It’s not about the money!
The business that Asociat aspires to be is based on principles of equality and fairness, especially when it comes to recognition and reward.
Which is what our nurses aspire to and why we support their decision to strike.
The most striking features about the current standoff is the way most media coverage, and all of the government counter argument, focusses on the issue of pay – as if it’s all our nurses, junior doctors, ambulance drivers, care-workers and paramedics want, and care about. It’s a tactic that is subtly designed to turn public opinion against them; by implying nurses are grasping at the public coffers while everyone else tightens their belts.
And yet, when standing in solidarity with the hundreds of nurses outside the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton in their strike action this week, the most often repeated chant we heard was…
No More Corridors – No More Corridors!
Proof, if proof is needed, that their primary motivation is not pay but patient safety, improved working conditions and proper funding into the NHS so that the capacity deluge it is facing doesn’t lead to bed shortages, patients being treated in corridors, long waits for ambulances etc, etc, etc.
Of course, pay is an issue. Nurses need more; especially in context of the considerable mental health pressures they face due to the poor conditions they’re forced to work in – which they’re trying to shine a light on with their strike action. The fact they retain a sense of humour under such pressures, as the placard in this picture shows, testifies to the admirable personal qualities of our medical professionals that we shouldn’t undervalue.
Rishi chat to Pat! Rishi chat to Pat!*
Meanwhile, you can help protect nursing staff and strengthen their picket line with a donation to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Strike Fund here.
Here’s why the RCN say you should: During strike action, nursing staff forfeit a day’s wage for each day of action they take part in. To protect nursing staff from the financial impacts of this fight, the RCN Strike Fund is there. Striking staff whose pay is docked can receive a £50 payment (RCN Strike Benefit) for every day of official action they join.
*Pat Cullen is the head of the Royal College of Nurses.
The UK Nursing Salaries and Payscale Guide 2023 can be found at Nurses.co.uk
Get in touch with Asociat here.
Here’s another story you might like about why Asociat supports the Better Business Act.
