INMO Balloting Information Here

PRESS RELEASE,  Thursday, 28th  February 2013

-    Organisation is recommending rejection to membership

The Executive Council of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), met this afternoon, to consider the proposed extension to the Croke Park Agreement for public servants.

The Executive Council decided to recommend rejection of the proposals, to its membership, in a nationwide ballot which will take place in the coming weeks.

The Executive Council, in deciding to recommend a no vote, reaffirmed its belief that the proposals are unbalanced, unfair and seek to impose a third round of pay cuts on low and middle income public servants which they cannot afford.  The Executive also formed the view that the proposals are hostile towards a female workforce and roll back the progressive family friendly measures negotiated over the past two decades.

The Organisation continues to hold the view that the proposed reduction in unsocial hours payments will inevitably result in a grossly disproportionate reduction in pay for nurses, midwives and other frontline shift workers.  This is demonstrated, on analysing the proposals, which confirm a nurse/midwife or other shift worker on €35,000 per annum, on a normal rotational shift, losing up to 8% of their pay.  This must be compared to someone, working normal office hours, on €100,000 who will lose 6% of their salary.

Additionally community nursing grades, and nurses/midwives who work on a straight shift basis, will face longer working hours and paused increments.  This effectively reduces their hourly rate of pay.  Furthermore nurse/midwife managers face pay reductions and a freeze on their increments while being required to broaden their scope of responsibility.

The Executive Council also noted that there are no proposals to revise the graduate nurse scheme, announced in December.  The Council, therefore, reaffirmed the Organisation’s call for a boycott of these posts and for graduates not to accept the further 20% cut in starting pay currently proposed.

The INMO Executive Council also decided that it would participate in a structured campaign, in the coming weeks, with other organisations representing 24/7 workers, and other unions, opposed to these proposals. This will be for the purpose of properly demonstrating the inequities and unfairness within the proposed agreement.

The details of this campaign will emerge following consultation with these other organisations and this begins this afternoon with a joint meeting of the Executives within the 24/7 Frontline Services Alliance.

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