‘I’ve never met a badly paid nurse’

I AM no lover of the Tories and would agree with some of Chris Barton’s comments (Sentinel, March 12).

The point I was making in my letter was that the economy is in a critical state at present and it will take a long time to recover.

We should all be willing to ‘bear the brunt’ of the remedial measures needed to repay all of the debt.

Nationalised organisations are known for strong unions which constantly demand pay rises and threaten strike action when these are not met.

The private sector must pay for these pay rises, as the NHS does not provide wealth for the nation.

Yet private sector workers will not be given a guaranteed pay rise.

They will not even have job security, as NHS employees will.

Years ago, one of my friends worked for the Electricity Board – a nationalised energy company, before privatisation.

She was unable to drive, so was given free driving lessons by her employer, paid for by the consumer.

The shift allowance for unsociable hours for nurses in the NHS can range from time and half to double pay.

I know that private care workers do not receive that but work as hard as those in the NHS.

When British Telecom made redundancies in the 1990s, a relative of mine had nearly £50,000 as a redundancy payment.

Redundancy payments in the NHS are the best out of all of the public sector severance deals.

There is the saying that you never see a farmer on a bike.

Well I have never met a badly paid nurse, health visitor or doctor.

S CLARKE BLURTON