This morning.
Scenes from the first hours of a 24-hour national strike by members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation over pay and staff shortages.
Nurses and midwives strike in row over pay and staff shortages (RTÉ)
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Everything. As It Happens.
Spent 8 hours in a&e following a car accident on Saturday night. Even though we were taken in by ambulance. Yes it took us 6 hours to be seen to. But i have to say, the nurses where wonderful, they took great care of us. They do an amazing job under stupid conditions. They deserve every thing.
In that case, why don’t we give them a 100% increase?
I dunno. maybe just maybe instead of giving themselves a rise every so often, our representatives can forgo giving themselves a rise and pay our nurses properly
Our nurses are already quite well-paid.
““Compared to a new entrant nurse in the English NHS, a new entrant nurse in Ireland earns 21 per cent more in basic pay based on current exchange rates. While allowances and promotional opportunities differ across jurisdictions, a nurse at the top of the HSE staff nurse scale would earn 39 per cent more than a nurse at the top of the NHS England B and 5 scale.” – Dept. of Public expenditure
Emotive arguments like the above is not an especially useful way to decide healthcare policy; sure, nurses do a very good job, but if we decide “ah sure they’re the best, let’s pay them whatever they want”, there will be a lot less money to pay for everything else in the health service. While les rock thinks that spending 6 hours to be seen in A&E is bad, they would probably think that an A&E having its hours reduced because it was too expensive to staff would be a lot worse.
Oh ya, sure. Great suggestion.
in any other occupation, a nurses working conditions would be compensated for at much higher rates than they get now. stress, long hours, abuse from patients, contagion risks, emotional and physical exhaustion etc.
There are a lot of other professions have similar working conditions, and almost all of them earn less than nurses do already.
‘A lot’…’almost all’…
any oul proof there, rob?
Paramedics, security staff in hospitals, care assistants, etc. would experience all of the things you have just described in their daily work, and all are paid significantly less than nurses.
@Uncle
– yes. ‘Almost all …’ – there are many professions that have to deal with these things on a daily basis, and almost all are paid less than nurses (the exceptions being doctors and Gardaí)
+1
I was waiting 10 hours in A&E recently – clogged up with drunks and junkies I add (who can be abusive to staff) – and when I was seen to, the nursing staff were incredible. I’m supporting them not just for my one recent experience of course. Everyone recognises their commitment. Good luck to them today.
They deserve pay that reflects the cost of living expenses, so they can work without stress and at decent income levels.
Should we not use the money to reduce the cost of living and thus help everyone?
I’m struck by how bad FG tend to be at politics. Yesterday we had the boy Harris blithely accept the massive cost overruns on the New Children’s Hospital against the backdrop of this dispute. The dissonance is remarkable. Varadkar, who never looks sure-footed under pressure, then cites forthcoming Brexit job losses as a reason why the nurses demands cannot be met.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/nurses-strike-i-have-to-be-taoiseach-for-the-whole-country-varadkar-says-1.3774795
All power to the workers, especially against the thatcherite blushirts
At least you’re consistent Dav.
Who cares what they get paid, the whole economy in this country is run as a quasi-ponsi scheme that benefits german banks and private global finance interests before the public.
Give them a million each as a once off life-time bonus then all you morally right-wing blowhards will have reason and justification to incessantly attack them at every opportunity with your sexism, classism and patronising bullshit idea of economics.
The strike is about working conditions and safety standards because there are not enough nurses and it’s unfair and dangerous to expect staff to be overworked with staff shortages and take risks with other human lives.
I’d rather the nurses were overpaid and working away satisfied than overpaying the ridiculously obscene bunch of incompetant thieves in the ff/fg(establshment for private foreign global global finance) party getting any more perks and bonuses for themselves and the bhoys.
Get f-ing real folks and stop voting for these incompetant and morally bankrupt right wing extremist idiots in the ff/fg party
:-J
+1