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You are > Home > SIPTU stay clear of strike
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Wednesday, October 31, 2001
SIPTU stay clear of strike
SIPTU has disassociated itself from the strike action threatened by the Psychiatric Nurses’ Association at St Columba’s Hospital.
The Sligo Health Services Branch of SIPTU, who represent the majority of nurses employed in St Columba’s, issued a statement to that effect on Saturday.
The statement said SIPTU “wish to reassure patients, their families, friends and the public in general, that the highest standard of nursing care is being practised in the hospital as it has been in the past and will continue in the future.”
It went on to say the union “wishes to disassociate ourselves from the present media publicity”.
Meanwhile, the North Western Health Board has also responded to the threat by PNA members to take strike action.
“We are aware of the issues raised by the PNA in their statement. Extensive discussions have already taken place between union representatives and management in the last fortnight,” said NWHB spokesperson Anne McLoone.
“Plans are in place for further negotiations, based on standard industrial relation practice, in the coming days, and we are therefore concerned that the PNA have issued their statement in advance of moves aimed at resolving a variety of issues.”
The PNA has decided to ballot its members over the coming week before deciding whether or not to take strike action.
The association still claim that working conditions are intolerable for their members, with long working hours putting patient care under threat.
A spokesperson for the PNA said the group announced their intention to strike because they believe “tiredness arising from such out-dated and draconian shifts may result in potential serious errors in patient care.”
The spokesperson also dismissed the ongoing negotiations with the NWHB, saying that they “have failed to provide any movement at all.
“Our members are no longer prepared to be complicit in this matter and see industrial action as our only course”.
Meanwhile, one former union official said the move is being viewed in some quarters as an attempt by the PNA to gain more members.
The former activist said by initiating such action the association were looking to encourage psychiatric nurses in the region to join with them.
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