LAST UPDATE | 13 hrs ago

THE GENERAL SECRETARY of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said there will be “a very significant public service dispute” if the government fails to resolve a dispute with unions who have voted in favour of industrial action. 

Phil Ní Sheaghdha said it is “unprecedented” that a number of unions are saying the coalition’s approach to public sector pay talks is incorrect, adding that it needs to change.

Her comments come after over 99% of INMO members voted in favour of industrial action in a dispute over public service pay.

Meanwhile, public service union Fórsa has served notice of industrial action on public health employers, with industrial action set to commence from 30 September.

More than 96% of Fórsa members backed industrial action in a vote last week. It came a day after Siptu public sector members voted by 97% to back industrial action.

The INMO said its members voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action, up to and including strike action, regarding the “need for government to meaningfully provide for acceptable pay increases in any further public sector pay agreement”.

The previous public sector pay deal expired at the end of June. It provided for general pay increases of 9.25% for public sector workers, along with a 1% local bargaining fund.

Formal talks on a successor agreement have yet to begin.

Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers has said his officials are ready to negotiate and that the decision of the unions to ballot members was unnecessary. 

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Ní Sheaghdha said nurses are working in difficult situations in community and hospital settings that are understaffed “and they’re doing that against the background of a very high cost of living.”

She said some members working in large cities are reporting that 70% of their take-home pay is going on rent, while the union has received “no answer” to a request for some compensation for nurses who drive to work. 

“Think about all the nurses who provide public health nursing services, community general services, palliative care. They use their own cars, and they’ve had absolutely no reprieve. They are saying now that it’s actually costing them to provide that service because of the high cost of diesel and petrol.”

Referring to the other trade unions who have voted in favour of industrial action, Ní Sheaghdha said it is “unprecedented that all public servants now are saying that the government’s approach to this is incorrect”. 

“If the issue does not get resolved properly, we will have a very significant public service dispute, and that isn’t a threat,” she said, adding that it is “just what happens” when the government does not respond to “the very legitimate and reasonable requests that we have made”. 

“The manner in which we negotiate public service pay has to change.”

She accused the coalition of having a “two-tier approach”. 

Sticking by the rules and all of the industrial relations – very important processes – seem to be ignored by government, and they have obviously made overtures and made payments more significant than anything that we have ever received.

Ní Sheaghdha also raised concerns about the budget for the health service. 

She said that if the government wants to tell the public that they will continue to provide a social model of healthcare, “then they must make changes, because that is not the health service we have now”.

“Increasingly we’re outsourcing the health service, and increasingly, we’re saying ‘keep your private health insurance because it is increasingly difficult to access the health service when you need it’, which is exactly the opposite of what Sláintecare had envisaged.”

Fórsa

Fórsa, Ireland’s largest public service trade union, said its preparations continue for action in the dispute over public service pay.

Public service workers in Fórsa last week voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action, up to and including strike action.

The result of the ballot was 97% in favour of industrial action up to and including full-scale strike action, on a turnout of 73%. 

Employers in other public sectors to be notified of industrial action in the coming weeks. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

It said different forms of industrial action are likely to take place in different workplaces in the coming weeks, ranging from work-to-rule and the withdrawal of cooperation with overtime, and will include the possibility of full strike action.

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In a statement on Wednesday, Fórsa said formal notice has been issued to employers in the health sector, including the HSE, Tusla and Section 38 organisations.

Section 38 organisations are publicly funded entities that deliver services on behalf of the HSE.

Industrial action set to commence by Fórsa members employed by the HSE, Tusla and Section 38 organisations will include working strictly to contract and refusing overtime or work outside agreed contracted hours.

Members will also refuse to cover duties attached to vacant or unfilled posts and refuse engagement with external private management consultants.

Fórsa said it is observing the established convention in health services by serving three weeks’ notice.

The notice is the first in a series that Fórsa is expected to issue to public service employers in advance of nationwide industrial action, with employers in other sectors to be notified in the coming weeks.

Fórsa’s Health and Welfare division represents 32,000 members working in public health services.

The union’s head of health and welfare, Ashley Connolly, said that “serving notice today marks the beginning of a planned and proportionate escalation by public service workers who have made clear that the government’s current position on pay is not sustainable”.

Meanwhile, Fórsa’s national secretary Ryan McKinney accused the government of “failing to engage seriously on a pay offer that addresses the pressures faced by public service workers”.

Fórsa previously said exploratory talks in June did not provide sufficient assurance that a new agreement would address the cost-of-living pressures facing public service workers. 

With reporting from Jane Moore