As they walked up and down self-consciously in front of Tullamore Hospital yesterday, it was clear that nurses are not very happy or practised at conducting industrial warfare.
A large box of chocolates donated by a well-wisher was perched on the wall behind the 20 or so nurses who were carrying their placards in front of the hospital in the home town of the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen.
Unusually, strike headquarters was located in the grey-walled hospital across the picket lines, near the crowded out-patients department. The nurses were having snacks and meals in the hospital canteen.
In their office Kay Garvey, chairwoman of the strike committee, and Kay Kennedy, the secretary of the committee, were in constant communication with the people on the picket lines and with members of the hospital management.
Ms Garvey said there had been inordinate attention paid by the media to Tullamore Hospital because the Minister for Health lived in the town.
"We are determined not to personalise this dispute. There has to be a Minister for Health and that could be anyone from any town," she said.
However, she said the nurses were adamant that they would stay on strike until their demands were met because their cause was just and they had the support of the public.
Ms Kennedy said that nurses could not be expected to continue to work for nothing in the hospital during the strike. But she said that while it was up to the national leadership to determine whether the dispute could be escalated, she was also certain that emergency cover would continue to be provided.
It was needed yesterday in Tullamore, where within hours of the pickets being placed a suspected appendicitis case was brought to the hospital. A number of nurses were brought from the picket line into the hospital to deal with the emergency, but surgery was not required. Nor was it required later in the day for another patient brought in by ambulance.
At 2 p.m. two young men in wheelchairs left the main hospital building to join the picket to show their solidarity with the nurses.
George McAleer, from Stradbally, Co Laois, told reporters that an operation he was due to have undergone yesterday morning had been cancelled. "I have an infection in my leg and I may lose it, and if I do I am going to sue the Government because they are responsible for this mess," he said.
He was full of praise for the nursing staff in the hospital where he has been a patient for nearly three months since he was involved in a motorcycle accident.
The other man, Ciaran McDermot, from Mullingar, who is suffering from spinal injuries, said he was afraid of being discharged from the hospital because of the dispute. "There is no one to care for me at home and I cannot walk. I need the care and attention that these nurses have given me and without it I am in deep trouble," he said.
The picketers were adamant that the strike will continue because, in the words of Ms Kennedy, it was now "a matter of esteem", not money.