The cost of conceding the pay claim of the nursing unions in full would be £171.5 million, health service management has told the Labour Court. Taken in conjunction with pay increases already conceded this would result in a £291 million increase since 1997.
The figures were presented by the Health Service Employers' Agency to the court yesterday. At the same hearing the Nursing Alliance not only addressed the longstanding issue of higher pay for supervisory and management grades, but sought major improvements in pay and annual leave for staff nurses.
The alliance leaders are understood to have told the court that failure to address the issue of further long-service increments for staff nurses would lead to industrial action.
The submission from the unions also covered issues such as staffing ratio, career development and job descriptions.
However, the detail contained in the claim will require considerable deliberation by the court and may provide a breathing space before what appears to be an inevitable confrontation with the Government. It is unlikely the court will be able to issue a recommendation before the end of May at the earliest.
A more immediate threat to the health services is the ban on overtime and non-nursing duties announced by the largest nursing union, the Irish Nurses' Organisation, from May 24th. SIPTU has issued a separate instruction to members not to work overtime unless full overtime rates are paid.
The general secretary of the INO, Mr Liam Doran, confirmed yesterday there had been no reduction in the union's pay claim, nor in its demand for extra leave. He pointed out that staff nurses at the top of the scale earned £4,500 less than a teacher or £4,500 less than a community welfare officer. They had almost two weeks' less holidays than senior administrative grades in the health service.
He said members were also "very, very annoyed about the failure of management to operate the overtime agreement reached last November". The attitude of management to overtime and other issues showed it did not have "a genuine sense of the stress that the shortage of nurses is having within the profession".
The chief executive of the HSEA, Mr Gerard Barry, said last November's agreement was that overtime should be paid where there were genuine staff shortages and no locum cover was available. He said managers in some hospitals were coming under pressure to give staff nurses first refusal of overtime and they did not wish to see it institutionalised.
Talks resume at the Labour Court this morning.