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NHS staff united against local pay deals

The political temperature in the NHS is rising fast over the issue of pay, and performance related pay in particular, which the government is determined to introduce by April 1995. But the attempt to impose a virtual pay freeze in the public sector, together with the move to local pay, has met with a level of united opposition from health services staff which has not been seen since the pay dispute of 1982.

The Royal College of Nursing and UNISON, which between them represent the bulk of Britain’s 600,000 nurses, have rejected the proposed amendment to national terms which would allow trusts to determine some part of the annual pay rise for staff. They say the plan to link pay rises to the ‘performance of the organisation in relation to its objectives for the provision of high-quality patient care’ is ‘untried and untested’.

Pay offers to other NHS workers, said by UNISON to average 2.4 per cent, are also tied to an amendment to national conditions and have been rejected. UNISON is preparing to ballot its NHS membership on industrial action. The Royal College of Nursing has warned that it will take the 4.7 per cent awarded to MPs as a benchmark in arguing for a higher award.

John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB, said: ‘We find that the MPs are going along with an increase which is about double the rate of inflation when public service workers, local government workers, health service workers are being told less than the rate of inflation.’

Meanwhile a national conference of doctors agreed to reject the government’s amendment and to campaign against performance-related pay. The seriousness with which the British Medical Association regards the issue can be seen in its announcement that it is to reconvene its ‘sanctions working party’, which last met in 1974. The working party will draw up plans for a programme of disruption by 20,000 consultants in case the government should try to impose local pay.

Doctors are calling for tactics including resignation from clinical management posts in trusts, working to contract, and ‘working to Charter’ — doing only that required to meet Patient’s Charter targets.

Performance pay: see also page 6.