Optimism breaks out in NHS pay negotiations

2 Aug 07
Health sector trade unions were this week expecting a breakthrough in negotiations with employers over an improved pay offer that could prevent strikes across the NHS.

03 August 2007

Health sector trade unions were this week expecting a breakthrough in negotiations with employers over an improved pay offer that could prevent strikes across the NHS.

As Public Finance went to press, Unison was awaiting confirmation from the Treasury of an improved offer, after NHS Employers and the union's leaders reached a provisional agreement during talks on July 30.

A Unison spokeswoman confirmed that the revised offer 'could placate the union's concerns over pay rises for low-paid staff'.

The union will ballot its members over whether to accept the deal.

However, it is not yet clear whether the improved offer would breach the Treasury's 2% cap on public sector pay rises.

The NHS's salary review body recommended a 2.5% average increase this year, but NHS Employers opted to stage pay rises in England, reducing the overall deal to 1.9%: below the Treasury's threshold. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland implemented the higher rate in April.

The Unison spokeswoman described the new offer for England as 'complicated, but beneficial'. The union's lowest-paid members 'stood to benefit most', she said.

Meanwhile, civil servants could intensify their opposition to pay and privatisation plans hours before Gordon Brown delivers his first prime ministerial speech to the Trades Union Congress next month.

The Public and Commercial Services union told PF that it expects to publish the results of a membership consultation at the start of the congress in Brighton on September 9.

The PCS has opposed the public sector pay cap through national strikes and work-to-rule practices this year. But when Brown took over as prime minister in June, the union decided to re-consult its members over industrial action.

PFaug2007

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