THE Government's public sector policy has been seriously undermined by the overwhelming rejection by 27,000 nurses of a million pay offer. The nursing unions are expected to begin balloting their members shortly on strike action.
The emphatic rejection of the restructuring package - by a majority of at least four to one - calls into question the ability of the Government to resolve the growing number of pay disputes with other public sector unions.
Groups watching the outcome of the nurses dispute include paramedics, clerical and administrative staff in the health authorities, and garda and prison officers. All have had traditional pay links with nurses.
The result of the ballot on the pay offer, negotiated under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work, is due to be announced today by the Nursing Alliance, but union sources confirmed last night that nurses have voted "overwhelmingly" for rejection.
The result comes on the day when the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, is due to release a major Strategic Management Initiative. It is expected to call for radical restructuring of the public service which, in turn, is heavily dependent on the success of restructuring deals under the PCW.
Under the terms of the nurses offer, increases of between 14 per cent and 17 per cent were offered, but most nurses would have had to wait at least six years to benefit and many for much longer. They would also have had to agree to greater flexibility, including annualised hours and greater cooperation on new technology.
There was also a commitment to make 1,200 temporary nurses permanent and to introduce a limited early retirement scheme. The modesty of the early retirement scheme, which provided for 600 nurses aged over 57 to retire, was one of the issues which seems to have most angered nurses.
Another major factor in the rejection was the fact that long service increments for staff nurses were to be introduced immediately, while there was no recognition for previous service among supervisory grades. As a result, ward sisters and psychiatric nursing officers would have seen staff under them earning up to £2,000 a year more in basic pay, in the short term.
Even many of the 50 per cent of staff nurses who would benefit most from the package felt they should not break solidarity with colleagues who would receive nothing. They felt particularly strongly about new entrants to the profession, who would be starting on a lower salary and need an extra two years to reach the top of the new 17 year scale.
However, the overall terms were regarded as good, given the 3 per cent ceiling on productivity deals made under the PCW. The negative reaction of nurses initially took their union leaders by surprise. Over the past fortnight, however, they had become increasingly resigned to seeing the proposals rejected, although all are understood to be surprised at the size of the majority against.
It seems that both the unions and the Government underestimated the growing militancy of nurses. For more than a year the Government dragged out negotiations and limited the ceiling on the pay package to £10 million. This was partly because of the possible follow on claims from other public sector workers, although technically restructuring deals made under the PCW are supposed to break previous pay links with other groups.
The Government was also, almost certainly, relying on the traditional lack of militancy in the profession. However, it was clear, as early as the annual conference of the Irish Nurses Organisation last summer, the mood was changing.
By the time the four nursing unions went back to mobilise their members in pursuit of a better deal earlier this year the mood was transformed. As one negotiator put it, "Nurses are no longer. involved in negotiating a simple productivity deal. They believe they have been undervalued for generations and they want recognition for it now."
When the nurses threatened industrial action earlier this year the Government increased the package to £35 million. The real cost of the package, however, is between £37 million and £40 million.