Nurses warn of strikes over pay
Action needed over shortages
Nurses are to stage a summer of protests after a poll showed strong support for strikes over pay. The Royal College of Nursing warned the next Government to drop its pay cap or risk a strike ballot.
NURSES ARE to stage a summer of protests across the UK after a poll showed strong support for strikes over pay.
The Royal College of Nursing warned that unless the next Government drops the one per cent cap on pay, it would hold a ballot on industrial action later this year – threatening the first ever strikes by its members.
The RCN said nurses voted in a consultative ballot by nine out of 10 to support action short of a strike while almost four out of five backed strikes.
More than 50,000 of the RCN’S 270,000 members took part in the poll. Another ballot would have to be held before any action takes place.
The RCN has warned that low levels of pay were partly responsible for tens of thousands of unfilled nursing posts.
Nurses have suffered a 14 per cent pay cut in real terms since 2010 because of a government cap on public sector pay, said the RCN. A formal pay cap of one per cent was introduced in 2015.
Michael Brown, chairman of the RCN Council, said: “Our members have given us the very clear message that they can’t and won’t take any more.
“This is an unprecedented show of anger and frustration over the Government’s pay policy. Politicians must now listen and tell us what they will do about nursing pay.
“It’s a message to all parties that the crisis in nursing recruitment must be put centre stage in this election. We’re demanding answers on behalf of our patients as well as nursing staff.
“If we don’t stand up now, how can we guarantee their future safety and wellbeing?
“The RCN has never gone on strike before, so balloting our members would be a very significant step.
“We’ve heard from members that they want to send a much tougher message to government which is why we will be leading them in a summer of protest activity.
“They have been clear that if the next Government doesn’t respond and lift the unreasonable cap on nursing pay, they want us to ballot on industrial action.
“It would be the first time RCN members came out and took industrial action in our 100-year history.”
Janet Davies, general secretary of the RCN, said: “What’s happened today is unprecedented for the RCN and is a reflection of the deep anger members feel.
“The current conditions in the NHS are driving people out of the profession and putting new people off entering it.
“Our argument is not with patients – this is about ensuring that they get the safe and effective care they need. The one per cent cap on nursing pay is putting patient care at risk.
“It’s not just the RCN saying this – we heard from NHS trust leaders last week that if nursing staff aren’t paid a proper wage, they won’t be able to keep patients safe.
“The next Government must tell us what they’re going to do about nursing pay to stop the nurse staffing crisis.”
Jon Skewes, director of policy at the Royal College of Midwives, said: “NHS staff have now seen seven years of pay restraint and with at least another three years on the horizon. Continuing pay restraint is a disastrous, unsustainable policy for maternity services and the NHS. We are working with other NHS trade unions to break the Government’s policy of pay restraint.”
Dr Mark Porter, British Medical Association council chairman, said year after year of real-terms pay cuts had had a damaging impact on morale.
This is an unprecedented show of anger and frustration. Michael Brown, chairman of the RCN Council.
NURSES have never before gone on strike, and so their threat to ballot for industrial action over a pay cap must be taken extremely seriously by the next Government.
Nursing staff are the backbone of the NHS, yet there are tens of thousands of unfilled posts, which is a key factor in the financial pressures that the service faces, as budgets are stretched by the need to employ agency nurses at often exorbitant rates to cover gaps and maintain safety standards.
The Royal College of Nursing’s assertion that low pay is partly responsible for the shortage of nurses cannot be ignored, especially since caps on public sector pay have resulted in a 14 per cent cut in their wages in real terms since 2010.
Significantly, it is not only the union that is raising the issue of pay and its effect on recruitment. NHS trust leaders have made the same point within the last week, which is indicative that this is not a question of industrial relations, but a matter of the practicalities of making a creaking health system work.
There are never any easy answers on NHS funding. A growing and ageing population places the service under relentlessly increasing pressures with each passing year.
But what is certain is that it cannot hope to address those pressures without adequate numbers of highly skilled nurses.
A solution must be found to recruiting more of them and paying wages that make the profession both attractive to newcomers and able to retain experienced staff.