They don't work for free. What's the difference? Your argument makes no sense.
Australia's 10 best paid jobs
- Thread starter TingTong
- Start date
They don't work for free. What's the difference? Your argument makes no sense.
What you're paying more for is their expertise in other areas of nursing, not their 'goodness'.
A nurse assistant also provides valuable nursing care, but gets paid less because of this reason.
The same applies to teachers v CC workers and teachers aids.
All these do highly valued work, but they are still just jobs regardless.
Neither does someone getting a coupla hundred grand for organising a few loans for folk, sitting in the comfort of their car, or their clients' homes, or their office, not having to clean up Malena, vomit, blood, deal with drug addicts coming out of their coma from an overdose, or violent drunks or their skanky friends and relos...
All for a lazy $80k after some serious shiftwork and overtime.....
They're not treated like fragile children. Most of the nurses I know are pretty tough, resilient gals and guys....they have to be. They're not some sooky, urbanised dying swan who cries if their fingernail breaks, or their Ipod/Iphone battery goes flat.
And most nurses aren't the ones who are complaining about their income - it's people outside their profession, actually.
The argument for them is only ever about the value provided and importance of work, versus remuneration, compared to other endeavors..
Some might say a mining engineer provides value, and their work is important, and it is.
But, is it worth twice as much as the average 10 year experience nurse? I can't see it.
Maybe it is to the Mining company who deals in billions of turnover per year, but to the wider community.... guess you could argue that without the Mines, there is no steel and whatnot....it's a bit of a long bow if you ask me.
Or a frickin Pollie on $150k etc; tell me their work is more important, or better value, and so on.
You can substitute Nurse with Police Officer while we're at it.
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Veterinarians don't make all that much, especially considering the amount of study/expertise required. Overheads would be a killer, I imagine. No wonder they try to hustle us with needless check-ups and booster shots. If they didn't do all of that, they'd likely be earning a minimum wage.
Really, I'm never complaining about a vet bill again. In my crazy cat lady eyes, their work is invaluable.
Really, I'm never complaining about a vet bill again. In my crazy cat lady eyes, their work is invaluable.
Trouble is there is a shortage of nurses, and an oversupply of graduate nurses who cant get work.
There is plenty of work for experienced nurses, no entry level work for newly graduated nurses since the experienced nurses are so short staffed they dont have time to supervise grads.
I know someone who graduated nursing over a year ago, has applied for everything everywhere and they just say "no experience sorry". Cant get experience, cant get work. She is now working in an office reception role.
And so the viscious cycle of nurse shortage continues.
The trick is to get a stress less job! One that stops at 5 PM or when you walk out the door. That's worth another 100 k to me. For the amount of work some of us actually do what is really our hourly rate?
I earn a good wage, work to a brilliant roster, have heaps of down time and blocks of days off. My boss and work colleagues are great and I switch off work mode at the end of the shift. That to me puts me up into Surgeons $'s.
I earn a good wage, work to a brilliant roster, have heaps of down time and blocks of days off. My boss and work colleagues are great and I switch off work mode at the end of the shift. That to me puts me up into Surgeons $'s.
Lol seriously Aaron that is a load of bullocks. The insane shiftwork that they do onsite (rather than you and I who work late but do it in the comfort of our offices), the abuse that they get thrown their way (admittedly my wife was one of those people when giving birth), and they still take it because they have to, the stress with dealing with injuries, etc
If you are prepared to do their work and get paid what they get paid then kudos to you.
Shiftwork is a choice. Most nurses love that they have the choice of doing hours to suit and earning more for doing that.
The aggression is crap but most nurses don't experience too much of that.
The worse bit is the increased paperwork. You can spend just as much time on that as you do with your patients.
Just because some of their work is unsavoury doesn't mean that we have to treat them any different to anyone else who works in unpopular work and gets paid for it. If you truly think that they are underpaid, then next time you use their services, pay extra. I think they get paid enough - let's not forget the fringe benefit tax benefits they get for meals that means their take home pay is actually higher than an equivalent person working in another job.
....which after the FBT loophole - is much higher than an office worker (or mortgage broker) earning 80k.
My reference is to people who take it upon themselves to verbally abuse anyone who questions the notion that they are 'underpaid'. Nurses already have a union which looks after their interests re work conditions and pay. They don't need sympathy.
Exactly - so why the obsession about complaining that they are underpaid by those who aren't even working in the profession? It baffles me.
We live in a wealthy society so we pay people more for value-add services rather than manual labour. This is why doctors earn more, and why head nurses who don't wipe people's bums earns more than the nurse assistants who do.
How much a mining engineer earns is irrelevant to a nurse's wage.
Again, this is irrelevant. Besides, the rationale behind paying our politicians well goes far deeper than 'value add' (although this is part of it). We need to ensure that politicians are paid well so that it minimises the chance of corruption that would happen if politicians were enticed by monetary benefits to make political decisions. This is how it works in some Asian countries where being a government official is considered an honour.
It's exactly the same argument, which is not right in my view. Logically, under that emotive argument, it is never enough pay because they have to deal with riff-raffs everyday. So what? It's a job. Just like being a garbo, a lawyer, a doctor. It is just a way to make a living and earn some money and I think only those who genuinely donate their time pro-bono are worthy of accolades for what they do.
Yes, they work in an area with a lot of sick people. Yet like all of us, they turn up, punch their card, go about their business, clock out, then get paid for it. Is their $80,000 somehow more valuable than $80,000 that you or I earn? I don't think it is.
Obviously I'm not because I am not a nurse. Considered being a doctor at one stage in life and if I did go down that path I would've been working alongside them but earning far more. I don't like to congratulate people for earning low incomes no matter what they do - I congratulate and value people on how they approach their life and on their aspirations. I would certainly hold in much higher esteem someone who started a nursing agency (successful or otherwise) than just a nurse who happens to work on the agency's payroll.
I don't work in their profession.
But; I did.
I saw what goes on.
Well, it is, because everyone likes to compare jobs - as in that article which was posted earlier.
I would wager that when yer average year 10 student is contemplating a career after school, almost all would factor in their potential income from that job as well when they are deciding which way to go..
Many will still pick nursing, or police work etc - despite the wage, because it's what they want to do.
My hat is off to them, because compared to many, many other jobs they are not paid enough when factoring in what the job involves..
That is the crux of it.
I do not begrudge anyone what they earn (except maybe CEO's who pull in a cool mill or more from a Company that is not doing well anyway, but that's another thread); I'm just saying pay the nurses etc - who are at the coal face - the same as yer engineers and so on..
If you don't think they are worth it; wait until you are in the ER one day.
I pay myself $100k per year for swanning around doing a few punctures and invoices and generally being a waste of oxygen.
Any nurse is worth more than me, I can promise you.
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most underpaid job by miles for the hours/skills/crap/days/abuse/conditions they have to put in: Chef
People always trump out this 'wait until you are in Hospital' line. This makes no sense and doesn't further the argument. If I am in the ER I hope I get a good team of doctors/nurses etc. Doesn't mean that they are worth more.
What do you think they (nurses) should be paid?
I don't see the problem with what they get now. Especially at penalty rates.
That's probably cos you are wearing nursing goggles.
Take those off and pop on your miner's wife and miner's kids goggles for a second.
When those 200 men go down the shaft, you might then appreciate that the mining engineer in charge of rock bolting the walls and roof got their calculations right, or the ventilation engineer in charge of providing fresh air to both the miners and the machines to run got her calculations right, and the pumping engineer in charge of de-watering the stopes got her calculations right so they all don't drown.
Any of those engineers even remotely stuff up, and suddenly you have a nationally significant event, ala Beaconsfield.
Any large group of Govt paid workers, whether they be nurses or police or firey's or whatever, will never be able to compete with private industry and what they can pay. Expecting as such is folly.
Not at all; when there are lives at risk, then there is way more value....like yer mining engineer. No-one is disputing their right to earn $150k.
Hell; even my BIL is earning close to that as a plumber over in the mines ATM.
But everyone wants to cap the nurses.
I can easily put a figure on their time where others won't.
For eg;
ME - $100k for 5 days, no w'ends/pub hols or shifts, and I'm hopeless.
Mining Engineer - $150k odd.
Friend of ours - Trains personnel at Telstra for the Call Centre - $120k. 9-5 hours, no w/ends, pub hols, shifts, dirt. No qualifications required for the gig.
Based on these 3 examples, I reckon at least $120k as a start off.
Call it $150k to cover all o/time and shift details.
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For what it is worth, there are plenty of General Practioners (Dr's) who work 40-45 hours per week and only earn $80K per annum.
And yes, having been responsible for over 700 GP's I can confirm that.
And yes, having been responsible for over 700 GP's I can confirm that.
