LAST UPDATE | 1 hr ago

OVER 99% OF members in the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have voted in favour of industrial action in a dispute over public service pay.

Members of several public sector unions have voted in favour of industrial action over the issue.

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

INMO

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”.

INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said its members are “working in extremely challenging conditions due to overcrowding and understaffing” and have “made it clear they are dissatisfied with the lack of urgency surrounding cost-of-living pressures”.

She added: “With no public service pay agreement currently in place, we believe the government must face the reality of the real costs our members face”.

Ní Sheaghdha pointed to rising household costs, rents, fuel costs, childcare costs, as well as the “emotional and physical costs of showing up to work well before your shift starts in the hope of getting a parking space”.

“The pressure on our members starts before they even enter their hospitals or community settings,” she added.

Ní Sheaghdha said “morale is on the floor” and that “inadequate funding of the health service is having adverse impacts on patient and staff safety in hospitals and community care areas across the country”.

“Our members have made it clear that the health service cannot continue to rely on the goodwill of nurses, midwives and public service workers as a whole,” said Ní Sheaghdha.

“Members want to be remunerated in a way that reflects the times in which we live.”

Fórsa

Fórsa is Ireland’s largest public service trade union and, in a statement today, 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.

In a statement today, 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.

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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.