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NHS pay award: will nurses in England vote for industrial action?

RCN ballot opens next month and the results will inform next steps in pay dispute

RCN ballot opens next month and the results will inform next steps in pay dispute

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Nurses in England are to be asked if they would be willing to take industrial action as the fight for fair pay continues.

The RCN’s indicative ballot over the government’s 3% pay award will run from 4-30 November.

The ballot will ask members whether they are willing to take any form of industrial action, such as strike action or action short of a strike, or if they would support colleagues to take industrial action even if they chose not to themselves.

RCN warn of potential exodus of nurses

RCN England director Patricia Marquis warned that nurses were ‘exhausted and demoralised’.

‘With inflation, the current pay award leaves experienced staff with a real-terms pay cut,’ she said. ‘And now they face the prospect of their wages being hit further by the increase in National Insurance.

‘Those in power need to understand that only by paying nurses fairly will they prevent an exodus of the very people they rely on to keep health and care services running.’

Ballot result will inform decisions in pay campaign

The RCN, which has been campaigning for a 12.5% pay rise in the NHS, says the ballot result will not formally authorise industrial action, but that it will be used to decide the next steps in the pay campaign.

The Department for Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.

Action on NHS pay elsewhere in the UK

Scotland: RCN members are voting in an indicative ballot on their willingness to take industrial action on pay. The poll closes on 8 November.

Wales: RCN Wales has lodged a formal trade dispute with the government over pay. If the government does not open pay negotiations, the college will start proceedings for a ballot on whether members are prepared to take industrial action.

Northern Ireland: No formal announcement has yet been made.


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