To ask if you support the proposed strike by Nursing and Midwifery staff?

[SeattleGraceMercyDeath]

For the first time in I think 32 years nursing staff have voted to go on strike and midwives, having never voted to strike in their history will be joining them in a four hour walkout from 7am on 13th October.

The NHS pay review recommended a 1% pay rise across the board, yet government decided they could ignore this and only award the rise to those at the top of their band and would take it away again next year. Despite awarding themselves an 11% pay rise after proclaiming they couldn't possibly ignore their review bodies recommendation.

Essential services will still be covered, eg Delivery suite, ITU etc.

Do you support the staff? If you are a frontline healthcare worker will you be striking? I'm not due to work that day but I will be at the picket line showing my support.

OldFarticus I'm sure I'm not the only one and it does seem bizarre that years of training, studying, experience and sheer hard graft isn't rewarded as it should be.

I'm in a strange position in that I work for the NHS as a practice nurse, but am employed by the GPs and not the NHS so don't have the AFC pay grading or NHS T&Cs to 'protect' me.

Time for a career change methinks.

I forgot another perk, staff can also lease brand new cars.
As a whole the NHS gives it's employees excellent benefits and I'm struggling to think of a career that is any where near comparable..

On the matter of the shift system, I agree it needs changing the shoddy implementation and the inflexibility of the e roster has been a disaster in some trusts and departments, the requests system is meant to compensate for the withdrawal of flexible working, but just ends up with people cherry picking the best and most lucrative shifts.

Many staff now find they have had to make changes to there own family life to accommodate the working policy of the NHS, on a personal level I had to make changes to my business to suit my wife's working pattern which changed after the birth of our second child, it was very intrusive, and ruined the previous work life balance we had...

This eventually forced us to consider agency work as the alternative was me bringing a baby and a toddler up on my own and attempting to run a business whilst she worked nights, weekends and a myriad of other permutations, which we felt just wasn't suitable for a married couple with two young kids, who wished to have a life together..

They do actually pay for the brand new cars they lease frank they are not just given them I don't think there are an awful lot of perks working for the NHS anymore and presumably neith does your wife as she would still work for them?

Lease cars are not free cars. Anybody who is in work and financially sound can lease a car. Whether they lease it through their employer or directly from a dealership it still has to be paid for each month.

If our key workers are overworked and underpaid, standards will fall.

Then the Government can say that the NHS/schools/police/army/fire service (delete as required) are not doing their jobs properly and need to be privatised.

I fully support the strikes, if we can afford wars and huge pay rises for politicians we can afford to pay a decent, living wage.

I never used to be political until Mumsnet, and for that I'm grateful.
:)

So all the posters bemoaning the NHS what are you going to do about it, i don't think standing outside a hospital with a piece of cardboard for four hours is going to achieve anything..
Moaning about your employer on a public forum isn't going to change anything and may be viewed as a tad unprofessional by some..

Re the lease cars. Staff working in community roles used to be paid mileage to use their own cars, but this was judged unaffordable and so now staff doing over a certain number of miles a month, (in my organisation 800+) have to have a lease car. Because it is cheaper for the employer.

Right back to the non pay rise.

but wicked - thats exactly whats happened in most companies years ago. as far as i can see many of you are moaning about things we've all had to live with for years in the private sector - one pay increase that is less than inflation instead of 2, not making a wad on car mileage, doing unpaid overtime.

What do you suggest frank? People don't have many options.

Absolutely 100% in support. As is i'm sure the entire population. Disgusting on the government's part that it has come to this! Plenty of money for bombing campaigns, bank bailouts/bonuses, tax cuts for the rich. Victory to the midwives and nursing staff!!!!!!!!

Moaning about your employer on a public forum isn't going to change anything and may be viewed as a tad unprofessional by some.

This.

Don't like your job? Get a new one. Striking is just what unions do whenever the Tories are in power, whether justified or not.

So employees are expected to just move - what if they can't? What if the NHS is the main employer?

So the government can treat their staff like crap then?

I wonder why the unions strike when the Tories are in power. It is because the Tories have no care for the general workers. That's why the Labour party was set up (the clue is in the name). It is a shame that Labour have forgotten it.

I suggest you develop some empathy and have a think properly about why your fellow human beings resort to strike action.

Hi everyone,

Thought you might be interested in reading this - guest post from the chief exec of the Royal College of Midwives explaining why they've called the strike, how it will affect pregnant women - and ways you can support the strike if you'd like to.

100% support them. They are paid pittance for what they do, understaffed, underpaid.

Iggly - as Norman Tebbit once said, they should get on their bikes!

I have plenty of empathy - I grew up on a council estate in a single parent family and know all about genuine poverty. That's why I would ten thousand times rather the government spent cash on helping the genuinely poor and disadvantaged rather than further rewarding staff who are already generously remunerated, despite what they would have the general public believe.

This strike seems to involve a lot of whining, excuses and laziness. Incidentally, my DH used to whine about his terms and conds as well, until my actuary friend worked out what his pension was actually worth! From a personal point of view, I will benefit from a payrise because my household income will increase. However, I still don't think it's the right thing to do given the current fraglie state of the economy.

Resign if your jobs are so bad. Otherwise, crack on and stop moaning.

Yes so have I experienced poverty.

However you talk about helping the genuinely poor etc. Er this government isn't doing that either.

Nurses work really hard. Telling them they cannot have 1% by a man who will pocket 11% is, quite frankly, ridiculous.

As I've said before, I wouldn't be so bothered if the government weren't so hypocryticial about making cuts.

It is no coincidence that they've quietly dropped the term "we are all in it together"....

Ok what about a pay rise and also have it written into the new terms and conditions that all professionals who work for the NHS have to be accountable.
Neglect of duties either deliberately or constant failings because of unsuitably for the role should result in retraining and guidance, those members of staff unable meet these requirements for their duty of care should be removed from practice..

Maybe three strikes and your out..
A clean up of staff members Facebook pages maybe in order as well, many seem to bring their profession into disrepute..

Yes why not? Nothing wrong with that.

I'm bound by processional standards and can lose my job and qualification if I breach ethical and other standards.

Not a big deal.

And 1% is hardly a payrise against higher inflation anyway.

Why not?

Can you not see that the NHS will only work if its staff are treated decently and with respect. The government is an employer and if it wants to motivate staff, then do it properly. Do not treat them as a nuisance, almost as scroungers daring to want to be valued.

Why is that so hard to see?

If the private sector chooses to treat its lower paid workers like shit (and it is always the lower paid ones), then more fool them. But it doesn't make it right.

i think the state should set a good example to private sector employers in terms of working terms and conditions

Do you want someone who may, quite literally, hold your life and that of your family in their hands by the side of the road, paid peanuts?

the NHS will only work if its staff are treated decently and with respect.

Hell's teeth, they already are. To be clear: people who are paid 100k plus a year (about 0.5 % of the population) could not afford to purchase an annuity that would buy them NHS pension benefits. That makes 1% look like a drop in the ocean but the Nasty Bastard Tories are not touching the pension scheme. (Someone will have to, at some point before the country is backrupt, but that's another thread...)

Everything you say about the government not helping the poor enough, 11% etc etc etc is absolutely correct. But it's like saying it doesn't matter if you strangle somebody because other people are murdered all the time! By all means, campaign for MP's and civil service pay restraint (and I will join you!) but don't pretend the pay rise doesn't matter because there are so many far worse government spending decisions - it's completely irrelevant.