Nurses striking

[gigilouxx]

There are comments on social media by NHS staff making comments about the general public, calling them “pan bangers” as well, as though the general public have any say in what their wage is.

I agree they work hard, they deserve a pay rise, they absolutely should be working in better conditions both for themselves and the patients. But what I absolutely can not get behind is someone saying how they “can’t live” on a salary of £33k a year, I don’t support striking as it’s the most vulnerable that will suffer. I also find it really unfair that the police have a completely shocking starting salary, are overworked and aren’t allowed to strike? 20k a year for a starting officer, duck that

 

[Yel]

I think nurses do highlight the squeezed middle. When you're on 30k something you're not entitled to any top up benefits. Someone working far less hours on less pay could have top ups that massively boost finances.

I get the thinking behind top ups, but they do seem to be allowing companies to pay less and allow those at the top to cream off even more profit.

 

[JoeBloggs]

I think everyone has the right to expect better and withdraw their labour
Theres enough money out there, don’t be fooled by newspaper barons and the right wing media who would keep us all down

I think Victorian social progressives and philanthropists would be turning in their graves if they could see what has happened to the life chances of the vast majority of people over the last 12 years of Tory government

I work for a small business and I do the finances, there is no more money for me.

I think nurses do highlight the squeezed middle. When you're on 30k something you're not entitled to any top up benefits. Someone working far less hours on less pay could have top ups that massively boost finances.

I get the thinking behind top ups, but they do seem to be allowing companies to pay less and allow those at the top to cream off even more profit.

When you hear people are getting £1600 a month in benefits it is a real kick in the teeth for those working 2/3 jobs and barely making ends meet.

 

[gigilouxx]

I think nurses do highlight the squeezed middle. When you're on 30k something you're not entitled to any top up benefits. Someone working far less hours on less pay could have top ups that massively boost finances.

I get the thinking behind top ups, but they do seem to be allowing companies to pay less and allow those at the top to cream off even more profit.

100% this. I grew up “working poor” and it was absolutely pants. I felt sorry for my parents as they had a fair few of us kids and help was virtually non existent

 

[struggs123]

*as a graduate salary for a person with 10 years of experience £33k is crap…*

Yep. To be honest though it doesn't matter if others think its a fair wage, end of the day if the people doing the job don't think it's fair or reasonable then they leave, which they are doing. Someone saying well others earn less isn't going to make them stay.

 

[JoeBloggs]

*as a graduate salary for a person with 10 years of experience £33k is crap…*

Yep. To be honest though it doesn't matter if others think its a fair wage, end of the day if the people doing the job don't think it's fair or reasonable then they leave, which they are doing. Someone saying well others earn less isn't going to make them stay.

The public have no say in any of this, we don't determine the working conditions, the pay or retention. The ONLY people who can change this is the government. They are the only ones who can make them stay.

 

[struggs123]

The public have no say in any of this, we don't determine the working conditions, the pay or retention. The ONLY people who can change this is the government. They are the only ones who can make them stay.

Yes that's what I mean although not very clearly. If people get their backs up as they earn less and don't support the strikes and pay rises then realistically it doesn't really make a difference.

 

[JoeBloggs]

Yes that's what I mean although not very clearly. If people get their backs up as they earn less and don't support the strikes and pay rises then realistically it doesn't really make a difference.

However they do have to suffer with the disruption.

 

[struggs123]

However they do have to suffer with the disruption.

They do, but similarly sadly also suffering with poor care and long wait times every day even out of strike dates, it sad all round.

 

[popb1tch]

I work for a small business and I do the finances, there is no more money for me.


When you hear people are getting £1600 a month in benefits it is a real kick in the teeth for those working 2/3 jobs and barely making ends meet.

I mean in the macro economics sense…there is plenty of money out there…it’s just in the hands of billionaires and the owning classes

 

[Tui]

To be honest there is little comparison between a retail worker and a nurse. Nurses are degree educated, skilled professionals, and the pay structure absolutely does not reflect the diversity of the modern nursing profession and the complexity of modern medical practice. Nurses are also a captive workforce, there are few opportunities to work as a nurse outside of the NHS, although they exist they are limited and not comparable to NHS work. Ultimately the government needs nurses, doctors, paramedics etc and needs to be prepared to pay for them and if those professional groups feel they are not being paid properly then the pay of other groups like retail workers is totally irrelevant.
Working conditions for NHS staff are absolutely bleeping awful right now and if you haven’t experienced it yourself I honestly don’t think many can imagine it. Retail work is grim too but it just does not compare and ultimately if you don’t like working for one company you can leave but the NHS is tit everywhere. Changing those conditions is not going to happen overnight whereas pay *restoration* could, because what nurses are asking for is effectively pay restoration for 10-12 years of pay degradation. Who is going to want to be a nurse right now? Hospitals are dangerous places to be.

 

[gigilouxx]

To be honest there is little comparison between a retail worker and a nurse. Nurses are degree educated, skilled professionals, and the pay structure absolutely does not reflect the diversity of the modern nursing profession and the complexity of modern medical practice. Nurses are also a captive workforce, there are few opportunities to work as a nurse outside of the NHS, although they exist they are limited and not comparable to NHS work. Ultimately the government needs nurses, doctors, paramedics etc and needs to be prepared to pay for them and if those professional groups feel they are not being paid properly then the pay of other groups like retail workers is totally irrelevant.
Working conditions for NHS staff are absolutely bleeping awful right now and if you haven’t experienced it yourself I honestly don’t think many can imagine it. Retail work is grim too but it just does not compare and ultimately if you don’t like working for one company you can leave but the NHS is tit everywhere. Changing those conditions is not going to happen overnight whereas pay *restoration* could, because what nurses are asking for is effectively pay restoration for 10-12 years of pay degradation. Who is going to want to be a nurse right now? Hospitals are dangerous places to be.

I get what you’re saying 100%
Their pay is tit, their working conditions are abysmal and this the state of the NHS has been like death of a thousand cuts.
However, where I think what they do is amazing and it must be hell on earth on some of those wards I find it hard, in the current climate hearing how someone earning over 2k per month “can’t live” yet millions have to, some peoples wages are so tit they can’t exist never mind live. No one’s compared low paid retail workers etc to nurses, but to say their wages aren’t relevant can’t be right surely? Those retail workers could be the next drive of nurses, however they stay in retail because they need to for childcare etc.
Those lower paid jobs are gonna be the ones footing the bill with the rise of NI to cover the NHS 19% increase or whatever the agreed amount is. If the government try clawing it back from the big cats they’ll move like Lewis Hamilton and take all their stuff to a tax haven, half of these big businesses owners will have fingers in all sorts of pies and they’ll be movin money all over the place. People on low wages won’t be able to afford the NI increase to pay NHS wages.

I genuinely do not think striking is gonna change anything, the whole systems ducked alongside the government and unless there’s a complete erase and start over in all aspects, housing, education, healthcare etc there problems just gonna move around.

It’s been like an ep of black mirror this past 2 years!

 

[Polythene Pam]

I can’t think of any profession where you train for free. What professions do that?

I am a professional, and I wouldn’t work anywhere that didn’t pay my professional fee/ subscription. It’s only ever been an issue in one place, a university, and I turned down the job because of it



Surely though, the next pay review board will have to consider inflation in their recommendation… they suggested a inflationary pay increase in February 22, what else can they do in February 23?

Same - I'm a solicitor and was paid a salary for my training contract and don't pay any of my reg fees, never have.

 

[Tui]

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned their mum works in retail for £18k a year and someone else mentioned their partner worked in retail, both used as comparisons to nurses pay.

I can see how people would struggle on £2k are you kidding? This is pre tax, then pension, NMC fees, council tax, bills, childcare which for more than one child is ££££ and many cannot rely on relatives to help out.

I’m a doctor, just paid £700 for an exam which is mandatory for me to pass to complete my training programme. If I fail I have to resit and repay til I pass. Funded from my own pocket on top £100s for my online portfolio, £500 per year for GMC, about £150 for professional indemnity insurance. Hardly anything at all is funded for health care professionals. The system.is.ducked.

 

[JoeBloggs]

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned their mum works in retail for £18k a year and someone else mentioned their partner worked in retail, both used as comparisons to nurses pay.

I can see how people would struggle on £2k are you kidding? This is pre tax, then pension, NMC fees, council tax, bills, childcare which for more than one child is ££££ and many cannot rely on relatives to help out.

I’m a doctor, just paid £700 for an exam which is mandatory for me to pass to complete my training programme. If I fail I have to resit and repay til I pass. Funded from my own pocket on top £100s for my online portfolio, £500 per year for GMC, about £150 for professional indemnity insurance. Hardly anything at all is funded for health care professionals. The system.is.ducked.

The quoted figure of £2k a month was take home money, so post tax and NI. Personally childcare while is expensive it is not the same as an electric bill.

I mentioned my husband because he is a retail manager on the same pay. He has been in his career for over 10 years, he’s not striking he’s just grateful for a job. He works 40-50 hours a week for no extra pay, a poor pension and be if it. Retail jobs are not as easy to come by as you think now a days. Redundancy is always around the corner.

I fully support they are suffering but as the public we cannot change their situation, and it’s a kick in the teeth for those earning a lot less than the £33k nurse to hear them saying they cannot live on their wage.

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

To be honest there is little comparison between a retail worker and a nurse. Nurses are degree educated, skilled professionals, and the pay structure absolutely does not reflect the diversity of the modern nursing profession and the complexity of modern medical practice. Nurses are also a captive workforce, there are few opportunities to work as a nurse outside of the NHS, although they exist they are limited and not comparable to NHS work. Ultimately the government needs nurses, doctors, paramedics etc and needs to be prepared to pay for them and if those professional groups feel they are not being paid properly then the pay of other groups like retail workers is totally irrelevant.
Working conditions for NHS staff are absolutely bleeping awful right now and if you haven’t experienced it yourself I honestly don’t think many can imagine it. Retail work is grim too but it just does not compare and ultimately if you don’t like working for one company you can leave but the NHS is tit everywhere. Changing those conditions is not going to happen overnight whereas pay *restoration* could, because what nurses are asking for is effectively pay restoration for 10-12 years of pay degradation. Who is going to want to be a nurse right now? Hospitals are dangerous places to be.

This right here is what is wrong with people and why my respect is dwindling.
Already the “we are better and therefore deserve more” is starting.
I couldn’t even get past the first few sentences before what you said showed how little you think of others.

 

[Polythene Pam]

The quoted figure of £2k a month was take home money, so post tax and NI. Personally childcare while is expensive it is not the same as an electric bill.

My electric bill is £180. My childcare bill is £1,400 and I can't go to work unless it's paid.

 

[Rosie glow]

O

To be honest there is little comparison between a retail worker and a nurse. Nurses are degree educated, skilled professionals, and the pay structure absolutely does not reflect the diversity of the modern nursing profession and the complexity of modern medical practice. Nurses are also a captive workforce, there are few opportunities to work as a nurse outside of the NHS, although they exist they are limited and not comparable to NHS work. Ultimately the government needs nurses, doctors, paramedics etc and needs to be prepared to pay for them and if those professional groups feel they are not being paid properly then the pay of other groups like retail workers is totally irrelevant.
Working conditions for NHS staff are absolutely bleeping awful right now and if you haven’t experienced it yourself I honestly don’t think many can imagine it. Retail work is grim too but it just does not compare and ultimately if you don’t like working for one company you can leave but the NHS is tit everywhere. Changing those conditions is not going to happen overnight whereas pay *restoration* could, because what nurses are asking for is effectively pay restoration for 10-12 years of pay degradation. Who is going to want to be a nurse right now? Hospitals are dangerous places to be.

I Work in retail I'm not comparing myself to a qualified nurse but I have 11 qualifications in different fields does that make me better than someone who cleans toilets for a living ? No it doesn't and being a nurse doesn't make you better than me.
Us as retail staff and many other workers worked throughout the pandemic too we didn't have any ppe we were put at risk too we just got on with it Where would the country of been with out us then, we got nothing out of it no pay rise.

 

[Polythene Pam]

O
I Work in retail I'm not comparing myself to a qualified nurse but I have 11 qualifications in different fields does that make me better than someone who cleans toilets for a living ? No it doesn't and being a nurse doesn't make you better than me.
Us as retail staff and many other workers worked throughout the pandemic too we didn't have any ppe we were put at risk too we just got on with it Where would the country of been with out us then, we got nothing out of it no pay rise.

It's not about better or worse. Do you think everyone should earn the same salary regardless of the job and different responsibilities? I find comments like this so strange.

 

[Rosie glow]

It's not about better or worse. Do you think everyone should earn the same salary regardless of the job and different responsibilities? I find comments like this so strange.

Where did I say we should all earn the same salary ?