Nurses demand that Shaw keep his promises

[Sickko]

Gleaner Editors' Forum: 'We have the tape' - Nurses holding Shaw to salary promise
published: Wednesday | September 26, 2007
Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

Edith Allwood-Anderson, president of the [COLOR=orange ! important][COLOR=orange ! important]Nurses[/COLOR][/COLOR] Association of Jamaica, addresses a Gleaner Editors' Forum held at the newspaper company's head offices in central Kingston yesterday. Seated next to Mrs. Allwood-Anderson are the executive members of the NAJ. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Members of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) are insisting that they will hold the new Finance Minister, Audley Shaw, to a promise to substantially increase their pay, in short order, saying they have this promise on tape and will be seeking early delivery on the commitment.
It was at a Founder's Day function on July 19, 2006, the nurses claim that, Mr. Shaw, then Opposition Spokesman on Finance, made the promise to double the pay of public sector nurses when he took office.
"We have him on a DVD where he cut the cake with us at our 60th anniversary/Founder's Day and he really sympathised with us and we are holding him to it (the promise)," declared Edith Allwood-Anderson, NAJ president, yesterday at a Gleaner Editors' Forum.
At least twice their pay
"I recall him saying that nurses should be getting at least twice their pay and that they (the Jamaica Labour Party) were committed to doing that when they came to office," she said.
At the NAJ's annual general meeting last week, Mrs. Allwood-Anderson served notice that this matter would be pursued, and she reiterated at the Editors' forum that it was not an idle promise.
She was backed up by the other members of the NAJ executive who, in a chorus, recited the date and place of the memorable promise: "July 19, 2006; PCJ Auditorium!"
Furthermore, Mrs. Allwood Anderson, claimed, the JLP, then in opposition, benefited significantly from the pressure the NAJ was bringing to bear on the government of the day through its "public education programme" by associating itself with the nurses' cause.
The NAJ is preparing to begin negotiations for a new [COLOR=orange ! important][COLOR=orange ! important]salary[/COLOR][/COLOR] and fringe benefits contract with the government, set to take effect April 1, 2008. These negotiations will have to take account of the promise, according to Mrs. Allwood Anderson.
The JLP, in its manifesto for the September 3 general election, gave a commitment to "offer improved remuneration and conditions of service" to nurses and other groups in the health sector. This clearly fell short of the specific promise that the NAJ is now claiming that Mr. Shaw made.
In the meantime, the NAJ president said, the association was looking forward to meeting with Senator Dwight Nelson, the minister directly in charge of public sector compensation issues in the finance ministry, to conclude the reclassification of the [COLOR=orange ! important][COLOR=orange ! important]nursing [COLOR=orange ! important]profession[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR].
In supporting the president's position, Noel Julius, first vice-president of the NAJ, disclosed that the highest paid nurse in Jamaica was not being paid more than $1.8 million per annum and the lowest paid is getting $45,000 per month (pre-tax) or $540,000 per annum.
Such low levels of compensation served as a disincentive for more nurses to engage in specialist training or remain in the profession in Jamaica, he and other executive members complained.
The nurses listed 14 areas of specialist nursing disciplines in which they said there were severe shortages, including critical care, accident and emergency, midwifery, orthopaedics, [COLOR=orange ! important][COLOR=orange ! important]cancer[/COLOR][/COLOR] care, cardiothoracic, and renal care (nephrology).
There are reportedly more than 4,000 [COLOR=orange ! important][COLOR=orange ! important]nursing [COLOR=orange ! important]positions[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] in the public sector, but only approximately 2,300 are filled, according to the NAJ.

[Mosiah]

Heh heh!

Interesting times ahead! A wonder if wi gwine see bangarang any time soon?!?

heh heh!

[Sickko]

I understand that Shaw was heard on radio saying he cant remember making any such promises...hmmmmm interesting times indeed.

[Mosiah]

Run di tape!!!

Him tink say running a finance ministry is di same as running a gas station?

[Bricktop]

But not even the NAJ president herself sure a what he said and she have the DVD

[Willi]

Which tape, the King tape??????


Hahhahahahahaah

[Gamma]

i say play de tape and hol' him foot to di fire. di promises promises ting worn thin now.....tiyad a the "say anything campaigns".

[Willi]

Well, if him seh so, him haffi work it out. Good for goose, good for gander. Nurses deserve good pay anyway.

I was talking bout Peter King tape though. LoL

[Gamma]

is probably on dat one dat him mek di promise fi true.....JOKE...a joke mi a mek

[Willi]

Lol

Yuh too rude, Rudi, you too rude.

[Lazie]

Leggo di tape nuh? Edith say double, Portia say 100%. Leggo di tape. Mi search the gleaner from July 19, 2006 to the 28th and there is no mention of it. Unless its on the 29th ... I am yet to check the observer.

[Lazie]

Leggo di tape yaah Edith!

Shaw backs nurses' demands for higher wages
PAUL CLARKE, Observer staff reporter
Friday, July 21, 2006


Opposition Spokesman on Finance Audley Shaw (L), cuts the celebratory cake with Nurses' Association president Edith Allwood-Anderson, on the occasion of the Association's 60th Anniversary function held at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) auditorium on Wednesday. (Photo:Joseph Wellington)

AUDLEY Shaw, Opposition Spokesman on Finance and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, says he supports the Nurses' Association of Jamaica's (NAJ's) call for higher wages for its members.

"I want to publicly support the nurses for refusing to take the second Memorandum of Understanding (MoU2)," Shaw said.

He was the guest speaker at the NAJ's 60th Anniversary celebrations held at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) auditorium in Kingston.
Shaw told the nurses that the first MoU was fabricated for the government to fulfil its own role in maintaining a low rate of inflation.
However, he noted that in the first two years of the initial MoU, when there was an agreement to keep inflation at single digit, the out-turn was 30 per cent over the two years.

"It means that while your pay was frozen for two years, your cost of living went up by 30 per cent. It means, therefore, that in effect you were 30 per cent poorer over that period trying to make ends meet," Shaw remarked.

Last week the nurses staged a number of demonstrations campaigning for better pay from the government. Several hospitals cancelled surgeries and offered only emergency response.

At a church service to mark the beginning of Nurses' Week, NAJ president Edith Allwood-Anderson complained that Finance Minister Omar Davies "was not serious and committed to" better pay for nurses.

Shaw said the salaries should be improved so that the average nurse can go home feeling comfortable in her profession.

"Who can blame a trained and certified nurse in taking a respectable job offer elsewhere? No one can," said Shaw.
"We can take this patriotic thing so far and no further, because being patriotic cannot put pot on the fire," he added.

Shaw suggested the setting up of a national health insurance plan, noting that although there is the National Health Fund that assists citizens by subsidising the cost of prescription drugs, it was not enough.
"We need a national insurance plan that, if properly implemented, would include amenities for businesses that have a health plan for their workers, as well as a tax incentive for individuals who work out their individual insurance arrangements," Shaw said.

He suggested too that, with this new plan, government could remove the General Consumption Tax (GCT), enabling people to sign up for the new plan.

Meanwhile, Shaw knocked what he called "top-heavy bureaucracy" in the health sector.
"There is a top-heavy bureaucracy, and it is that top-heavy bureaucracy running into hundreds and hundreds of people - too many administrators - while nurses are not getting enough money," he remarked.
"All this money now paying these administrators could go well to pay our nurses," he added.

[Mosiah]

What's the difference between doubling one's salary or increasing it by 100%?

Would you like this in multiple choice?

[Willi]

So the implicit promise was 30%?? I say give it to them.

[Bricktop]

Seeit deh bout double. Har DVD mussi scratch