INO ready to battle with health boards

One of the Nurse's unions is to go on strike this morning in three mid-western hospitals.

The Irish Nurses Organisation insist that industrial action is necessary because of failed talks with the mid-western health boards on 'on-call' payments.

The Health Board argue that staff working 15 hour on-call shifts are not entitled to more than the national added €17 premium.

A spokesperson for the INO says that all talks with the board have failed to date and that they are not satisfied.

However, they believe that nurses have a position to negotiate according to a decision made by the Labour Commission going back as far as September 1999.