DOCTORS’ leaders, Unison general secretary Dave Prentis and TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady joined paramedics, nurses, midwives and physiotherapists in a protest outside the Department of Health in Whitehall yesterday.
Timed to mark the 66th NHS Birthday, the protesters held a giant cheque for £1.5bn unpaid overtime.
BMA chair of council, Dr Mark Porter told News Line: ‘We want recognition. We are trying to convince the Department of Health that what they are doing to NHS workers is wrong.
‘The pay freeze is an instrument of economic policy – they’ve done it for years and it’s time they stopped.’
BMA consultants committee chair Tom Kane said: ‘The pay freeze is a continuous message of undervaluing NHS staff, whatever grade.
‘The Nicholson Challenge of £20bn funding cuts is putting a huge strain on the NHS. We are trying to maintain a service with reduced funding.’
Unison general secretary Prentis told News Line: ‘We will move to an industrial action ballot against the NHS pay freeze at the end of August. By the autumn there will be a mass campaign for more industrial action across all public services.’
GMB Southern Region organiser Brendan Kemp said: ‘The one per cent is an insult. One per cent of basic pay is spread out over 12 months. In 2016, that is withdrawn.
‘So members don’t get any overtime raise and they lose the one per cent on basic pay after a year. Those on spinal points get nothing. The parliamentary pay review body said MPs should have 11 per cent and the government said it could do nothing about it.
‘When the NHS pay review body recommended more, the government ignored it. The unions should take action. We should have a national strike of all workers in all unions – a general strike. The government needs to listen to the people.’
Jill Barker of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said: ‘I’m campaigning for fair pay and for the government to understand the dedication it gets from its public health workers. That should be recognised in the form of fair pay for all.’
