THE Irish Matrons' Association (IMA) has urged nurses to accept the latest Labour Court recommendation to resolve their long running dispute with the Government.
The association says that the Commission on Nursing promised by the Government could "transform" the profession and that public support for nurses could disappear in the event of a strike going ahead next week.
The president of the IMA, Mr Tom Houlihan, issued a statement yesterday on behalf of the association, which represents 140 senior nurse managers throughout the State. All are also members of the unions in the Nursing Alliance.
Mr Houlihan's statement is obviously timed to coincide with several mass meetings for nurses due to take place over the next couple of days.
Reaction at meetings so far has been varied, but there continues to be strong resistance to accepting a settlement in the major acute hospitals, where staff tend to be younger and the work more stressful.
"It is clear that many nurses are still uncertain whether they should accept or reject the package currently on offer," Mr Houlihan said. "That is understandable, given the constant long fingering of nurses' demands by the political system over the years.
"However, the IMA would urge nurses to consider supporting this package, especially in the light of the changed landscape which has emerged from the successful campaign which has been waged by the profession over recent months."
The Government was giving "an unprecedented commitment to implement any and all recommendations emanating from the commission", the statement said. In these circumstances the IMA believed that Irish nursing stood "on the edge of a new era".
"I know that many nurses are still questioning the bona fides of this commission, but there are a number of critical points they should remember in considering the issue," the statement continued.
"Firstly, the chairperson, Miss Justice Mella Carroll, has a record as a fearless and independent minded judge and played a crucial role in the work of the Second Commission on the Status of Women, which she chaired.
"The commission will have the back up of a full time secretariat, and, more importantly, because it arose from a Labour Court recommendation, the court itself will be the ultimate court of referral on its findings.
"In the final analysis, the peopled power which brought the nurses' campaign this far will ensure that the commission will succeed," the association said.
"Nurses also need to realise that they have much to lose if they reject these proposals and go on strike. It is people power, not industrial muscle, which has put the profession in the position it is now in and, as the opinion poll in the Sunday Independent shows, public support for a nurses' strike is slipping."
There have been major debates on the role of the commission at mass meetings of nurses around the State to discuss the Labour Court recommendation. The recommendation would give staff nurses another £25 million, add another £5 million to the early retirement package and allocate £7 million to increasing the numbers of temporary nurses to be made permanent.