UK health workers strike over rejection of pay hike

Hundreds of thousands of workers in England's state-run National Health Service (NHS) went on strike yesterday for the first time since 1982 following the state's rejection of a pay rise.

NHS staff members including nurses, ambulance crews and midwives stopped working for four hours, some forming picket lines. Emergency services were continuing but unions recommended that patients defer their appointments. The move is intended to pile pressure on Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who rejected the recommendations of an independent pay panel for a below-inflation, one percent wage increase for all health service staff members. He has agreed to implement the one percent increase, but only for the four in 10 workers who are not already receiving an incremental salary increase.

Hunt said the majority of NHS staff get an automatic three percent increment but the government cannot afford to give a one percent rise to people already getting that. He said the most important thing is doing the right thing for patients and that it would be irresponsible for any Health Secretary to accept a pay package that means the NHS has to lay off nurses. The Conservative-Liberal coalition government has halved Britain's budget deficit from 11 percent since taking office in 2010. But the continued belt-tightening has been criticised by trade unions, citing the health of the British economy, which is expected to grow three percent this year. Trades Union Congress general-secretary Frances O'Grady, who joined a picket line in London, said that morale had hit "rock bottom". Union leaders say that low pay increases plus inflation mean the value of NHS pay has fallen 12 percent since 2011. The strike comes seven months ahead of the general election in May next year, and the opposition Labour Party is putting the NHS at the heart of its campaign pitch. The party accuses the Conservatives of planning to dismantle the health service by running it down and selling it off. Prime Minister David Cameron has accused Labour of scaremongering and spreading "complete and utter lies" about their intentions.

AFP, 13 October 2014