Cost of living key to any pay talks, say INMO members

As unions prepare to sit down with the Government to hammer out a new pay deal at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), there is a determination among those who were on the picket lines earlier this week that any new deal must cover increases in the cost of living.

Nurses, who are members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) at Cork University Hospital (CUH), say cost of living increases are the number one issue for them.

Róisín Duffy, a 23-year old midwife from Minane Bridge, Co Cork, remembers exactly when she decided she wanted to work as a nurse.

She was four years old when she got a doctor's set and went around calling herself "Doctor Róisín".

"I've always wanted to do nursing and then, when I found out what midwifery was, I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I love it. It's exactly what I wanted to do," she says.

Almost two decades on from the child with the doctor's set, Ms Duffy will graduate with her degree in midwifery from University College Cork (UCC) at the end of the month.

A fortnight ago, she started her first full-time job as a midwife in a post-natal ward at Cork University Maternity Hospital.

But, very quickly, she is learning that the job is not exactly what she had been hoping it would be.

On Wednesday, Ms Duffy was one of hundreds of nurses and midwives who picketed CUH, and one thousands around the country on strike to progress the dispute with the Government over a new national pay agreement.

Pay is not the only issue she has encountered in her short career.

For a start, the permanent job she had hoped for as a midwife in Cork has not materialilsed.

Instead, she was offered a "blank" contract, which gives her 37.5 hours work every week, but no guarantee of permanency in the maternity hospital's post-natal ward, where she looks after half a dozen mothers and new-born babies every shift.

"They said they can move us whenever they want, and it's not exactly the permanent position that we were expecting. It's disheartening," she said.

"I have signed no contract, and nothing has been guaranteed."

The lack of certainty has led Ms Murphy and her classmates to consider emigration, possibly to Australia.

"I suppose me and many other people have talked about moving elsewhere," she said.

"There are many other countries in the world that pay almost double what we get here and have an extremely better work environment. We're just run off our feet."

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Ms Murphy lives at home with her parents, her brother and sister.

She says she would like to think about buying her own home at some stage, but cannot see that happening on her current salary.

She said that is why she was on the picket line, she wants any pay increase agreed between the unions and the Government to match the increase in the cost of living.

"I just think the Government needs to recognise the important role we have in nurses and midwives and match our pay accordingly.

"We're not asking for a lot. We just want to be able to survive with the cost of living.

"I'm in a better position than most, because I live at home. But I'm still commuting, and I still have the cost of living that everyone else. Groceries are extremely expensive, petrol is extremely expensive, and I'm getting by, but I'm finding it extremely hard to save."

Jibin Soman, 39, works in the neurosurgery ward of CHU.

He is one of thousands of foreign nurses working in the health service, as he and his wife Aiswarya came to Ireland from India.

Aiswarya is also a nurse and works in a nursing home in the private sector.

Jibin began working at CUH nine years ago, searching for a better life and a better standard of living.

He says the cost of living is making it extremely difficult to get by, notwithstanding the fact that there are two salaries coming into his household.

The couple have a six-year old daughter and are living in Watergrasshill in north Co Cork.

"It's hard, it's a struggle and it's a pressure.

"So, I would say, if you ask me at this stage, it is not meeting the expectations that I had when I initially moved here. What we get is only to cover the cost of living at the moment; it's not even meeting the cost of living at the moment."

He recalls his motivation for training as a nurse: the passion he felt to care for his patients.

He points to the range of responsibilities he has to fulfil in the neurosurgery ward, before he can have time to actually spend time with and care for his patients.

He questions if there is still space to do that.

"I don't know: we don't have enough time," he said.

"We do try our best."

He is clear about why he went on strike this week.

"It's purely that we don't have enough money. We have been saying that to everyone, that we are not getting enough money to meet the cost of living.

"There's huge inflation and it's visible to everyone. If you go to the petrol station to fill your car, it's visible there. That's huge inflation. If you go to the grocery shop - the inflation is too high. The prices have gone up too much.

"If you compare the point where I came here in 2017 with now, there is a huge difference that you can see in the price of groceries, diesel, everything: energy, oil, gas, electricity."

Mr Soman said that he regularly has to deal with situations where his monthly salary only stretches for a fortnight, and he has to supplement from his wife's salary.

Notwithstanding that struggle, Mr Soman sees his future in Ireland.

"This is a nice country to live in. I expect the Government will listen to us. They will see the struggle that we have, the pressure that we have in our lives, and our desire to stay in this country," he said.

"And I hope they see what we are doing for this country: all the nurses working hard for this country. I hope they listen to us; they hear us and they do what we are asking."

Working conditions 'demoralising'

Jennifer Searle works as a senior staff nurse in the endoscopy department at CUH.

She has been nursing for 28 years, having trained and qualified at St James' Hospital in Dublin.

She lives in Midleton, Co Cork, with her husband and their two children.

Ms Searle was 16 when she first cared for someone: her grandfather, Bernard Jordan.

He had a fall in Ballyhaunis in Co Mayo and his graddaughter was dispatched there from her home in Ballina to help him recuperate after he was discharged from hospital.

"I went into nursing because I absolutely love it," she said.

"I love helping people and being there for people. It's the best job in the world. It's just amazing."

Ms Searle retains her passion for her job, but the frustrations of increased pressure in the workplace are clear.

"It's an amazing job but every day- I've been in nursing such a long time now - it's just more and more pressure. It's a case of not having those minutes to spend with your patients.

"It's having to do things very quickly. You're doing the job of maybe one or two other nurses. The pressure is unbelievable."

"It's not what it used to be at all."

She describes the increased pressure on her and her colleagues as demoralising.

"You leave work and you feel like you just haven't done enough," she said.

Ms Searle spent Wednesday on the picket line with her colleagues at CUH.

"You know, we're not out here for the fun of it. We want fair pay: fair pay for the work we do today. It's as simple as that.

"Like everyone else in this country, everything - even in the last couple of months - everything from groceries to energy to fuel, everything is skyrocketing.

"It's just to keep up with the cost of living."

She is adamant that public sector workers will get a fair pay increase, but she says none of them actually wanted to be on strike.

"I want to be doing my job. I want to be looking after my patients. I want to be doing what I wanted to do all these years," she said.