Nurses are threatening to begin an overtime ban and work-to-rule from Monday, November 2nd. Nurses at Cork Regional Hospital are expected to begin industrial action from this morning.
The Irish Nurses Organisation says both actions are being taken because of management failures to address the growing shortage of nurses in hospitals.
Among the duties which its plan to boycott are provision of meals for patients, moving beds, clerical work, escort duties and answering telephones. Even more disruptive is likely to be the ban on overtime, particularly at major acute hospitals in Dublin and other large urban centres.
Employers and members of the Nursing Alliance, which represents all four nursing unions, are to discuss the issue at the Labour Relations Commission on Thursday.
A conciliation conference is already planned for that day to discuss two of the main pay issues arising from the recommendations of the Nursing Commission. These are long-service increments for staff nurses and new grading structures for ward sisters.
The shortage of staff nurses is a separate issue and it was raised by the INO before the Nursing Commission concluded its work. A separate meeting to discuss the strains the shortage is placing on the system will take place on Thursday afternoon, after talks on the Nursing Commission recommendations adjourn.
However, the ill-feeling generated among nurses by the Government's initial suggestion that the pay aspects of the Nursing Commission report should be deferred will also make it more difficult to resolve the staffing dispute.
The staffing shortage is particularly severe in Dublin, where more than 200 hospital beds are closed.
The INO wants the introduction of a national agreement for working overtime and measures to keep nurses in the profession and attract back those who have left by giving full incremental credits to temporary nursing staff and allowing permanent staff to work part-time.
The union is also seeking an increase in the intake of student nurses and says grants need to be raised from the current level of £57 a week to £75 if enough suitable applicants are to be recruited.
The general secretary of the INO, Mr Liam Doran, said yesterday that his members did not want to work overtime, but the present system of time off in lieu was of little use to them, because it was often impossible to take the leave days accumulated.