Thousands of NHS staff will be balloted for strike action tomorrow if the Scottish Government fails to increase an “insulting” pay offer. Unison is to ask its 35,000 members across NHS Scotland to vote for a walk-out in the first of two ballots.
Local branch staff have also been told to get “strike ready”, as staff including nurses, cleaners, NHS24 staff and ambulance crews take part in a consultative ballot. The union is calling for an increase to five per cent, arguing that staff are being “taken for granted” with the below-inflation offer.
Some health service workers said they are struggling to pay bills and put food on the table due to the cost-of-living crisis, with one even saying she’d be better paid at McDonald’s. They also said they are working longer due to the backlogs from the pandemic and staff shortages affecting most areas of the health service.
Pay talks are ongoing between the unions and Scottish Government but, if an improved pay offer is not put forward, thousands of vital workers could walk out. It comes after rail strikes brought the country to a standstill last month, and council workers and teachers have also been balloted for walkouts.
Lyn Wormald, an auxiliary nurse at Ross Memorial Hospital in Dingwall, said she will vote to strike. The gran-of-six said that despite being lauded for their work during Covid, the Government has taken NHS staff for granted.
She said: “It honestly feels as if you’ve been invited out for dinner and asked to pay yourself. It is insulting . My grandchildren don’t live locally and, when I go and see them, I have to save up so I can treat them when I’m visiting.
“I just won’t be able to see them as often now – I can’t afford it.”
Lyn, who has worked in the NHS for more than 20 years, said she would be paid better working for McDonald’s. An hourly wage at the fast food chain in Inverness can be as much as £11 per hour, while Lyn is on £10.64.
She said: “I notice now how far my wages are not going. Up in the Highlands we don’t have a bus service or a train service that is reliable. We need cars to go out and about, and the fuel prices are so high now.
“It’s as much as £2.03 a litre in some places. We were the best thing since sliced bread all through the pandemic and now we aren’t even being paid properly.”
Wilma Brown, chair of the Unison Scotland health committee, said: “NHS staff have been taken for granted. Staff have endured over 10 years of real-terms pay cuts only to be told by the Scottish Government that, yet again, they will have to accept a below-inflation pay rise.”
She said staff were now “regularly left in wards working with staffing levels below minimum standards” due to a “staffing crisis”. She added: “Staff are constantly worried they’ll make mistakes or fail to deliver basic patient care.”
A Scottish Government spokesman replied: “We are disappointed that Unison is recommending that members reject this offer which, if accepted, will be the biggest single-year pay rise NHS Agenda for Staff have seen since devolution and will ensure that our staff continue to remain the best paid in the UK.
“Under this offer, experienced porters will receive more than £1000 extra, while a healthcare support worker will see more than £1200 extra. Experienced nurses will see their pay rise by more than £1600 and an experienced advanced nurse practitioner will receive almost £2400 more.”
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