No pay increase for nurses, says Leo, as strike action looms
LEO Varadkar has ruled out any further pay increases for nurses as they prepare to strike over pay and staff shortages.
The Irish Nurses and Medical Organisation is due to announce the first of a series of 24-hour strikes after some 95% of nurses and midwives voted for industrial action last month.
But speaking on a visit to Mali in west Africa yesterday, Mr Varadkar said nurses would benefit from acrossthe-board public sector pay increases – and from increases for nurses in certain positions – but there was no scope for increase beyond that.
‘What’s happening across the public service in 2019, there are a number of pay increases. There’s an acrossthe-board pay increase in the autumn for all staff, and a special pay increase for low-paid staff that kicks in this month.’
‘That agreement was concluded with all public serv- ants, including the nursing unions, and we will honour that. There’s also a special pay increase for new entrant staff, those recruited after 2012, worth around €3,000 a year to roughly 10,000 nurses, and there has been a special increase in January for those earning below €30,000.’
He pointed to the Public Service Pay Commission which had recommended a 20% increase for some nursing positions but did not back across-the-board pay rises.
The report added that current pay arrangements for nurses, midwives and doctors not a significant impediment to recruitment in the health service.
The Taoiseach said: ‘The public sector pay commission has already examined the issue of nursing retention, and they have made recommendations for increased allowances for nurses in areas where there is a real difficulty with recruitment and retention. But unfortunately two of the nursing unions object to that, and that is why we are heading into potential dispute.’
He said he hoped the issues could be resolved and suggested that other options including the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court could help resolve the issue. ‘At a time when we are finally getting waiting lists down when it comes to operations and procedures, I would really regret if a few days of strike action were to cause us to lose that progress,’ he said.
Health Minister Simon Harris warned nurses could not ‘pick and choose’ when it comes to the pay agreement. The Minister said he did not believe nurses ‘want to see
‘Engage with us directly’
strike action’ and hoped the situation could be resolved.
In response, the INMO said that they were pleased to hear that Mr Harris did not want a strike but said preventative action must be taken.
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: ‘If a strike is to be averted, the Government need to accept that there is a problem and engage with us directly. A meeting in December was cancelled and we have not heard anything about one in 2019.’