UNISON is organising two events ahead of the NHS’s birthday on 5 July, as it continues to campaign for fair pay in the health service.
The joint-union All Together for the NHS campaign will be lobbying MPs at Westminster on 1 July. And MPs will be lobbied in their constituencies on Friday 4 July .
UNISON is encouraging activists to join with local staff sides and patient groups to lobby their MPs in their constituencies.
We will be telling MPs that we believe that the public deserves a quality NHS with staff that are well motivated and properly rewarded for the vital work they do, with a health service that has enough staff to ensure patients are safe and with a workforce that is properly trained and equipped to deliver quality healthcare in the 21st century.
The government is seriously under-funding the NHS at a time when demand is rising. Recent figures from the King’s Fund show that spending on the NHS will fall from 8% of GDP in 2009 to 6% by 2020. This is an unprecedented reduction in resources.
NHS workers are being asked to bear the brunt. Five years of pay restraint has hit our members hard, leaving morale at rock bottom.
Not only that, but we share concerns highlighted by Monitor and NHS Employers that the government’s pay policy is not sustainable at a time when the economy is picking up.
Staff will vote with their feet or lose the goodwill to continue providing the many extra hours of free staff time on which the NHS depends.
What branches can do next around the fair pay for NHS staff campaign:
- speak to colleagues about the lobby on the 4 July;
- book an appointment with your MP and let us know when you will be lobbying them;
- ask members to write to their MP.
UNISON pay resources – including petitions and letters to MPs
