Nursing leaders warned health service employers last night that they had eight days to return to the negotiating table to avoid the current industrial action by 40,000 nurses over pay and conditions getting any worse.
The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) warned last night that rolling work stoppages would start next Wednesday. The unions called on management to re-engage in negotiations on their claims for a 10 per cent pay rise and a 35-hour week.
INO general secretary Liam Doran said full details of the stoppages would be announced on Monday. He said that nurses would provide "essential cover and emergency cover" during any work stoppage.
Health service management criticised the level of notice of industrial action. Brendan Mulligan, assistant chief executive of the HSE Employers' Agency said that under current agreements, unions should provide up to three weeks' notice of work stoppages.
He said there was also no agreement at central level with the unions on contingency plans to deal with the work stoppages.
"To have no central agreement on contingency planning and for work stoppages to go ahead at only 48 hours' notice when we are dealing with essential services is disgraceful," he said.
Mr Mulligan said work stoppages would compromise patient care and elective admissions, outpatient appointments and even some dialysis services would be cancelled. Services would slowly grind to a halt, he claimed.
The Irish Hospital Consultants' Association said it was up to the HSE to take the initiative to settle the dispute.
Meanwhile the work-to-rule by INO and PNA nurses, which began on Monday, is continuing. They are refusing to answer non-essential telephone calls, carry out clerical, administrative or IT duties or open or close local health centres. The action has resulted in the cancellation of elective surgery in Cavan, Galway, Waterford and Dublin.
Mr Doran said the escalation of the dispute had been put off until next week as there were patients in hospital who wanted to get home for Easter and the unions did not want to interfere with that.
Des Kavanagh of the PNA said nurses were prepared for a long dispute if necessary. "Our members are absolutely resolute, we are in for the long haul. I don't care if this dispute takes a week, a month or six months. The people who will come under pressure as the days go by are the managers and the Government. And there is a big election coming down the road and I think the ones under pressure here are on the other side of the table," he said.
He criticised the Taoiseach for saying their pay demand could not be met: "For a reputed strategic thinker it was a foolish and even antagonistic comment to make."
