Fears of further crippling NHS strikes as insiders claim nurses are set to reject latest pay rise
Fears of further crippling NHS strikes as insiders claim nurses will reject ministers’ latest pay rise when vote closes tomorrow
- Royal College of Nursing members vote on a deal to prevent further strikes
- The deal offers nurses a 5 percent surcharge plus a one-time bonus this fiscal year
Nurses are expected to reject the latest wage proposal from ministers tomorrow when the result of the vote is announced.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing vote on a deal to prevent further strikes that would have given them a 5% increase this financial year plus a one-off bonus averaging 6%.
Sources told The Times it is likely that the bid, which ministers insist is final, will be rejected by a slim margin, with some saying 55 per cent voted against it – even though the vote was open until 9am Today.
That could mean more strikes next month and another vote on further action. Unison, which represents paramedics and other frontline workers, will announce tomorrow whether its members have accepted the same deal.
Pat Cullen, the union’s general secretary and chief executive, had previously hailed the government’s deal as “real tangible progress”.
Pat Cullen (pictured: centre), the union’s general secretary and chief executive, had previously hailed the government’s deal as “real tangible progress”
The RCN is not ruling out returning to the picket line before their strike mandate expires in May, meaning the union could hold another ballot strike into the fall
Although voting is open until 9am on Friday, an NHS source told The Times: ‘It’s not looking good.’
Barclay has described the deal as giving employees “a fair pay raise while protecting our commitment to halving inflation.”
But campaigners from NHS Workers Say No, a grassroots organization within the health service, are said to be furious that the deal fell short of the 19 per cent demanded when the RCN began its first strike in December.
A health source said: “Many just really don’t think it’s fair and had very high expectations for union action.”
Nurses could return to the picket line as early as this month to force further concessions from the government.
The RCN is not ruling out returning to the picket line before their strike mandate expires in May, meaning the union could hold another ballot strike in the fall.
Meanwhile, Unison – which represents paramedics and other frontline workers – will also reveal today whether its members have accepted the same deal.
Sara Gorton, Unison’s head of health, called it “the best that can be achieved through negotiation” and recommended that members adopt it.
The dispute over nurses’ pay comes as trainee doctors continue a four-day strike across England in a dispute over wages.