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Nurses at Marie Curie urged to vote on improved pay offer

Charity’s workers have until 14 December to say if they are willing to accept revised offer
Image shows a female figure placing a vote into a ballot box marked Marie Curie

Charity’s workers have until 14 December to say if they are willing to accept revised offer

Image shows a female figure placing a vote into a ballot box marked Marie Curie
Picture: iStock

Nurses working for terminal illness charity Marie Curie are being urged to have their say in a ballot for better pay.

RCN members employed by the charity have until 14 December to say if they are willing to accept a new pay offer.

Formal pay negotiations

RCN trade union committee chair Graham Revie called on all eligible members to take part in the ballot. He said: ‘We need eligible RCN members to vote in this ballot to tell us whether the current offer is acceptable to them.’

Nurses working for the charity voted in July to reject a 2% pay offer, prompting formal pay negotiations.

The RCN is not making a recommendation on whether members should accept or reject the new offer, but says it is a significant improvement on the original offer.

The updated offer maintains the link with NHS Agenda for Change (AfC) for those members whose pay already mirrors AfC and by improving unsocial hours rates it closes the gap for members whose pay does not mirror AfC. But it does not achieve full parity between the two groups.

RCN members voted to reject earlier offer

Proposals include an increase to £9.50 per hour for the lowest paid workers – support workers – to match the real living wage. Almost half of all eligible RCN members took part in the previous ballot, with eight in ten choosing to reject the offer.

The RCN’s Fair Pay for Nursing campaign is aiming for 12.5% pay increase for all nursing staff.

In Scotland a majority of nurses said in an RCN ballot they are prepared to strike over a 4% pay offer. The ballot, which had an almost 30% turnout, does not authorise industrial action but will be used to inform RCN Scotland’s strategy in its formal dispute with the Scottish government and NHS employers. A statutory industrial action ballot is required before any such action could take place. 

In England and Wales, a 3% pay offer was rejected by RCN members and indicative ballots are under way.

Nurses in Northern Ireland are to receive the 3% pay rise in November, which will be backdated to April.


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