Nurses ‘prepared for war’ over pay cuts

Nurses have warned they are “prepared for war, if the Government moves unilaterally to reduce their pay or conditions of employment.

Delegates at the annual conference ofthe Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said they had “given enough and had no more to give”.

The conference unanimoulsy passed an emergency motion proposing a ballot on industrial action up to and including strikes if the Government moved to cut pay or scale back conditions of employment.

INMO general secretary Liam Doran said no one would be going on strike unless the Government voted to put them on strike by cutting their pay.

He said he believed there was an obligation on the union to explore with the Labour Relations Comission any alternatives there may be in relation to the Government's plans to cut the State's paybill by €1 billion over three years .

However he said the INMO would never accept cuts in pay, premiums or overtime rates.

Mr Doran said the Labour Relations Commission process might not come to anything. However he told delegates the union would be failing them if it did not engage.

INMO deputy general secretary Dave Hughes said the great shame about the proposed attack on public servants and their was that it was being led by the Labour Party, 100 yearsafter the 1913 lock out.

He said the minute the Government annuounced any move to legislate for pay cuts, every public servant should protest outside Dáil Éireann.

“We will make them walk the walk of shame.”

“Let us stand outside the Dail the day they want to go in (to cut pay) and stay there for as long as it takes. Make them look you in the eye before they take the money out of your pocket.”

Proposingthe emergency motion Moria Craig of the INMO’s executive council said the Croke Park II talks should never have taken place as the original agreement was still in existence.

She said INMO members had rejected the Croke Park II proposals and “no means no”.

“Make no mistake we have reached the Rubicon, we have taken the cuts, we have taken the taxes and we have taken the cutbacks. We are at the brink. And if are pushed past the brink, we must be ready.”

“Once the Rubicon is crossed, there is no going back, I do not want a war and I certainly do not need a war, But I am ready, you are ready, we are ready and hear our words, no means no.”

James Geoghegan said nurses stood ready at the head of twoseparate roads leading to change, one involving flexibility and saving and the other was war.

Sandra Morton of the operating department nurses section said the Croke Park II process was effectively a "Saudi-isation policy".

“They were only short of putting us in burkhas and shooting us in the goalposts.”

She said nurses were nor ready for work-to-rules but were ready to go to the gate. “Short, sharp, quick, we are ready.”