Nurses striking

[Ohnoherewegoagain]

Tbh I welcome everyone’s opinion on this, I feel at these point we should all as a country as a whole have received some pay increase given the current cost of living crisis. Most people are just getting by, yet those in power are more than comfortable. Just doesn’t sit right with me. Being a nurse in NI we are always behind in our pay scales, I knew this when I joined up so don’t expect it to every change, especially when we have no working government here. What saddens me is the waiting lists, the lack of nursing home placements and social care at home availability - however nothing we do will ever immediately recover this, nurses take 3-4 years to train, buildings if they get funding take months to years to be completed to be fit for purpose.
Yes it was a historical moment for the RCN to say they would strike but what they expect in pay of course is going to aggravate others. We’ve all been burnt out and close to leaving from pre covid so why have they suddenly started pushing so hard now! We could have better outcomes if they’re started discussions at the start of covid when those in healthcare jobs and key worker areas potentially had more impact. I think we’ve missed our window tbh. Just hope we can at least in the next year open more community services to reduce the hospital admissions. I know in NI we have great nurses who could fill these roles and do very well at managing many patients at home, we just lack the funding due to not having a working government to allow the availability of these funds.
(I have also worked in a range of jobs - hospitality, retail, schools, childcare, even factory work! I know I’m in the right job now though some where more exhausting than my current job and I work on a ward, it’s just trying to navigate the road we’re on atm unfortunately)

 

[gigilouxx]

The thing is, it's not even true is it. Are Aldi cashiers earning 33k plus?

Think they’re on about 21 a year or similar

 

[Emsie]

Think they’re on about 21 a year or similar

There we go... Not a nurses salary then
Comparing this with the bus strikes that are going on locally to me at the minute. Theyve just turned down 14% which would have only bought an experienced driver to 33k. I swear nurses live on another planet.

 

[Blond3g1rl]

And they won’t be getting a very good DB pension either

 

[Former_Antelopee]

There we go... Not a nurses salary then
Comparing this with the bus strikes that are going on locally to me at the minute. Theyve just turned down 14% which would have only bought an experienced driver to 33k. I swear nurses live on another planet.

I always have thought this! When I first qualified after uni in my job I was on 18k and looked into aldi as it would’ve been better pay. I then got a pay rise to 21k and it wasn’t then worth going to aldi as it was the same (or very similar) pay.

 

[HoGi]

Think they’re on about 21 a year or similar

Every comparison of nurses salary to Aldi workers I have seen is comparing NET nurses salary to Gross supermarket employees salary.

So comparing apples and oranges. Stating that fact doesn't make a good headline though!

 

[Mrhopalot]

The thing is, it's not even true is it. Are Aldi cashiers earning 33k plus?

Nurses starting salary is 27k only after 5 years service will they reach circa 33k

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Nurses starting salary is 27k only after 5 years service will they reach circa 33k

It’s still more than the Aldi average wage of 25K.
There was a student nurse on TV the other day saying she didn’t go in to it for the money, she knew it was going to be hard, but she just wants to care for people.
Every new recruit should be like that.

 

[anotheronebitesthedust.1]

It’s still more than the Aldi average wage of 25K.
There was a student nurse on TV the other day saying she didn’t go in to it for the money, she knew it was going to be hard, but she just wants to care for people.
Every new recruit should be like that.

Student nurses are often protected from all the tit that goes on behind the scenes , they are contracted to certain hours for insurance purposes , they don’t stay behind for hours to catch up on paperwork , go withoit breaks because there isn’t anybody to relieve them , ask for extra help on the nhsp rota hoping someone picks up shifts to help out the ward , give up days off to cover shifts

give them a few months of being qualified and struggling to get through their preceptorship period because there’s a lack of support and are just seen as part of the numbers once they Have their blues and they will see the real struggles

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Student nurses are often protected from all the tit that goes on behind the scenes , they are contracted to certain hours for insurance purposes , they don’t stay behind for hours to catch up on paperwork , go withoit breaks because there isn’t anybody to relieve them , ask for extra help on the nhsp rota hoping someone picks up shifts to help out the ward , give up days off to cover shifts

give them a few months of being qualified and struggling to get through their preceptorship period because there’s a lack of support and are just seen as part of the numbers once they Have their blues and they will see the real struggles

Which is surely a case for bringing back on the job training.

 

[Tui]

nurses work nights which I imagine Aldi workers don’t?

 

[whoareyouu]

nurses work nights which I imagine Aldi workers don’t?

They do.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

They do.

They also start work at silly o’clock in the morning and finish very late at night.

 

[Emsie]

nurses work nights which I imagine Aldi workers don’t?

It's irrelevant because I think we all agree that there isn't a chance a nurse could earn more if they jacked in nursing and went to work at Aldi as a cashier. They'll have to pick another profession to lord it over

 

[Tui]

It's irrelevant because I think we all agree that there isn't a chance a nurse could earn more if they jacked in nursing and went to work at Aldi as a cashier. They'll have to pick another profession to lord it over

I just think we’re missing the point that nursing is a highly skilled job requiring a degree so Aldi shouldn’t really be our yardstick unless it’s a comparable job with comparable skills and responsibility. It’s pointless repeating this though.

 

[judgejohndeed]

I just think we’re missing the point that nursing is a highly skilled job requiring a degree so Aldi shouldn’t really be our yardstick unless it’s a comparable job with comparable skills and responsibility. It’s pointless repeating this though.

You're entitled to your opinion but it does blow my mind somewhat that you're still flogging this horse when you literally just demonstrated that you don't even understand what working in Aldi entails (i.e. the comment about Aldi workers not working overnight)
Plus there's different kinds of nursing anyway just as there are different kinds of retail etc. Should an A&E nurse get paid more than someone on a checkout? Probably. Should a GP nurse who works a 9-5 sitting down get paid more than an Aldi worker shifting heavy stuff around on the night shift? Not convinced personally.

 

[gigilouxx]

The first mention of Aldi that I saw was nurses saying they could “earn more if they left the NHS and worked in Aldi” then it went to them saying the people who work in Pret are on more money. The way nurses have come across during these strikes hasn’t been well at all, a lot of them seem to have a bag of chips on their shoulder and a stinking entitled attitude. Especially with the comments about “working through the pandemic”

 

[Mrhopalot]

And they won’t be getting a very good DB pension either

Not every staff member who works for the NHS is in the pension, simply because they can’t afford to be in it.

It’s still more than the Aldi average wage of 25K.
There was a student nurse on TV the other day saying she didn’t go in to it for the money, she knew it was going to be hard, but she just wants to care for people.
Every new recruit should be like that.

I entered my profession to care for people but also because I need to earn money to live. Nobody I know goes to work for the fun of it.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Not every staff member who works for the NHS is in the pension, simply because they can’t afford to be in it.

I entered my profession to care for people but also because I need to earn money to live. Nobody I know goes to work for the fun of it.

There are a lot of jobs that don’t earn as much as nurses and they want to live too.

 

[Tui]

There are a lot of jobs that don’t earn as much as nurses and they want to live too.

It’s all a race to the bottom isn’t it
---

You're entitled to your opinion but it does blow my mind somewhat that you're still flogging this horse when you literally just demonstrated that you don't even understand what working in Aldi entails (i.e. the comment about Aldi workers not working overnight)
Plus there's different kinds of nursing anyway just as there are different kinds of retail etc. Should an A&E nurse get paid more than someone on a checkout? Probably. Should a GP nurse who works a 9-5 sitting down get paid more than an Aldi worker shifting heavy stuff around on the night shift? Not convinced personally.

I think the way nurses are paid is archaic in that an outpatients band 5 shouldn’t be paid the same as an ICU band 5. Although the “GP nurse” depends what they’re doing. If they’re a nurse practitioner sitting down doing consultations , prescribing etc then hell yeah they should earn more.