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NHS staff take on Scrooge

Health workers plan next strike over pay

by Conrad Landin

Industrial Reporter

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is acting like Dickensian villain Ebenezer Scrooge, campaigners said yesterday as unions announced a second day of strike action.

The strike follows the Tory minister’s dismissal of even the stingy 1 per cent pay rise recommended by the health service’s independent pay review and his subsequent refusal to negotiate with union reps. 

Staff will walk out for four hours on November 24 and take action short of a strike between Tuesday 25 and Sunday 30. 

Unite head of health Rachel Maskell blasted: “Hunt likes to see himself as Mr Bountiful, when he is in fact Mr Scrooge. He needs to get around the table and talk constructively with the unions, otherwise more industrial action is on the cards.

“The latest calibrated industrial action on November 24 is designed to achieve three objectives: to get the 1 per cent rise paid to all 1.35 million NHS staff, respect future pay review board recommendations and to obtain the living wage for the 40,000 NHS staff being currently paid below that level.”

Eleven unions — including a number of professional associations that are not affiliated to the TUC — will take part in the walk outs in England.

In Northern Ireland, many staff are refusing to work beyond contractual obligations, while in Wales negotiations between staff and the Welsh government are ongoing. In Scotland, some unions have settled for a renewed pay offer.

Unison national officer Christina McAnea, who chairs the NHS trade unions committee, said: “The next set of industrial action will be even stronger as more unions are joining in. Health workers care for patients and their families every day of the year, often when they are at their most vulnerable or distressed.

“The NHS depends on the goodwill and commitment of the workforce and this is now at breaking point.

“The government has made no attempt to resolve this dispute and staff have been left with no alternative but to take more industrial action. Jeremy Hunt needs to realise that this dispute is not going away. All we are asking for is fair pay.”

But a Department of Health spokesman brazenly turned needles on striking workers. “We are disappointed by this decision,” he said.

“NHS staff are our greatest asset and we want to make the current pay system fairer.

“We have been clear that we can’t afford a consolidated pay rise in addition to increments without risking front-line jobs.”

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