The details of the pay deal - below inflation, and the most that 'negotiations' can offer

Full details of the new NHS pay offer are now on the UNISON website. For a user friendly version http://www.unionlists.org.uk/lists/arc/healthactivists/2007-08/msg00057/PAY_OFFER_THE_EFFECTS.pdf They also have a breakdown of the impact of the offer on the various pay points on the Agenda for Change payscales, but you need to remember when reading them that the increase to the pay scale won't be reflected in full in your pay packet this year - because half of the increase won't be paid until November. Further details for the pay offer at http://www.unionlists.org.uk/lists/arc/healthactivists/2007-08/msg00047.html and http://www.unionlists.org.uk/lists/arc/healthactivists/2007-08/msg00047.html

Links with other public service pay disputes

In Local Government branches have voted to reject the 2% pay claim and will now vote in a strike ballot.When voting UNISON asked members to consider the following (from www.unison.org.uk):

"Say no to 2%. Inflation is running at 4.3% and earnings across the economy are rising by 3.6% - the cost of living is currently increasing by 4.5%- increases in the cost of housing, fuel and energy, council tax and childcare are even higher- pay across the economy is rising by 3.6%UNISON is co-ordinating our pay campaign with Local Government health and other service groups and with other public sector unions. If you vote to reject the offer you must be prepared to take part in substantial industrial action to improve it, including "all out" strike action."Clearly branches/members thought this is unacceptable and will now ballot to go on strike action.In Health they have now made an 'improved offer' (again from our website) The offer:"Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will get the full 2.5% increase recommended by the pay review body immediately, backdated to 1 April this year.The award will still be staged in England, with staff getting 1.5% payable from 1 April and the remaining 1% from 1 November."more money for the lowest paid. From 1 November there will be a £400 flat rate increase for those on Bands 1 and 2. Those on Bands 3 and 4 will receive an additional £38 as well as the 2.5%. This will be payable in all 4 UK countries; in England only, there will be additional money for staff training targeted directly at those non-clinical staff who often lose out when training budgets are cut; also in England only, there will be £38 paid to staff on Bands 5, 6, 7 and 8(a) who are required to register to practice – this money is a contribution to their professional fees."Health members will now be balloted on whether or not to accept this offer.Unison are not making a recomendation it is for you to make your own minds up. The website states that this is the best offer we can get through negotiations.SO as in Local Government if you reject it you will have tp be prepared to go on strike.There is a blog that has been set up by some nhsworkers that are advocating members reject this offer and that can be found here www.nhsworker.blogspot.comLets stand firm together and show the government that 2 or 2.5% (as our health conference has already said!) is not acceptable.
MarshaJane Thompson (London)
National Community and Voluntary Sector Committee Unison
http://www.unionfutures.blogspot.com/

How the unions are responding to the pay offer

Unite

Unite's Head of Health, Kevin Coyne, said:

"After months of long and tough negotiations, this is a breakthrough in the pay negotiations. The new package offered by the treasury gives extra help to the low paid and for staff in England. This pay remains staged, however there is also a commitment to review future pay and conditions.

"NHS workers in England from the 1st November will now fall in line with workers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who received pay increases in line with the Pay Review Body's recommendation of 2.5%.

"In addition to the improved pay offer for this year, unions, employers and the government have agreed to enter into talks prior to the next pay round, to consider a multi-year deal."

Previously the employers in England had refused to offer anymore money than the 2%, imposed by the Government, which overrode the Pay Review Body's recommendation of 2.5%.

RCN

Responding to today's pay offer Dr Peter Carter, General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said:

"After several months of hard negotiating and tough campaigning by the RCN and other unions, NHS Employers and the Department of Health have today announced an improved pay offer for nurses and their NHS colleagues. "For months the government have said they would not move on a fair deal for nurses. But by running a hard-hitting campaign and an industrial action ballot, we have focused the minds of ministers, brought them back to the negotiating table and secured an improved offer for nurses. Our ballot of RCN members in England on whether they wish to move forward with a formal vote on industrial action over pay closes on Monday. "This offer does not give nurses all that we asked for but it could well be the means to resolve the current dispute and allow us to make progress on a range of workplace and professional issues. The offer will now be considered by the RCN's ruling council alongside the results of our industrial action ballot."

Royal College of Midwives

The Royal College of Midwives which represents over 95% of the UK's practising midwives is set to consider an improved NHS pay offer. The new package gives assistance to Midwives in England - who have seen the value of the original award reduced by approximately £110 following the government's decision to stage its implementation – by offering a £38 contribution towards professional fees for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

There is also a commitment to review future pay and conditions.

Dame Karlene Davis, General Secretary, said: "Pay negotiations this year have been soured by the government's refusal to fully implement the original offer made by the independent Nursing and Other Health Professionals Review Body. Both the level of the award and the manner of its implementation led to the RCM calling for industrial action short of a strike for the first time in its history. This has led to months of long and tough negotiations, in England, outside of the traditional process.

"The package on offer is a complex one and will mean different things to different NHS staff depending on where they live and it is still a below inflation deal for most . However we recognise that it is the best offer we are likely to achieve via negotiations and RCM council and officers will be considering it carefully over the next few days. We will also consider how to consult with our members over whether they wish to accept it."

UNISON

New NHS pay offer on the table

Union negotiators have secured a new pay offer for health workers.

UNISON will now ask all members working in the NHS whether they wish to accept the offer.

The health executive believes it is the best that can be achieved through negotiation.

Should members reject the new deal, they should also be prepared to support industrial action, the executive said.

The improved offer will put extra cash in the pockets of the lowest paid workers in the NHS, no matter which country they are in. In England only, training budgets for non-clinical staff will be boosted, and clinicians will get money to put towards their registration fees.

Should staff accept the offer, those in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will get the full 2.5% increase recommended by the pay review body immediately, backdated to 1 April this year.

The award will still be staged in England, with staff getting 1.5% payable from 1 April and the remaining 1% from 1 November.

The improved offer at a glance: more money for the lowest paid. From 1 November there will be a £400 flat rate increase for those on Bands 1 and 2. Those on Bands 3 and 4 will receive an additional £38 as well as the 2.5%. This will be payable in all 4 UK countries; in England only, there will be additional money for staff training targeted directly at those non-clinical staff who often lose out when training budgets are cut; also in England only, there will be £38 paid to staff on Bands 5, 6, 7 and 8(a) who are required to register to practice – this money is a contribution to their professional fees.

Full details will be available on the health pages of the UNISON website. They will also be circulated to health branches, and sent to all UNISON members in the NHS, together with ballot papers.

Ballot papers are due to be sent out on 20 August. The ballot will close on 13 September.

Ten reasons why NHS staff should reject the new pay offer

1. It's a pay cut. If we accept the offer our pay will go up by less than the rate of inflation (the average increase of prices). This means we will be worse off this year than last year.

2. The new offer is still staged (at least in England) - which most of the unions said was the absolute worst thing about the original deal.

3. The new offer still leaves NHS staff in England paid less than those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which we must object to because the more we are divided the weaker we will be in future pay negotiations.

4. The new offer has been calculated by the Government to fit within the 'limit' set by Gordon Brown for all public sector pay rises this year of 2%. He wants public sector workers to pay the cost of trying to keep inflation down, even while prices (and wages in the private sector) rise more quickly.

5. The new offer talks about future years' pay rises being negotiated inside the pay limit of 2% rises - so not only a pay cut for this year but setting us up for pay cuts in the next two years as well.

6. Other public sector workers are already taking industrial action (like postal workers) or consulting about taking action (like council workers and civil servants). If we all fight together this year for a decent pay rise we have a good chance of winning, but if we settle for this offer then we will have missed the chance for united action.

7. The 'sweetener' in the deal of £38 towards the professional registration fees paid by some NHS staff is not yet on offer outside of England. That's another attempt at 'divide and rule' by the employers, and we must not fall for it.

8. Irish nurses have already won a pay rise and a cut in their working week by taking industrial action. People often say that nurses can't or won't go on strike. But nurses in Ireland recently took strike action (short, one or two hour long strikes) together with longer-term action like refusing to do administrative tasks or cover absences and forced their government to come up with more money and cut their working week, too. We could do the same.

9. Taking action is the best way to show our anger over NHS cuts and privatisation. The private companies who are so keen to take over bits of the NHS think that a low-paid, demoralised workforce will be easy for them to squeeze profits from. A big fight over this year's pay offer would show them, and the government, that NHS workers are prepared to stand up for ourselves, and for the services our patients depend on.

10. We can get a better deal. The unions say this is the best deal that can be got through negotiations. That's probably true. The government don't want to give us any more. In fact, if they could get away with it, they'd probably like to pay us a lot less. But taking united industrial action with a million other public sector workers would force them to come up with something better.

Welcome to NHS worker's blog - demanding a decent pay rise

NHS unions are consulting their members now on a new pay offer from the Government. Frankly, the offer is an insult to everyone who works in the NHS. They're trying to divide and conquer by offering different deals for health workers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and they want to confuse us all by offering some things 'staged' so that we only get the money half way through the year.

The unions kicked off the year demanding a pay rise above the rate of inflation, which is currently standing at just under 5%. At UNISON's health conference in April, there was a proposal from some branches to put a specific figure on the demand of 5% or a flat-rate increase of £1000 a year for the lowest paid NHS workers. Mike Jackson, UNISON's Senior National Organiser and the lead negotiator for the union in the NHS pay talks, spoke against this on behalf of the union's leadership, arguing that with inflation rising all the time he wanted to be able to fight for more than 5%. It's a shame, then, that the "new" deal on offer from the Government, which Mike Jackson encouraged the UNISON Health Service Group Executive to consult members on rather than rejecting it and starting an industrial action ballot, is not even worth the 2.5% pay rise that the Pay Review Body said NHS workers should get back in April.

The new offer is still a staged pay rise, with NO CHANGE at all proposed to the pay rise backdated to April 2007. The only change is that the second stage of the pay rise, due in November, will now increase pay scales either by a further 1.5% or so that the total increase reaches £400, whichever is the greater. So workers on Agenda for Change bands 1 or 2 will get a slightly bigger rise (but no-one will get a rise big enough to cope with the increasing prices represented by the inflation rate of 4.8%).

There are a few other sweeteners to the offer - staff who have to register with professional bodies will get a few quid towards their registration fee (less tax, of course), while those who do not need professional registration will see their employer get a £25 per head training allowance FOR THIS YEAR ONLY which is supposed to make up for all the cuts in training that NHS Trusts carried out last year. Yeah, right!

In short, the deal is utterly inadequate, and no-one should think that this is acceptable. That the union leaders have given up on all their fighting talk from the start of the year is no reason for healthworkers to do the same. Members of UNISON should reject the paltry offer from the Government, and force their leadership to re-instate the industrial action ballot.

The negotiators have proved that the government won't give us anything without a fight. So it's time we gave them a fight! NHS workers have put up with too much for far too long. If we don't want to tie ourselves to three years of pay cuts in the National Health Service we have to fight now.

This blog will be a source of information and campaigning ideas for all NHS workers who want their unions to reject the below inflation pay offer and fight for what we really need - an above-inflation pay rise for everyone who works in the NHS, together with a reduction in the working week and the abolition of the lowest pay band. We can do it. The Irish nurses' strike, the health workers' recent victory in New Zealand and the ongoing battles by healthworkers all over the world against cuts and privatisation show that the pessimists are completely wrong. Healthworkers can fight, we can stand up for ourselves, and we can win. All that is stopping us is the defeatism of our own leaders, and our lack of organisation at a rank and file level.

Hopefully this blog can help with that!

NHS worker