Nurses have rejected a 5.5 per cent pay rise – but not Labour or its government.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves offered the pay award in late July, shortly after Labour won the 2024 general election, and the Royal College of Nursing then held an online vote to find out if it had the support of members.
Now we learn that two-thirds of the 145,000 members who voted said the rise, proposed for the 2024-25 financial year, was not fair.
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But nurses’ leaders are not planning a new ballot on strike action. Instead they will wait for the government’s response – while reminding ministers that the pay of an experienced nurse fell by 25 per cent – almost five times more than Reeves was offering.
Junior doctors – now called resident doctors (in a bid to stop Tories from belittling them?) – last week voted to accept a multi-year pay rise totalling more than 20 per cent, to end their own long dispute.
Nurses say they are happy for the doctors – and have requested “the same fair treatment” from the government.
RCN members in Scotland have voted to accept the 5.5 per cent pay increase – but the Scottish government says the offer in Scotland comes from a “higher baseline”, meaning the offer is worth more.
What will Reeves do? If she makes a larger pay offer, she’ll come under attack from the Tories for splurging cash when there’s a “£22 billion black hole” in the public finances. If she refuses, then she is being inconsistent with her own conference promises to bring greater prosperity to the UK.
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Nurses have rejected a 5.5 per cent pay rise – but not Labour
Nurses have rejected a 5.5 per cent pay rise – but not Labour or its government.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves offered the pay award in late July, shortly after Labour won the 2024 general election, and the Royal College of Nursing then held an online vote to find out if it had the support of members.
Now we learn that two-thirds of the 145,000 members who voted said the rise, proposed for the 2024-25 financial year, was not fair.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
But nurses’ leaders are not planning a new ballot on strike action. Instead they will wait for the government’s response – while reminding ministers that the pay of an experienced nurse fell by 25 per cent – almost five times more than Reeves was offering.
Junior doctors – now called resident doctors (in a bid to stop Tories from belittling them?) – last week voted to accept a multi-year pay rise totalling more than 20 per cent, to end their own long dispute.
Nurses say they are happy for the doctors – and have requested “the same fair treatment” from the government.
RCN members in Scotland have voted to accept the 5.5 per cent pay increase – but the Scottish government says the offer in Scotland comes from a “higher baseline”, meaning the offer is worth more.
What will Reeves do? If she makes a larger pay offer, she’ll come under attack from the Tories for splurging cash when there’s a “£22 billion black hole” in the public finances. If she refuses, then she is being inconsistent with her own conference promises to bring greater prosperity to the UK.
Do you have a bad feeling about this?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
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Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
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2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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