What Happens Next?

With RCN nurses voting overwhelmingly to back strike action, the question remains over whether they will actually walk out.

The overall turnout was 46% with 80% of those voting ‘yes’.

In announcing that result regional director for the North West of England, Estephanie Dunn said: ‘The results of these consultations has given us a strong message on how the membership on the Isle of Man want us to progress with their campaign for Fair Pay.  However, what this means for our negotiations with Manx Care and for any potential industrial action, it is yet to be determined.’

She added that the next step would be to talk to the local branch, alongside the member-led boards and committees, to discuss what they do next.

We understand that the figures from the RCN’s north west branch are due on island next week.

For its part, Manx Care has not made the usual noises you expect in these circumstance of “we want to avoid strike action” or words to those effect, instead the health provider had said it is looking at the union to tell it what comes next.

A spokesperson said: ‘Manx Care is continuing its discussions with the Royal College of Nursing in order to establish what this result means for strike action on the Isle of Man.’