On the face of it, the nursing unions have a strong case for a better deal on remuneration at all levels of the profession. The fact that all four unions representing nurses the Irish Nurses Organisation (by far the largest), SIPTU, the Psychiatric Nurses' Association and IMPACT have come together in an almost unprecedented manner last week indicates a high level of unanimity among nurses that their justifiable claims have been ignored for too long; and the expression of support for their case from the Irish Matrons' Association, representing nurse managers, should make it impossible for Government and health administrators to ignore the nurses' demands.
The Nursing Alliance, as the group of unions now describes itself, is making quite clear to the public and to the Minister for Health that it intends to take limited industrial action if something effective is not done to redress the accumulation of grievances that has grown over the past decade and a half. This is indicative of growing levels of frustration and anger in a profession noted for its traditional reluctance to withdraw the essential services which its members provide in the public service. Not since the end of the 1970s has there been significant national industrial action by nurses.
That action, however, led to the last special increases which nurses got in their salaries. But many recommendations made by the working party which reported on nursing pay and structures in 1980 remained on the shelf, and a subsequent salary claim by nurses which was submitted at the request of the Department of Health in 1990 has been ignored also. Such inaction by a succession of Ministers for Health betokens an unhealthy disregard of the important role played by nurses in the public health services. There is a moral, as well as a political, duty on the current Minister, Mr Noonan, to remedy the neglect which he has inherited from his predecessors.
The nursing unions have given everyone ample notice of their intentions. A series of rallies which. started yesterday in Cork will continue over coming days, culminating in a major rally in Dublin on Budget Day. Thereafter, ballots will be held by the nurses on whether or not to authorise industrial action, and the first of a series of two day strikes may occur in March. That leaves ample time for everyone to work out how the industrial action can be aborted. The nurses have also signalled clearly what they perceive as their needs and it seems unarguable that their pay, opportunities and conditions, relative to others in the public service such as social workers and teachers, have declined during the past 15 years.
Not unreasonably, the nurses want the baseline relativities of their salaries with those of administrative staff in the health services upgraded. Nursing carries both technical and emotional demands on the job which are greater than those in many other jobs. They are prepared to negotiate under clause A of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work. And they want an undertaking from the Government that, subsequently, the problems of structures in nursing series can be addressed and resolved. These are not excessive claims by a responsible, skilled and caring profession. The Minister and the Government will do well to go some way towards meeting them before March.