NURSES' leaders are outraged by their 1% national pay award, while
teaching unions south of the Border are threatening industrial action
because of the effect on jobs and class sizes of their unfunded 2.7%
award.
Unison head of health Bob Abberley condemned the treatment of
Britain's 500,000 nurses as ''an appalling national scandal''. He said
they had been betrayed by the Government with an increase which will
give a staff nurse an insulting #2.17 extra a week.
The union would be launching a major campaign by nurses and the public
to force the Government to offer at least the 2.5% awarded to hospital
doctors.
Mrs Christine Hancock, general secretary of the Royal College of
Nursing, said the offer was not enough. Inflation had gone up, average
pay had gone up, and there were growing nursing shortages.
A spokeswoman for the Royal College of Midwives said its members could
be pushed towards withdrawing their goodwill and changing their policy
on industrial action as a result of the pay award.
''It is difficult to believe that the profession which cares for
800,000 women and their babies every year can be treated in such a
mean-minded manner. Two hundred and thirty branches are currently
discussing whether or not to change RCM policy on industrial action and
I fear that this award will be the final straw,'' said Mrs Yvonne
Hewins, director of employment affairs for the RCM.
She added that the Government was showing contempt for women and
women's health care.
Ms Julia Allison, the general secretary of the RCM, expressed her
''total disgust'' over the pay award.
''Morale in midwifery is at an all-time low already and this
scandalous pay award will make things even worse. It will inevitably
lead to job losses and cuts in services,'' she said.
Ms Jocelyn Prudence, of Professions Allied to Medicine, which
represents physiotherapists, radiographers, occupational therapists,
dieticians, chiropodists, and related staff, said the 1% award was
''disastrous, far worse than expected.
''The Government's local pay experiment will set trust against trust
and create divisions among staff. The reality of local pay will be
reduced staff morale, increased costs, and longer hours and less leave
for staff. This is about political dogma, not patient care.''
There was one rule for trust chief executives, who could earn more
than #100,000, and another for those involved in patient care, who once
again were short-changed, she said.
Mr Jim Devine, Unison's senior regional officer in Scotland, said the
pay award was an insult to the country's 70,000 nurses and midwives.
''We totally condemn this penny pay deal, at a time when inflation is
running at 2.9% and is set to rise to 3.5% in April.''
He also criticised the prospect of a further 1.5% being awarded to
staff by hospital trusts on the basis on performance-related pay. This,
said Mr Devine, was a divisive and demoralising tactic.
However, the awards were welcomed by Mr Roy Lilley, of the NHS Trust
Federation, who said trust hospitals could now negotiate locally with
doctors and nurses.
Teaching unions in England and Wales stressed that the lack of extra
cash to fund the 2.7% increase would mean lost teaching jobs and half of
primary school pupils in classes of more than 30 -- many as high as 40.
The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers said
the award was ''one unfunded settlement too many''. Its executive is to
recommend that its Easter conference authorise industrial action to
protect members faced with ''unreasonable class sizes''.
General secretary Nigel de Gruchy said: ''The demand for action from
our branches over class sizes is becoming irresistible.''
The smaller Association of Teachers and Lecturers also warned of the
danger of industrial action.
However, the biggest teaching union, the National Union of Teachers,
took a more measured line, with general secretary Doug McAvoy saying the
union would not be ''bounced'' into anything which would look like a
''Government victory''.
He said: ''Teachers will be demoralised that once again the Review
Body has toed the Government's line. Its job is to recruit, retain, and
motivate. This award does nothing for motivation.''
The tough Government line was greeted with dismay by local education
authorities, which say services have already been cut to the bone, and
school governors, who now face the responsibility of balancing budgets.
Chairman of the National Governors' Council Simon Goodenough said:
''School governors will be greatly disappointed that the Government has
ignored calls for full funding of the pay award.''
Mr Graham Lane, education chairman of the Association of Metropolitan
Authorities, said: ''This is disastrous. It means LEAs will not be able
to pay this award. There will be teacher redundancies and a dramatic
rise in class sizes.''
Although an education employer, he said: ''I do not blame NASUWT for
talking about industrial action. The award underpays teachers anyway and
the Government is not funding any of it.''
0
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article