NHS staff have voted to accept the Scottish government’s pay offer, says UNISON today (Friday).
Scotland’s biggest health union has been consulting workers over the proposed 5.5% wage uplift across all pay bands in the NHS Agenda for Change pay scale.
Health staff were due a pay rise on 1 April, but had to wait until last month for an offer.
UNISON represents around 40% of the NHS workforce in Scotland, including catering workers, administrators, managers, occupational therapists and nursing staff.
At the close of the month-long consultation today, 89% of those who took part agreed to accept the increase, says the union.
UNISON will meet with other health unions on Monday (23 September) to agree a formal joint response.
UNISON Scotland lead organiser for health Matt McLaughlin said: “UNISON represents almost two fifths of NHS workers and has secured the best deal currently possible. But acceptance of this offer should not lead to complacency from the Scottish government.
“If ministers are serious about recognising and rewarding NHS staff for the incredible job they do, they need to be far better at dealing with the annual pay round.
“There’s considerable anger that it’s taken 200 days to get an offer on the table and hard-working staff won’t see a bump in their pay until at least the end of October.”
Notes to editors:
– UNISON consulted 40,000 members working for the NHS in Scotland from 27 August to today (Friday).
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union, serving more than 1.3 million members. We represent full-time and part-time staff who provide public services in both the public and private sectors.
Media contact:
Matt McLaughlin M: 07904 341979 E: M.McLaughlin@unison.co.uk
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk