Legal action could hit the benchmarking body if it fails to deliver pay increases of more than e6,000 a year for the country’s 40,000 nurses, it emerged last night.The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) delivered the warning in the wake of a landmark Labour Court sex discrimination ruling which will boost the pay of Directors of Health Nursing by up to E17,000. The long-awaited benchmarking report on public service pay is due to be published on Thursday amid grim predictions it will fail to deliver any significant increases to key groups such as nurses. However, the INO — which last year led a bitter pre-election dispute in pursuit of higher pay and a shorter working week — warned last night it would consider a legal challenge on the grounds of equality if nurses’ claims are ignored. Potential Deputy General Secretary Dave Hughes said the Labour Court decision had the potential to “strike at the heart” of pay determination in the health service. It has the potential to provide the lever the union needs to mount a challenge to the benchmarking process if the predominantly female nursing workforce loses out on increases, he added. The INO took a case on behalf of Directors of Public Health Nursing, who are all women and were paid €73,000, compared with the mainly male Directors of of Mental Health — who are on salaries of €84,700 and a potential bonus of €7,000. “The Labour Court decision upheld the original decision of the Equality Tribunal and in addition declared the pay system, in place since 1997, is indirectly discriminating against women,” he said. Depressed “It vindicated our view that nurse pay rates are depressed simply as a consequence of the female domination of the nursing and midwifery professions”. The 33 Directors of Public Health Nursing are now to get back money of around €64,000 each, costing the Health Service Executive (HSE) around €3m. They will secure a pay rise of around €10,000 as well as the potential bonus of €7,000. The INO and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) called off their eight-week industrial action last year after agreeing to put their claims to benchmarking. In their submission, they sought hikes of up to 20pc and a Dublin weighting allowance for nurses in the capital.

Des Kavanagh of the PNA said yesterday he believed nurses would have to consider abandoning emergency cover in future industrial disputes if the benchmarking body dismissed their claims. Read more