INO critical of social partnership deal

The Irish Nurses Organisation has reiterated its criticism of the latest social partnership agreement ahead of an ICTU conference to vote on the deal today.

Congress is expected to ratify the second phase of the Sustaining Progress agreement by a considerable majority as large unions, such as SIPTU and IMPACT, have already voted in favour of it.

However, the INO said it would oppose the deal at today’s conference as it failed to address on-going problems in the health service.

Liam Doran, the secretary general of the organisation, said: “Health service employers and the Government have not fulfilled their obligations with regard to improving the health service. As a result, nurses and midwives are having excessive workloads and patients are not having the standards of treatment that they deserve.

"We believe we should have looked at this second half of the agreement in a different light and sought much more overt action from the employers’ side in order to really deliver social partnership.”