Yesterday it was announced that members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have voted 95.6% in favour of industrial action over the HSE’s ‘pay and numbers’ recruitment embargo. Members of Fórsa trade union working for the HSE and Section 38 Voluntary Hospitals have also voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action on the issue. The Fórsa ballot result was 93.6% in favour of industrial action. The unions will now consider what industrial action they will take.
People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett said, "I was shocked in September when I first heard reports from workers in St Michael’s Hospital in Dún Laoghaire that they were worried about staffing levels and patient safety across the hospital.
"Once I started to raise the issue in the Dáil and in the media, I was contacted by other health service workers about similar issues in their hospitals. The INMO and SIPTU confirmed in a subsequent Oireachtas Health Committee that there is a renewed embargo on recruitment across the Health Service, which is making our hospitals unsafe and is quashing thousands of previously sanctioned posts.
"The ballot result now shows that the government has been deceiving the public with its claims that it has been trying to recruit to the health service. We now know that, on the contrary, they have been suppressing thousands of roles. The imposition of this rebranded recruitment embargo means the staffing crisis will continue, the scandal of hospital waiting lists will continue, and the chaos in our emergency departments will continue. Even with unprecedented resources available to them, the government has no intention of tackling the waiting lists and chronic staff shortages.
"I welcome the news that the INMO and Fórsa have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action and People Before Profit will stand with nurses, midwives and all health service workers fighting for safe staffing and quality health care.”