Solutions to avoid nurses’ strike within the PSSA
Labour Party Health spokesperson Alan Kelly TD, has along with with Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and Indpendents4Change submitted proposals to the Dáil on the upcoming strike by the INMO and the PNA.
Deputy Kelly said:
“There is no denying that pay is a factor in the recruitment and retention crisis in the nursing sector.
“The Government are continuing to ignore the unique position nurses are in. The Government are shying away from their own review of the public sector pay agreement. The Public Sector Pay Commission Report acknowledged the grievances of nurses and said that arrangements can be put in place to look at pay.
“Today, we are calling for an independent review into the nursing profession that properly lays out the scale of extra work and duties and how nurses could be compensated for this. In the proposals a specific timeframe is laid out as to how this would report back to Government.
“With the Government or Fianna Fáil refusing to show any flexibility or imagination on this issue, the main opposition parties in the Dáil have come together to show solutions are possible that won’t dismantle the public sector pay agreement.
“As Fine Gael’s silent coalition partners, Fianna Fáil could make a real difference when it comes to this dispute. With fourteen days to go until the INMO begin their industrial action. FF could prove that this motion is not just a PR exercise and put pressure on Ministers Donohoe and Harris to sit down and talk to the unions about their issues.”