.5% pay rise, because to do so would mean the end of the national pay agreement.
Mr Ahern told Opposition deputies in the Dáil that both the Labour Court and the National Implementation Body had come to the view that the issues raised by the nurses could be dealt with through benchmarking.
He also said that a reduction to a 35-hour week would represent a massive change in working arrangements involving a reduction of 7.7m nursing hours, and that cannot be undertaken lightly.
Day two of work-to-rule
More than 40,000 nurses are taking part in the second day of a work-to-rule.
The Health Service Executive said the action had caused significant delays and any continuation will cause significant disruption to services and cause hardship and distress to patients.
The HSE said, in particular, it was very concerned that the disruption of patient discharges will have an increasing impact on Accident & Emergency departments.
It is also asking members of the public not to ring hospitals unless absolutely necessary.
The HSE has confirmed that 14 scheduled operations have been cancelled at Cavan General Hospital as a result of the dispute.
INO officials have described the decision as premature, saying union members were in place to look after patients so the procedures could go ahead.
- Morning Ireland: Fergal Bowers, Health Correspondent, reports that the unions involved are to consider stepping up their action very soon
- Morning Ireland: Liam Twomey, Fine Gael health spokesman, and Janette Byrne of Patients Together discuss the dispute
- News At One: Liam Doran, General Secretary, Irish Nurses Organisation, explains that short regional work stoppages will begin after Easter
- News At One: Fergal Bowers, Health Correspondent, says the row over improved pay and conditions for nurses is deepening quickly
- Nine News: Fergal Bowers, Health Correspondent, reports on the nursing unions' announcement of an escalation to work stoppages in eight days in their dispute over pay and conditions
- Nine News: David Davin-Power, Political Correspondent, reports on today's Dáil proceedings on the nursing dispute, in which the Taoiseach said he could not accept the unions' pay claim
- Nine News: David Davin-Power, Political Correspondent, analyses whether the Government is likely to concede in the row and what impact that would have on the national wage agreement
- Nine News: Fergal Bowers, Health Correspondent, examines what impact work stoppages would have on the health system and the potential for this row to become a protracted dispute
- Prime Time: Paul Murphy looks at today's developments in the nursing dispute, as the nursing unions vowed to escalate their action in eight days while the Taoiseach insisted their claim cannot be met
- Prime Time: Miriam O'Callaghan talks to Mary Harney, Minister for Health, about pay and conditions in the health service and her view on how the dispute can be resolved
- Prime Time: Jo Tully, Theatre Nurse, St James's Hospital, gives a nurse's view on the dispute
- Prime Time: Mark Little chairs a discussion on the nursing dispute with Brendan Mulligan, HSE Employers Agency, and Liam Doran, Irish Nurses Organisation
- Six One News: Fergal Bowers, Health Correspondent, reports on the escalating nurses' dispute over improved pay and conditions
- Six One News: David Davin-Power, Political Correspondent, reports that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said the Government cannot give nurses the 10.5% pay rise they are demanding
- Six One News: Fergal Bowers says that there are no behind the scenes talks between the Health Service Executive and nursing unions
- Six One News: Paul Maguire reports on the cancellation of elective operations at Cavan General Hospital
- Six One News: Liam Doran, General Secretary, Irish Nurses Organisation, discusses the decision to escalate industrial action
- One News: Fergal Bowers, Health Correspondent, reports that the Irish Nurses Organisation and the Psychiatric Nurses Association will escalate their industrial action from next Wednesday
