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LAST UPDATE | 11 Mar 2019
TALKS BETWEEN THE government and nurses have been referred to the Labour Court after nurses’ unions rejected government draft contracts as “unreasonable”.
It follows an extraordinary general meeting of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation this afternoon to decide what steps to take in the ongoing nurses’ dispute.
Negotiations ended without a deal last night, when representatives for the nurses and midwives said there remained “a very large gap” between their side and the Government.
Talks come after nurses went on general strike for a number of days in February, protesting against what they call a recruitment and retention crisis in the sector.
The government initially refused to budge on its position over wage increases for nurses, before the Labour Court intervened to avert further strikes.
As part of that recommendation, negotiations are ongoing between all sides on a new contract for nurses.
Balloting on the proposals had been expected to start today, but INMO chiefs decided to postpone the start of balloting by two weeks, in line with a decision that members would not be balloted without what the union felt was a satisfactory contract.
Following the latest breakdown in talks, discussions have once again been referred to the Labour Court.
The Court is expected to examine the disputed clauses of the new draft contract, and the HSE, the Department of Health, and the Department of Public Expenditure are expected to attend.
“We are deeply disappointed with the government’s attempt to stretch the limits set by the Labour Court in these contract talks,” INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said.
“The government’s contract proposals are unacceptable to us and would only worsen the recruitment and retention problems.
“We believe that the government’s proposed contract goes far beyond the Labour Court recommendation and will be making this case firmly to the Court on behalf of our members.”
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha previously told RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Sean O’Rourke that they were “very disappointed” that their employer only met with them this week following the Labour Court recommendation last month.
“We engaged all over the weekend and on a couple of evenings last week with the employer, with the view to getting a contract that would actually improve recruitment and retention,” Ní Sheaghdha said.
“The contract that was presented was way outside of the scope of what the Labour Court had instructed and we sought to get it back into that space over the weekend,” she said, adding that “at the moment, we’re at a point where it still isn’t there”.
“There isn’t any indication from our end that this contract would be acceptable to our members,” she said.
The union’s executive council is expected to meet again on 20 March.
With reporting by Hayley Halpin and Stephen McDermott
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Me thinks the gov tried to pull a fast one on the nurses.
@Adrian: they were sold a pup, plain and simple
@William Bryan: they didn’t buy anything yet so they were sold nothing! They had to negotiate once any offer was made
@William Bryan: we can all see what they were trying to do, all they wanted was to take the heat off when the hospital costs scandal was coming out. I wouldn’t trust this gov as far as i could throw them. They’re honest about nothing.
Back out on the streets boys and girls and don’t let them hoodwink you a second time. We’re all 100% behind you.
@Adrian: what did the government do that the unions did not accept and recommend to their members?
@Adrian: We all know the senior nurses don’t give 2 f***s about the junior nurses.
@Adrian: Me thinks the INMO finally realised who was paying their fat salaries!!!
@Dorothy: they called off their strikes, hook line and sinker
The government bought time to take the heat off nothing more, I support the nurses 100%
@Irish Genius: Brushed under the carpet, just like the price of the new Dublin hospital. No one is talking about the leaked Simon Harris and BAM meeting..
Nurses being sold a pup by government and unions.
Nurses say NO and keep saying NO to Donohue, Harris and the HSE. Donohue in particular is unimaginative, and mean in his outlook overall.
The government have managed to disrupt the momentum which was their aim all along, unions should now realize that not an inch should be conceded until the justified demands of nurses are met.
@Robbie Redmond: In fairness both sides in this dispute have been less than forthright, the nurses originally gave examples of 1st year nurses being paid €26 k. However once the deal appeared to have been done with the INMO and government there was some reticence among nurses, the following day their union gave an example of a named 1st year student nurse who would currently earn €32 k see her salary increase to €38 k. Clearly this flies in the face of what was originally claimed.
There was also considerable grumblings among nursing managers who work an 8 hour day, 5 day per week with no opportunity for overtime. While they are paid substantially more they feel that, with the recent increases, the salaries of the lower paid staff nurses, in conjunction with overtime, may see them earn more than the nursing managers. There has been calls among these managers for compensation due to their reduced wage gap.
This illustrates that, despite the flowery rhetoric, this dispute was all about paying nurses more money, nothing more. And not just the junior nurses, the managers wanted their cut of the pie too.
@Robbie Redmond: unions recommended the deal that they where part of making .
Now that the ball is rolling , keep it moving or ye will end up back where ye started .
Invest in the young nurses, sponsor their education and pay them on work placement … in return they have to agree to work at least two years for the HSE after qualifying … this would help to insure a steady supply of new recruits every year … also wouldn’t effect the public sector wage agreement
The Government doesn’t have any issues giving their Ministers take home pension of up to €3500 a week on top of paying themselves the highest salaries of Government representatives in any country in the world that I am aware of.
FG is giving a crappy deal. It’s pittance to what they are fully owed already.
While FG is also saying there is no money for our essential service staff, they are quietly giving €3.5+ Billion Euro away to the EU army setup called by it’s PR name “PESCO”. This new EU arms race Ireland has been put into, includes the construction of France/Germany fighter plane that Irish taxpayer money will be equally going towards.
Don’t take our word for it. Check it all out independently.
…And of course, RTE and other biased media is not reporting all this.
Meanwhile, home situations are being left money starved including our nurses trying to gain what they are already long owed.
@Unitedpeople: I’ll take RTE’s word for it as that’s where I heard this first.
@limofax: And we can be sure you haven’t heard first from RTE, about the rest, regularly.
@Unitedpeople: actually, I heard everything you said in your post on RTE.
To call off a strike and enter discussions on contract change without knowing the other sides proposed contract changes shows an unbelievable naivety on the part of INMO negotiating team
They were played, simple as, To recover this ground in the eyes of their membership will require achieving restoration, and parity in full.
Wonder if nurses and midwives were a predominantly male workforce would this be happening? a few years ago bus drivers went on strike to get a pay rise which meant there pay went up to €55000 a year something nurses and midwives won’t earn for 10 years , actually makes me sick !
@Kate Mchugh Moylan: dumbest comment award goes to…….
Nurses need wait whilst ffg ensure funds for banking debts and EU army. RTE never report what they should. Wake up Ireland. Promised no EU army for Ireland , yet billions being put into this army and so , Irish just suck it up..
@Willy: This propped up Government is not a Government of the people and that is for sure, problem is that sheep are foolish enough to vote FF, the other side of the same coin in the next election.
The govt are giving the inmo the fingers i would assume the other unions that are a party to the public sector agreement have warned the govt that they will row in on the back of any concessions to the nurses
The INMO leadership needs to be swept aside now. They are clearly out of touch with the membership as they recommended acceptance of this pathetic deal, but were overwhelmingly defeated.
have your say