Earlier this year, the government announced it would award NHS staff a 3.6% pay rise. This will be paid in August and backdated to April 2025.
We asked if you would be willing to take industrial action to seek improvements to the award. We were clear that we would only be able to challenge the award if a big enough proportion of you were willing to back industrial action.
But we didn’t hear from enough of you for your lead committee of health workers to feel they could move ahead straightaway with a successful industrial action ballot.
However, 70% of those who took part told us they were prepared to take action if called upon. So it’s clear that anger and dissatisfaction are running high and will only grow without proper investment in the workforce.
This should be a clear wake up call for the government that their current approach is not working for NHS staff. And without you on board their plans to turn the NHS around will fail.
We will be using the results of this consultation to warn ministers that they must urgently sit down with UNISON and other health unions for proper talks on pay, the wider rewards package and working conditions.
