The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, is to meet the leaders of the Nursing Alliance this afternoon in an attempt to resolve the pay dispute with the nurses ahead of tomorrow's planned strike.
The invitation was issued by Mr Cowen last night and the chairman of the alliance, Mr Liam Doran, confirmed that nursing union leaders would attend.
However, he warned that "the talks process itself will not be sufficient to avert industrial action unless there is a very significant change in the stance of the employers".
Union and management sources agreed last night that it may not even be possible to agree a basis for formal negotiations tomorrow. However, if settlement proposals emerge, the four unions involved in the dispute have the power to suspend the pickets and ballot members quickly.
Meanwhile, details of emergency coverage in the State's 46 acute hospitals and over 300 other institutions will be finalised today between local strike committees and managements. Most out-patient clinics will be deferred or cancelled from today, but accident and emergency departments will remain open for serious cases. There were day-long efforts yesterday by senior trade unionists to prepare the ground for talks and avert the possibility of a protracted health service strike that might spread. Today, representatives of more than 3,000 paramedics in the health services are meeting to discuss their attitude. IMPACT national health secretary Mr Kevin Callinan said his members were "extremely angry" at delays in the review. This was promised after paramedics engaged in a two-week strike in April 1997 to maintain pay relativity with nurses. Mr Callinan did not rule out renewed strike action by paramedics.
Following contacts within the trade union movement, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Cowen, indicated they were prepared to listen to the nurses' case, provided the alliance restated its commitment to social partnership. At Bodenstown yesterday, Mr Ahern said: "We have proposals to move this on, but that can only be done by collective agreement. I would still hope that the Nursing Alliance will state their agreement and commitment to social partnership."
On RTE's This Week programme Mr Cowen said: "It has always been the Government's position that if the Nursing Alliance unions recommit themselves to social partnership, acknowledge that we cannot pursue issues in isolation from the wider public service pay implications, acknowledge that we cannot tear up existing agreements, if that is the position of the Nursing Alliance, then clearly there's a whole range of possibilities open to them to pursue their agenda."
Subsequently Mr Doran, on behalf of the alliance, said the unions were "cognisant of the Government's difficulties in further addressing the outstanding pay issues for nursing grades against the backdrop of existing social agreements. The alliance also realises that any discussions will have to consider these difficulties, while also providing a forum and process which will address, in a meaningful way, the outstanding pay-related issues from the Commission on Nursing".
Following Mr Doran's statement, the Minister made his talks offer.
There are several areas where further progress could be made without leading to automatic "knock-on" claims by other grades. These include negotiations on nurses' long working hours and short holidays, the lack of recognition for many qualifications and the local 2 per cent bargaining clause of Partnership 2000.