PNA will resume industrial action in Tuam on Monday
MEMBERS of the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) in Galway and Roscommon will recommence industrial action on Monday after a breakdown in talks with the HSE.
Staff members across all community, acute and residential mental health facilities in Galway and Roscommon, including the new Grove campus in Tuam, will begin work-to-rule action from the start of their shift at 8am on Monday.
“Unless senior management steps in immediately to deliver genuine, written solutions to these long-standing issues, the PNA will recommence industrial action on Monday morning, with a mandate to escalate further across the region if necessary,” said Niall O’Sullivan, the PNA’s Industrial Relations Officer.
The PNA have said they deferred serving notice of industrial action last month, and that staff members have now been left with no other choice but to return to industrial action, due to HSE management’s failure to respond to correspondence following a conciliation hearing at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in Ballinasloe on October 8.
The PNA also detailed that they attended the conciliation hearing looking for commitments from HSE management to address issues raised with workplace, clinical safety and governance disputes.
“Following that engagement, we issued formal correspondence seeking clear assurances on key outstanding disputes, setting a definitive deadline to avert escalation,” continued Mr O’Sullivan.
"The HSE’s failure to respond to that correspondence or provide the necessary commitments is symptomatic of the ongoing disrespect and lack of meaningful engagement our members have endured for over two years.
“When management repeatedly fails to engage with established industrial relations processes, ignores third-party agreements, and refuses to adhere even to standard governance and recruitment policies, it demonstrates they are simply not serious about resolving this dispute.
“Frontline nurses cannot continue to carry the burden of management inaction and broken commitments. We have been left with no other option but to set a date to recommence our industrial action."