A planned lunchtime protest at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda has been called off after a dispute involving senior nursing and midwifery managers was referred to the Labour Court.
The work-to-rule had been due to begin on Tuesday, 29th September, with a lunchtime protest planned outside the Drogheda hospital from 12.30pm to 1.30pm.
However, the unions representing the grades involved, the INMO, PNA and SIPTU, have confirmed that the dispute has now been stood down while the matter goes through the Labour Court process.
All associated industrial action and lunchtime protests have also been cancelled.
The dispute concerns the implementation of a new pay and grading structure for nursing and midwifery managers and linked grades.
Around 3,500 staff had been due to take part in the work-to-rule. The original action involved Directors and Assistant Directors of Nursing and Midwifery, Advanced Nurse and Midwife Practitioners and Nurse and Midwife Tutors.
Drogheda protest cancelled
The protest planned for Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital was one of several due to take place around the country.
Other locations included Cork University Hospital, University Hospital Limerick, St Vincent’s University Hospital, the Mater, Letterkenny University Hospital, Galway University Hospital and Midlands Regional Hospital Mullingar.
Those protests have now also been stood down.
The unions will instead engage with the Labour Court process in an effort to resolve the dispute.
The industrial action had centred on what the unions described as the failure to implement proposals to modernise the pay and grading system for senior nursing and midwifery manager
