Support the nurses’ battle for justice

THE president of the Irish Nurses Organisation, Madeline Spiers, is calling for a campaign of action in pursuit of claims that include a 35-hour week for nurses.

This decision comes after six years of effort by the INO and the Psychiatric Nurses’ Association (PNA) to make progress on these issues through discussion and negotiation.

To date, they have received the blind eye treatment from health service management.

The public has always assumed that nurses would never even contemplate strike action. Consequently, agencies such as the Department of Finance have taken them for granted and kept them firmly locked into the public service pecking order.

Nurses should be treated as a special case by the public service and in particular by the Department of Finance.

It is the nurses who have fought to hold our health service together. In return, it is the nurses who have the longest working week, the shortest annual leave and the lowest pay of all health professionals. Is this truly how we wish to reward years of service and dedication? I extend my solidarity to the nurses and hope that their action is successful in achieving justice, which is their basic claim.

Cllr Noel Collins

St Judes

Midleton

Co Cork