By Emmanuel Joseph
Nurses in Barbados are making a case for an adjustment to their salary scale.
Delighted with the measures addressed in the recent Budget of Prime Minister Mia Mottley, President of the Barbados Nurses Association (BNA) Valerie Francis-Miller said on Wednesday that members are anxious to settle the salary scale issue.
“We are looking for equal pay for equal work, that is why we are already pushing for the salary scale adjustment to be done,” Francis-Miller told Barbados TODAY.
“It’s basically remuneration for the work that we do… being the backbone of healthcare and carrying Barbados through the pandemic. Adjustments to the salary scale would provide us with payment for our qualifications.,” she contended.
“What we look forward to seeing is the adjustment of the nursing salary scale, to the pay grade. Government has promised us that they have put things in place to start the regrading,” the BNA leader added.
Francis-Miller thanked the government for agreeing to most of its demands coming out of their negotiations.
“We were advocating for the interest-free car loans, the stipend for the student nurses, housing, the register for special nurses and transportation,” she said.
In her presentation, Mottley announced the inclusion of nurses in the schedule for Public Officers’ Loan and Travel Allowances effective April 1, a management trainee initiative for the public service, and a one-off $1,500 tax-free lump sum payment as part of the wages and salaries settlement.
“The $1,500 would go a long way for nurses…all nurses will benefit, not just those in the high bracket, but at all levels,” Francis-Miller pointed out.
“We got the student nursing stipend already, we got the transportation allowances, we got the housing we have been asking for because the nurses are seen as low income. We couldn’t qualify for certain things, but now we can qualify for the interest-free car loan and also with the housing being included in that bracket,” the BNA head reported.
She commended the Government for absorbing some of the costs so nurses would be able to own their own homes.
The spokesperson said the association’s leadership had also been advocating for training leave with pay adding that that is coming.
“Nurses have been under the microscope for the last two plus years and the pandemic fundamentally altered everything about the way we lived and the way we did things. When everybody was locked down and in their homes, the nurses had to go out to work…the nurses working in the hospital, polyclinics and doctors’ offices had to take care of the country…We had to work longer shifts, there was burnout because of the pandemic. It was good that we were able to get something back,” Francis-Miller declared.
The Prime Minister announced in her budget that the government would be introducing a training programme in the public service, which is currently at the trial stage.
She disclosed that her administration, which started the programme 10 months ago in partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat, will continue it through the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
She also announced the start of a Management Trainee Initiative in the public service that will take the form of a two-year, full-time paid work programme, where trainees will be given a $6,000 per month salary. They will be trained to prepare ultimately for senior leadership roles within the public sector.
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