Community / Nurses and teachers set to strike over pay
NURSES in Shetland could go on strike as part of a nationwide rejection of the Scottish Government’s latest pay offer.
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members voted in a ballot in favour of strike action in all of Scotland’s NHS boards.
Figures reported today (Thursday) say 90 per cent of nursing staff in Shetland who took part in the ballot voted in favour of a strike.
Meanwhile teachers across Scotland, including Shetland, have now voted overwhelmingly for strike action over pay in a ballot organised by education union the EIS. School teachers intend to go on strike on 24 November.
A total of 96 per cent of those taking part in the ballot voted in favour of strike action in response to a five per cent pay offer.
For nurses, the RCN Scotland board “decided that the strength of feeling of members left them with no choice but to reject the offer on members’ behalf”.
It added: “The updated offer represented yet another real-terms pay cut after a 16 per cent real-terms cut over the last decade.
“It also would have seen experienced staff getting a lower increase than the original five per cent offer for the majority of staff.”
The RCN will announce detailed plans and timelines for strike action soon. It said strikes would be undertaken “legally and safely at all times”.
RCN members across the UK have also voted to strike over pay.
After initially being offered a five per cent pay rise, the Scottish Government last month offered a record pay rise of £2,205 for NHS Scotland staff – an average increase of seven per cent.
Action from other NHS Scotland workers – not just nurses – is also in the offing. Midwives and physiotherapy staff for example have also voted for strikes.
NHS Shetland said on Thursday that it was not yet clear what industrial action would look like across the unions at a local level.
However, preparations are underway to ensure urgent services such as accident and emergency, renal care, cancer care and inpatient services can keep running with safe staffing levels, the health board said.
Chief executive Michael Dickson said: “We are conscious that we are living in financially challenging times and acknowledge the right of our staff to voice their views about fair pay.
“As an employer it is our responsibility to enable everyone to feel confident to have their say and enable their participation in strike action if that is determined. Patient safety is paramount and we will work openly and constructively with the unions to minimise the impact on our service users wherever possible.”
The government meanwhile said that the offer would mean the lowest paid seeing a rise of more than 11 per cent, with qualified nursing staff receiving up to 8.45 per cent.
The message from the Scottish Government is that there is no more money available for a further offer.
Health secretary Humza Yousaf said: “This improved pay offer – which is the largest of its kind since devolution – reflects their hard work and will go a long way to help them through the cost of living crisis.”
But RCN Scotland board chair Julie Lamberth said: “NHS pay is a political choice and for Scottish government ministers to suggest to nursing staff that fair pay should come at the expense of key services is insulting both to our members and the people of Scotland, who recognise that these services are already understaffed and rely on the good will of nursing staff to keep going.
“The Scottish Government needs to face up to the reality that their failure to focus on workforce planning and to properly value those working in health and social care over the last decade is the root cause of the staffing crisis we face.
“The result of our strike ballot is a wake-up call that must not be ignored.”
Meanwhile following the education ballot EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “This ballot result provides the EIS with an extremely strong mandate for strike action over pay.
“Our members have sent yet another very clear message to their employers in Scottish local authorities and to the Scottish Government that they must do better on teachers’ pay.
“Our members should have received a pay increase in April but, after months of unjustifiable dither and delay from COSLA and the Scottish Government, we are still waiting for an acceptable offer to be made. Quite frankly, our members have had enough of waiting and enough of feeling the financial strain of the cost of living on top of the significant stress of their teaching jobs.”
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