Need to get organised lads and lassies. I remember the last agency strike. It left me feeling very poor and disappointed. Everyone went out at the start and then people started to trickle back to work and eventually our capitalist overlords had their way and we ended up working for roughly half the pay. We have numbers here now and this page is a great idea but we must have solidarity. I suggest we organise. There is strength in solidarity. Id imagine that HR in various places will put heat on people to produce proof that they paid their retention fee. All the usual threats will take place. If you dont have proof that your on the register etc you cant work here. Its simple divide and conquer strategy. Some will pay and then others will be left exposed....others will follow and pay and eventually we all end up paying or facing disciplinary action. Its not nice but that is how it usually goes. Heres how to deal with it : Firstly we need to get people informed and singing from the same hymn sheet. Group together and organise meetings with all nursing staff in your respective workplaces. Make sure all nursing staff members know that nurses are in dispute over this. The plan is to withhold the retention fee this year until things change. Try to get EVERYONE on board. When asked to produce proof of registration this year the answer is simple ; There is an ongoing dispute regarding the retention fee this year and I am not paying until it is resolved . Now your workplace is in a dilemma. They can enforce the policy which says that you cannot work in which case they will have no nursing staff and will be unable to operate/function. As you can see they cannot enforce this. The other option is that they will express their concerns to the powers that be which will put serious pressure on our governing body. They may even have to take our side in the battle to find a resolution. In the meantime the coffers in Blackrock will be running dry and this will scare the daylights out of An Bord . This is all dependent on solidarity. Nobody gets isolated. Nobody gets bullied into submission. No healthcare institution will force all its nursing staff to down tools if we stick together. It would be suicide to do so. This means that really the power is in our hands to lose. Organise meetings as there are probably staff in your workplace that do not even know about this yet. Rope them in! Time to box clever me thinks... The power is in unity. Stick together, dont break! These people think they can charge us whatever they like. Next year they could raise it again and we all know that they do absolutely nothing of consequence for us. Its the best money spinning quango in the land.We shall overcome! Also did anyone ever approach them for a breakdown of where all the money goes? A FOI requesting this would soften a lot of coughs.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 19:28:13 +0000