INMO escalates nurses and midwives’ strike

The INMO has announced an escalation and additional dates for the nurses and midwives’ strike, in the face of the government’s refusal to meaningfully engage with the union.
 
Week 2 of the strike (Feb 5th and 7th) will see the number of services on strike increase from 82 to 240. The Executive Council have also announced extra strike days on the 19th and 21st of February, in addition to the already-announced strikes on the 5th, 7th, 12th, 13th and 14th.
 
The INMO will also be organising a national rally on Saturday 9th of February.  The first nurses’ strike day in twenty years took place on the 30th of January – only the second time in the INNO’s 100-year history that it has gone on strike nationally.
 
Nurses and midwives are seeking to secure safe staffing levels in the health service, through increases in pay to make the professions more attractive.
 
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:

Nurses and midwives proudly stood up in defence of our patients and professions last Wednesday, but the government has responded with threats and intransigence.
 
Everybody – except the government – recognise that there is a serious understaffing problem in our health services. The public support for the strike on Wednesday showed that the Irish people stand with nurses and midwives.

Our message is clear. We will not be going away – resolving this dispute requires direct engagement from the government, recognising the real recruitment and retention problems in Irish nursing and midwifery.
 
We simply want to be able to do our jobs, but our health service cannot hire enough nurses and midwives on these uncompetitive wages.
 
As ever, we remain available for talks with the government for any realistic proposals.