The Irish Nurses and Midwives has announced that it will ballot its members for industrial action, up to and including strike action, following the Government’s failure to establish a clear basis for negotiations on a new public sector pay agreement.
The decision was made by the INMO’s Executive Council on July 14th.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:
We are balloting all nurses and midwives working in the public sector to ensure we secure realistic pay increases for the work they do. With no public service pay agreement currently in place, we believe the government must get real about the actual costs facing ordinary nurses and midwives simply to get to work, and that this must form part of any national agreement.
There is high-level unhappiness across the health service, particularly around the non-implementation of agreements and the lack of progress on local bargaining claims lodged under the expired agreement. Workers are under constant pressure to do more with less, and the cost of living is hitting especially hard for those delivering services on behalf of the HSE using their own cars — staff who don't have the option of working from home, because nursing and midwifery are simply not that kind of service. On top of that, we're seeing poor working conditions, overcrowded workplaces, recruitment restrictions, and a failure to fill maternity leave absences in a workforce that is predominantly female. That leaves workers in this category carrying unsafe workloads, and living with the fear that they may not be able to provide safe care.
INMO President Caroline Gourley added:
There isn’t a workplace in the country that the cost of living crisis isn’t a hot topic amongst our members. Nurses and midwives have been left particularly exposed to the cost of living crisis. When we are rostered to work, we are expected to show up. For the majority of us that means getting in the car. We have to travel to work at significant personal costs. Early-career nurses and midwives are voting with their feet and moving to countries that offer them a better quality of life. It doesn’t have to be this way, the Government need to change their attitude to how they approach those who work in and provide very necessary and essential public services.