Proposed Pay Deal Between Striking Uk Health Workers And Govt.

Hospital doctors-in-training will maintain a separate strike in demand for a 35 percent pay rise. Mar. 16, 2023.

Published 16 March 2023

Opinion

A handout photo made available by Syrian Presidential Office shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C) visiting the site struck by earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, 10 February 2023.

The West Should Lift Sanctions on Syria

by Rahim Volkov

The West and the Majority World - Repression Versus Openn...

by teleSUR/MS

The pay proposal will have to be approved by a vote of union members.

On Thursday, the British government and the National Health Service (NHS) Staff Council announced a proposed pay deal involving a five percent pay rise for next year.

RELATED:
UK, EU Reach Deal for N. Ireland, Eyeing New Chapter in Ties

The pay proposal must be approved by ballot by members of unions, including the Royal College of Nursing, UNISON, GMB, Unite, the British Dietetic Association (BDA) and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP).

It includes a one-off payment of 2 percent of 2022/23 salaries and a 5 percent pay rise for 2023/24, starting in early April, according to the government.

One million nurses, paramedics, midwives and other workers in England will benefit from the new two-year offer until early April 2024.

‘It’s hard to say it’s a good deal, but it’s a deal that’s certainly worth going out to consult with members on. It’s a reasonable deal, I would say’

General secretary Christina McAnea @cmcanea on the NHS pay offer @TimesRadio with @JPonpolitics pic.twitter.com/dJBahbabr5
— UNISON - UK's largest union (@unisontheunion) March 16, 2023

Although the proposed deal is well below the current 10.1 percent inflation rate, a joint statement from the government and an NHS group regards the offer as a "fair and reasonable deal."

Unions Unison, GMB, and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) favored the offer as a step forward, albeit a limited one. "It's not a panacea, but tangible progress," said RCN general secretary Pat Cullen.

The British Medical Association (BMA) union is not participating in the deal, so that hospital doctors-in-training will maintain a separate strike in demand for a 35 percent pay rise.