A forum proposed by Minister for Health Mary Harney as a way forward in solving the nurses dispute will not stop industrial action next week, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) said yesterday.
Liam Doran, the INO's general secretary, said if the forum did not address pay, which it will not, some 40,000 nurses who are members of the INO and the Psychiatric Nurses Association would continue with their plan to begin industrial action by way of a work to rule next Monday. Rolling work stoppages are to follow unless the dispute is resolved.
The nurses are seeking a 10 per cent pay hike, in addition to a 35-hour week and a special allowance for nurses working in Dublin.
Mr Doran's comments came after Ms Harney told reporters, at a function organised by the INO at Dublin Castle, that the new forum would not deal with pay and would only be established if all sides were willing to participate in it.
"It will not be about pay, pay issues will not be determined in that forum, it's a matter of dealing with issues around work practices, how people work together, how we can empower nurses for example as healthcare professionals to do things differently and maybe to do different things," Ms Harney said.
She added that the forum, which would have representatives from all unions in the health sector, was first suggested by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and she thought it was a very good idea. "We will proceed with its establishment once we know there is goodwill there from all the players to participate but only when we know that we can get participation, otherwise it wouldn't make sense because it wouldn't work," she said.
She reiterated that the nurses' pay claim "can only be dealt with either through the industrial relations machinery of the State which has already adjudicated on the matter or through the social partnership agreement and benchmarking".
Mr Doran said the forum had potential to "be very good" but it had to allow everyone's agenda to be embraced. "From our point of view it does have to have the ability to address the priority issues," he said, adding that these included working hours, pay and the expansion of the role of nurses. "If it doesn't deal with pay it won't do anything to stop the industrial action," he said.
"In the real world if you're going to talk about changes in roles, in expansion of roles, in changes in work practices, then if you're really being serious about wanting to engage in that, it has to have the ability to deal with pay. It's as simple as that," he added. He also warned the dispute wasn't going to go away or fizzle out.