NHS staff striking over pay
pharmafile | October 13, 2014 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | British Association of Occupational Therapists., GMB, GPs, Hunt, NHS, UCATT, midwives, strike
Over 400,000 NHS staff have gone on strike for four hours as a 1% pay rise requested by Unions was turned down due to its high cost.
In a move not seen for 30 years workers from six trade unions are now taking part which will disrupt NHS services – although emergency care is said to be largely unaffected.
Ending at 11am, the strike which began at 8am this morning mostly affects England but some staff in Northern Ireland are involved.
The protest is intended to force health secretary Jeremy Hunt into making more money available for staff that claim their earnings have been cut by 15% under the coalition government.
Union body Unison’s head of healthcare, Christina McAnea, says: “It’s a disgrace that 70% of nurses and midwives will not even get a pay rise this year –what sort of message does this give to the value this government places on dedicated NHS staff?”
In a first The Royal College of Midwives is even taking action on this occasion, but has said services for women giving birth will be unaffected. Its members are instead likely to target antenatal and postnatal care.
Five unions are also involved in the strike in England along with Unison, comprising Unite, GMB, UCATT and the British Association of Occupational Therapists. Combined they have around 400,000 members.
Unison says that this year 60% of NHS staff will not get any pay rise and only those at the top of their bands will receive a 1% unconsolidated lump sum. This is a one-off payment which does not alter the hourly rate, so it will not count towards unsocial hours for evening, weekend or night shifts.
The initial decision by ministers went against the recommendation of the independent pay review board, which called for an across-the-board rise. In Scotland, a 1% pay rise was given to everyone, while no decision has been made in Northern Ireland.
In Wales, instead of a pay rise most NHS staff have been offered a one-off payment of £160.
Hunt has said the NHS could not afford to give all staff the recommended 1%, and that doing so would hit patients as in real terms it would cost the equivalent of 14,000 nurses jobs.
According to the Guardian The NHS Confederation has stepped up the pressure on the unions by casting doubt on the legitimacy of the strike, which will be followed by a four-day work-to-rule for the rest of the week which NHS managers expect will bring further disruption.
But Unison insists the strike is legitimate, and points out that last year more than 10,000 jobs were lost as a result of the “unnecessary restructuring of the NHS in England.”
It adds: “The government has tried to argue that cutting pay means more jobs, but in fact it is making cuts to both pay and jobs. On top of that comes ‘downbanding’, where whole grades of staff are re-graded for budget reasons.”
McAnea concludes: “The government needs to start negotiating with us and reconsider their pay policy.”
Brett Wells
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