Liberia nurses threaten strike over Ebola pay

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberian officials are pleading with nurses and physician assistants to show up to work Monday amid a dispute over hazard pay that has prompted calls for a strike in the middle of the Ebola epidemic.

A strike could deliver a serious blow to the fight against Ebola in Liberia, where the World Health Organization has recorded more than 2,300 confirmed, suspected and probable deaths from the deadly disease — more than any other country.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf personally toured Ebola treatment units around Monrovia on Saturday asking health workers to remain in their posts, assistant health minister Tolbert Nyenswah said Sunday.

"Everybody is appealing because it has adverse and very negative consequences on people suffering from Ebola and progress that has been made with the fight," Nyenswah said.

FULL story at link.



Liberia women walk past a sign warning people of the deadly Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia. Friday, Oct. 10, 2014. The number of people killed in the Ebola outbreak has risen above 4,000, according to the World Health Organization. (AP Photo/ Abbas Dulleh)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141012/af--ebola-west_africa-a06c5b8575.html

[Treant]

1. Mind you

Everybody deserves decent pay for doing a good (and difficult) job like nursing.

But using a deadly disease where your absence means somebody may die is simply dirty pool.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

2. They are expecting people to work with that deadly disease

without proper safety gear. Over 400 care workers there have already been infected. You couldn't pay me enough to do that without proper equipment.


It looks like we need a bigger and faster International response to contain this.

[Treant]

3. Nor I

But I'm not a nurse and my job is not to care for patients. Theirs is. If they dislike the conditions--which have been prevalent for a long time and through many communicable and deadly diseases--leave the profession.

In this case, the objection isn't over proper equipment, it's over pay. So the emergency nurses get to be exposed and there are probably fewer of them so they're more overworked and less careful. Not only do the patients get to suffer, so do the remaining nurses.

Nice job, guys.

[Igel]

5. That's how it works.

You go on strike when you're most in demand.

For example, there were a number of large strikes and even more threats of strikes during WWII.

When the US war effort was at its height workers had the greatest leverage. Stop producing steel and you don't get guns, tanks, or ships. Nowadays such actions by (R) would be dubbed "siding with the enemy". At the time, it was good progressive politics, and the unions said, "If you don't want GIs to die in Europe and the Pacific, give us what we want. Now."

(Some unions waited. And immediately after the war, as thousand upon thousand of soldiers were demobilized, the economy tanked, and unemployment soared they staged large strikes. The wave of strikes and their sheer size was all that kept them from being crushed.)


But, yes. There is a conflict between self-interest and public service. Always. Increasing the nurse's pay won't make them better nurses. It might mean some don't have to have second jobs. And it might eventually attract higher skilled nurses, or maybe they'll feel like doing their job more faithfully and diligently (both of which are, of course, an insult that unions usually dole out to their current members--the NEA and AFT are notorious for these particular bits of damning with no praise).

[Treant]

11. I cannot muster any respect

for nurses walking out on an epidemic for money.

[Omaha Steve]

12. They aren't getting the hazard pay scale

IF YOU want to do it for $435 a month, we will make arrangements to get you there. Then after a couple months of longs hard hazardous shifts without proper equipment, let us know if your attitude has changed.

OS

[Treant]

13. See Above

Letting people die over money? No.

Actually, the hospital I worked at stopped paying its medical bills (yeah, I know). We didn't go out on strike. We left for other jobs.

In this instance, that just devolves patient care to the patients' families since these hospitals are understaffed, under-equipped, and under-funded. So now they get to die.

No respect for them at all.

[Omaha Steve]

14. YOu didn't comment on going over there to help

It isn't just $.

They need YOUR help too. I guess you don't feel so bad for the victims of this either!

[Ash_F]

17. I can not muster any respect for keyboard warriors.

Unless you are doing something as equally dangerous as nursing in a Ebola stricken country, your opinions on this matter are of little import to most people.

[closeupready]

19. Who cares what you think.

[Demit]

8. You apparently didn't read the story.

"...When the first Ebola cases were confirmed in Guinea back in March, Liberia agreed to pay $700 per month in hazard pay because there were only two treatment centers and far fewer health workers involved, Nyenswah said.

As the epidemic and efforts to contain it expanded, however, that commitment placed a "huge financial burden on the state," he said.

The government then lowered the monthly hazard allowance to $435 per month. By comparison, doctors receive at least $825 in monthly hazard pay, and their salaries are more than double most other health workers, Nyenswah said...."


The nurses want what they were promised. Also, I notice the financial burden didn't lower the doctors' hazard pay.

[JimDandy]

9. Yup...Extreme Hazard Pay - Pay it and back pay too.

5% of all cases, then, are health care workers and an even higher % of the deaths are those workers. Read somewhere that Liberia had 58 doctors in the whole country before the Ebola crisis and now more than 65% of them have died from Ebola.

Those panicking over Ebola hitting our shores should be begging to pay them hazard pay to help contain it as much as possible at the site of origin.

What's worse is the workers were saying they haven't even been paid at all the last couple of weeks.

[eilen]

4. Not all nurses want to work in infectious disease

they work in specialties like doctors do. I don't think I would want to work on an ebola ward with the add risk of exposing my family to it. I would totally not be up for say, cpr on an ebola patient. Screw that shit. Motivating healthcare employees to not quit and to work on those wards should include hazard pay. Soldiers get it.

[valerief]

6. Those holding the purse strings are penny wise and pound foolish. nt

[Supersedeas]

20. everyone need to dig a little deeper

[uppityperson]

7. Monthly salary $200-300. Hazard pay >$500/month. Cost of living.....whew, they don't make enough

From OP link

Members of the National Health Workers Association are demanding $700 in monthly hazard pay on top of monthly salaries that are generally around $200 or $300. Monthly hazard pay is currently less than $500.

Cost of living in Liberia, in US dollars. Formatting on the first link was hard to copy paste so I did the second link.
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Liberia
http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/monrovia?currency=USD
Food
Daily menu in the business district $13
Combo meal in fast food restaurant (Big Mac Meal or similar) $12
1/2 Kg (1 lb.) of boneless chicken breast $5.01
1 liter (1 qt.) of whole fat milk $3.42
12 eggs, large $3.67
1 kg (2 lb.) of tomatoes $12
500 gr (16 oz.) of local cheese $12
1 kg (2 lb.) of apples $3.73
2 kg (4,5 lb.) of potatoes $5.19
0.5 l (16 oz) domestic beer in the supermarket $1.14
1 bottle of red table wine, good quality $13
2 liters of Coca-Cola $3.12
Bread for 2 people for 1 day $1.24

Housing
Monthly rent for 85 m2 (900 Sqft) furnished accommodation in EXPENSIVE area $1,862
Utilities 1 month (heating, electricity, gas ...) for 2 people in 85m2 flat $286
Internet 8MB (1 month) $76
40” flat screen TV $1,009
Microwave, known brand, 800/900 Watt $250
Laundry detergent (3 l. ~ 100 oz.) $5.13
Hourly rate for cleaning help $2.49

Clothes
1 pair of jeans (Levis 501 or similar) $80
1 summer dress in a chain store (Zara, H&M, ...) $77
1 pair of sport shoes (Nike, Adidas, or similar) $118
1 pair of leather business shoes $124

Transportation
Volkswagen Golf 2.0 TDI 140 CV 6 vel. (or equivalent), with no extras, new $18,442
1 liter (1/4 gallon) of gas $1.01
Monthly ticket public transport $18
Taxi trip on a business day, basic tariff, 8 Km. (5 miles) -

Personal Care

Medicine against cold for 6 days (Frenadol, Coldrex, ...) $8
1 box of 32 tampons (Tampax, OB, ...) $5.33
Deodorant, roll-on (50ml ~ 1.5 oz.) $3.85
Hair shampoo 2-in-1 (400 ml ~ 12 oz.) $3.73
4 rolls of toilet paper $2.64
Tube of toothpaste $2.76
Standard men's haircut in expat area of the city $20

[Ash_F]

18. Holy crap how is it even possible to live there?

When I see low monthly income in developing nations, I tend to assume that prices are generally lower as well.

But these prices are not much lower than the US. Is this even accurate?

[daleo]

10. Take one percent of the money budgeted to bomb Iraq

And pay these nurses properly.

[Supersedeas]

21. this country needs to do more to help Africa

[eilen]

15. Just want to add that over 400 healthcare workers have gotten the virus

from caring for the infected and over half of those have died.

People work in healthcare to help others, not for a death wish. The facilities don't have the proper training, supplies and equipment and put their staff at risk.

Maybe back when nuns were nurses but I am not on some holy spiritual journey here. The nun that founded our hospital went to leper colonies became a saint. I have no such aspirations. But then they also did not have husbands and children they could also infect.

I think it is quite enough that nurses have to wear masks everywhere (even the cafeteria) 8 months out of the year for not getting a flu shot but they let any idiot off the street walk in and visit without any flu shot screening or demand they wear a mask. There are some good reasons why some nurses don't get that shot. They don't even restrict visitors under 16 with that enterovirus going around. Our hospitals have become Disneyland in their approach to the public who now have expectations along the line of the Hilton or Savoy.

Also, just want to mention that I have not enough fingers on both hands to count the times the ED has sent us unscreened influenza patients, TB, patients ridden with head and body lice, scabies, MRSA, VRE, CDiff, Super CDiff, Shingles, Malaria, RSV, etc. At least now my floor has all private rooms so the roommate is not exposed but that is not the case with the rest of the hospital. Of course visitors, even when prompted often do not wear the advised PPE.

[Duer 157099]

16. Maybe some of those billionaires can give up a few iotas of their percent wealth

to pay, just out of humanitarian consideration?

Hahahahha oh right sure....