NHS staff on four-hour strike over pay

UNISON health members including nurses, midwives and paramedics are staging a four-hour stoppage this morning (24th November) in an ongoing dispute over pay.

Staff in England and Northern Ireland are protesting about the decision not to implement a 1% pay rise recommended by a pay review body.

Health workers from ten other health unions are joining UNISON members for the industrial action.

Today’s picket lines will be followed by six days of action when workers will work to rule.
A spokesperson from the Department of Health told the BBC it could not afford the rise without risking frontline jobs.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary said the government should take note of the growing support for an across the board pay increase among workers and the public.

“The anger is spreading and so is the public support for health workers’ cause.  The strength of feeling is far from fading and the dispute far from going away. All the government has done so far is threaten workers with job cuts,” he said.   

In its report published in March 2014, the NHS Pay Review Body recommended a 1% pay rise for all, but UNISON maintains that 60% of workers will not receive it.
 
“The PRB have kept the industrial peace for the past 25 years. The government should pay up and stop playing games,” Mr Prentis added. “NHS workers in Scotland and Wales will all be getting a 1% pay rise and the Living Wage. So why is the Secretary of State so determined to penalise workers in England?”

The NHS Pay Review Body’s recommendation was fully implemented in Scotland, while trade unions in Wales accepted a two-year pay deal set out by the government earlier this month.

Northern Ireland has yet to make a decision on pay.