Posted 25 May 2023 - 12:29
Posted 25 May 2023 - 12:29
News
NHS pay offer imposed on nurses as union sticks to strike plans
5% deal struck with majority of health service unions but RCN holds out for higher settlement and insists only ‘meaningful’ talks can avert further strikes
5% deal struck with majority of health service unions but RCN holds out for higher settlement and insists only ‘meaningful’ talks can avert further strikes in Wales
The 5% pay rise that nurses in the NHS in Wales rejected will now be imposed on them after a majority of health unions voted to accept it.
Union representatives in the NHS Wales Partnership Forum informed the Welsh government on 23 May they would accept the ‘best and final’ offer, which includes a series of one-off payments for 2022-23. The RCN and Society of Radiographers remain in dispute after voting against it.
I recognise strength of feeling, says health minister
Labour health and social services minister Eluned Morgan said staff would see their pay rise as soon as possible and that ‘hard decisions’ had to be made to reach to achieve it without additional funding from Westminster.
She added: ‘Two unions remain in dispute regarding the 2022-23 pay award and I do recognise the strength of feeling among members of all unions whether they voted to accept or to reject.
‘Nursing is the largest part of the NHS workforce and they require an offer that matches their true value’
Helen Whyley, director, RCN Wales
‘While maintaining the collective agreement, we will continue discussions where we can in order to seek to address legitimate specific concerns and to avoid any further industrial action.’
Pay talks must continue, insists RCN
RCN Wales said nurses’ planned walkouts on 6 and 7 June and 12 and 13 July will go ahead unless Ms Morgan reopens what it calls ‘meaningful’.
RCN Wales director Helen Whyley said: ‘I respect those in our membership and in other unions who voted to accept, but this was not the view of the majority of our membership.
‘The decision to take strike action is not taken lightly by us or our membership. Nursing is the largest part of the NHS workforce and they require an offer that matches their true value.’
Pathway to the pay offer for NHS in Wales
The 5% deal was the final of a series of pay offers to staff on Agenda for Change (AfC) contracts since the NHS Pay Review Body’s original 4% recommendation last year. They were initially offered a revised 3% pay rise on top of the 4% on the table. Half of the 3% was consolidated and the remaining 1.5% was a one-off payment.
But RCN Wales members who took part in the ballot rejected it by 53.2% to 46.7%, prompting the Cardiff government to reopen talks despite the majority of combined health union members in the NHS Wales Trade Union Group accepting the deal.
After several weeks of negotiations, the government offered a 5% consolidated increase for 2023-24, to take effect from April 2023, alongside a new, one-off ‘NHS recovery payment’ averaging 3% for all healthcare staff, including bank staff, for 2022-23.
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