Nurse industrial action

[87xfdriver]

Hope this isn't too controversial, but feel its necessary to write something cause its sure as hell not being covered by commercial television. And I'm angered and disgusted by it.

Nursing staff are being threatened, intimidated and followed around by management taking their names down, basically treated like crap.

For example Nurses at Castlemaine hospital were as of yesterday working for NOTHING at the moment- Because they want reasonable care for public patients, but can't leave them because they care. Now, I don't give a damn what you're doing if you work an honest days work you get an honest days pay.
Vic nurses are on average paid $150 less per week then their interstate couterparts. My partner and her colleagues aren't even sure if there going be paid, threatened with $6900 fines, getting sacked, docking of four hours per shift+, and even IMPRISONMENT and and are not supposed to speak to anybody about it.

As far I'm concerned its bloody sick no pun intended.

Nurses get very average wages, far less than your average labourer or tradesperson, and less then they deserve, so as far as I'm concerned- good luck to them and I wish any nurses or relatives of nurses all the best in their noble struggle for basic rights for themselves, their patients and the future of Health Care in Vic.

[gonders]

I hear ya mate! It is about time they are paid fairly. They are the lowest paid in the country. This has to change!

[opto]

My Aunties are nurses so I do agree, have you ever seen what they have to do in repat homes, rotating shifts, repetative tasks, dealing with death, contact with infections, you try it and go home every night trying to say you have job satisfaction, without being emotionally upset.

Hell yeah they deserve a pay rise.

[Kenster]

I agree with you and i know a few future nurse and current nurse which work ridiculous hours, and dealing with so much they deserve a better pay more then anything

[normxb]

I put Nurses in the "Emergency/Essential Services" Catagory , Along with Police , Ambo's & Fireies . A life saving Catagory , they ALL deserve more ..

My sister was a nurse & some of the things they come across are horrific .

[Redrum]

I fully support the nurses and their rightful claim to patient nurse ratio and a fair and reasonable pay rise. They do a thankless task that I couldn't do and do it not for the money but because they give a damn. Dumby is making a mistake again with his treatment of them!

[MotherNatureVer2]

Unfortunatly this is not a Vic only thing. The nurses here in NSW seem to be treated just as badly. I recently had the unfortunate need to be at a nursing home for a few days constantly. This place has the most amazing staff. They would even come sit with us on their breaks, somethings cant be acted, they were true feelings.

These guys and girls deserve more !!!!!!!!!!

[BA_Turbs]

My job sees me spending time in ERs regularly, and generally not under favourable circumstances. I know there is a LOT more to nursing than just the ER, but hell, what a job? Who would want to do it? When you think about it, what they are asking for, the patient/nurse ration, isn't even about them.

Good Luck to them and hope they get every cent they are asking for.

[FORD3V]

The ANF negotiating these pay rises is one one of the many unions the current federal government would love to see destroyed,I hope there demands for better pay and conditions are met.

[gtfpv]

go nurses . i support your rights . not that you have any . buggar the sedition laws . buggar the work choices legislation that keeps all this quiet . and buggar the fines . take it all the way . at the end of the day they cant sack everybody . so lets sack them !!!!! stand up for a fair go nurses swhow australia how it is done . and who has the ultimate control of the nation . it's the people . not corporate profiteering business and govts.

strong points i know . but this is what it is all about . so fight for fairness . it seems they arent getting it .

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

go nurses . i support your rights . not that you have any . buggar the sedition laws . buggar the work choices legislation that keeps all this quiet . and buggar the fines . take it all the way . at the end of the day they cant sack everybody . so lets sack them !!!!! stand up for a fair go nurses swhow australia how it is done . and who has the ultimate control of the nation . it's the people . not corporate profiteering business and govts.

strong points i know . but this is what it is all about . so fight for fairness . it seems they arent getting it .

What you said.... 100% !! : :

[J_Tank]

My sister works as a nurse in Victoria in intensive care on a rotating roster, weekends, nights, and she gets paid the same as me. I'm a newly apointed Supermarket store manager in a small store. What a joke. I sell baked beans and toilet paper and have no formal qualifications. She has a University degree and keeps seriously ill people alive. Where's the sense in that?

[The Lone Ranger]

I should probably make this very clear as it may be a controversial post but in this upcoming federal election i refuse to vote for either of the major parties. Now correct me if I am wrong but all this talk about the federal governments work choices platform etc seems a bit iffy to me seeing as how the health system in each state is just that...........State Health System............. that would be administered by the State Government, yes? So that would mean that it would be a Labour Government in each state screwing with the nurses, yes? :

[FORD3V]

Originally Posted by ENIAL8

I should probably make this very clear as it may be a controversial post but in this upcoming federal election i refuse to vote for either of the major parties. Now correct me if I am wrong but all this talk about the federal governments work choices platform etc seems a bit iffy to me seeing as how the health system in each state is just that...........State Health System............. that would be administered by the State Government, yes? So that would mean that it would be a Labour Government in each state screwing with the nurses, yes? :

Very true indeed,but if it was upto the federal liberal party there would be no union there at all, so there for no new eba to negotiate in the first place.

[Walkinshaw]

Originally Posted by ENIAL8

I should probably make this very clear as it may be a controversial post but in this upcoming federal election i refuse to vote for either of the major parties. Now correct me if I am wrong but all this talk about the federal governments work choices platform etc seems a bit iffy to me seeing as how the health system in each state is just that...........State Health System............. that would be administered by the State Government, yes? So that would mean that it would be a Labour Government in each state screwing with the nurses, yes? :

BINGO. Finaly somone with their head screwed on.

[Van D]

My friend who goes into hospital a bit for treatments and whatnot has made a t-shirt that says "stick it up em" and has some needles making fingers out to be the shape of the "bird". Then below it wrote something like support our nurses.

I dug it, and judging by the reactions he's gotten with others agreeing with him it's good to see others care about issues like this IMO.

[LTDHO]

It seems every couple of years that the nurses strike for more money.

My mate is a PSA (or nursing assistant) and he rakes the money in. Does the same shifts and rotating rosters in hospitals and although he is over working there. He will never leave due to being on such great money.

[Geez Louise]

Nurses do a great job! From someone who has experienced alot of them...They are all great people with so much time for the patients...young or old! Hell yes they deserve more!! Most nurses know more about what is going on with ya then the doctors and they have the common decency to tell ya! I am hoping they hold out for heaps! Good on every nurse in the community. You got my support!!

[RSgerry]

nurses, firemen and police. give them the pay rises they deserve. they do the most dangerous, and difficult job, often dealing with people who ought to be shot and all the while having governments 5hit on them from great heights by underpaying and overworking them.

[XRNIL8]

Originally Posted by LTDHO

It seems every couple of years that the nurses strike for more money.

My mate is a PSA (or nursing assistant) and he rakes the money in. Does the same shifts and rotating rosters in hospitals and although he is over working there. He will never leave due to being on such great money.

Mate, I used to be an orderly in Qld ... then studued and finally became a Nurse, now living and soon to be working in Victoria.

Yeah, I agree that as a PSA, the money is very good for what they do ...... which in the scheme of things is not that much. They are given a basic set of jobs with little responsibility, which matches their level of education.

As a nurse, we are responsibleto the patient to the hospital and to ourselves. We are legally accountable for our actions and instructions to others, including the PCA who works under our supervision.

As someone who has spent a siginificant amount of time in both a BUSY Emergency department and in Busy Operating Theatres, plus spending a lot of time in Rural and Remote areas where there is very little in the way of Medical support, I sure as sh!t think that nurses are very much under paid and under valued, even by the general public who really have little comprehension of what it is that nurses do.

Why the hell should I go through and complete a 3 year University degree and get paid significantly less than comparitive degrees as a full time employee upon completion?!

Think the Doctors run everything in hospitals ... think again!

I could sit here for days detailing events and cases where the Nurse has had to question the Doctor about his line of treatment for different cases in hospitals across the 3 states that I have worked. I have personally been involved in lots of such examples myself.

I recall when I first became a nurse in Emergency. The Nurse Unit Manager I was working with was instruction the doctor on how to perform a life saving procedure.

When something questionable happens to a patient, be it a medical, nursing or administrative error, it is the Nurse that acts as the patients representative and stands up to protect their patients rights.

I have seen nurses absolutely destroyed by bulling and victimisation from managers in hospitals, because they dared to stick up for the patient before being loyal to the hospital ... the government of the day.

No need to question the politics of Health ..... as a long term employee within the industry, I can tell you that which ever governing party is in place ..... they demand and get 100% support from the Management of hospitals, because if they don't ... funding starts to fall and their managerial prospects for the future begin to disappear.

As a Nurse in Victoria, I get $6 per hour less than I was getting in Queensland ...... any wonder this state loses so many Nurses to other states, particularly NSW and QLD?!!

to apply for a job in a government hospital ..... I get the pleasure of having no face to face contact when I apply ....... only if I get to interview. Yeah .... health has become so in personal that I have to apply by computer.

I made a phone call to a private hospital on a Friday afternoon .... they called me on Sunday and appologised for not getting back to me sooner. They offered me the opportunity to come in the following day to have an informal meeting and interview ... asked for a copy of my resume and referrences to follow up with.

After providing all of this and meeting with them, both my wife (who is also a nurse) and I were offered jobs immediately and instructed that the senior managers were "drooling for our expertise and experience" ........ we just have to decide what areas we want to work in and what hours we would like......

Ahhhh Nursing ........ so glamourous that we get to wipe babies bums ... childrens bums ... adults bums ... and seniors bums ..... it's a sh!t of a job really .... hahahaha!!

No suprises here that I support the Nurses action here in Victoria 100%

[XRNIL8]

Originally Posted by RSgerry

nurses, firemen and police. give them the pay rises they deserve. they do the most dangerous, and difficult job, often dealing with people who ought to be shot and all the while having governments 5hit on them from great heights by underpaying and overworking them.

I can tell you just how much they on Nurses in particular .... one of the girls I used to work with was confronted by a patient (mental health issues) who decided that she hated nurses and tried to slit her throat ....

Hospitals response ..... well it was an unfortunate incident, but there is little we can do.

How long before the management contacted the nurse in question ... 2 and a half years ... asking her if she would resign or come back on agreater return to work order .....!


Yep ... gotta love Hospital Managers!


When I was attacked by a very unhappy australian native ...... well that is one of the risks of Emergency Nursing ...... you'll be right.


Yeah, maybe I was ... but as a bloke it is a little easier for me to deal with ...... I scored no injuries and still treated the patient. Atleast I won his respect ... haha!

Might take up a safer job ..... like being a lion tamer.

[Squalo]

I'm another one who is right behind the nurses. So what can we do about it??? Is the forum up to putting in, and adding our weight of numbers to the nurses case?

My third child arrived at RPA (Sydney) on Wednesday last week, on the Thursday there was a meeting (with media) outside the hospital protesting for better pay and conditions for nurses - I was just ducking out to sort out the baby seat in the car, but I pulled on one of the t-shirts they'd made and joined the group, and have been wearing the badge I was given pretty often since then. They are worth standing up for.

[img]When something questionable happens to a patient, be it a medical, nursing or administrative error, it is the Nurse that acts as the patients representative and stands up to protect their patients rights.[/img]

I completely agree, we had an issue with a senior obstetrician with our first-born, and it was the midwife who a) put him in his place and b) made the right decision to resolve the problem (which involved my wife being rushed into theatre for surgery).

I'm a member of SES and one of our team is a nurse, she was forced out of her position by the sort of bullying that is currently making news in NSW. I just can't believe that this can be happening (and it's happening in teaching too - another underpaid profession).

[Pinch]

It has pretty much all been said (very well I might add).

100% support from me.

[Kommandant]

My gf just finished her 3rd yr RN uni degree and got accepted to the hospital she wants for next year, hopefully being a hospital in the country she won't have to put up with the sort of crap that goes on at large city hospitals.

[gtfpv]

my neighbour is a nuse in a private hospital . this hospital contracted immagrant nurses from india . paid them $12 an hour less than our local nurses , and charged them 100 pw , for the prevelidge of working there . can you imagine paying your employer rent to work there. and then work for less than the local nurses.
can you imagine how you would feel . if you were an indian nuse/ or a local nurse.
on top of that the indian nurses have no local qualifications . and apparentely strugggle with simple tasks such as bandages and slings .
i couldnt believe what i was hearing .

[pauljh74]

It's hypocritical of the politicians to award themselves generous payrises regularly and then when public sector employees negotiate for one, half the increase the pollies got is offered and it's pretty much getting blood from a stone to get any more. The pollies set a policy of 3.5% or so and productivity trade-offs for further increases in public sector employees' pay. The Vic state pollies earlier this year awarded themselves about 7% - decided by a committee of pollies.

[290v]

I would like you to note that Howard set-up the fair pay commission last year the handed down i think to remember a $25 .00 pay rise to mimimum wage workers this year $ 10.00 if they stay there anylonger will the workers end-up like America and haven't had a pay increase in 5 yrs and this year American workers recieved a $5.00 minimum wage rise

[SpoolMan]

Too much political stuff in this thread, closed before it starts.
Politics and be discussed until your blue in the face here:

http://cracker.com.au/threads.aspx?categoryid=11121