Cork nurses say work hours deal must be kept
18/09/2008 - 15:03:57Members of the Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) today threatened to escalate their row over shorter working hours.
Up to 50 INO members walked out at Bantry General Hospital yesterday and a possible escalation of the dispute is planned for early next week.
The group is highlighting the fact that a promised shorter working week has not been implemented at the west Cork facility.
A national agreement for a 37.5-hour week for nurses, to have been implemented by June 1, was reached in May this year after a seven-week campaign of industrial action by Irish nurses last year.
Now nurses are demanding that the Health Service Executive (HSE) South implement the national agreement at three hospitals where INO members are still working longer hours.
The three facilities that have not had the shorter working week implemented, according to the INO, are Bantry, Mallow and Kerry general hospitals.
INO industrial relations officer Patsy Doyle said: “If issues are not resolved with the three hospitals in question then we will be going to our members to discuss further action.
“I was in Bantry hospital yesterday and it is full and nurses there are working at the same level as those in hospitals where the deal has been implemented.
“This reflects what we see as penalisation of the rural hospitals.”
A spokesperson for Bantry General Hospital said management was in talks with the nursing unions to introduce the 37.5-hour working week.
Article courtesy of the Evening Echo newspaper.
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