Pay hold-up

THE Psychiatric Hospital has staff nurses who are getting the pay of nursing assistants, two years after passing the regional examination for staff nurses.And the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) is outraged that these staff nurses have not yet received their remuneration.It stems from a hitch in communication between the Psychiatric Hospital and the Personnel Administrative Division over the correspondence pertaining to the workers’ upgraded qualifications.NUPW acting deputy general secretary Roslyn Smith told the SATURDAY SUN she was disappointed that there was governmental tardiness in adjusting the salaries of workers who had upgraded their qualifications.“The workers should not have to endure this. It really is no fault of their own.“It is ridiculous that young men and women at the Psychiatric Hospital have passed an exam to better themselves as long as two years ago and not been duly rewarded for their achievement and hard work,” she said.“We have got the title, the work, but not the salary. We are unsure as to why our wages have not been regularised,” one disgruntled staff nurse said. “In one breath, we have been told that the correspondence reflecting our qualification has reached the Personnel Administration Division, and in another we hear the Psychiatric Hospital is dillydallying with the issue,” the nurse added.Smith said the Psychiatric Hospital should “get its act together”.Not good enough“The Psychiatric Hospital needs to be more caring to its staff. It just isn’t good enough. I hope that good sense prevails sooner rather than later. It can’t be good for staff morale.”“I don’t believe in this day and age that workers should be working for such a long stretch without being remunerated. These people have families to look after and it really is asking too much of them. It is unconscionable.”Smith also expressed concern that some substitute general workers at the St Philip District Hospital have not been paid for six months.The union executive said the situation was untenable as many parents could be hard-pressed to look after their children with the new semester starting in two weeks.