UNISON Support Junior Doctors Strike

Across England today NHS staff will be using their breaks and lunchtimes to join their junior doctor colleagues on BMA picket lines, says UNISON.

Many suspect the dispute over government plans to cut payments for night and weekend work is likely to be a dress rehearsal for what could happen should ministers turn their attention to the wider NHS workforce.

Health workers across the NHS are in total support of the junior doctors’ refusal to accept changes to their unsocial hours payments that the health secretary has been attempting to impose, says UNISON.

Ravi Subramanian, UNISON West Midlands Regional Secretary said:

"An NHS where the same high quality care is provided, regardless of the time of day or the day of the week, will notcome cheap. But Jeremy Hunt thinks he can offer more to patients by paying dedicated healthcare professionals much less.

Other NHS staff fear that the dispute with junior doctors could be the dry run for a much bigger confrontation. They suspect ministers also want to axe the unsocial hours payments that they get for working nights and weekends.

Working additional night and weekend shifts has helped many health staff survive the government's harsh and ongoing pay freeze. That's why so many of them across England will be joining picket lines during their breaks and lunchtimes tomorrow to show the health secretary that, while everyone wants to see a seven day NHS, his approach to achieving it is completely wrong."

Smoke and Mirrors over NHS pay

UNISON has today slammed the government over a Treasury letter to the chair of the public sector Pay Review Bodies (PRB) – including the NHS PRB – which stated that not all staff will get a pay rise as promised in the Summer budget.

Ravi Subramanian, UNISON West Midlands Regional Secretary said:

“It is clear from this letter that the government’s promise of a one per cent pay rise for public sector workers was all smoke and mirrors.

There was no substance to Osborne’s claim and NHS staff will be bitterly disappointed to hear many of them may not even get an extra penny for five more years.

The letter states that ‘the government expects pay awards to be applied in a targeted manner’ and that some workers could receive less than one per cent.'

It is difficult to see how much targeting you can get from a miserly 1 per cent without resulting in hundreds of thousands not getting a pay rise at all.

Ministers’ acknowledgment of saving at least £8bn with the pay caps and freezes imposed on public sector pay proves it is nurses, healthcare assistants, porters and paramedics who are still paying for a deficit they have nothing to do with.”

Changes to Migrant Worker Rules

Commenting on the announcement Yesterday that the government plan to change migrant salary rules,

 

Ravi Subramanian, West Midlands Regional Secretary said:

 

"Five years ago the government took the short-sighted decision to cut the number of nursing training places, and the NHS is now paying the price.

 

So with too few nurses being trained in the UK, NHS trusts have been forced to recruit thousands of nurses from abroad. Quite apart from the devastating impact this has on health services around the world, recruiting staff from overseas hasn't come cheap for the NHS either. 

 

Now in a set of crazy new rules due to come into force next year anyone recruited from outside the EU since 2011 who isn't earning more than £35,000 within six years will have to go home. With demand on the NHS increasing all the time, the sudden departure of many highly-trained staff will mean certain chaos for the NHS. One in four nurses in London are from overseas.

 

And it's not just nurses who will be affected – many workers from overseas employed in care homes and in home care across the UK could also find themselves without a job with equally devastating consequences on the care of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

 

Strangely – despite the huge pressures on the NHS – the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) doesn't believe that the UK is suffering from a shortage of nurses. While ballet dancers, head chefs and nuclear waste managers might be on the official list of shortage occupations, nurses don't feature.

 

Aside from these proposals the MAC is also consulting on proposals to raise the salary threshold to £50,000 – if this happens, the NHS will never be able to recruit another nurse from outside the EU again.

 

Ministers must think again and put a stop to these rule changes before it is too late. Nurses and other health workers from overseas have made a vital and valuable contribution to the NHS over many years – without their hard work and dedication, the health service would have been unable to cope with increasing demand."

A Christmas Message for Jeremy Hunt

Health members are sending a message to Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt MP :

‘All they want for Christmas is the Pay Review Body recommended pay rise’

Members have spent the past week signing Christmas cards to deliver to Mr Hunt asking him to do what’s right and award all NHS Staff the Pay Review Body recommended pay rise of just 1%.

So today they are sending over 3000 cards to the Houses of Parliament to make their voices heard.

Franco Buonaguro , UNISON West Midlands Regional Head of Health said:

“The message is simple, pay NHS staff what the Pay Review Body recommended. Health workers care for patients and their families every day of the year often when they are at their most vulnerable or distressed. The NHS depends on the goodwill and commitment of the workforce and this is now at breaking point.

We have spent the past week visiting staff in hospitals and talking to members of the public and there is a clear consistent message from both, NHS staff deserve better.

While many will be sitting down on Christmas day and enjoying some well earned time off with their families, many NHS staff will be at work, leaving their families to celebrate without them. Not only that, they will be there when things go wrong, ready to drive ambulances and run Accident and Emergency departments when emergencies arise.

For NHS staff there is no sign of a fair pay deal, so what choice do they have, they care, they continue to work on increasingly lower pay and often doing extra unpaid hours.”

Huge Mobilisation and Growing Public Support for NHS Strikers

Health workers on strike yesterday received tremendous support during their four-hour stoppage. Tens of thousands walked out in protest at the Government’s decision to deny a paltry 1% pay rise to all NHS staff.

There were picket lines at every acute hospital, ambulance station and across many community health services in the West Midlands and while on strike workers provided life and limb cover and cared for anyone in need of emergency treatment.

Franco Buonaguro, UNISON West Midlands Regional Head of Health said:

“While the anger is spreading, so is the public support for NHS workers’ fight for fair pay.  NHS workers don’t go on strike lightly but they do so carefully and safely. Patient safety is paramount and this is why workers stopped for just four hours. All we’re asking for is fair pay, and the public understand that.

The growing public support for health workers is overwhelming. They understand health workers are being reasonable. We are not talking big money or bonuses here, it’s simply the money that the Independent NHS Pay Review Body said they should have.

NHS services were affected in every major hospital and ambulance station.” 

He went on to say:

“It is irresponsible of the Government to not even try to resolve this dispute. Their behaviour is in danger of putting patients and the public at risk.

NHS workers will now take part in action short of strike action between Tuesday 25 November and Sunday 30 November, with members working to rule.”

Second Day of Action by Health Workers

Following the last NHS stoppage on 24^th October we were hopeful that the Government would sit round the table and continue discussions about pay but they haven’t! So the Service Group Executive (Nationally) has been forced to take the decision to move to a second day of action on Monday 24^th November 2014.

We are not doing this alone and a total of eleven trade unions will be taking part. These include:

• UNISON
• Royal College of Midwives (RCM)

• Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT)

• Society of Radiographers (SoR)

• British Association of Occupational Therapists (BAOT)

• GMB

• Unite the union

• Managers in Partnership (MiP)

• Prison Officers Association (POA)

• Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association* (HCSA)

• British Dietetic Association * (BDA)

More information on the action can be found @ http://www.unison.org.uk/at-work/health-care/key-issues/nhs-pay/home/