Nurses deliver three-week ultimatum

NURSES have given the Government three weeks to meet their demands on increased pay and a shorter working week or face strike action in the run-up to the general election.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern welcomed yesterday’s decision by 40,000 nurses and midwives to defer a planned work-to-rule that was due to begin on Monday.

The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) will begin negotiations with the health employers in Government buildings at midday on Monday. More than 200 nurses and midwives staged a rally outside the Mater Hospital in Dublin yesterday, demanding a 10% pay increase, a 35-hour week and a special allowance for working in Dublin.