Readers' Blog: 'Enough is enough. The time to be passive is gone' - Nurse
Enough is enough. I am a nurse and there is a lifetime of nursing in this country where we arrive an hour early at work to get parking, we leave an hour late a lot of the time, we take miniscule breaks that are probably an average of four hours per week per nurse free to the HSE and the Government.
The average nurse is doing the work of one-and-a-half people - that's more free hours and money to the Government.
We are the link that keeps the health service together but we're so tired at the end of a shift we hardly have time to think, debate or attend any union meetings.
A lot of us live from pay check to pay check, like a lot of working people in this country.
We give our best years and physical and emotional energy looking after the people of Ireland and we're happy to do it. However, we are a profession and are being massively taken for granted by the Government.
They have the perception: "Oh, they'll trot off back to their wards and units and communities because they don't have the gumption to sustain a fight", like other public sector employees.
The time to be passive is gone. I've seen 30 years of being passive.
Enough is enough. We're not living in the 70s, polishing bedpans and making tea for consultants. We're a professional, highly skilled, intelligent group of people and this should be reflected in our pay.
If we're good enough to be charged property tax, Universal Service Charge, and a pension levy as well as having our 37.5 hour week taken away leaving us with massive staff shortages then we are good enough to get an increase that matches the cost of living.
None of us will be 'living it up'. We're all just surviving. This country is turning into 'Les Miserables'.
It's a two-tier world and we're right now in 2019 entitled to a wage that reflects our value.
Thank you,
