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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

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Nurses face pay cuts By JUAN MCCARTNEY ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~juan@nasguard.com: As nurses continued day four of a sick-out yesterday, Minister of Health Dr. Hubert Minnis confirmed that those who exceed the number of sick days they are entitled will see their pay cut. The nurses continue to protest the government's decision to put off a promised group insurance plan for them due to a tight fiscal position. There appears to be no end in sight to the sick-out. Minnis said yesterday that he has had no discussions with the Bahamas Nurses Union (BNU) since the industrial action started. "No one has contacted me," he told The Nassau Guardian. "But my door is always open." Minnis confirmed that he also had not contacted any union official to discuss how to bring the action to an end. BNU President Cleola Hamilton said nurses will continue their sick-out no matter what the government does to them. "We are proceeding as is," she told The Guardian yesterday. "Nurses are at the point now where we are prepared to have our salaries cut until such time as we have some resolution." Both Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes and Dr. Minnis are out of the country. Foulkes, who spoke with The Guardian from Florida yesterday, said he could not comment on the situation as it was being handled by Dr. Minnis, who left town for Atlanta yesterday to attend his son's graduation. Hamilton said she was aware that Minnis had left the country, but she pointed out that it made no difference as he made no attempt to contact her since the sick-out began on Monday. Minnis returns to the country on Sunday. "He's going to come back and meet things the same way he left them," she said. In fact, Hamilton said Minnis did more harm than good when he addressed the matter in the House of Assembly on Wednesday. "The nursing community was totally appalled by our honorable minister's (actions) in the House of Assembly," she said. "We were appalled by the statements he would have made and the misleading of the public in some of the things he would have said. The way Dr. Minnis demeaned nursing in the country yesterday (Wednesday), only (upset) more of the nurses who were willing to go in and try and help while we are out." One of those things that Hamilton claimed was "misleading" was the minister's assertion that nurses would lose their risk allowance, thereby base salaries would automatically decrease by more than $41 per month, as soon as the group insurance plan is implemented. "With regard to the $41 that he ranted and raved about like a spoiled child, the Bahamas Nurses Union consciously agreed to have that risk allowance taken away as a form of our contribution to the health insurance," she said. "If Dr. Minnis were wise, he would not be on national TV saying something like that. That $41 is not a part of anybody's base pay because allowances are not a part of your base pay." In his remarks in Parliament, Minnis claimed that he made a private hospital room available for nurses' use only at PMH. "What he failed to mention was that that room was placed in there 17 years ago when he was in charge of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department," Hamilton said. "At this point in time, to use that room you would have to pay and you would have to book in advance because that room is not for nurses only. Maybe his intention was for it to be for nurses only, but that is used for the care of government workers. Everybody goes into that room." Minnis also claimed that he was prepared to offer to renovate additional wards at PMH in order to give nurses three private rooms with bathroom facilities and other amenities, but the nurses refused. Hamilton said Minnis' statements were inaccurate. "In our meeting with Dr. Minnis (prior to the sick-out) we would have suggested to Dr. Minnis — after they had said that they would not give us the insurance — that they use some of the private rooms so that nurses can convalesce," Hamilton said. "He in turn said to us that he would have to speak with (Dr.) Robin Roberts (a consultant with Physician's Alliance, a private organization run out of PMH). Then he turned to his permanent secretary and said 'make an appointment for me...to speak with Robin Roberts'. That is the only and last time we would have heard from Dr. Minnis [about that]." There have also been suggestions in some corners that Hamilton has political aspirations and her actions are not in the best interest of the BNU. But Hamilton said: "This fight we are fighting now is one that we fought with the previous government. How could it be politically motivated?" The Princess Margaret Hospital shut down nearly all of its outpatient services on Wednesday due to the sick-out. Only the oncology, dialysis and maternity high-risk clinics remained open. Friday, June 12, 2009