Nurses consider whether to strike over low pay

[Northerner]

The Royal College of Nursing is assessing the mood for strike action in protest over pay.

The largest nursing union is asking 270,000 members across the UK whether they want to strike before deciding whether to issue a formal ballot.

It says a combination of pay freezes and caps on pay rises since 2010 have effectively led to a 14% pay cut due to the rising cost of living.

The Department of Health said "affordable" pay was protecting jobs.

There was a campaign of strike action over NHS pay in 2014. But while some nurses took part, the Royal College of Nursing did not.

Now the union says unprecedented pressure in the NHS means nurses have never worked harder, and for so little.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39577217

It makes me so angry every time I hear a politician talk about our 'strong economy' and 'wage increases of over 2%' when none of those statements apply to public sector workers, and particularly nurses, who are a vital part of the NHS. We need to encourage more INTO nursing, not drive people away, which this government appears intent on doing 😡

 

[mikeyB]

It's interesting to read the comments below that report. Not a lot of sympathy there, but then that is hardly surprising- hardly anybody below board level has had a pay rise either.

I've got a good old fashioned index linked Civil Service Pension. It's reviewed every year, so however the RPI increases, I get the same percentage increase in the pension. That's fair, it was established so that folk didn't get progressively poorer after retirement. What's not fair is that while the cost of living rises, nobody gets a pay rise apart from the managers who get more work out of people while paying them the same money. The managers get rewarded for being good managers. That's the way capitalism works.