Nurses and their supporters staged a rally in Botwood on Wednesday to protest disciplinary action brought against six nurses in central Newfoundland. (Carolyn Ray/CBC)

A central Newfoundland nurse who was disciplined amid a union campaign for higher wages has suggested that Premier Danny Williams's wealth may remove him from the plight of ordinary people needing health care.

Vida Black, a nurse in Botwood, was suspended after she refused to call back housekeeping staff to the Dr. Hugh Twomey Health Care Centre.

'He's got lots of money. He can afford to go for private clinics anywhere. But when the nurses that are my age are all gone, where are the Newfoundlanders going to go?'—Vida Black

The Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses' Union has asked its members to refrain from doing that and other chores they've labelled as "non-nursing duties," as part of a campaign for a new contract.

About 20 nurses, including some from other communities, rallied at Botwood on Wednesday, to draw public attention to six nurses who have been disciplined so far. The protest came on the heels of Williams's comments that the government may eventually not be able to afford the 20 per cent raise over four years that it had suggested earlier in the year.

"Danny Williams is a big boy," Black told CBC News.

"He's got lots of money. He can afford to go for private clinics anywhere. But when the nurses that are my age are all gone, where are the Newfoundlanders going to go?" said Black, a 34-year veteran.

"Because the government can't afford to send all patients out of the province."

Williams was a wealthy businessman and lawyer before he entered politics in 2001. Opposition politicians have often teased him as "Danny Millions."

'Where does it stop?'

Black said her suspension is the first discipline that she has received in her career. She said, however, that the system is expecting more of nurses simply because other staff are no longer available to do a wide variety of chores.

"Where does it stop? We're now doing snowclearing, they expect us to check doors, expect us to lock the doors after hours," she said. "It's not our position do to that."

Nurse Pat McLay, who drove from Lewisporte to join the rally, said she does not sympathize with Williams's comments, particularly in the wake of the premier's celebration of Newfoundland and Labrador becoming a "have" province that no longer qualifies for equalization.

"Premier Williams was waving the flag about how wonderful we were doing, and he still wasn't offering the nurses anything that would retain nurses and entice nurses to move home," McLay said.

"So, to me, his argument has no validity."

Nurses' union president Debbie Forward said she cannot understand why Central Health is the only regional authority that has been disciplining nursing staff.

"I still shake my head when I think about it," said Forward, who attended the Botwood rally.

"We do have nurses in other facilities who aren't doing the duties that we've asked them not to do. The employer is accommodating them. They certainly aren't disciplining them."

Nurses violating contract: authority

Trudy Stuckless, the chief nursing officer of Central Health, said the authority's nursing staff is not being singled out.

To the contrary, she said the contract with the nurses specifically states that the nurse in charge is responsible for "the assignment and direction of other employees assigned to that area," whether or not those employees belong to the nurses' union.

"We've never had a grievance on this, even though the nurses have been carrying out these duties for quite a number of years," said Stuckless.

"So, if our interpretation has been so wrong over all these years, why hasn't it drawn a grievance?"