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Nurses say they are coming to the end of their patience with long-drawn-out pay negotiations and are now considering industrial action.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing Union in Guernsey had a meeting yesterday afternoon with regional representatives to discuss the possibility of striking, and how it would work for them.
In the morning, a number of nurses had gathered outside Sir Charles Frossard House to hand over a petition to the Policy & Resources Committee with around 4,500 signatures, demanding equal pay, and more progress in negotiations.
Pictured: The RCN handed a petition to Deputy Jane Stephens from Policy & Resources yesterday morning. P&R control the purse strings, and how much money is allocated to paying nurses.
Kenny Lloyd, a Convenor for the RCN in Guernsey, said they were meeting with regional officers who had just been involved in organising landmark nursing strikes in Northern Island.
The Director of the Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland found the profession to be in crisis because of the pay disparity between the country and the rest of the UK and Ireland. This had led to a major staff shortage in Northern Irish hospitals, which was resulting in care shortcomings.
Mr Lloyd said Guernsey had to compete with other jurisdictions to employ nurses so it did not end up in a similar position. While pay and equality were important, he said it was also about ensuring the island has a 'robust system of recruitment and retention' for nurses.
"There is a global shortage of nurses and Guernsey has to be competitive," he said.
"We need to get back around the table and start to work through the impasse we are at because of the inequality nurses are facing at the moment. It is blatant discrimination - we have given them solid evidence of a five to 15 thousand pound pay disparity, and something has to be done about it."
The result of the meeting to discuss industrial action is yet to be announced.
Pictured top: The Princess Elizabeth Hospital.
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