Nurses dismiss Harney bid to halt work-to-rule

A BID by Health Minister Mary Harney to stop a work-to-rule by nurses later this month does not go far enough, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) said yesterday.

While nurses staged lunchtime protests in Galway and Limerick, Ms Harney urged them to accept Labour Court recommendations on pay increases and take part in a new forum to discuss their demands for reduced working hours.

Both the INO and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) began industrial action last Monday with a protest in Cork and there are plans for further protests in Dublin next Friday.

More than 40,000 nurses will escalate their campaign of action on Monday week with the introduction of a nationwide work-to-rule.

INO general secretary Liam Doran said they would only take part in the forum if it had the ability to progress all of their claims, including their pay demand.

Mr Doran said nurses and midwives were getting tired of being told to go the benchmarking route when 14 other grades and groups within the public service could have their issues discussed outside of the process.

The INO leader also warned of rolling work stoppages, should the work-to-rule action fail to secure a 35-hour week and the elimination of pay anomalies for nurses.

“Industrial action is the last thing nurses or midwives want but we’ve been very patient.

“We served notice four weeks ago and the management side have not sat down with us at any time to discuss the issues and that doesn’t bode well,” said Mr Doran.

“Nobody wants a dispute but we’ll go through with it if we have to and 40,000 nurses and midwives in every single health service location will be involved in the continuous nationwide work to rule.

“After that, we reserve the right to commence rolling work shortages if we have to as the next phase of the campaign,” he added.

Under the planned work-to-rule, nurses will refuse to undertake clerical, technological and administrative duties and will also refuse to handle routine phone calls.

Mr Doran insisted yesterday that patient care would not be directly affected by the action, adding that the campaign was designed to “slow down” the administrative running of the hospital.