Student nurses stage protest

A number of student nurses held a protest against proposed pay cuts outside Tullamore hospital on Wednesday afternoon. The protest was organised by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation as part of its campaign to highlight the government's decision to cut pay for working 4th year pre-registration nurses and midwives. The 4th year students actually replace qualified staff on wards for the final nine months of their degree programme. The government has decided, without consultation, to phase out their pay (80% of the minimum of the new lower staff nurse scale) over the next four years and pay them nothing from 2015 onwards, forcing them to work full-time on wards, providing direct patient care, for no wage. The INMO said the cuts are in breach of the Croke Park Agreement and the EU Directive on Information and Consultation. INMO's Deputy General Secretary, Dave Hughes said: “Pre-registered nurses and midwives are the lowest paid grade in the health service. They are now to have a third pay cut imposed, one more than all other health workers. The Minister for Finance, twelve months ago, reduced the cut for higher paid civil servants, saying it was unfair as they had previously lost performance related pay awards. It seems he has no such sympathy for people on the lowest rates who work hardest in frontline services.â€