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Thu 05 May 2007Welcome progress in nurses' disputeLeaders of the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) and the Psychiatric Nurses' Association (PNA) have displayed commendable judgment and restraint by rescinding a programme of work stoppages and a ban on overtime in favour of a more creative way forward. The settlement proposals may not satisfy their more militant members but, in the context of social partnership, these initiatives represent solid progress.An escalation of industrial action, following six weeks of work-to-rule, would have caused major disruption of hospital services. That would have been in nobody's interests. Compromise is always difficult in a charged atmosphere. A balance has to be struck between industrial demands, realistic expectations and the public good. Nobody gets everything they want. It is a tribute to the work of the National Implementation Body, representing Government, trade unions and employers, that it has produced a formula that may bridge the gap between the Health Service Executive and the nursing unions.