SIPTU members working as nursing managers will commence industrial action later this month after SIPTU, alongside three other nursing unions, served notice on their health service employers.
The industrial action will take place on 29th September and will begin as a work-to-rule.
Last month, the Union’s nursing manager members voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action and strike action over the failure of the HSE and Department of Health to implement pay recommendations 42 and 43 from the Expert Review Body on Nursing and Midwifery.
The decision to commence a work-to-rule was taken in conjunction with the other nursing unions.
The unions are working in tandem to ensure that the industrial action is coordinated to maximise its impact.
Should there be no resolution, it has been agreed that the action will escalate to work stoppages if sufficient progress is not made.
SIPTU Sector Organiser Damian Ginley said: “The nursing unions have been left with no alternative but to commence industrial action over the failure of the HSE and Department of Health to implement in full the recommendations arising from Implementation Action Group 5 discussions, as set out in the Expert Review Body of Nursing Report.”
Implementation Action Group 5 (IAG5) was established to assist with the implementation of the recommendations of the Expert Review Body to replace the hospital banding system for the purposes of determining the pay rates for senior nurse and midwife manager grades and those linked to them.
Ginley added: “The Department of Health needs to act fast if it is to bring forward proposals to resolve this dispute in advance of the industrial action. In the absence of such proposals, the blame for the inevitable impact on services will rest firmly with the Department over its failure to resolve the dispute.”