Nurses in Northern Ireland lodge dispute over failure to implement pay award
An RCN statement said: 'We have made it clear that our members are not prepared to tolerate a repetition of their experiences in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, whereby a pay award for staff working in the HSC on Agenda for Change terms and conditions was not confirmed for several months after it had been awarded elsewhere across the UK, and the uplift was not paid until the very end of the financial year.'Despite the recent welcome intervention of the Health Minister (Mike Nesbitt) in issuing his ministerial direction, it appears that we are, once again, in the same position.'Rita Devlin, RCN Northern Ireland executive director said: 'Nursing and other healthcare staff in Northern Ireland are once again on the brink of stepping out of pay parity with colleagues across the UK.'We have worked tirelessly to try and ensure that this does not happen again but there has been a failure in some political quarters to listen.'Our members do not understand why, yet again, they are being treated by their own Executive as second-class citizens and why, every year, the need to formulate a modest pay offer appears to catch the Executive unprepared.'The issue of pay should be accounted for in every year's budget and a failure to do this is a failure of government.'Ms Devlin added: 'Without staff there is simply no health service, and we are at an absolute loss to explain this attitude towards nursing staff who are the largest professional group in the health service.'As our recent pay consultation has shown, nursing staff in Northern Ireland and across the UK, don't believe a 3.6% pay rise is enough, but to not even get that is an insult.'In a statement issued through the Ulster Unionist Party, Nr Nesbitt said he shared the frustration of the RCN.He added: 'In May, I announced that I was triggering the ministerial direction process to achieve delivery of these pay increases as soon as possible.'That reflected my commitment to maintaining pay parity with England.'In line with the ministerial direction process, my decision was referred to the wider Executive.'Unfortunately, that's where it still sits.'Our health workers deserve so much better.''I note that the RCN is today saying that the 'first step must be for the Northern Ireland Executive to deliver the long-overdue pay award for this year'.'I couldn't agree more.'
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