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Related sites Information on the Irish State
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Irish nurses' strike tentatively resolved
Posted
11-1-99 Dublin, Ireland. A tentative agreement between the Irish government and a coalition of nursing unions has ended a nine-day strike that severely disrupted health care throughout the country. Ireland's mursing corps, almost 30,000 nurses, walked off the job in a long-simmering dispute over money and working conditions. The agreement must still be approved by the rank and file, and results of the vote will not be known until later this week. The agreement was brokered by Ireland's Labour Court, an independent body that arbitrates industrial disputes. The court's main recommendation is the creation of 5,000 new nursing positions that will provide opportunities for promotion and higher pay for more experienced staff nurses. After years of wage controls and government cutbacks, nurses in Ireland earn an average of $21,000 annually, with a maximum of about $30,000, no matter how many years of experience they have. In addition, the settlement calls for a 2 percent salary increase retroactive to July 1 and payment of time plus one-sixth for nurses working the so-called "unsocial hours" between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. The strike severely disrupted healthcare delivery throughout the country, forcing postponement of 70,000 outpatient admissions and 9,000 elective admissions. Nurses provided emergency care free of charge during the walk-out-at Sligo General Hospital in northwest Ireland nursing staff left picket lines to assist in the delivery of two babies-and there were no strike-related deaths reported. Nursing advocates are calling the strike a watershed event for nurses in Ireland. "Until now, nurses were seen as angels of mercy," said a spokesperson for the Irish Nurses Organization, one of four nursing unions involved in the strike. "Now they've shown that they are competent professionals who deserve a living wage."
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