Last week the main nursing unions, the INO and the PNA, which represent 40,000 nurses, upped the ante in their ongoing pay battle with health minister Mary Harney when they announced a nationwide work to rule from next Monday. This will include a refusal to answer all but essential phone calls and a ban on administrative duties and clerical work. Nurses will also not attend local management meetings nor co-operate with opening/closing of community buildings.

"The work to rule is designed to maximise disruption to management and to minimise disruption to the patient, " said Liam Doran, general secretary of the INO.

But the Health Service Executive said this was "an insidious form of industrial action" which will disrupt patient care.

"The employers are considering an appropriate response which may include a deduction in pay, " warned Brendan Mulligan of the Health Service Executive.

It is understood Mary Harney will be briefed this week on pay cuts in a dispute which has become heavily politicised in the run up to the general election.

Harney offered the nurses a forum to discuss their claim for a 35 hour week but only if they were willing to concede on work practices. She stood firm against the unions' main claim for a 10% pay increase saying that like all other unions that will have to be processed through the benchmarking pay process later this year.