Nurses just want a decent wage, not strike action
SOME years ago, on this letters page, I was labelled a despicable, vile person with no conscience. On other media outlets I was told I should be dragged outside and shot in front of my family.
So was I a terrorist, a paedophile or a serial killer? Or the fat- cat boss of a loan company?
In fact, my crime was to be a nurse asking for a fair pay rise.
Fast forward to Covid and suddenly nurses are angels who deserve a massive pay increase. Wonder is expressed that we are so poorly paid. Now, fast forward past Covid and NHS staff are criticised for voting to strike.
For the past 15 years of my career, our 1 per cent pay rises were effectively a pay cut. All political parties were guilty of not rewarding us fairly, while handing generous rises to MPs.
What were we supposed to do? No one in government was listening. And when nurses are working 12-hour shifts, then going to the food bank, something has to give.
No nurse wants to strike but they don’t want to be evicted for rent arrears, either. Just pay us a decent wage.
CAROL JOHNSEN, Cramlington, Northumberland.
Well said, Dr Scurr
AS A former nurse, I agree with the Mail’s Dr Martin Scurr. In the 1970s, the Royal College of Nursing suggested we should all resign from our jobs as a pay bargaining tool and I was so disgusted, I resigned from the RCN instead.
This meant I had to join a union for my own protection, which was not really what I wanted. The only thing the union ever asked me to do was refuse to treat private patients taking up NHS beds, which was hard to disagree with.
I do not believe nurses should strike in any circumstances. They will lose public support if they do. CHRISTINE EGLINTON,
Sittingbourne, Kent. WHEN I began training as a nurse more than four decades ago, we were given talks by various unions. The RCN’s pledge never to call a strike meant we all joined it. We knew our salaries would be modest but we wanted to nurse.
I checked the pay scale for my grade, had I not retired. It was over £46,000. I know there are many on lower grades but there are yearly increments and, if you work hard, there is lots of scope for promotion and a decent pension at the end. It’s so sad the profession has come to this.
J. GREEN, Burton upon Trent, Staffs.
Unsafe Hands
THANKS for Money Mail’s article last month on the aftermath of funeral planners Safe Hands going bust in March this year.
My husband and I bought a funeral plan each, paying almost £7,000 for the peace of mind of knowing our funerals were taken care of. A lady who came to our house to sort out wills and power of attorney was a Safe Hands agent and sold us the plans.
Six months later the company announced it was having problems but all along we were assured our money was safe and ring-fenced. Apparently not.
Like many vulnerable pensioners, we now feel that both living and dying are too expensive.
SHEILA PASSMORE, Nottingham.
Crowded countries
YOUR correspondent Alan Corbett (Letters) is right that world population growth has had the greatest effect on climate change. In the 1300s the population of the British Isles was under six million, and half of them were lost to the Black Death. Now it is approaching 70 million.
I don’t have an answer to the problem and I doubt the delegates at COP27 have either.
PETER NAYLOR, Worthing, W. Sussex. LAWRENCE FORRESTER ( Letters) claims Third World countries have done nothing to harm the planet. What about all the children they produce? ELEANOR WILLIAMS,
Shepperton, Surrey.
Rent-a-mob returns
AS A 72-year- old, I have been
following news of the Just Stop Oil protests with interest.
In the 1960s and 1970s there were demonstrations about many things and it was clear that a small percentage of those taking part were genuinely concerned about a particular issue, while the majority went to every protest, regardless of the cause.
Looking at the latest demos, I would think nothing has changed.
Mrs H. BLUNDEN, London E4.
Duck test
DESPITE what they tell voters, our MPs overwhelmingly favour the socialist fundamentals of high taxation, high spending, high regulation, government control, large- scale immigration and membership of the EU.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. ANTHONY HULBERT,
Christchurch, Dorset.
Royal love tokens
I WAS interested to read Jean Gill’s letter about Andrew Parker Bowles, but I do wonder at the fact that Charles carried a picture of Camilla in his diary when he and Diana were on honeymoon, and wore the cufflinks Camilla had given him, not to mention making phone calls to her. I can only imagine Diana’s despair. MAUREEN KEATING,
Eastcote, Middx. PATRICK THELWELL, who threw eggs at the King in York, is a total idiot. Doesn’t he realise Charles has been king of the ecowarriors for decades? Silly boy.
MAGGIE NUNN, Bridport, Dorset.
Shred warning
MR MATTHEWS (Letters), who suggested shredding personal documents to safeguard one’s identity before recycling them, may inadvertently have given misleading advice. Some councils don’t accept shredded papers as paper and issue a penalty notice if they are left for recycling.
R. HEDDERLY, Portsmouth.
Phone for life
I DON’T know about getting through 19 mobile phones in a lifetime (Mail). I am 75 and on my second, a Nokia. Smartphones are way out of my price league.
BABS NICOL, Grimsby, Lincs.
Short-changed
IT IS regrettable that John Hassall’s 1908 forecast of women growing to 6ft 6in tall (On This Day) never came about. I’ve had a small stool lying about for years. FRANK BERRESFORD,
Northampton.
That’s odd
I WAS once introduced to a lady who said to me: ‘I bet you mash your potatoes with butter, don’t you?’ And that was all she said. What’s the oddest thing someone has said to you?
JILL HOPKINSON,
Grantham, Lincs.