– I don’t want to take time away from family and children when I know there is a better deal out there that we won’t get, says specialist nurse Hilde Therese Bolstad. She meets news together with two colleagues at the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital in Stavanger. A lack of qualified substitutes means that so-called critical staff, such as specialist nurses and midwives, are asked to work more than normal in the summer. It is voluntary, but also absolutely necessary to get the rosters up. But the pay they get for the extra effort varies greatly from hospital to hospital. SUS spent over NOK 4 million on its summer bonus last year, but there is a more lucrative scheme. Nine healthcare companies use a summer agreement negotiated by the Norwegian Nurses’ Association (NSF). It gives more money in the wallet of those who work extra. In the Spekter area, these have entered into a summer agreement with NSF in 2023. Akershus University Hospital HF Diakonhjemmet Hospital Finnmarkssykehuset HF Helgelandssykehuset HF Nordlandssykehuset HF Oslo University Hospital (OUS) St. Olavs hospital Sykehuset Innlandet HF University Hospital Northern Norway HF (UNN) – I have chosen not to take planned extra shifts this summer. It is because we have given notice that we want the NSF agreement, and it has been refused. Then we have nothing else to show up with to show upwards that we think it is inappropriate, says specialist nurse Stine Stokstad. While Helse Stavanger pays a fixed supplement of NOK 1,500–2,700 in summer bonus per additional inconvenience watch, the NSF agreement provides NOK 870 per hour for extended working hours. – Had SUS used the NSF agreement, the salary for an extra night shift would have been around NOK 1,500 higher for us, says specialist nurse Mariann Haglund. She has voluntarily taken around 50 extra hours this summer. – With the NSF agreement, I had earned around NOK 10,000 more this summer. The agreement had probably also led to more people working extra and the burden was spread over more people, says Haglund. Mariann Haglund, Hilde Therese Bolstad and Stine Stokstad are specialist nurses at the neonatal intensive care unit in Stavanger. Photo: Anett Johansen Espeland / news – Sad and unfair The differential treatment upsets the nurses. – I think it’s stupid, and sad and unfair, and I only wish it were the same for everyone with the same skills, says Stine Stokstad. Maiken Jonassen, personnel and organization director. Photo: Svein Lunde / Helse Stavanger HR and organizational director Maiken Jonassen at Helse Stavanger could not be interviewed, but responded in an e-mail to news. “Helse Stavanger has chosen to continue an administrative arrangement with summer compensation that was established many years ago, as it covers the company’s needs to the greatest extent. An agreement on extended ordinary working hours will require that the working hours are planned in a plan. This will cover part of the need, but there will also be a need for a scheme that compensates for accidental overtime. To ensure equal treatment, Helse Stavanger has chosen to deal with a compensation scheme.” This causes the Norwegian Nurses’ Association to react. – We think very little of local employers trying to undercut and give nurses poorer compensation for the workload they are under. It is very important that they get a holiday, and when they have to work because there is a lack of people, they should at least have paid well for it, says head of NSF, Lill Sverresdatter Larsen. Ideally, she would have seen that no members agreed to other bonus schemes. Leader of the Norwegian Nurses Association, Lill Sverresdatter Larsen. Photo: SUNNIVA TONSBERG GASKI – Sitting deep inside SUS this year had 2,500 empty shifts to fill before the summer holidays. – The responsibility lies with the employer to mobilize and have enough competence at work at all times. You have a way of looking at nurses as if they have to provide this extra all the way. The pressure in the summer comes on top of this. And now we have this agreement that we believe they must ask for, says Tone Wang-Nilsen, chief shop steward for NSF in Helse Stavanger. Tone Wang-Nilsen is the chief shop steward for NSF in Helse Stavanger. Photo: Anett Johansen Espeland / news – But wouldn’t it be less tiring if it was better paid? – No, but the NSF agreement gives us a dispensation from the Working Environment Act which is legal and which provides good ways to solve the extra work. The nurses in Stavanger hope it is useful to speak up. – If we want a change, we must give notice, and our means of action is to say no – we do not work extra, says Hilde Therese Bolstad. The nurses emphasize that they always stand up in emergency situations. It is the planned extra work they want to be paid more for. – I get a bit of a guilty conscience then. Fortunately, it has been a quiet summer, says Stine Stokstad.
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Nurses at Stavanger University Hospital get less in summer bonus for extra shifts – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
