Dear Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation members,
Tough times are on all of us, and you are fighting back with dignity and strength.
Since your job action began on September 30, nurses in Canada have been cheering you on from afar. Work-to-rule job actions are hard, and I know how important solidarity is right now – something our 55,000 members from the BC Nurses’ Union can attest to after 22 days of work-to-rule in July earlier this year. Nurses in British Columbia knew solidarity and support for them extended across Canada and far beyond our borders. This international solidarity is what we send you today.
Your government is playing a game that many trade union activists know well – ignoring the voices of frontline workers, refusing to address the cost of living, and not giving public health care workers competitive and fair wages. The key now is to escalate the pressure. As my fellow nurse union activist Kathleen Connors used to say, politicians don’t see the light, they feel the heat. With the strike action you’re taking on October 14 across Ireland, you’re making sure they feel the heat.
As it is often said, if nurses are outside on the streets, there is something really wrong inside of your public hospitals.
Stay strong. All 250,000 nurses and students of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions are with you in solidarity, every step of the way.
In solidarity always,
Linda Silas, CFNU President