THE biggest nursing union in Northern Ireland is set to ballot its members for industrial action, in an unprecedented step that has the potential to cripple the health service.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which has more than 14,000 members in the north, said the move followed the failure of DUP health minister Simon Hamilton to grant a recommended one per cent pay award for 2015/16.
Nurses make up the lion’s share of the north’s healthcare workforce and any decision to withdraw overtime or impose work-to-rule could severely impact on an already overstretched service battling a waiting list crisis.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the NHS where a pay deal has not been secured.
The below-inflation increase equates to around an extra £5 a week for the average nurse and an extra £6 a week for a more senior ward sister.
Earlier this year, the RCN was the only high-profile healthcare trade union to exempt itself from mass walkouts staged by thousands of other NHS workers – including nurses belong to other unions - over the pay row.
Midwives were among those striking for the first time in their union’s 134-year history.
It is understood that despite attempts to meet privately with Mr Hamilton, the nurses feel their concerns have been ignored.
Meanwhile, multi-million pound bonuses are still being paid to consultants across the north as part of a “clinical excellence’ scheme, with £34m paid out over five years.
In a statement released last night, the RCN said its Northern Ireland board has voted to ask the union's governing body in London for authorisation to ballot on industrial action.
It is not clear what the action will extend to – though it is thought it would not extend to an all-out strike.
Janice Smyth, RCN director in the north, said her members are “angry and demoralised” that no deal has been secured.
“Nurses in Northern Ireland are working under unprecedented pressure in a system that is not fit for purpose," she said.
"They feel devalued, demoralised and disgusted at the total disregard for the Independent Pay Review Body’s recommendation that nurses should receive a one per pay rise. The RCN Northern Ireland board believes that action needs to be taken immediately to resolve this unacceptable situation.
“We are the only part of the UK in which no offer has been made to nursing staff while pay awards of one per cent have been made to other public servants such as teachers, police and fire officers, who are already better paid than nurses.
“Nurses are seeing their standard of living fall, with no sign of light at the end of the tunnel. A staff nurse is already 20 per cent worse off in real terms than in 2010.
“The failure to announce a pay award is intensifying the real hardship felt by hard-working staff and adding to the perception that the care they provide to the people of Northern Ireland is not valued.”
