The first nationwide strike by Ireland's 28,000 general nurses, which started on 19 October 1999, is a test of the government's resolve to maintain pay discipline in the wider public service.
A nationwide strike by nurses in Ireland's state-funded hospitals, which began on 19 October 1999, is a test of strength between the government and the nursing unions, led by the largest of these, the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO). The strike affected all hospital services, except for emergency procedures. The key issue for the nurses is their bid to enhance both their pay and professional status to a level which they feel is commensurate with their qualifications and the demands which their work places on them.
The nurses recently rejected (IE9909292N) a Labour Court recommendation which would have seen the nursing paybill rise by 23% in total under a "restructuring" clause held over from the 1994-6 national agreement, the Programme for Competitiveness and Work (PCW). Wider non-pay issues would be addressed in a set of recommendations already put forward by a special Commission on Nursing.
If the nurses were to accept all "special" pay rises offered to them since the beginning of Partnership 2000 (P2000) (1997-2000) - the current national agreement (IE9702103F) - the annual pay of a basic staff nurse grade (80% of all nurses) would have moved from a basic minimum of IEP 18,198 to IEP 22,339. Meanwhile, ward sisters - another key grade - would have moved from IEP 20,526 to a new maximum of IEP 27,522. Both increases exclude allowances.
Other public service workers, such as middle-ranking civil servants, the police and teachers, received increases under the same PCW restructuring clause, varying from 5.5% to 14%. They have already indicated that they will lodge a series of "catch-up" claims should the government move beyond what it has offered the nurses (IE9812266F).
The problem for the government is not in meeting the nurses demands per se, but that if it does so this would trigger an avalanche of further "special" pay rises. This would also undermine the system of centralised pay bargaining which has underpinned all of the three-year national agreements between the social partners since 1987.
Privately, it is reported that many senior trade union leaders not only understand the government's position, they also quietly support it. This reality has been reflected in several "off-the-record" comments to the industrial correspondents in the national print and broadcasting media. However, public sympathy is broadly behind the nurses, making this a particularly difficult dispute for the government.
At stake are two apparently irreconcilable needs, with the morale and goodwill of the nursing profession seemingly set against the government's stated objective of finally holding the line on public service pay under P2000. With talks on a new agreement to replace P2000 set to get underway before the end of 2000 (IE9906281N), the stakes could not be higher.
(At the time of publication of this record on EIROnline, the nursing unions had suspended their strike on 27 October after accepting new Labour Court recommendations, which they recommended that their members approve in a ballot.)