Nurses and midwives to stage Mullingar protest over pay dispute

Nursing and midwifery managers and linked grades are to stage a lunchtime protest at Midlands Regional Hospital, Mullingar, today (Tuesday, September 29), as part of industrial action over proposed changes to pay and grading structures.

The protest, organised by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), will take place from 1pm to 2pm and coincides with the beginning of a work-to-rule involving senior nursing and midwifery grades.

Directors and Assistant Directors of Nursing and Midwifery, Advanced Nurse and Midwife Practitioners (ANPs and AMPs), and Nurse and Midwife Tutors are among those involved in the action.

The INMO said the dispute centres on the non-implementation of proposals aimed at modernising pay and grading structures.

Approximately 3,500 nursing and midwifery managers and linked grades are represented in the dispute by the INMO, the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) and SIPTU.

Those involved work across a broad range of healthcare services, including psychiatry, community and public health nursing, maternity and paediatric services, general hospitals, long-term care and palliative care.

The INMO is also holding lunchtime protests at seven other hospitals nationwide today.

Protests are scheduled at Cork University Hospital; St Vincent’s University Hospital; the Mater Public; Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda; Galway University Hospital; Letterkenny University Hospital; and University Hospital Limerick.

The work-to-rule marks the latest stage in the dispute over the proposed pay and grading changes.