In an Ireland where many workers have not yet seen the benefits of postcrisis recovery, it is nurses who have come into the forefront of the fight against austerity. Over the last two weeks the unions representing nurses have mounted gradually extended strikes to heap pressure on the government to resolve their demands over staffing levels and pay. Polls suggest the nurses’ action enjoyed a phenomenal 74 percent public support.

The strike has certainly had a major effect. Across three days of walkouts on January 30, February 5, and February 7, 2019, all nonemergency hospital services were canceled, affecting more than 80,000 patients. The dispute then seemed likely to escalate, as the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO) and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) threatened three consecutive days of direct action. Such a strike would have brought an overstretched health system to its knees.

Despite the intensity of the conflict, public opinion remained solidly on the nurses’ side. As a sign of this overwhelming solidarity, tens of thousands of people marched together with nurses in downtown Dublin on February 9. Two days later, unions suspended their action, as the Labour Court made a proposal for new pay scales and promotion opportunities, to be voted on by union members in March.