Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A MILLION NHS STAFF IN 3.9% PAY WAR
Angry workers set for head-on collision with May after demand for a ‘decent’ rise
FURIOUS NHS staff yesterday demanded a 3.9% wage rise to end the crippling effect of the pay cap.
A million workers urged Theresa May to extend her increases for police and prison warders to them.
Unison said: “Health workers have gone without a proper rise for too long.”
The claim would cost £3billion.
AFTER seven years of austerity that has plunged many into poverty, the patience of NHS staff snapped yesterday as they hit Theresa May with a massive pay rise demand.
A million health workers asked for a 3.9% increase, just a day after the PM insulted them by axing the 1% cap but offering only police and prison warders more cash.
They demanded the rise in line with RPI inflation plus an £800 lump sum “to make up for the years of lost pay”. The £3billion claim came in a letter from 14 health unions, led by Unison, to Chancellor Philip Hammond that was leaked to the Mirror.
They sidestepped the pay review body for the first time in NHS history. Unions say workers have suffered an average real terms pay cut of 15% since 2010. Unison’s health chief Sara Gorton said: “Health workers have gone without a proper pay rise for far too long. Their wages continue to fall behind inflation as food and fuel bills, housing and transport costs rise. A decent pay rise will make it easier for struggling hospital trusts to attract new recruits and hold on to experienced
staff. Continuing with the pay cap will further damage services, and that affects us all.”
Royal College of Nursing chief executive Janet Davies backed the pay claim and insisted Mrs May must not pay for it from existing budgets – after the PM warned there would be no extra cash for the police and prison warders’ meagre rises.
She said: “It must be fully funded and not force the NHS to cut services or jobs to pay for it.” Jon Skewes, of the Royal College of Midwives, added: “This represents fair compensation for the cost of living rise and goes someway to make up for midwives’ pay losing £6,000 in value since 2010.
“Last year, 80% of midwives who were considering leaving the NHS said they would stay if pay increased.”
Health bosses also backed the pay demand. NHS Providers director of policy Saffron Cordery said: “As demand for care grows, pressure on staff increases. We cannot keep on expecting them to do more for less. Staff morale is suffering.”
Theresa May sparked fury yesterday by announcing she was scrapping the 1% cap but giving no indication when NHS staff would get a rise. Instead she announced a below-inflation increase of 1% for police plus a one-off 1% bonus and 1.7% for prison warders, a move branded “pathetic”. The offers were rejected, sparking strike fears.
Unions also claim they bypassed the independent pay review body because it cannot function properly as the Government effectively tells it what it can and cannot recommend. A Tory spokesman said of the wage rise demands: “The Government will continue to ensure the overall package is fair while being affordable to taxpayers as a whole.” It came as it was revealed complaints about the NHS reached record levels in 2016/17, with more than 208,000, up 5% on 2015/16.