The Labour Court has made a £100 million pay award to nurses. The award, which has been carefully "ring-fenced" to prevent knock-on claims from other public service unions, is expected to be accepted by the Cabinet this morning.
Taken with previous pay awards, the latest Labour Court recommendation will mean the wage bill for nurses in the health services has risen by 23 per cent since 1997. Numbers have increased by about 1,000 in the same period.
The nursing unions are to give a formal response to the package later today. While all four nursing unions have refused to comment, it is clear the comprehensive nature of the award rules out the automatic rejection which had been feared.
All 27,500 health service nurses are to receive a £1,250 lump sum, at a cost of £36.5 million to the exchequer. More than 10,000 staff nurses will also receive additional allowances of between £1,000 and £1,500 for working in stressful areas, or having additional qualifications. This will cost the Exchequer £25 million and retrospection to August 1998 will cost another £11 million.
Staff nurses are also to receive three days additional leave, on an incremental basis, to take account of the fact that they work longer hours than other health professionals. Ward sisters and higher management grades will receive four days extra annual leave. The cost of the additional leave to the Exchequer will be £4 million this year.
The Labour Court had been given a special remit to look at the pay differentials of ward sisters and nurse management grades and it is these groups who benefit most from the award. These grades will receive pay increases worth 10 per cent.
For ward sisters, the new maximum will be £27,522, an increase of £2,502. For directors of nursing in the State's largest hospitals, the increase will be worth £3,675, bringing their maximum salary to £40,907.
To deal with anomalies between psychiatric and general nursing grades at ward sister level, a special pay award is to be made to deputy nursing officers in the psychiatric services. Existing deputy nursing officers will receive increases worth 9.5 per cent.
There are similar special payments for public health nurses, theatre and night nurses, on a "red circle" basis. Nurse tutors, another group with particular concerns, are to receive an interim award of 4 per cent while the Nursing Education Forum provides them with new career structures.
The cost of the pay increases outlined in the award is £25 million. A separate Labour Court award on incremental credits for previous nursing experience will cost the Exchequer more than £10 million. An overtime package negotiated directly between management and unions will cost a further £5 million.
The main disappointment for staff nurses, who comprise about 20,000 of the State's nursing staff, is that their 18 per cent claim for additional long-service increments has been rejected, though this had been signalled well in advance.
They have the consolation of a lump sum and retrospection that will see more than half of them receive between £2,250 and £2,750 each, as well as additional annual leave if they accept the package. Tonight union leaders will be trying to gauge the mood of this, the largest and most volatile group within the profession.
Later today it should become clear whether the unions will actually recommend acceptance of a package which, in the words of one public service trade unionist last night, "has something for everyone".