00:00Opposition leader Penelope Beckles is expressing her concern
00:03as the Nurses Association has said that nurses and midwives
00:07at the North Central Regional Health Authority have declared
00:11that they will no longer participate in the pool system for extra duty
00:15at what they say is an incentive that has been reduced by 20%,
00:19effective March 1st, 2026.
00:23Opposition leader Beckles expressed her concern as she made reference to the government.
00:27And what they are doing now is they are simply putting it at the heels of the CPU
00:33and saying, well, it's not the government, it's not us, it's the CPU.
00:39And I want to ask the nurses and the people of Trinidad and Tobago,
00:45is that what a lot of you voted for?
00:48This when UNC wins, everybody wins.
00:50Because that is the, I mean, imagine that you do not even call the Nurses Association.
00:55You do not discuss it with them.
00:58On Sunday, NCRHA Chairman Dr. Tim Gopi Singh told TP6 News
01:02that it had just come to the attention of the NCRHA
01:06that they ought to be paying $60 an hour to all pool nurses
01:11with the exception of three specialized areas of nursing,
01:15which continue to get the $75 per hour pool incentive,
01:19which he said was established during the COVID period.
01:23Now imagine, if you were getting an additional $75 or $60
01:29based on the fact that you were working in a non-critical or in an emergency area,
01:35and they have now removed this, they are telling you that is not a reduction.
01:39That is a standardization. That is an alignment.
01:43So if you go now at the end of the day to the bank and you are getting less money,
01:48they're telling you, I didn't reduce the money, I just align it.
01:50That is the logic of this government, which makes absolutely no sense.
01:55TV6 News sought to find out from the opposition leader
01:58if that is one of the matters the opposition will seek answers to
02:02during the pending mid-year review of the budget in Parliament.
02:06Absolutely, because as I said, is it a budget issue?
02:11I mean, when did this become an issue?
02:15And if it is you are in negotiations with the civil servants
02:19and you indicated you're going to pay back pay,
02:21and you know that the nurses operated on 2013 salaries.
02:26So if they operated on 2013 salaries, yes, it might look like $75 or $60
02:30mightn't be important to you, but just like every other worker,
02:35CPAP, URP, anybody who loses a job or anybody who loses any form of income,
02:40that definitely puts you at a disadvantage.
02:42On Wednesday, the nurses' association called on the health minister
02:45and the prime minister to intervene in the matter.
02:48Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
02:50Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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