Nurses threaten to walk off wards if pay is cut

Irate nurses have threatened to walk off wards and head “straight to the gate” if the Government imposes further pay cuts.

On the day when the director of the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), Kevin Foley, personally appealed to nurses’ representatives to stay within the talks process, members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) unanimously backed an emergency motion mandating the union to ballot for industrial action in the event of enforced pay cuts.

However, the motion does allow the INMO to continue to explore alternatives.

As Mr Foley put in a personal appearance at the Donegal venue where the INMO’s annual delegate conference is under way, more than a score of nurses and midwives detailed how financial and workplace pressures were pushing them “to the brink”.

To rousing applause, Sandra Morton, operating department, nurses section, said they were now “at the edge of a cliff” and ready for strike action.

“Cometh the hour, cometh the INMO. We are not ready for a work-to-rule, we’re not ready for any emergency rules. We are here to go to the gate. Short. Sharp. Quick. We are ready.”

Joe Hoolan, Laois branch, praised his union for not negotiating a pay cut and criticised Siptu and Impact for failing to reject Croke Park II.

Mr Hoolan said if the Government wanted a war, nurses were ready.

“Everybody goes out to the gate, every nurse, every midwife, every guard, every prison officer, out to the gate and nobody goes back until this is resolved.”

Anne McGowan, Sligo branch, said it was “absolutely disgusting” that Croke Park II was being driven by a Labour minister. She warned Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin that nurses would be his “Waterloo”.

Student nurse Chris Day told his colleagues that Health Minister James Reilly was lucky to have them in the workforce, but “unlucky that he will not have me or my colleagues”.

“Why would I stay in a system that doesn’t respect its workers or treat any of them with respect or dignity?” Mr Day asked.

INMO president Claire Mahon broke with tradition and delivered her speech to delegates rather than wait for Dr Reilly to arrive today, but denied it was a snub to the minister.

“I’m doing it today, not tomorrow for a minister who has shown little or no regard for our profession,” said Ms Mahon. She said nurses and midwives had had a “huge battering” this year and they were her main focus.

Last night, deputy general secretary Dave Hughes and INMO director of industrial relations Phil Ní Sheaghdha left the ADC for an unscheduled return to Dublin to resume talks at the LRC this morning following Mr Foley’s intervention yesterday.

The union has until Monday to reach agreement on savings. Mr Hughes said last night that he was not “remotely hopeful”.

However INMO general secretary Liam Doran played down the threat of walking off wards, saying: “I think our focus has to be on the steps to take before we engage in industrial action. No one is going on strike unless there are pay cuts. The LRC is trying to find alternative ways and we have an obligation to explore those.”

Dr Reilly will attend the conference today and is not expected to receive a hostile reception.