THE nurses' unions are to meet leaders of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions today following the overwhelming rejection by nurses yesterday of the Government's £20 million pay package.
There were hopes that the meeting might lead to a resumption of negotiations. But the Nurses Alliance (group of unions), stressed that its 26,000 members had made it clear that they required a "much more substantial offer" if they were to call off their industrial action. This is due to start on April 16th in the main Dublin hospitals.
The nurses voted "99 per cent" against the latest proposals. This did not come as a surprise, as the offer was considered to be totally unsatisfactory, and union leaders had recommended rejection.
The Nursing Alliance, which consists of four unions, said yesterday that it had received an invitation from the ICTU to meet and discuss the dispute, and this had been accepted.
Earlier this month the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, said management had shown great flexibility with the original offer of £10 million, which had been increased to £20 million.
He accepted that nurses had had legitimate grievances as individuals and as a profession for over 15 years. He was addressing "them as best as he could but was constrained by the provisions of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work (PCW).
His trade union contacts indicated that anything negotiated which looked like a special pay increase would immediately be demanded by the other public services unions.
Management has indicated that the cost of paying staff nurses £20,500 at the top of the scale, after 15 years' service, plus giving significant increases in the supervisory management grades, would be £37 million.
The offer put to the nurses, doubled the value of the original one from £10 million to £20 million, but added only £150 a year to salaries at the top of the scale, with 15 years' service.
Under the offer, staff with at least 15 years could expect to receive an increase of £500 June and a further £500 in 1997, bringing their maximum, salary to £19,207.