Many fourth-year nursing students graduating this May are apprehensive about their graduation being delayed due to the MUNFA strike.
The nursing students do not blame MUNFA for going on strike. On the contrary, they fully support their actions because they understand that their needs were not met during negotiations with the administration.
Many nursing students spoke up about their perspectives, with Maddison Bailey as one of the students that spoke on behalf of her classmates, saying, “we’re definitely being affected the most by this.”
Mackenzie Lomond mentioned that,
“All these faculty members have played an integral role in getting [them] to this point,” and “It’s important that [the students] still support them.”
And another nursing student says,
“I think the biggest message I want to get out is that we are still supporting MUNFA and will continue to show our support on the picket line.”
Despite the students showing support for MUNFA, they are still worried that if the strike goes on for too long, it will jeopardize their graduation dates, the jobs they have lined up, and the healthcare system overall.
As a result of these concerns, discussions took place between faculty and administration about clinical placements resuming today, Monday, February 6th, at 7:30 am. This was confirmed through a recent Media release sent out by Memorial University.
The situation of the fourth-year students is also being considered by the provincial government, as Premier Andrew Furey says they are working on a quick solution to the problem at hand.
Many are in support of nursing students resuming their work term so they can complete their programs by May.
Picture credit: CP24 News
On the other hand, Donnie Calabrese points out that Memorial University (MUNL) and Cape Brenton University (CBU), two Atlantic Canadian universities, are experiencing similar situations with their nursing students because of their striking faculties. This raises suspicions about what exactly is happening in the Atlantic region.
Overall, the duration of the MUNFA strike has caused much panic for the fourth year nursing students as it threatens their graduation and career paths. With a new implementation aiming to have students carry on with their clinical placements, we can only hope that they are not heavily affected by the consequences of the strike and can graduate on time.