Nurses ramp up strikes threats with ballot over 'grotesque' above-inflation pay deal
Nurses will start voting today on what they have derided as the Government's 'grotesque' 3.6 per cent pay offer as they ramp up the threat of fresh strikes.
Around 345,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing are being balloted on the latest pay award, which they have claimed will be 'entirely swallowed up by inflation '.
Last month, the Labour Goverment accepted the recommendation of a pay review body to give nursing staff in England's NHS a pay rise of 3.6 per cent.
The latest inflation figures showed the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate jumped by more than expected in April to 3.5 per cent.
The RCN described the award as 'grotesque', while doctors, teachers, prison officers and the Armed Forces all received a bigger increase.
An identical pay award for nurses was made in Wales, while in Northern Ireland, the health minister has announced his wish to also implement a 3.6 per cent rise.
RCN members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are being asked whether the pay award is enough, amid warnings of yet another industrial dispute.
NHS workers, including nurses, staged a series of strikes under the previous Conservative government in bitter rows over pay.
Speaking at an international nursing conference in Helsinki today, RCN general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger will say: 'I'm with nurses from around the world today asking why it is our ministers in the UK who have once again put nursing at the back of the queue when it comes to pay.
'Nursing is an incredible career, but despite being the most valued profession by the public we continue to be weighted to the bottom of the NHS pay scale and are set to receive one of the lowest pay awards.
'It is time to show that nurses are valued and, from today, hundreds of thousands of nursing staff working in the NHS will give their verdict on whether 3.6% is enough.'
The RCN said nursing staff in England have faced more than a decade of pay erosion since 2010/11, with pay down by a quarter in real terms.
As a result, there are more than 26,000 unfilled nursing posts, while student recruitment has 'collapsed' and the numbers quitting is 'skyrocketing', said the RCN.
Professor Ranger will add: 'Over a decade of pay erosion has had a devastating impact on our profession, forcing increasing numbers into quitting while putting off the nurses of the future.
'When our members vote, they won't just be voting on the fairness of the award for themselves, but if it's enough to turn our profession around.'
As well as the threat of strikes by nurses, Health Secretary Wes Streeting is also battling the British Medical Association over the Government's offer of an average 5.4 per cent pay rise for junior doctors.
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