Nurses may not strike even if pay deal rejected

REJECTION of the Croke Park pay deal does not mean nurses will go on strike, the general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said yesterday.

Speaking on the first of a three-day annual delegate conference in Trim, Co Meath, Liam Doran said balloting on the deal – designed to restore public finances but under which the ban on public service recruitment will continue indefinitely – will begin next week and will take three weeks to complete.

The INMO executive is recommending rejection of the deal and this morning will publish its Alternative Agenda for Change, a series of alternative proposals for health service savings.