I want everyone to understand that RCN strike action is legal. It may sound like something we shouldn’t need to explain but for some of the nursing staff I work with in my trust’s multicultural network, it’s still something that causes worry.
The RCN will support you if you get into trouble for exercising your legal right to strike. But this can be hard to take on board if you come from a country where you’ll automatically be fired for taking industrial action.
Colleagues want to know what will happen if their manager retaliates if they find out they’ve withdrawn their labour and attended a picket line. We need to make sure derogations are clearly explained to everyone because I hate to see my nursing colleagues too frightened to take the action they’re entitled to take.
We need to consider the environment some of these staff are working in too. Most internationally recruited nurses have never lived in the UK before, and some are relatively new recruits. Making the decision to go on strike is difficult enough for people who’ve always lived in this country. For newcomers, this is never going to be easy.I want to make a difference and help all my colleagues in getting our important Fair Pay for Nursing message out there. There’s a shortage of staff here so more international nurses are being recruited but we need to look after them and make them feel welcome and understood. Moving anywhere is hard so what they’ve done is brave. I’m not surprised these nursing staff are frightened of striking, so please help them feel safe.
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