Nurses striking

[Emsie]

No one begrudes nurses a payrise. I've said this time and time again throughout this thread.
Nurses are literally acting like everyone is living their best life whilst they are standing in line at a foodbank and it's not true. Nurses have actually in fact had a payrise, I think it was around 6%. I do actually think that is a little low but it's still waaaay more than most people got.
The insinuation that nurses cannot survive on 33k and are using foodbanks is insulting when people earning less aren't using foodbanks.
The chip on shoulder nurses are currently sporting is unattractive at best. We, the public, do not owe you a damn thing. We pay for the NHS, we support the NHS, we you ain't the be all and end all.
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Doctors will have less support because no one can get a doctor's appointment.

 

[gigilouxx]

Isn’t that contradictory, if we don’t do what they want they’ll leave and there’ll be no nurses or paramedics. Yet according to the comments I’ve seen there’s already no nurses or paramedics, so what difference does it make?

 

[Purrrrrrr]

I don't understand why people are not up in arms or on the street protesting about what is happening to our NHS.
it's being deliberately destroyed because the governments want the UK to be the same as the USA. Most of it has already been sold and or privatised, this isn't new it's on its last legs

PM won't even negotiate because they (governments) want the strikes to happen because they want the public to turn against the strikers. it's going to be too late to do anything soon.

 

[emm]

Speaking as a former nurse, there's definitely an element of seeing it as "women's work" and expecting therefore that's its really just cheap labour and what are they upset about.

If nursing was (or traditionally had been) dominated by men but required the same degree, years of ongoing medical training, the unsocial hours and pure physicality I guarantee it'd pay 3 times what it does.

definitely agree with this!
I am also sick of (as other people have said) "my job is badly paid so..." Personally my, quite highly qualified job also is, but as relatively low paid workers we are just being pitted against each other when we should be supporting each other. Unfortunately my job doesn't have a union but if it did I would have joined yesterday

 

[I_Like_Tractors]

Same with paying for their pin and parking. Plenty of people have to pay professional memberships and we all pay our own parking.

I don't think many people pay to park at their place of work when it isn't in a town centre. At my trust there's an 8 year waiting list to pay £25 a month to maybe get a space, and it's a bun fight and you can drive around looking for one for an hour because they're still aren't enough for the permits issued.

(Appreciate this isn't the issue but seeing as you bought it up)

As you say, nursing isn't for you if you don't quite understand it because it does tend to be for those where it's more than just a job. Same for most NHS roles. You can earn more working somewhere else but you tend to do the job because you feel drawn to the health service and love what it stands for.

 

[judgejohndeed]

@Tui its snobby IMO to think ‘tough shit to anyone who disagrees with me’ is even worth saying, as if your opinion is the only important one or one that matters when you’re biased anyway. I support any and every group striking for better pay and conditions in this economic climate but if you’re surprised a lot of the public don’t then I’d start by looking at your own tone tbh. It’s not the fault of Aldi workers that you’re underpaid and they are deserving of decent pay as well, if you can’t make your point without shitting over another group of workers (and it can be done, as others have) then it can’t be a very good one.

 

[tillyflop]

Absolutely they should. I’m a health worker and I work in supporting individuals with complex disabilities. We are so exhausted after the effects of Covid-19. We literally were left in homes with patients because nurses wouldn’t enter. Our responsibilities are ten fold what they used to be. We are changing PEG sites and doing complex things that some nurses are not comfortable in doing. When our residents go into hospital it’s us that go in and do 12hr 1-1 shifts to support the individuals as the nurses are too stretched. We are the nurses yet if we went on strike we would be sacked. Our pay is at the bottom of the pile and it really doesn’t reflect our responsibilities/working hours/work load. The sacrifices we make, nobody is fighting for us. If we all walked out tomorrow (everyone working in health & social care) then all those people would be put into hospital (as they all need medication and quite often complex care to survive). The hospitals would collapse. So yeah, if nurses can strike then I’m all for them. We don’t have a pin and we aren’t registered yet it’s nurses that come out to train us in the jobs we do every day. The ambulances are striking, this meant we had to do CPR in work as we had a choking incident. We had to administer oxygen and a suction machine - the paramedic arrived and said we’d done everything be would of done and then he pretty much left. All for £10 odd an hour it’s buggered - the whole system.

 

[Mrhopalot]

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

No doubt about it. Nursing isn’t just any old job though is it? 3 years in University, shit loads of debt, making life changing medical decisions and dealing with death daily deserves decent pay. Not everyone has the skills required to become a nurse

 

[Emsie]

So you’re on your feet for 12 hour shifts, then, responsible for the near-to-death at every second? If so, I’d love to know what industry you work in.

No I'm not but that doesn't mean I don't work hard. Comments like this is why you lose my support I don't owe you anything.
Its not just nurses using food banks! Why you acting like the cost of living crisis is only affecting your profession!

 

[no-no]

A large, blanket pay rise is unfeasible with the insane occupational sick pay and pensions, it’s not like a pay rise in the private sector it’s factoring in all those other benefits that barely get mentioned. If they bring those in line with reality then they’d have a better chance but they won’t and it’s unsustainable. There was a nurse in the news recently who’s been off on full pay since 2020. Try your luck at that in retail or anywhere else.

 

[Polythene Pam]

I've been hearing out of 300,000 only 10,000 striking and these were supplemented by the just stop oil mob. That union leader is on crazy money
If there wasn't Blanket media coverage idk if anyone would notice any difference
I think everyone's equally corrupt. All workers need more money and gov could do that if they stopped HS2, got rid of the 100,000 illegal albanians etc. The unions have obvs all co-ordinated the strikes. We're in the grip of the socialists, all institutions. Its wrecking the UK. There no end in sight, no leadership and labour set to be next leaders.

How on earth are we in the grip of socialists?! The country is in the state its in right now because of 12 years of Tory rule. It's getting really hard to convincingly blame anything else at this point.

 

[Polythene Pam]

THIS!! All retail workers, cleaners, bin men etc who also worked through the pandemic, exposing themselves being abused by the public they also deserve pay rises but because they aren’t civil servants they are seen as a lessor citizen.

Everyone deserves a pay rise but we are in a recession, after a pandemic with world war three possibly on the card. Everyone is in the shit with those in power having no idea while they drink £100 bottles of wine at lunch.

I would support them all striking too. Unionise people!
We are in a recession because of consistent mismanagement of the economy for over a decade.

 

[Emsie]

the sheer amount of wilful misinterpretation on this thread is staggering. Nobody said only nurses deserve better pay or that others are thick as pig shit for gods sake. Get a fucking grip and unionise if you want to be able to strike. It’s not NHS workers problem that other groups are not unionised. It literally is not their fucking problem.

By this mentality I guess it's okay for me to say your payrise isn't our "fucking problem" either?
Nurses are acting as if it's only happening to them which irks people. Surely you can see that?

 

[judgejohndeed]

But you do earn more as the living wage increases!!!!! It doesn’t with nurses. I could work in a pharmacy dispensing or any other job and my wage will go up. I could work in construction and just say i want a pay rise and if you’re worthy they will. Without being forced to take in a leadership role. You’re missing the point.

Every single year there’s been an agenda for change uplift? The pay does go up. You can’t just say ‘I want a pay rise’ and get one in any job I’m not missing your point at all, it’s just a fundamentally stupid one.

 

[IfTheCapFits]

I'm 100% behind strike action

Especially after hearing a soundbite from some twat of an MP on the radio this morning "you're choosing to put patients at risk by striking..." or some such bollocks! I'm absolutely furious on behalf of NHS staff

Edit - quote found

 

[miss n thropy]

Nurse deserve more money. They have the same right to strike as any other member of society.

Whilst not all economists agree, (just like not all philosophers, paleonotologists, epidemiologists etc. etc. agree) many believe that public sector pay rises do not fuel inflation therefore have no effect on that part of the cost of living crisis. This is because they do not form part of any production chain and therefore those costs are not passed on.

Reform of tax breaks for Non Dom status taxpayers could raise more than enough money for their pay rises. (Not corporate taxes). We might lose a few of these ultra wealthy but who cares.

Better paid members of unions go on strike to support the lower paid members. If the only people who went on strike were the lowest paid of any sector then the withdrawal of labour, the only bargaining chip working people have, would not be effective.

This government can always find millions for projects they want to which are largely unnecessary. See the millions already found for the voter I.D. Scheme.

I fucking hate this particular government with a passion. I am over 60 and have seen many but I cannot remember any previous government of any party with so many lying, corrupt self serving grifters. notwithstanding Covid and the Ukraine war, much of the current crisis and division in this country is down to them.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I fully support all NHS workers taking strike action.

Power to the People (Citizen Smith reference for anyone old enough to remember)

 

[Yel]

It all comes back to the cost of housing imo. If you bought your house a while ago and have had over a decade of low interest rates to pay off the debt then a nurses wage is good. If you're paying £1'400+ a month on rent alone then it's often a struggle with the other costs.

Decades ago they should have stopped house prices and rents going out of control. Instead they did nothing (both labour and Tory) and it was eventually going to cause all these problems. I don't know how this can all be unwound without causing damage. If a lid had of been kept on house prices most of these strikes wouldn't be needed.

"Good news! House prices up!"

 

[Polythene Pam]

Real terms pay cut for the majority of workers but more billionaires than ever before? Wake up people! There is a magic money tree, it's just being used to feed the wealthy.

 

[Emsie]

It's not a pay cut. You are not getting a pay cut. It's a payrise that isn't in line with inflation.
The language in these strikes (not just nurses TBF) is infuriating!!!

 

[struggs123]

I agree with the strikes, it is about more than pay (although that would help with retention) but technically you can only strike for certain things. Raising awareness of the working conditions, as has been done via social media and via threads like this is a natural offshoot from the strikes and also what its all about.

I left nursing as although I loved it and have never wanted to do anything else, its absolutely awful being dangerously short staffed every shift with no end in sight. Every shift you're not only run off of your feet but you know you cannot deliver the level of care you want to whilst also worrying about whether something is going to go wrong and you'll lose your pin or worse. Morale is super low since covid as well- people are burnt out, exhausted and leaving in their thousands. The NHS as is simply cannot go on as it is, it's unsustainable and people are needlessly dying every day which is just scary and sad.

I do think it needs an overhaul though, I'd separate out medical roles and admin roles when it comes to banding. Admin and corporate do work really hard but I don't think if we fight for more pay they should also get a bump, selfish I know. Also lots of other fundamental changes than no government will ever tackle, not just within healthcare but also social and economic factors that affect peoples health and lives.

I don't think striking is the golden bullet, but similarly something has to be done as the government have known about these brewing issues for years and haven't done anything. Ridiculously as well some wards have had more staff during strike action as they are bound to min staffing which is just...ridiculous.

Edit to add: I was fortunate and trained when the degree was funded and we had a bursary. I don't know how people manage now and it is absolutely a travesty that students working full time hours on wards got blocks of time do not get paid, in fact they pay to be there effectively. Also the hospital parking and paying for your revalidation etc let's not even go there. If people in the private sector want to fight for better conditions I'd back them and stand with them. As the government is ours that's why we direct it towards them, direct it towards yours if you feel they should pay for your parking etc.