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Nurses urged to respond to RCN pay poll

RCN stewards have urged eligible members to fill out the college’s survey on pay before 11pm Sunday 7 May.
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The RCN has urged members to fill out the college’s survey on pay before the 11pm deadline on Sunday 7 May.


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More than 41,000 NHS nurses have filled out the survey so far, but that leaves over 200,000 yet to complete it.

The RCN is asking members for their opinion on what to do after the below-inflation 1% pay award in England, Scotland and Wales.

This includes taking industrial action – or taking no action at all.

‘The entire activist community is calling on members to engage with the pay poll and make their views known,’ RCN UK Stewards Committee chair Graham Revie told a meeting on Thursday.

Pay cap ‘harms nurses’

All NHS nurses that are RCN members – roughly 270,000 – are able to take part in the poll, which can be accessed here.

The college, which has more than 430,000 members in total – including healthcare assistants and non-NHS staff – launched its general election manifesto this week.

It included demands to end the cap on pay, with general secretary Janet Davies estimating nurses have lost between £3,000 and £4,000 since 2010 in real terms.

In a recent blog, RCN president Cecilia Anim said: ‘This affects us all. The 1% cap on pay is harming nursing and in some cases, preventing us from giving the best care to our patients.

‘Not a time for apathy’

‘I know many of you are finding it hard to make ends meet, taking on second jobs and using food banks. I also know how exhausted many of you are. 

‘These are tough times, but this is not a time for apathy.’

More than 100,000 people previously signed a petition calling on the public sector pay cap to be scrapped for nurses, leading to a parliamentary debate in January.

The Labour Party has pledged to abolish the cap and raise nurse wages, should it win power in the general election on 8 June.

The result of the pay poll will be announced at the RCN Congress in Liverpool, held between May 13 and 17.


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