The public image of nurses as "angels" is nonsense, the SIPTU National Nursing Convention was told yesterday.
In his address, Mr Patrick Murray, clinical placement co-ordinator at Letterkenny General Hospital, said when the threat of industrial action was imminent, much of the propaganda war between unions and management was waged in the popular press.
Disappointingly, he said, much of the objective media commentary has been reduced to simplistic analysis "with an abject failure to more adequately convey an understanding of the complex precursors to such actions".
"Despite increasing global evidence of nurses' increased inclination to undertake industrial action, the dominant media viewpoint portrays nurses as caring, vocational and angelic individuals, disinclined to stand up for their collective rights."
Such popular images can be inhibiting, often limiting nurses' ability to address professional concerns and grievances outside "such a stereotypical straitjacket".
He said industrial action was a strategy of last resort but could be justified if taken against a substandard health service. As patient advocates, nurses had a duty to ensure that patient care was delivered in an optimum environment.
"In this respect, industrial action does not constitute a violation of professional ethics and is compatible with the nurse's professional ethics and status."
The development of a profession composed of educated, articulate and assertive nurses, with the political acumen to exercise their right autonomously, seemed the only way forward, he said.
Nurses were reticent about withdrawing their labour because of the dilemma created by having to choose between loyalty to patients and loyalty to peers. However, he told delegates that nurses needed to organise their collective power and speak with one voice in public. The voice of the people was a powerful political force which nurses needed to harness.
Mr Murray said if society demanded appropriate care from the profession, the public had a responsibility to ensure that the circumstances were created whereby it could be provided.
He said the formation of the "Nursing Alliance" of health-care unions was a positive step. However, some observers suggested that nurses were still too disparate, emotive and insecure to achieve such unity of purpose. "Effective political participation should increase our influence, enhance our status and obviate the need to undertake industrial action."