Nurses and midwives may soon join bus staff in a sustained campaign of strike action, in what many see as an Autumn of discontent.
It is understood that representatives from the INMO, the PNA and SIPTU are gathering in numbers outside the Dáil today, before a meeting with Health Minister Simon Harris.
The protest centers a sought pay increase for nurses who graduated between 2011 and 2015. This particular cohort receives up to 1,400 less than their colleagues who graduated before or after this time period.
Liam Doran, General Secretary of the INMO, said: “We are in a crisis with a shortage of nurses and midwives in this country,” he said. “One of the reasons is a failure to grant this incremental credit. If it isn’t granted, we will take whatever steps we need to take to ensure our nurses are treated equitably.
“What we have now is grossly inequitable. It has to be reversed.”