Union ‘to resist’ NHS pay change (From York Press)

Union ‘to resist’ NHS pay change

10:15am Friday 9th November 2012 in News By Richard Catton, richard.catton@thepress.co.uk

HOSPITAL staff in York face the prospect of performance-related pay under proposals set to be put to union bosses.

The Unite union said it expected to be told by the NHS at a meeting in London today that it intended to bring in performance-related pay across the whole service, and to cut sick pay rates.

Rachael Maskell, head of health at Unite, said her organisation would reject the proposals, which will be put forward by NHS Employers, the organisation which negotiates on behalf of local NHS trusts.

She said: “The key things they are looking to introduce is performance-related pay and cutting sick pay.

“I am hoping that they will wake up to the fact that staff have had a 30 per cent cut in pay because of inflation and mass downgrading. We are resisting the changes.”

Miss Maskell said she believed most NHS staff were aware “changes were afoot”. She said: “What’s happening is that a proposal will go out to the unions for a consultation. The bottom line is that there’s just not enough money in the system any more.”

The changes would not affect doctors, who have their own system of pay, but it would hit front-line health workers such as nurses. It is not yet known how such a system would work in practice.

A spokesperson for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “Agenda For Change is the nationally agreed pay system for the NHS, and we use this to determine pay for our staff. National negotiations are ongoing between NHS Employers and the unions on potential changes to the agreement, and we await the outcome of these discussions.”

Meanwhile York Central MP, Hugh Bayley spoke out about separate Government plans to introduce regional pay in the NHS, warning of the potential disruption caused by a flood of pay claims.

He also said it was unfair that workers with the same skills could earn less in York than colleagues London.