Way to miss the point......Originally Posted by Kevin Doyle
Way to miss the point......
On this point you are correct.
Nurses are not really on a "salary" they are hourly paid.
They have a starting basic of €31,875 plus allowances for Nights, weekends etc and they get paid overtime.
All of which would combine to a figure much higher than €35k
In the private sector a Salary normally means you don't get paid for overtime and in many cases don't get allowances for weekend work.
Nurses are well paid in this country end of story.If they don't like it let them find another job and stop whinging and moaning.
And they just might. When you have your accident, ring the Civil Defence.
BTW, nurses are not here 'moaning and whinging', they are merely defending themselves from scurrilous attacks from the last few PDs still standing. The nurses took on Harney and have succeeded in drawing back the veil of mystery that she for so long hid behind. What we see is such incompetence, it even makes Cullen look good.
I know well what they earn. I have seen it first hand. 35k was a low estimate for those in receipt of only a small amount of night/unsocial hours/sunday allowances. And that is STARTING pay at 21/22 on average.
If I was you I would give up the ghost. The only veil of mystery lurking around nurses earnings is the one created by Liam Doran and the INO. When people find out what nurses actually earn their attitudes usually change pretty sharpish. By bringing what they earn into the public domain you are only shooting yourself in the foot. Nurses should be extremely happy with what they earn. It is not an easy job and I admire them but unfortunately we can only pay what we can afford as a state and they are already being paid much more than this.
I'll give it to Liam Doran - he is the best union rep in the country and deserves whatever nurses pay him to represent them. I have seen him stand beside a nurse at a protest when the nurse said she earned only 28k after 10 years service. The starting annual salary is 31k plus allowances so she must have been part-time.
I don't agree that the case for a rise in Nurses' pay rates has been made yet, as sufficient evidence or argument has been advanced yet to justify it. (Sorry Hopi!) However, you are also failing to make your case. You also seem to have some kind of a priori objection to anyone in their early 20's earning a decent wage - please justify.
You have also failed to justify your belief that nurses are overpaid. On what basis and assumptions have you arrived at this position?
Nice to be nice Kevin, your bad manners do you no favours.
It is horse******************** that nurses in Ireland earn 50% more than the UK. It is actually 75-100% more.
Starting SALARY without allowances in the UK is 13k sterling so say 15k
Starting SALARY without allowances in Ireland is 31k plus.
OK - now move beyond this point. You need to show that the nurses in the UK are not underpaid. Also, the different costs of living have to be taken into account as do the effective income tax rates. Finally are the relative duties similar in workload and extent?
