4th Jun 2025 12:13
(Alliance News) - Health workers are to be balloted on industrial action in a dispute over pay.
Unite said its members in England and Wales will vote in the coming weeks on whether to reject an "insulting" 3.6% offer from the government and take industrial action.
The union, which represents staff working across the NHS, is urging them to reject the 3.6% increase, which Unite said was below the rate of inflation and less than an award to doctors and dentists and was lower than pay rises for NHS workers in Scotland.
Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said: "The NHS is suffering a huge staffing crisis. Thousands are leaving the service and those who remain are pushed to breaking point. Yet the government's answer is a substandard award that is below inflation and is an insult to NHS staff.
"This offer does nothing to address low pay in the NHS which hovers perilously close to the legal minimum. How can this possibly be fair or begin to improve staffing in the NHS?"
Unite said that since 2010 staff have lost between a third and a half of their pay in real terms.
National officer for health at the union Richard Munn added: "This offer makes a mockery of the pay review body system. It is below what medics received and is below what staff doing the same roles in Scotland received.
"The government needs to get the health unions around the negotiating table and come back with an improved award or they will witness the anger of our members."
The ballot for Welsh NHS staff opens on June 9 and on June 16 for English NHS workers, with the results due in the coming weeks.
Unite said that if the workers reject the pay award and vote for industrial action, the union will announce dates and locations in due course.
By Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent
Press Association: Finance
source: PA
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