Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation have voted in favour of industrial action, following a six-week in-person ballot regarding the need for Government to meaningfully provide for acceptable pay increases in any further public sector pay agreement.
Of the members balloted, over 99% voted in favour of industrial action, up to and including strike action.
INMO General Secretary, and member of the ICTU Public Services Committee, Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:
Members on the ground, who are working in extremely challenging conditions due to overcrowding and understaffing, have made it clear that they are dissatisfied with the lack of urgency surrounding the cost-of-living pressures they are facing. Nurses and midwives do not have the luxury of working from home to save on filling up the car. The very nature of shift work means that public transport is out of the question for many. Early career nurses and midwives are missing out on learning opportunities in teaching hospitals because astronomical rents are locking them out of living and working in our city centres.
With no public service pay agreement currently in place, we believe the Government must face the reality of the real costs our membes face: rising household costs, rising rents, rising fuel costs, rising childcare costs, and the emotional and physical costs of showing up to work well before your shift starts in the hope of getting a parking space. The pressure on our members starts before they even enter their hospitals or community settings.
We have been meeting our members in workplaces of all sizes this summer, and it is clear that morale is on the floor. Our members are bearing the brunt of the consequences of financial mismanagement in the public health system. The inadequate funding of the health service is having adverse impacts on patient and staff safety in hospitals and community care areas across the country. Cutting frontline staffing recruitment to come within budget is entirely the wrong plan.
So many parts of our public health service would cease to function without the input of nurses and midwives. Our members have made it clear that the health service cannot continue to rely on the goodwill of nurses, midwives and public service workers as a whole. Members want to be remunerated in a way that reflects the times in which we live and the reality that they get in the car, show up for their shifts and provide care to the most vulnerable in our society at all hours of the day, year round.