Health Secretary Humza Yousaf had hoped his across-the-board pay offer would have been backed by the country’s biggest health union. But Unison’s 55,000 NHS members have rejected the deal so he needs to come up with a Plan B with some haste to prevent the winter collapse of the NHS.
Unison was the last union to declare their opposition to the deal, which would have seen some of the lowest-paid workers in the health service rewarded by bigger percentage rises than the rate of inflation. But for other, better-paid workers the sum is still far lower than the current inflation rate and the union collectively has said it is just not good enough.
The union follows the GMB, Unite, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives in their rejection of the deal. Not only that but all of these unions have already voted in favour of strike action.
