Scores of frustrated nurses going overseas – Franklyn

Barbados has lost as many as 70 nurses to overseas recruiters and there is the possibility more could follow suit, General Secretary of Unity Workers Union (UWU) Caswell Franklyn has warned.

Franklyn, who led a strike of over 150 nurses between last December and February this year, said many of the health workers have taken up employment overseas as they were adamant they would not return to work here under existing conditions.

“I can’t tell you where I get my information from but I can assure you that they can’t deny it – a lot of nurses have left Barbados, I think almost 70,” he said in an interview with Barbados TODAY.

“We have very well-trained nurses in Barbados that are in demand overseas and we are bringing to Barbados . . . You had Bajan nurses that were doing it well and you rather them go.”

Reminding that he had warned Government that failing to address the issues of the striking nurses would put the country at risk of losing those healthcare professionals to overseas recruiters, Franklyn said he has been contacted by recruiters asking for his help in hiring hundreds of local nurses to practise in the United Kingdom.

He said there was a possibility that Barbados would lose more than the scores who have already left.

“During the strike action, I even had calls from people overseas trying to get me to help them recruit some of my members to come and work for them. But I refused because my issue was not to make Barbadians suffer but it was to get better for the nurses here.

“Some of the nurses on their own went and got jobs. People are looking for Barbadian nurses. Even the nurses from Ghana, once they get Barbados on their CV [curriculum vitae] they gone clear. Now that they are registered in Barbados, the international community grabbing them up too as if they are really Barbadians,” Franklyn contended.

Last December, nurses represented by the UWU began strike action to press the Government to deliver better working conditions and increased pay, health insurance, improved nurse-to-patient ratios, remuneration for degrees, and continuous training.

In January this year, scores of them marched through The City to turn up the pressure on the administration to address their longstanding grievances.

Government subsequently made the decision to dock the pay of the workers who remained off the job.

In late February, the UWU leader told Barbados TODAY that even though the nurses were still dissatisfied, as their grievances and concerns had not been resolved, they had returned to work after experiencing severe financial challenges from not being paid.

During the interview at his Belleville, St Michael office today, Franklyn insisted that so many nurses would not have left if the Government had handled the strike differently.

“The Government wanted to handle me. It was more about me than about the welfare of the nurses or the people who the nurses have to take care of. They wanted to shut me down. They were more interested in me,” he charged.

“And the thing is that if they were doing the right things, I wouldn’t have anything to complain about. People think I hate the Prime Minister. I don’t hate the Prime Minister; she and I get along quite well when we don’t have these conflicts.”