Footballers 'give pay to nurses'

[Swan Red]

Premiership footballers are being urged to donate a day's pay for nurses.

A number of top-flight footballers have already signed up to the Mayday for Nurses campaign, which is being run by one of the organisers of Live 8.

 

West Ham United captain Nigel Reo-Coker said he hoped others would follow suit as nurses were "the real heroes".

 

Top players can earn over £100,000 a week, while the annual average nurse's pay is £21,000. The Royal College of Nursing is administering the fund.

 

The campaign's founder, Noreena Hertz, said she was hoping to sign up all 556 Premiership players, as well as managers, commentators and others in the football community.

 

My mum was a nurse and I know how hard she had to work and I know how hard it is for nurses

 

Nigel Reo-Coker, West Ham United footballer

 

Any money raised will go towards a hardship fund for nurses who get into financial difficulties in the first few years of their career.

 

Dr Hertz said she had picked nurses to be the beneficiaries of the campaign because they were among the worst paid public servants with professional qualifications, earning one-third less than teachers by the time they are established in their careers.

 

"Nurses are under-valued and are holding down two or three jobs just to nurse," she said.

 

"It is not fair that we exploit the kindness of these women, who obviously do want to care, and treat them as second-class citizens and don't reward them for the education they have undertaken and the training they have done."

 

Heroes

 

Nigel Reo-Coker said: "I think it's a tremendous cause. I would like to see footballers play the part that rock stars did with Live Aid.

 

"My mum was a nurse and I know how hard she had to work and I know how hard it is for nurses.

 

"For me, they are the real heroes in our society and this is a chance for us to make a difference."

 

Players who have already pledged to give up their salary for May 13, according to the website, include Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), Gary Neville (Manchester United), Paul Robinson (Spurs), Jermaine Defoe (Spurs), Kevin Nolan (Bolton), Nigel Reo-Coker (West Ham), Alan Stubbs (Everton) and David James (Portsmouth).

 

Some football bosses, including Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United), Sam Allardyce (Bolton) and Glenn Roeder (Newcastle), have also signed up.

 

Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the RCN, said: "This campaign is a timely reminder that nurses should be properly valued and fairly rewarded for the essential work they do and the positive difference they make."

[anfield]

They should come over to the US, lots of demand and good money in nursing

[johngibo YPC]

They should come over to the US, lots of demand and good money in nursing

 

Thats the spirit

[Des]

the annual average nurse's pay is £21,000.

 

Shocking stat, that.

[R A Softlad]

Indeed that's barely the national average.

[matty]

Nurses minimum pay went up 26% after inflation between 97 and 2005.

[Cobs]

Nurses minimum pay went up 26% after inflation between 97 and 2005.

brilliant stat

 

 

how much did they get before and what are they on now though?

[matty]

For newly qualified nurses (Band 5) minimum pay was £12,385 in 1997.

In 2005 it was £19,166.

[Cobs]

neither look good do they ?

[Stevie H]

and aren't nurses still the lowest-paid public sector workers?

[Falconhoof]

I blame greedy London tube drivers.

[Buzz]

Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the RCN, said: "This campaign is a timely reminder that nurses should be properly valued and fairly rewarded for the essential work they do and the positive difference they make, in comparison to the stupid sums of money that footballers can make."

 

On R4 this morning, Reo refused to be drawn into talking about the huge amounts of money footballers make and wouldn't answer any questions about west hams fallings out or wether they stood a good chance of staying up.

He also repeatedly said that this was the footballers chance to do what pop stars did with Live Aid.

Stevie H is correct lowest paid, even less money than "The people who paint the white lines in the roads at Birmigham City Council" was the description this morning.

Edited March 1, 2007 by Buzz

[johngibo YPC]

and aren't nurses still the lowest-paid public sector workers?

 

"among the worst paid public servants with professional qualifications"

 

not quite

[Cobs]

and aren't nurses still the lowest-paid public sector workers?

Market forces,

 

 

F.cuk them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

eh Scot ?

[matty]

neither look good do they ?

 

Dunno, I did 5 years in Higher Education and started on 12k.

 

Supply and demand, innit.

[anfield]

Thats the spirit

 

They would be doing just as important work over here, and certainly be better appreciated. In certains states there are signing on bonuses for nurses. Certainly there is nothing like a shortage of nurses to drive up wages.....would solve this problem in the UK

[Cobs]

Dunno, I did 5 years in Higher Education and started on 12k.

 

Supply and demand, innit.

you don't happen to have the starting pay for the police/fire service in the same years there do you ?

[Guest Scot]

and aren't nurses still the lowest-paid public sector workers?

 

No they're not.

 

And yes, Cobs it's a function of market forces. That said, I'm entirely in favour of substantial pay increases to nurses, certainly long before lazy, feckless teachers get anything.

[John am Rhein]

Nurses minimum pay went up 26% after inflation between 97 and 2005.

 

I suppose you think they'd do better under a socialist government!

[Cobs]

i dunno why the nurses just don't supplement their income by pole-dancing - they've already got the sexy uniform - they're halfway there already, ffs...

[Paul B]

I have a personal interest in this as my wife and my neice are currently at polar opposites of the pay-frame for nurses. My neice gets precisely nothing to work on a ward as a cadet nurse and my sister and her husband are having to support her financially. This is because she is still regarded as a student and is therefore not paid.

 

My wife started out as a cadet many years ago and faced several years on low pay. However, when the kids were born, she could work two nights and get almost as much as a nurse on full-time days and there were no child-minding costs either. Having survived the poor years, she is now on a whopping salary as head of service and on her top increment and brings home almost as much as I do. The pension they get is also superb so there are many advantages, not least the satisfaction of making a difference to people's lives.

[fyds]

It's not supply and deman or market forces - it;s the fact that all Govts know they can get away with paying Public Sector workers lower value than their contributuion generally warrants as their careers, though professionally attained and qualified for, are seen as vocational.

 

And Scot - Teachers like my wife work like pigs - she went to bed tonight at 4:37 having sopent since *:30 writing year 10 & 11 ROP's and schemes of work for the new Syllabus - this is not uncommon. I'm sure their are lazy feckless gits in all professions and services. - including Wizardry.

[sean]

It's not supply and deman or market forces - it;s the fact that all Govts know they can get away with paying Public Sector workers lower value than their contributuion generally warrants as their careers, though professionally attained and qualified for, are seen as vocational.

 

And Scot - Teachers like my wife work like pigs - she went to bed tonight at 4:37 having sopent since *:30 writing year 10 & 11 ROP's and schemes of work for the new Syllabus - this is not uncommon. I'm sure their are lazy feckless gits in all professions and services. - including Wizardry.

 

 

He's talking specifically about his missus too, she's a lazy fecker. And a teacher.

(please don't tell her I said this)

[John am Rhein]

And Scot - Teachers like my wife work like pigs - she went to bed tonight at 4:37 having sopent since *:30 writing year 10 & 11 ROP's and schemes of work for the new Syllabus - this is not uncommon. I'm sure their are lazy feckless gits in all professions and services. - including Wizardry.

 

I've never understood why teachers do this. Why don't they just work reasonable hours and say the work wasn't done because there wasn't sufficient time to do it?

 

Is this some kind of subconscious altruism?

[matty]

I have a personal interest in this as my wife and my neice are currently at polar opposites of the pay-frame for nurses. My neice gets precisely nothing to work on a ward as a cadet nurse and my sister and her husband are having to support her financially. This is because she is still regarded as a student and is therefore not paid.

 

My wife started out as a cadet many years ago and faced several years on low pay. However, when the kids were born, she could work two nights and get almost as much as a nurse on full-time days and there were no child-minding costs either. Having survived the poor years, she is now on a whopping salary as head of service and on her top increment and brings home almost as much as I do. The pension they get is also superb so there are many advantages, not least the satisfaction of making a difference to people's lives.

 

I started out in Parliament as a volunteer and didn't even get expenses, but people don't start threads about that!

 

It's not supply and deman or market forces - it;s the fact that all Govts know they can get away with paying Public Sector workers lower value than their contributuion generally warrants as their careers, though professionally attained and qualified for, are seen as vocational.

 

 

Absolute garbage.

 

Of course it's supply and demand. GPs get a s***load, is that not a vocation? People get paid according to (1 thing) the difficulty of recruiting. We need hundreds of thousands of nurses to make the NHS work, annd happily there is a plentiful supply worldwide.