In February I'd given dates of availability from May 17 - June 17th so was anticipating travel arrangements. Having received a general email stating all duty travel bookings were seriously delayed, I waited until last week before emailing the travel department - no response. I was determined to receive my CSA (agreement to sign) before leaving home. The contract in January I'd already been working in the community for two weeks when the CSA was forwarded with beginning payscale and the instruction to 'sign and return immediately or it would be four weeks before my pay would be issued' leaving me the option of agreeing or going home so I signed, but was not happy. When the pay rate is nearing home province wages and you could sleep in your own bed and make almost the same amount...what is the point? Yes, there is the exorbitant cost of northern travel which is covered by the employer as you experience a new community and culture but...there is the payment of rent with roommates of various habits (have been lucky to cohabit with some great nurses as well as a couple of real winners) and a wide range of staff housing, there's the work of schlepping belongings and food thousands of km, settling in to the apartment and cleaning for departure, the two days (at least) travel each way and there's the community itself, the time of year (blizzards, muck or dust, bug season) as well as decrepit vehicles etc. Not even addressing the issue of the work itself, staff or other challenges.... I still enjoy and look forward to working as a northern nurse but this is not a job you do for the same money as staying home.
On Monday I contacted the HR clerk advising I was awaiting my CSA to sign and travel booking. Late Tuesday I received an email apology for the delay with CSA attached for signing. However....the CSA quoted a payscale which was significantly lower than I'd expected and the same line as my previous contract - PR17 which obviously wasn't correct because Public Health and Supervisor Home and Community Care are two completely different positions. When I researched the situation by messaging various colleagues employed presently or previously with GN I discovered that the homecare position is PR19, that a new grad (one years experience) had received step 2 on first contract north, then step 4 on her second - meaning she received $8/hr more than what had been proposed for me. Dagnabit! I dug out my resume, calculated my experience and wrote a firm email outlining my 43 years of RN work and almost ten years of homecare nursing in both southern and northern communities while quoting the payscale my new graduate colleague had been paid, requesting an amended CSA to credit my experience. What's the point of being this long in the tooth if it's not appreciated? This afternoon I received an apology from the clerk with CSA amended to reflect step 2. I signed, scanned and returned the document which ensures that duty travel has been requested. The general consensus from various colleagues? This region has a habit of returning to beginning pay so you best carefully review anything you sign. Quite a good scheme they've got going there. Mind you, if they're booking last minute travel, they'll need extra $ as I shudder to think what purchasing airfare 24 hrs before my departure sets them back. On a positive note, I'm travelling over the weekend so that will allow for more visiting with the daughter enroute.
Packing procrastination was replaced with some serious sorting as I located my northern gear and stuffed my duffel bags. The good part of a spring contract is lighter weight clothing, meaning more room for food. I had the shore captain weigh the partially filled luggage to ascertain how many pounds of food (30 lb each it turns out) will meet the 50lb x 2 bag limit. Tomorrow I'll likely have a few strange looks while ticking off my shopping list and weighing the food in my Sobeys cart but no point in buying perishables you can't take. I've heard that prices in Pond Inlet aren't as high as Clyde River (odd as it's further north) but more likely due to competition as both a Northern Store and COOP in Pond.
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| shark chair in the workshop |
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| Do you see anything? |
Enjoyed visits with all of the grandchildren over Mothers Day weekend with a trip to the city - the youngest grandson is a really big guy (100th percentile for height) and pretty laid back, his big sister is learning all sorts of new things and he watches her intently. We picked up the oldest grandson on our way back from the city and I put him on the bus Monday morning. He was particularly pleased with the shark chair which his Grawmp had crafted for him for the deck. The other item he'd crafted had given him a bit of a start but after he looked more closely on his way up the driveway, he announced "Nanak, I think that someone is trying to prank us". Maybe he won't be as intrigued by Big Foot when we're camping this year.... lots of summer to look forward to upon my return.
We're in the process of booking an autumn trip to Europe which includes a river cruise on the Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland. The office manager who faithfully ensured there was a business to retire from is accompanying us for the first two weeks and will fly home from Switzerland while we visit Argentine friends on sabbatical in Konstanz, Germany as well as exploring Austria and Liechtenstein for another month. In anticipation of the travels I've been doing some research at the library. The librarian kindly showed me how to use the new app Libby for downloading eBooks and it is more simple than previously, so at home I went through tagging a number of books for later requests. As well we went through the website looking for some German authors and found one on the shelf as well as some travel books. Later in the week I received an email saying that a book on hold was waiting for pickup at the library. Thinking I'd inadvertently put holds on books through the app I stopped to pick up the reserve and clarify how to use it. It turns out that the librarian had found a new website:
where you look up reads by location. She found a book in the list for Germany and put a hold on it for me. Whew...wasn't me. When I am home over the summer I'll get into some lists as my European history is a bit fuzzy.
Have had a busy but productive time at home since returning from vacation(s) with some baking, appointments, socializing and crafting. The shore captain is heavily into his garden prep, building raised beds and planting in the greenhouse. The weather has been cold, wet and soggy but ticks and black-flies arrived anyway so it's time to leave. Another good reason for going back to work...I had the brakes completely redone on my car - it's the third set in six years as the Dodge Darts have a problem with them pitting and more so as mine sits around. There'll be a two year warranty again now at least and I'll earn some serious points on my credit card for that bill.
Next update from north of 60....
