THE State's 26,000 nurses have rejected a £50 million pay deal, writes Padraig Yeates. The result of the nursing unions' ballots may have serious implications for the Government's public sector pay policy.
Details of the ballots, concluded late yesterday, have not been released. However, sources report that the decisive vote for rejection came from the Irish Nurses' Organisation, which represents nearly two thirds of all nurses. There is understood to be a very small majority for rejection in Impact. Majorities for acceptance were registered in the Psychiatric Nurses' Association and SIPTU.
There now appears to be nowhere left to go in negotiations this side of pickets. The final terms of the rejected offer were reached by a special adjudication body set up by the Government.
The one concession that might defuse general nurses' recent militancy would be the introduction of a comprehensive early retirement scheme. However, the cost of follow on claims from thousands of other public sector workers would be enormous.
