> The Irish Times > OPINION Thursday, November 28, 1996 > _________________________________________________________________ > =20 > PATIENCE RUNS OUT AS > ANGELS GO FOR JUGULAR > _________________________________________________________________ > =20 > After years of timidity nurses are now seeking nothing less than a tota= > l > reappraisal of their role within the health service, writes Padraig > Yeates, Industry and Employment Correspondent > =20 > It will be a brave man who attempts to stop the nurses' stampede > towards their first national strike. I say "man" advisedly because the > general secretary and deputy general secretary of the Irish Nurses' > Organisation (INO) are both men; so is the chief management negotiator > and, of course, so is the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan. > =20 > What we are witnessing in the INO is not so much an industrial dispute > as a social revolution. For decades nurses have been the most > quiescent of public sector workers. The INO only affiliated to the > Irish Congress of Trade Unions in recent years and its presidents were > almost invariably matrons, in other words members of nurse management. > =20 > But that was in the days when most qualified nurses could be expected > to emigrate or marry. Either way, they left the profession after > fulfilling their "vocation" for a number of youthful years; years when > issues like long-term career structures, pay scales and early > retirement seemed unimportant. > =20 > Today, a third of staff nurses have put in over 15 years service, over > half have at least nine years service and all 26,000 know that, short > of winning the Lotto, they will still be working the wards at 65. That > prospect has concentrated minds. > =20 > There have also been changes in the nature of the job. A far higher > degree of medical knowledge and technical expertise is needed than > ever before. The existing "on the job" apprenticeship by student > nurses is being converted into a three-year, college-based national > diploma course. Most new entrants are expected to take the fourth-year > extension to convert that diploma into a degree. > =20 > Existing nurses have also acquired additional qualifications. The > maximum bonus they can acquire for those qualifications is =A3600 a > year. > =20 > Unlike many other workers, nurses have no national agreements on > overtime. They may receive shift premiums worth around =A33,000, if they > work unsocial hours, but extra time worked can only be reclaimed as > time off in lieu. Amid all the glittering new medical technology > nurses still find themselves tied to outdated and highly questionable > work practices. > =20 > In many hospitals, for instance, nurses have to work a seven-night, > 12-hour shift roster. Patients have an unfortunate habit of dying in > the early hours of the morning. In such cases nurses on night shift > often stay on an extra hour or two to comfort the family, knowing that > they must be back on duty at 8 p.m. that night for the next 12 hours. > =20 > When factors like these are taken into account, the only wonder is > that it has taken so long for nurses to reach boiling point. > =20 > There were signs of discontent, including a mild rash of local strikes > during the past two years over staffing levels, working conditions and > facilities for patients. But, as recently as the negotiation of the > Programme for Competitiveness and Work, nurses voted to accept > relatively modest pay increases and a chance to negotiate a further 3 > per cent in a productivity-oriented restructuring deal. > =20 > What the nurses are now seeking is a total reappraisal of their role > within the health services - and recognition from society in general > that their role is as important, in its way, as that of doctors or > dentists. Many nurses feel that it is, at least in part, because the > overwhelming majority of them are women that they have never been > granted more than a fraction of the status of the senior, > male-dominated, health professions. > =20 > Unfortunately, national wage agreements are poor vehicles for carrying > out revolutions. Agreements are more akin to wagon trains. If one > wagon tries to pull out of its allotted place the wagon masters - in > this case the Government and the other social partners - will whip it > back into line. The alternative is a stampede. > =20 > Ask any trade union leader and he (they are nearly all men) will tell > you that the nurses have done exceptionally well out of the PCW. The > =A350 million package rejected by the INO has a real price tag nearer 6 > per cent than the notional 3 per cent limit set in the PCW. > =20 > It was so good that two of the smaller nursing unions, SIPTU and the > Psychiatric Nurses' Association, voted to accept it. The PNA comprises > psychiatric nurses and about half of SIPTU's membership are also in > this category. > =20 > Traditionally, this group has been the most militant within the > nursing profession. It won marginally better pay and working > conditions, not to mention early retirement at 55, many years ago > through that militancy. Psychiatric nurses know a good deal when they > see it. > =20 > But the nurses streaming into the INO are young and, what they lack in > experience, they make up for in a newfound assertiveness and > consciousness of their own worth. If the PCW cannot provide an > adequate framework for their demands, they believe that framework > needs to be changed. > =20 > Four thousand of them have joined the organisation during the present > confrontation over pay, pushing the INO membership to over 20,000 for > the first time. The wider implications of challenging the PCW do not > appear to have occurred to them or, if they have, have not deterred > them. > =20 > Negotiating a new national agreement is proving difficult. Not least > because private sector workers are increasingly irate at what they see > as a "free-for-all" in the public sector under the guise of > restructuring deals, while they are clamped tightly to the official > pay parameters of the PCW. Many of them will have far more sympathy > for the nurses' case than, for instance, for teachers or low paid > civil servants. But how far that sympathy will extend, if meeting the > nurses' demands means fewer tax cuts in the Budget, is another > question. > =20 > Maybe there is a magic solution to the nurses' problem out there. One > certainty is the INO leadership, health managers and Mr Noonan will be > searching frantically for it over the next few weeks. In the meantime > it is easy to sympathise with the INO general secretary's plea to > members at Tuesday's mass meeting. "We can't do the impossible", he > told them. "My name is P. J. Madden, not Jesus Christ." > =20 > =A9 Copyright: The Irish Times > Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >
