| Unite NHS HuntNHS staff side trade unions have invited Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS employers Chief Executive Dean Royles to meet them and health workers to discuss the growing dispute over pay in the service. In a bid to get talks going, health union leaders are today travelling to Liverpool where Jeremy Hunt and Dean Royles are attending the NHS Confederation conference. UNISON head of health Christina McAnea said: ““We have invited Jeremy Hunt to meet with NHS staff to discuss the latest pay offer on several occasions, but the Secretary of State has persistently refused to do so. “NHS staff and trade unions are increasingly angry at the provocative claim that Hunt is giving them a pay rise. “The reality is that the government has ignored the 1% increase to hourly rates of pay recommended by the NHS Pay Review Body. And instead, they have imposed a continued pay freeze for most NHS staff in England. “Jeremy Hunt has refused to speak to the unions about his decision to deny a pay rise to 60% of health workers despite the threat of a potential major dispute in the NHS in England. “This government is seriously underfunding the NHS and expecting staff to bear the brunt of this by taking a cut in pay. If the Secretary of State recognises that staff are the NHS’s greatest asset he needs to do more than just use fine words. “We appreciate they both have demanding jobs, so we are going to them in Liverpool where they will be attending a conference.” Elsewhere in the UK, health workers will be taking action over the fact their pay is still being capped, despite the economic recovery and to remind the government of the millions of hours of unpaid overtime they put in each year. Speaking on behalf of the All Together for the NHS campaign, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Every year hard-working health service staff put in many extra hours which they don’t get paid for. These efforts save the government a hefty £1.5bn a year. But even though this unpaid overtime is effectively keeping the NHS going, health service employees increasingly feel that the government is taking them for granted. “NHS staff have had their pay frozen and capped, which has placed a huge squeeze on their household finances. With the economy now firmly in recovery mode, health service workers might have been forgiven for thinking that the days of public sector pay restraint would be over. But the government has chosen to ignore the advice of the pay review body and is continuing to hold down the salaries of nurses, paramedics and other NHS workers for at least another year. “The effects of economic recovery have yet to be felt in the pay packets of millions of NHS employees. Morale has never been lower, and cuts to staffing mean most are working longer – often for free. No wonder they feel so angry – it’s time the government gave health service workers a proper pay rise.” To coincide with the protests in Liverpool and London today there are also events happening in hospitals and clinics across England with the aim of urging health service staff, patients and local residents to show their support for the fair pay for the NHS campaign. - See more at: http://union-news.co.uk/2014/06/health-workers-go-hunt-hunt/#sthash.8vKLvgsU.dpuf |