COMPLAINTS MADE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 31, 6 February 1943, Page 3

COMPLAINTS MADE

NURSES' SALARIES "LIVING COST DISREGARDED" Inquiries have been made recently regarding nurses' salaries, it being complained 'that they are extremely low -nd have not kept pace with the high cost of living. The long hours and hard work, it has been pointed out, combine to .make nursing an arduous life.which .should".be. given higher remuneration. '.'."'..

In response to these inquiries, the Auckland Hospital was asked for the scale of nurses' salaries, which is as follows:—First year nurses (who, together with second and third-year probationers live in), £57 6/7; second year, £68 7/1; third year, £79 7/7; fourth year (most of whom live out), £104 14/9. Those who live out are entitled to an additional £95 11/.

Staff nurses, all of whom live out: First year, £217 11/' (boarding allowance inclusive); second year, £222 16/; third year, £225 15/. Only a few nurses do staffing for a third year, however; most of them after two years become sisters at .a salary of £228 1/ for the first year, £238 11/ for the second year, and £249 1/ for the third year, with subsequent vearly rises of about £10.

It will be seen from this that a nurse in her third year of training receives only about £3 7/ a week with which to clothe and feed herself, while after six years she receives only £4 5/ a week. A nurse who was interviewed on the subject spoke strongly about the low salaries. "They do not meet the high cost of living at all, apart from being hardly a fair remuneration for the long hours and hard work that comprise nursing."