Hi Bubble. Glad to hear you are wanting to do something, you are so brave trying to make a positive out of a negative. Can I help with my personal opinions? Because I don't know how much of this is really just a London problem or a national one. I'm going to kind of work this out as I go along which might mean it's rather rambled so please excuse me.
Nurses and Midwives pay is comparable, as you know. Thats why I feel I can speak a bit really! I moved here from Bristol, where I worked for the first year as a D grade. There I earned a little over £16,000 at the time and brought home about a £1000 a month after tax, pension, etc. My rent for a reasonable, one bedroom, quite central flat was £400 a month. Therefore £40% of my wages.
In London, we lived reasonably far outish in West Ham. My pay went up much more than I expected, a mixture, admittedly of nights and the London allowance. I brought home 1550 a month and rented a flat for 675, this works out at 43%. Hmm, actually not as good as I thought!! But I found I had sooo much more disposable income. I had a pay rise of a third, basically. transport was more, but only about 20-30 a month. Bristol is an expensive place to travel.
We can't afford a mortgage up here, however. We think we could just about afford one in Bristol. DP is a police officer and we could qualify for key worker housing. However, we are reluctant as so unsure of the property market. Plus, the only place we have been offered to live here backs out on to one of the most notorious council estates in the country. I don't feel that investing in a property there would be a wise choice, and is not an area where I would be wishing to bring up my son long term.
Now we are trying to bring up our rather unexpected bundle of joy things have so far been reasonable but I think will become more of a struggle. Outside factors have meant that I have had to get a bigger loan, we are moving house, rented, but the house prices for two bedroomed flats have risen so much since we moved to this one seven months ago, we are being priced out of an already cheap area. We have had to rent unfurnished, and at the end of six months mat leave is a cost we really couldn't absorb any other way.
Perhaps if the pay during training was better this would make quite a big impact on how they manage post training? I worked my arse off during my training, frequently working 12-13 days in a row just to keep my head above water. I left with £3000 debt, which was comparably good, but is little different now.
I find it hard to swallow that as a PC, DP has many days where little is done, and is payed several thousand pounds more than me. He also benefits from free transport and a better pension.
To give your campaign more credence and to gain more support I don't see how well you would be able to differentiate between nurses and midwives (I hope you understand this isn't for personal reasons at all). After all we are on the same pay scales, midwifes already go in above nurses (Grades E of F), and I think nurses may resent this? What do you think Bubble? You are a nurse too. Healthcare assistants and auxilary's would obviously need to be included too, for all the hard and valuable work they do.
I think the crisis in the hospitals is nationwide. Staff being drafted in from foriegn countries does go some way to help ease the situation, but I think language proves to be a barrier, and is not really the answer.
I don't really know Bubble! Now I am thinking that maybe by making it about all the midwifes, nurses and HCA's it would take the emphasis off of what would be the point of your case. Which largely makes this whole post irrelevent to you. Oh, I don't know, I've spent bloody ages typing it, and I warned you it would be rambled. Sod it!! I hope you understant to good meaning behind this post if nothing else.