50,000 staff set to take industrial action over pay
More than 50,000 NHS staff across Scotland are set to strike this Christmas for more pay.
Hospitals, health centres and GP surgeries could grind to a halt after a five per cent pay offer was rejected by frontline health workers.
Their union Unison will now hold a vote for industrial action, with ballot papers going out tomorrow. If the vote is in favour, the first strike day will take place on November 28 and continue into December.
The union said members are earning as little as £21,600 for a 37-and-a-halfhour week and is demanding an improvement in the Scottish Government’s pay offer.
Those threatening strike action include nurses, cleaners, laundry staff, midwives, nursing assistants, admin clerks, plumbers, electricians, gardeners, physios, psychologists and even some doctors and senior managers. It could mean cancelled operations and longer waits for treatment.
Unison’s Wilma Brown warned that strike action could be lengthy and disruptive. The veteran nurse said: “It will go on for as long as it takes for the Scottish Government to come back with a better offer. Staff do not want to take strike action but have been left with little option.
“Politicians were happy to clap us during the pandemic but now seem to have forgotten why they were clapping.”
Brown said members would still provide emergency “life and limb” cover during the strike.
The union leader warned hospitals could be forced to close if cleaners and laundry staff strike. She added: “In 32 years of nursing, I have never seen people as angry.”
Brown claimed nurses are having to visit food banks and work extra hours to make ends meet.
She added: “Our members are at breaking point. The NHS is a very stressful, exhausting place to work.”
Unison members voted 91 per cent to reject the most recent pay offer.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We are engaged with health unions and I hope we can come to an agreement on pay in the near future.”