I'm sure you have very valid points, but what do you suggest? Nurses can't really go on strike, if they have a shade of decency about them, as the people who'll suffer aren't those who are in a position to make a difference. Those bastards'll have lots of lovely, private healthcare, and won't give a tuppeny fuck either way.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Sat 13 Nov 2010, 23:43, 2 replies)

And surely that is the point
The government in general (and I blame every government of the recent past, not just the current shower of bastards) have got away with dry buttfucking frontline staff in terms of pay and conditions because they know that the vast majority of staff are professionals and know that striking will only harm patient care. However, the capitulating surrender monkeys that comprise the majority of the major healthcare unions bend over and allow them to be entered without any lube or even a reacharound. Union reps are so petrified at upsetting the status quo that they won't represent staff who are facing investigation with any degree of fervour. The employer should be scared of the union, not vice versa. What is worse is there are a number of good union reps who have been ground down by their unions' constant rolling over and have jacked it in to be replaced by brown-nosing yes men.

The unions were castrated by Thatcher. Save your £15 per month and put it into a "what if" fund.
( Undercovercarrot got done for gross misconduct on..., Sun 14 Nov 2010, 11:45, closed)

i reckon that's bollocks to be honest
it's rarely the bosses who are first to suffer but that's no reason not to strike. i don't think it's not decent of nurses to strike. nurses ought to strike. if i manage to get a fucking job as a nurse and a strike is happening to improve pay or conditions (or much more likely stop cuts to pay and conditions)i'll strike.
( tickle I was away, Mon 15 Nov 2010, 17:59, closed)

If you're in a position where you potentially have the lives of others in your hands, and you choose not to honour your obligations in order to line your pocket, you've no business being there in the first place. The fact that you're preemptively planning to do so prior to attaining the role is actually rather depressing. I'm not for a moment suggesting that nurses don't deserve more and better - and in the unlikely event that my support would be meaningful, they'd most certainly have it - but if they were to start using the people in their care as pawns, they would inevitably lose huge amounts of trust and goodwill.

Perhaps some form of agreement similar to the army/police, whereby they forgo the right to strike and are compensated accordingly, would be a fair compromise.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Tue 16 Nov 2010, 1:23, closed)