5,000 nurses threaten strike in dispute over temporary jobs

[SpeakeasyThai]

3 hours ago, colinneil said:

Nurses do a fantastic job, most of them are good hard working and dedicated people.

They deserve to be paid a proper wage and get  civil service benefits.

 Typical government penny pinching.

We got money for submarines/tanks etc, but not got money to pay hard working nurses.

 

I for one am extremely grateful to Thai nurses, who cared extremely well for me in my 7 months in hospital.

 

Pay them now you tight fisted morons.

We have the same kind hearted Government in the UK that rewards Nurses in such a disrespectful arrogant manner.

[Eric Loh]

Nurses like teachers are noble professions and should be commensurate with better salaries. In fact, it is time to revise the minimum wage for all workers. It is workers like them in the lower strata of the income distribution that formed the largest percentage of the working population that allow the country to grow but yet they are neglected and continue to struggle to survive.    

[patyh]

11 minutes ago, Hereinthailand said:

<deleted> are you talking about ? Where did teachers with new cars come into low pay for nurses, I can tell you know nothing about the medical system here by that comparison. Another thing alot of you dont realize is that unlike most civil servant jobs nurses dont have the opportunity to skim the budget, ask for money to do their job or collect xtra fees from the public for doing their jobs, etc. What they are paid is what they get. Go to any gov hospital, the only new expensive cars are the doctors and admin, the parking lot is full of scooters that nurses own and drive to work, and most of them have kids to pay for left to them by delinquent non contributing fathers. The debt most nurses have is trying to give their kids a decent education, clothing,food and a roof over their heads that doesnt leak.

 

Interesting. Your generalization of "Thai nurse are left with kids to pay off left to them by delinquent non-contributing fathers" is an insult to me as a Thai as well as Thai female nurses as a whole. Furthermore, judging by your reply I am very certain that you've not read my post in full or took it out of context. 

 

Let me repeat: In lieu of them being paid at close to what their peers in the private sectors get, I agree that they should be given the status of a civil servants. 

 

I do not agree with the civil servants system in Thailand and letting the nurses be civil servants does not solve the bigger problem at hand. Which is that civil servants are lowly paid and are often prevented from self-improvement due to the current system. 

 

Ask any Thai Civil Servants why they work in the Civil Services and most would say because of the benefits. Because low rank and file Civil Servants' salary are not pegged to the private sector, the only way to entice people to sign up for civil service is the benefits that comes attached. Such as being able to secure loans way beyond what a person making the same amount of money can receive. 

 

You also clearly have not met enough civil service nurses judging from your comments. Ignoring your comments like "skimming the budget", some nurses do receive extra incomes while on duty. Such as agreeing to take special care of a particular patient if the relatives are not able to visit often, or accompanying a certain patient for specalised treatment such as chemo. But that is not my point. 

 

Furthermore, nurses as civil servants get access to a variety of loans facilities that most non-civil servants will not be able to get. Which does include being able to buy house or cars much more easier. Driving a scooter to work does not mean they don't have a car. Based on your theory, most factory workers should not have a car then? So tell me how is it that the roads get congested during every long holidays where factory workers rush back home?? 

 

My point is this. In lieu of improvement to the civil service, nurses should be given the chances to be civil servants. But the civil  service should be overhauled. 

 

Pay should be pegged to private sectors, benefits should be reduced but should be better than private sector in entice people to join the civil service. Performance of civil servants must be monitored and under-performing servants should be given the boot to allow deserving people to join the civil service. 

[Destiny1990]

Nurses deserve a much better treatment its interesting why in Asia workers never strike while in Europe workers will strike for the smallest issue.

[BigBadGeordie]

I see several posters only refering to nurses as female, whilst Thailand does not have a high percentage of male nurses, there are many working in both the government and private sector.

[BEVUP]

1 hour ago, atsiii said:

Is this article correct?  They must work 30 x 8 hour shift per month for 10k to 13k baht with no benefits??? That means working every day with one day off every other month, and extra shifts in February!  They are not getting hired because they are slave labor!!

To right a house builder gets more & these nurses are supposed to be educated which brings me back to the poster that says if they could speak english they would get a job overseas 

.No way in the world they would or maybe pending the country as their Degrees would not be recognised 

 

[Scott]

An inflammatory post has been removed.  

[Hereinthailand]

Why is the truth inflamatory or do some people just not want to face it ?

 

[Bill Miller]

2 hours ago, muzmurray said:

 

Then why write "we" ? Surely if you are English, you should have written "they".

 

:-)

He is resident in Thailand, and so is entitled to say "we" with regard to issues that affect everybody living here.

[bangkokairportlink]

I see that old TV members really like nurses :-)

[JAG]

2 hours ago, atsiii said:

Is this article correct?  They must work 30 x 8 hour shift per month for 10k to 13k baht with no benefits??? That means working every day with one day off every other month, and extra shifts in February!  They are not getting hired because they are slave labor!!

I would doubt that they are working the ludicrous hours you (and the OP) describe. (as so often something awry in the translation I suspect).  I do know that they do work very long hours for very little pay, especially in the big city hospitals. 

 

The trouble is that nursing is one of the few professions open to girls from the poorer echelons of Thai society, who are preparedand able to work hard and get qualified. This means that there are a lot of applicants, and so the authorities can and will treat them badly. Not the daughters of "good people" you see.

[fxe1200]

I like nurses too.

[Lupatria]

...as long as they don't appear in the fake unemployment stats and  mess up the heroic achievements of this "government" the generals won't care for healthcare.

[elgordo38]

Meanwhile on the submarine, guns, tanks, planes front its full speed ahead. Talk about <deleted> priorities pass the envelope please. 

Edited May 11, 2017 by elgordo38

[janpharma]

“This is a chronic problem in our public-health network, because we have 3,000 to 4,000 new nurses entering every year, but there are no more than 1,000 job positions as nurses in the civil-servant system,” he said.

 

Candidate nurses should be informed before they start those studies.

[Rhys]

7 minutes ago, colinneil said:

In Thailand nurses in government hospitals they are government employees.

Also their wages are disgustingly low.

 

 

 

 

...not quite,  for the new grads that work there, do not have the Karangan status.  That was the issue MOPH and PBRI did not address.

 

....for graduating nursing students that were given scholarships then they are located close to their home province.

 

.... the Boromarajonai Colleges of Nursing supplies the nurses... and many of the new grads find other part-time jobs to supplement their incomes..... This has been an issue for well over a decade.

 

However, they work hard and deserve better treatment and pay.  

 

Edited May 11, 2017 by Rhys

[elgordo38]

I tell ya this issue makes my blood boil. After this government rants and raves about security and armament purchases and the necessity there of and then treating these budding Florence Nightingales in such a shabby manner its a national disgrace. Mr. Prayuth you and your fellow Junta members should feel shame beyond any boundries to let something like this reach this stage. Your a disgrace as a PM

[elgordo38]

43 minutes ago, JAG said:

I would doubt that they are working the ludicrous hours you (and the OP) describe. (as so often something awry in the translation I suspect).  I do know that they do work very long hours for very little pay, especially in the big city hospitals. 

 

The trouble is that nursing is one of the few professions open to girls from the poorer echelons of Thai society, who are preparedand able to work hard and get qualified. This means that there are a lot of applicants, and so the authorities can and will treat them badly. Not the daughters of "good people" you see.

Your last sentence again makes my blood boil

[colinneil]

1 minute ago, elgordo38 said:

Your last sentence again makes my blood boil

+1

[faraday]

10 minutes ago, Rhys said:

 

 

...not quite,  for the new grads that work there, do not have the Karangan status.  That was the issue MOPH and PBRI did not address.

 

....for graduating nursing students that were given scholarships then they are located close to their home province.

 

.... the Boromarajonai Colleges of Nursing supplies the nurses... and many of the new grads find other part-time jobs to supplement their incomes..... This has been an issue for well over a decade.

 

However, they work hard and deserve better treatment and pay.  

 

What is Karangan Status?

[sawadeeken]

Now you can see what happens when the govt. gets so engrossed with submarines and tanks and forget the important things..............

I hope PM Prayut and many Army High-rank Officers get sick while the Nurses are on strike............. LOL.........

[elgordo38]

Look at the picture what a bunch of sweethearts. In the present world you have to fight for everything you want. Your dreams today are unfortunately not the dreams of yester year that I enjoyed. Its trench warfare today to survive. 

[elgordo38]

6 hours ago, Thechook said:

Go into any hospital in Thailand and you will see a flood of nurses, most performing clerical duties which could be performed by others.

Yes I noticed this to. All that training to push a pencil. I have to slow down on this topic as it really raises my blood pressure. Just another example of how deleted this world is. 

[Blackheart1916]

I would love to be in the middle of that protest.

[elgordo38]

21 minutes ago, janpharma said:

“This is a chronic problem in our public-health network, because we have 3,000 to 4,000 new nurses entering every year, but there are no more than 1,000 job positions as nurses in the civil-servant system,” he said.

 

Candidate nurses should be informed before they start those studies.

In other words candidates should be told you don't stand a hope in hell to land a job as a nurse and your chances elsewhere are just as bleak. With the advancement of robotics and AI the future is not looking much better. 

[elgordo38]

Just now, Blackheart1916 said:

I would love to be in the middle of that protest.

What could you add??

[Rhys]

15 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

I tell ya this issue makes my blood boil. After this government rants and raves about security and armament purchases and the necessity there of and then treating these budding Florence Nightingales in such a shabby manner its a national disgrace. Mr. Prayuth you and your fellow Junta members should feel shame beyond any boundries to let something like this reach this stage. Your a disgrace as a PM

 

 

...quite odd, they (military, Navy, and Air Force) have their own nursing schools, and with the police, they have their scholarship program for the nursing students.  Also, those RNs in those systems, and the BCN System (Govt: MOPH, PBRI) who become academics, are given a full ride for their masters and Ph.Ds to study abroad...  and for some that is the jackpot... however, this is the top 10%.    Some of these Nursing students come straight out of the villages,  so to become an RN is a Big Deal. 

 

However, do agree with you the Subs were unnecessary   Additionally, the nursing schools, try to take care of their own the best they can, as they have and follow the order of the light to show them the way to take care of their Baht needs. 

Edited May 11, 2017 by Rhys

[colinneil]

Just now, Blackheart1916 said:

I would love to be in the middle of that protest.

Down boy, thinking like that you might just end up in hospital.

[Blackheart1916]

1 minute ago, elgordo38 said:

What could you add??

Fraternal idealogical support from an internationally aware trade unionist.

[elgordo38]

3 minutes ago, Rhys said:

Additionally, the nursing schools, try to take care of their own the best they can,

Yes your right this is what life has boiled down to. When I pass I will not be leaving much behind but a troubled insane world.