Posted by old timer on October 20, 1999 at 14:55:16:
In Reply to: Re: NURSE ON STRIKE posted by wuff ! on October 20, 1999 at 14:39:35:
I woulds like to add to the previous posting.
It may be that the nurses are a special case, and that they should get what they are looking for. Then what is going to happen. ? We will have the Teachers, the Gardai, the Fire service, Civil Servants and the Local Authority workers looking for dosh. All because they see themselves as being in a 'relative' pay situtaion to the nurses.
None of the Unions bosses of the people mentioned above have agreed to 'ring-fence' the nurses claim. Will we have the public pay chaos as we did in the 1980s. ? Those of us old enough to remember those days,remember when every public servant was trying to leapfrog the other as regards pay. Income tax went through the roof, public and private sector strikes were the norm, and 30,000 people a year took the boat to England or the US.
I'm not saying that we will be back to the bad old days if they pay the nurses their claim, it's just that we should all be aware of the potential consequences of doing so.