Hundreds of thousands of NHS nurses will vote to go on strike from Thursday as new research shows their real terms pay has shrunk twice as much as the private sector.
New research by consultancy London Economics has shown the average weekly pay for NHS nurses was reduced by six percent in real terms between 2011 and 2021. In the same time period real time pay for private sector employees fell by 3.2 percent.
The Royal College of Nursing will now ballot its 300,000 members about whether to go on strike for the first time in its 106-year history. General Secretary Pat Cullen said: “This is a once in a generation chance to improve your pay and combat the staff shortages that put patients at risk. Governments have repeatedly neglected the NHS and the value of nursing. We can change this if together we say ‘enough is enough’.”
