#stucwomen16 The STUC Women’s Committee is to lobby Scottish Government to break the public sector pay cap following a call from the Royal College of Midwives.
The RCM’s first ever motion to the STUC Women’s Conference was supported by UNISON’s Viv Thomson.
In 2010, the UK Government imposed a pay freeze followed by a pay cap of 1% until 2015 and it now says the 1% pay cap will continue until 2020.
The RCM welcomed the fact that midwives, maternity support workers and other NHS staff in Scotland have been paid the 1% without question from the Scottish Government, compared to NHS staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who have had to fight to get their 1%.
But it also pointed out that this remains a pay cut, mainly for women: “As the public sector workforce is dominated by women, this means that women’s pay is hard hit by public sector pay restraint. The RCM has calculated that since 2010, the average midwife’s salary has decreased in value by over £4,000.”
The motion demanded that the Scottish Government call on the NHS Pay Review Body to make an “unfettered recommendation” for NHS staff, breaking the 1% cap, so that staff in NHS Scotland get a proper pay rise.
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