NHS workers and maintenance staff in England and Wales voted heavily for strike action yesterday over a coalition pay offer which has seen up to nine unions threaten walkouts.

Members of construction union Ucatt voted 77 per cent in favour of walking out and 85 per cent in favour of action short of a strike in the ballot. Additional members of Unite have also agreed to strike. 

Unite, Unison and GMB branches have all pledged to down tools next month over wage plans which will deny a guaranteed pay rise to 60 per cent of NHS workers.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt provoked uproar in this year’s pay negotiations after he ignored the government’s own Pay Review Board suggestion of a one per cent raise for all.

Instead the senior Tory offered a raise for people at the top of their pay bands but froze wages for everyone else.

Multimillionaire Mr Hunt has argued that the pay rises are “unaffordable,” however critics point out that the service’s 1.3 million workers have already seen pay fall by up to 15 per cent in real terms since 2010.

Ucatt general secretary Steve Murphy said: “Ucatt members in the NHS have faced years of pay freezes and pay restraints. The government’s failure to award them the promised pay increase is treating NHS workers with contempt.

“This demonstrates that NHS members believe that enough is enough and they are prepared to take industrial action to secure the pay increase that they deserve.”