In the wake of the settlement of the nurses' dispute, Brendan McGintyof Ibec argues that it should be illegal for health service workers to go on strike
There has been a universal welcome for the decision by the Irish Nurses' Organisation to accept the terms proposed by the National Implementation Body (NIB) on May 15th last.
The Psychiatric Nurses' Association has just done likewise, by a narrow margin.
Ibec, the employers' body, through our participation in the NIB, worked closely with the Government and with Ictu, the trade union umbrella body, to find a reasonable basis for the resolution of one of the most intractable industrial disputes during the era of social partnership.
Most importantly, the resolution is based on compliance with the current national agreement Towards 2016 and public sector pay policy.
This preserves the principle of "cost neutrality" in respect of the reduction of weekly working hours to 37.5 hours from June 1st, 2008.
This is vital to protect the "no cost-increasing claims" provision of the national partnership agreement and affirms that the nurses' pay claim can only be dealt with through the Public Service Benchmarking Body.
The terms set out by the NIB are balanced and fair.
However, this was an unnecessary and damaging dispute. Members of the INO/PNA already had the benchmarking process available to them. Siptu and Impact chose this route for their members.
Benchmarking was established about seven years ago to measure public sector pay against appropriate comparisons in the private sector on a regular basis.
Other public sector unions have behaved responsibly and have remained supportive of this approach which is both comprehensive and systematic and has delivered real benefits to public service employees in the past, including nurses.
In spite of this, the INO/PNA set out to undermine social partnership and to seek maximum advantage for their members in the run-up to the general election, regardless of the effects on patients, on public sector pay policy or the national interest.
Indeed their belief that nurses should be allowed to continue with their industrial action without any pay deductions showed the unions to be out of touch with the real world.
In 2006, Ireland enjoyed a historically low figure for days lost due to industrial action at just 7,352. Despite this positive record and looking at historical trends, about 80 per cent of days lost due to industrial action occur in the public sector.
Whether industrial action takes the form of a work-to-rule or a series of rolling stoppages as happened during the nurses' dispute, services are disrupted, patients put at risk and considerable damage is done to the reputation of the public service.
Agreements on a voluntary code of practice aimed at ensuring the peaceful resolution of disputes were implemented in a small number of essential services some years ago.
This followed commitments under the previous national agreement, Sustaining Progress, to reflect the Code of Practice (Dispute Procedures including Procedures in essential Services) prepared by the Labour Relations Commission.
Unfortunately, the code has not been applied in the health services. In our view, this is one area where application of the code is essential and where it cannot put employees at any disadvantage, given that benchmarking is available to ensure fair and reasonable pay comparisons.
Given the implications of this dispute, Ibec will be pressing the new government for legislation, which finally outlaws industrial action in key essential services.
As a mature society, we should not allow the public to suffer where a minority wants to flex their industrial muscle despite the facility to have their claims addressed through benchmarking, an agreed mechanism that is acceptable to the Ictu and the vast majority of their affiliates.
The concept of a voluntary code, once championed by the Ictu, has not been widely embraced.
That leaves only one realistic option to protect the public. That option is legislation outlawing industrial action in the health service.
Brendan McGinty is director of industrial relations with Ibec, the employers' representative organisation