January 2019
Monthly Archive
January 29, 2019
Nurses and midwives strike, 30th January 2019
Posted by siptuactivist under Austerity, Democracy, StrikesLeave a Comment
January 9, 2019
Divisional Organiser says SIPTU members will pass nurses’ pickets; will SIPTU protect and support conscientious objectors?
Posted by siptuactivist under Austerity, Democracy, StrikesLeave a Comment
BreakingNews.ie reported today (9th January 2019) that, “SIPTU has said its members in nursing will not follow their colleagues in other unions in striking over pay increases. The union’s stance comes following the announcement that members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation are to hold a series of 24-hour strikes starting on January 30.
“However SIPTU Health Division Organiser Paul Bell said his union – which has some 4,000 members in nursing – believes the INMO decision could jeopardise the Public Service Agreement. ‘Our comrades in the INMO are pursuing a particular strategy in a particular way, we are pursuing a strategy for nurses’ pay through the Public Service Agreement,’ Mr Bell said.
“He said that while it will be a ‘difficult challenge’ for SIPTU members to walk past an INMO picket, his union does not share the nursing union’s opinion that the improvements they seek will not bring down the broader public sector pay agreement. ‘We do not believe that stepping outside process will deliver what we want to achieve over the short to medium term,’ Mr Bell told RTÉ Radio 1’s Today programme.”
An excellent May Day statement (1st May 2018) on behalf of SIPTU’s National Executive Council declared that “SIPTU supports the repeal of the eighth amendment”. It ended with this caveat on behalf of some of our members: “As the largest union of healthcare workers in Ireland, SIPTU wants to ensure that our members who work in front line healthcare services are protected and supported. This is why we are in favour of the provision of conscientious objection for medical and healthcare workers.”
We trust that this still holds and that as the largest union of healthcare workers in Ireland, SIPTU wants to ensure that our members who work in front line healthcare services are protected and supported. And that our Union is in favour of the provision of conscientious objection for medical and healthcare workers who may have a principled and conscientious objection to passing a picket in an industrial dispute, and will ensure that they are free of subsequent disciplinary action from whatever source.
SIPTU Activist 