Following the pay offer of £1,400 for NHS staff, working out as an average 4% pay ‘rise’, health unions are balloting their members in England and Wales in indicative and industrial action ballots.
Consultations are taking place in the GMB and Unite, as well as the Royal College of Physiotherapy and the Society of Radiographers.
The Royal College of Midwives reports that in its consultation, 66% of members voted and 75% responded that they would vote for industrial action. Members in Scotland are due to start an industrial action ballot at the end of September.
Unison, the biggest health union, is planning an industrial action ballot starting on 27 October.
As reported in the Socialist last week, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) was due to start an industrial action ballot over pay on 15 September. That date is now delayed due to the Queen’s death. If members vote yes, it will be the first time in RCN history that their members in England and Wales go on strike.
Scottish health unions moving to ballot
Sean Robertson, an NHS worker and GMB rep in Scotland
In August, all the NHS unions held a consultative ballot on whether to accept the Scottish government’s ‘final’ pay offer of 5% backdated to April.
This pay offer represents a real-terms pay cut of at least 8% as inflation measured by the Retail Price Index (RPI) stands at over 12% and rising. Added to this is the 20% cut in the value of wages endured over the last decade.
All the NHS unions rejected the offer, by between 89% and 97%.
Four weeks on and health secretary Humza Yousef and the Scottish Government are still silent. The contempt with which the employers hold us in will only be remedied by decisive action. Because of this, all unions are now balloting for strike action.
