Nurses have voted by a three-to-one majority to reject the latest round of pay increases under the national pay deal Sustaining Progress.
The Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) will now vote against the proposals when the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) meet on September 1st to vote on the deal. The INO has 24 votes.
Mr Dave Hughes, INO deputy general secretary said the result followed a recommendation by the union's executive council to reject the deal.
He said among the reasons for rejecting were the failure of the Government to provide the much-needed additional hospital beds and the continuation of a employment ceiling strategy which saw many areas of nursing and midwifery understaffed.
"There are a litany of delayed or unimplemented agreements, recommendations and determinations throughout the health service.
"Legitimate claims like addressing the anomaly which sees nurses in the field of intellectual disability paid less than those whom they supervise, Public Health Nurses denied their legitimate status as Clinical Nurse Specialists and the reduction in the working week to 35 hours which was considered appropriate for nurses by the Labour Court in 1980.
"[These are] continually being kicked for touch under the all embracing cost increasing claims mechanism of Sustaining Progress," Mr Hughes added.
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