NHS staff at Wales' biggest healthcare union will be balloted over strike action saying they feel "let down" by the Welsh Government's latest pay offer. All NHS staff on Agenda for Change contracts – including nurses, cleaners, porters, healthcare support workers, and healthcare professionals – were told they will get a £1,400 pay rise on most pay grades. You can read about that here.
The Welsh Government said the pay recommendation would be on top of the real living wage top-up previously announced which came into effect in April. For the lowest paid staff (bands one to four), which make up nearly half of the Agenda for Change workforce, this will on average equate to a 7.5% pay rise on pay grades.
The Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body (DDRB) agreed to increase pay by 4.5% for junior doctors, consultants, GPs, and dentists employed directly by health boards. UK inflation – the rate at which prices rise – currently stands at 9.4% and is predicted to reach 11% by the autumn.
However unions responded with anger with RCN Wales saying nurses were "outraged" to hear the pay award is well below inflation yet again and made "a ground-breaking decision" to move directly to strike ballot on industrial action. Now the Unison union, which represents thousands of Welsh nurses, healthcare assistants, ambulance workers, hospital porters, cleaners, cooks, and admin staff, will also ask members if they think they should strike.
Dawn Ward, chair of Unison Cymru Wales health committee, said: "Welsh Government has totally let down healthcare workers in the middle of the worst cost of living crisis in living memory. Our salaries have been so tightly squeezed by years of Westminster underfunding that NHS staff simply cannot cope with rocketing bills and groceries. Being a healthcare worker can be stressful at the best of times – you shouldn’t have to be worrying about where the next meal will come from. But that is the desperate situation many NHS staff are in.”
Hugh McDyer, Unison Cymru Wales head of health, said: "It’s very disappointing Welsh Government turned down our request for additional pay enhancements for health workers in Wales. A decent pay rise would be a start in sorting out the workforce crisis which is at the heart of a number of health service problems. Welsh Government recognises their offer falls short of what is needed in this crisis, but blames a lack of funding for pay from Westminster. This deal does not meet the needs of the health workforce in Wales and we will begin preparations towards conducting an industrial action ballot."
Read next:
