To be disgusted that nurses may be striking for a 17% pay rise!

[justonemire]

Of course nurses should receive a fair salary and of course they have as much right as anyone else to ask for a pay rise. However to ask for a pay rise that is 5% above the current 12% inflation rate is just ridiculous and never going to be approved.

The average nurses salary is £35.600 and this would equate to a pay rise of £6.150.

Yes nurses do a great job but so do a lot of other key workers in the public sector who have only received 2%

The government simply cannot accept the nurses pay demands because if they do everyone else would go on strike for a similar deal. Where would it end.

Therefore the outcome is that people will not receive the proper level of care we are all paying taxes for. If there are strikes then The NHS will be run as if it is Christmas Day. God help us and our loved ones then.

There will be resulting misdiagnosis and deaths and where will the fault lie? Yes you can blame the government, Putin for invading Ukraine and pushing up food and energy costs, etc but I think we will also all blame the nursing profession too for asking for a completely unrealistic 17% pay rise.

As a nurse of 22 years and never have forced or felt able to strike before and still can't now I'm sorry but YABU! That's the average wage for a band 6 nurse in the private sector, not NHS. We work hard long, unsocial, hours to be faced with complaints, criticism, stress and hardship. Why shouldn't we strike for a decent payrise which we've not had in all my 22 years! Posties do it, railway workers do it, doctors do it. But no we can't as patients would suffer. The same ones who complain about us, or thier families do. If you can do better than us take them home and look after them yourself then!! Thing is a small minority will strike for the larger community of us. Because we won't let your relatives suffer or be left to fend and loom after themselves. We became nurses to care and its about time we were cared for ourselves. We shouldn't have to explain ourselves either. We just want fairness.

35,000 i don't know where you get your figures from but their wages are not that high. Go and crawl back under your stone and hush your mouth. Nurses absolutely deserve that raise. Doctors wouldn't be able to do their job without nurses and look how much doctors get paid. 9 times out of 10 you'll be diagnosed by a nurse not a doctor. I've often heard Doctors asking nurses opinion. All the S* they have to deal with. All through Covid at 5he hospital i worked at it was the nurses and health cares looking after the patients you hardly saw a doctor. So yes they should get a raise.

Totally support the nurses strike. Get angry at the govt for not paying them properly and forcing them into this situation.

Do we need Doctors and Nurses? Yes we bloody do! I'm with them striking, nothing will change if they don't strike and we need to be able to keep and recruit health professionals.

Noticed how the op hasn't been back.

Why shouldn't they strike? They have been treated terribly by this Government and taken for granted just because they didn't believe they would strike. Everyone should have the right to withdraw their labour.

Am loving the responses to the original post!! Thanks all 😍

OP asks a question doesn’t get the back up think they will and disappears obviously doesn’t have any counter arguments

Solidarity with ALL striking workers. I must admit a special love and admiration for our nurses though.

YABU, loving your phrase “where will it all end” 🤣😂 Wouldn’t it be great if it ended in ordinary working people being properly rewarded for their work. Especially since the establishment always ensure that themselves and there make’s continue year on year, to get richer!

🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

I’ll just keep posting the same message over and over as am sick of the ‘whataboutery’.

I don’t work in the NHS or public sector but 100% support all the nurses who feel this is the only action left to get fair and decent pay and conditions 💪. Don’t back down. We need you and that means everyone needs to back you to get what is right.

Do I think they should be paid more? Yes.
Do I think they should strike? No.

It's also worth pointing out that many in the private sector have taken pay cuts the last two years to enable their organisation to survive. At my work between 10-30% depending on grade. Imagine if this happened in the public sector!

Of course nurses deserve more pay, as do lots of other professions, but with the NHS I just can’t help but think that will never solve the problem. My dh works in IT, he has worked on a it project for the nhs that cost millions, the project was never implemented for various reasons, now that is criminal, the NHS is a cash cow and loads of people are bleeding it dry.

Gosh, imagine! What is this noble company?

I recall many of you wanted unrestricted immigration regardless of the status of individuals. Many come from countries where they were not enslaved but we allow them to come into our country. Nobody mentions cost, currently running at £6 million plus per day. So where do we get the money? From raising taxes ofcourse. Now we have nurses asking for 17.5% which is more than the NHS can pay. This organisation is one of the largest in Europe and other countries. We can all think of examples of poor management in the NHS and I understand why nurses would ask for an amount far higher than they will get. However, this country is on its knees economically and you are the very people who will have to pay higher taxes on top of your rise in food costs plus your mortgage. I am sure you are intellectually equipped to understand how large rises in pay will be eaten up in all rises in the cost of living. I am extremely aged and was a public servant. I would point out that I do not read the daily mail. It is all very well to write about how wonderful nurses are but the bottom line is finding the money to fund their pay increase of 17.5%. I am sure Sir Keir Starmer will find a way when Labour comes into government.

Brilliant example of whataboutery. The private sector is vast so that’s a massive generalisation already - which sector and job role are we talking?

I’m private sector; gave up pension contributions and took a pay cut during the pandemic. Could afford to as I’m well paid, it was temporary and there are lots of other benefits. Very different situation to NHS workers. Not all private sector businesses are the same but it’s a ridiculous example for that reason. If you’re that upset, move jobs or go on strike yourself. This thread is about nurses, it’s not all about you.

“The average nurses salary is £35.600 and this would equate to a pay rise of £6.150.“

Always be careful when using averages as there are usually more at the bottom end of the pay scale then those earning the top end.

I’d always be more interested to see what the mode value is. This will tell you what the most common wage amongst nurses is. If it’s significantly below the average you start to see why the politicians and media don’t use it!
my gut feeling is the modal salary for nurses is probably lower than that.

As I said yes they should be paid more. However sorry for the "what aboutery" but yes lots of people have had pay cuts the last two years. Some have still not regained to previous levels. Lots of people also lost their jobs and businesses and now face further cuts or job losses due to current economics. I'm not going to tell you my personal circumstances just merely pointing out that the private sector is not as rose tinted as it is made out in these conversations.

Where on earth have you got your figures from. Average nurse isn't on £35k. No where near?? Are you a journalist??

Fine then what's your suggestion to solve the current nursing crisis?
The NHS is hemorrhaging nurses because their pay and conditions are not worth staying for.
Wards are unsafe, staff are stressed, and burnt out and they are choosing to leave.
I,m all ears, how will you solve this if you don't think they should have a pay rise?
I,d love to hear how you will improve their working conditions so that they will stay without a payrise?

Solidarity with all workers currently seeking a fair wage for their toil.
This country has been indoctrinated over recent generations to undervalue the worth of their work, and to resent any one who organises for better pay & conditions.
See: free broadband! Laughable response to a policy that would have increased skills & opportunities.
Nobody wants anything for free-unless it's other people's labour.

As I said yes they should be paid more. Not really sure why you're arguing with me. Bye!

You are completely correct. What a bunch of lazy whiners our nurses are! If they actually took care of patients they would earn their CURRENT WAGE. Somehow Corona Virus made them “heroes”. I was in hospital and ICU for 27 god forsaken days. They spend far more time thinking who they can shove work onto than they do actually doing work. Patients are helpless. Borders on abuse. Pain meds asked for at 5:30 am actually show up around 10am.

@Lapun - the contention that we pay seems to be the operating issue. But if you were a public servant, you will know that the tax burden can falls on companies, transactions and asset gains, and it does not have to mean that it is dominantly done on PAYE.

This pay rise is peanuts compared to what has been spent in the last two years for COVID.

The base issue that the Government need to decide. Pay their staff properly and improve the health of the country. Or not. The waiting lists are long. They will never make a dent in this unless they do pay up.

No substantial increase - then we all know that decision is by the Government. Nurses are the least militant of the public sector, yet they are this stage. The government cannot win this.

Their nightmare is that other public services are the same. The public will have to do with less for more tax paid. That is inevitable.