Fury over ‘PR war’ against nurses

Wednesday 4th April 2007, 12:00AM BST.

HEALTH Minister Stuart Syvret has attacked the Chief Minister’s department for making ‘highly inflammatory’ and ‘clearly unhelpful’ assertions about nurses’ pay.

Senator Stuart Syvret accused States deputy chief executive Mick Pinel of embarking on a PR war in publicly rejecting claims that nurses have been treated like second-class citizens in pay deals in recent years. The Health Minister said that by comparing highly qualified, specialist, long-serving, senior nursing staff with relatively junior members of other emergency services, Mr Pinel had caused nurses to react with ‘fury’. Mr Pinel, who is responsible for human resources, effectively speaks for the States Employment Board, the employer of all public sector employees. That board consists of Chief Minister Frank Walker, Treasury Minister Terry Le Sueur and Education Minister Mike Vibert.

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