Nurses to picket at hospitals across country in dispute over public sector pay

INMO members are already engaged in a work-to-rule along with other public sector staff. It comes ahead of planned strikes by public sector workers on 14 October and 21 Octobe

Nurses at 10 hospitals, including Cork University Hospital, are set to walk off the job today. 

Lunchtime pickets will be in place as the dispute over the public sector pay ramps up. Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) at CUH, University Hospital Limerick, St. Vincent’s and The Mater in Dublin, Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda, Letterkenny University Hospital, Galway University Hospital, Naas General Hospital, and the Midlands Regional Hospital in Mullingar will leave their wards and stations. 

INMO members are already engaged in a work-to-rule along with other public sector staff. It comes ahead of planned strikes by public sector workers on 14 October and 21 October.

General Secretary of the INMO, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, rejected a comment from the Taoiseach that public sector workers wanted industrial action “irrespective of what happens.” 

Michael Martin made the comments on Wednesday. 

“I think everybody in the country understands the job that public servants do. They respect it. They value it. 

"And right now, public servants are very clearly saying that they don't believe enough was done in this budget. They don't believe it was a worker-facing budget," she told RTÉ's Morning Ireland on Thursday. 

Ms Ní Sheaghdha pointed out that the last public service agreement expired on June 30. 

“Me and my colleagues in the trade union movement have been involved in many negotiations of public service agreements. But what we hadn't faced previously was that just two weeks prior to that, the minister with responsibility went to Cabinet seeking approval to engage," she said. 

“There hasn't been a commitment from government to really focus on what it means to have a strong industrial relations system which provides for a collective agreement, which provides for industrial peace. And in the absence of that, clearly, you have the opposite, which is exactly what we're facing next week.” 

Ms Ní Sheaghdha said that industrial action could be avoided, but workers had a right to have their say.

“And when workers in thousands across the public service have voted in very large numbers to say we're not happy with the approach the government is taking to our dispute, to our pay, to our cost of living crisis, which there is, there's serious, significant cost of living issues for all of our members, well, then the government must listen to that," she said. 

“To say that public servants are just taking strike action for the fun of it, I think is a little bit glib. And I would think that if we're serious about trying to find a resolution, I would avoid that type of commentary because it's absolutely inflammatory,” she added. 

When asked what impact the INMO’s work-to-rule was having on patients, Ms Ní Sheaghdha explained that her members had been asked not to engage in taking up the work of posts that had not been filled. 

“The majority of the requests we have from the employer to date is that we would give additional hours and that people would be asked to work and fill vacant posts that haven't been filled," she said. 

“So we know that there's been a huge embargo in the health service on filling posts, and people are actually doing the job of two people most times when they go to work. 

And that has been really exposed by the work-to-rule. And that means that services have been slower, services have been curtailed and next week, when we have a work stoppage, we understand that the health service will be announcing to the public today that services will be closing," Ms Ní Sheaghdha added.