Scottish NHS pay: Unions win concessions but the fight for inflation-proof pay rises continues
Sean Robertson, GMB rep
While NHS pay in Scotland still languishes far behind the aspirations of workers, the pay campaign in 2022/23 has demonstrated clearly that a united workers’ movement can win.
Big majorities for strike action by some key unions, months of unnecessarily protracted negotiations and four different offers from the Scottish government eventually led to a proposed pay deal of 7.5% on average for Scottish NHS workers.
At that point Unison and Unite (with no recommendation from the leadership who claimed it was the best that could be won without prolonged industrial action) members voted to accept the offer.
The fact that 43% of Unison members voted to reject showed that with a lead from Unison leaders a big majority would have backed that position.
However, members of GMB, RCN and RCM, unions representing tens of thousands of NHS Scotland workers, many of whom work in frontline jobs such as ambulance drivers, nurses and midwifes, voted to reject the derisory deal, and now have an active strike mandate to continue the fight.
The campaigns of all unions and their members has succeeded in increasing the pay of NHS Scotland staff by around £500 million so far since June.
Because Unison, the largest trade union in NHS Scotland, and Unite accepted the final pay offer, the Scottish Government were able to impose the deal. However, much as they would have liked to put the issue to bed, this turned out to be only the end of the beginning for the fight for fair pay in the NHS. With the RCN, RCM and GMB still in dispute the threat of industrial action still looms large.
In a desperate attempt to avert strikes in the service, the Scottish Government have dealt these unions a strong hand in future talks. Last week, the Health Secretary, Humza Yousef and deputy First Minister John Swinney met with unions still in dispute.
pay us or we walk
They have committed to begin pay talks by the 19th of January, that a first offer will be made by the end of February, that any pay deal will be backdated to January 2023 and, most importantly, that unions can continue and extend their strike ballots for a further three months without a ballot.
This means that RCN, RCM and GMB will enter into talks knowing that they can call out their members and effectively shut down the service if their demands on pay are not met.
A positive outcome on pay, and a clawing back of the pay lost to inflation over the last decades is possible. If unions and their membership realise the powerful position they are in and if negotiators use that strength to hammer out a deal which meets member’s aspirations more can be won.
While it remains to be seen whether the workers will finally be victorious and change the trajectory of pay for NHS staff – and halt the mass exodus of staff from the service – a major lesson from the events of the last 6 months is that a united workers’ movement and industrial action will pay dividends.
