Government's Disrespect for Health Workers
On March 4, following the British government's budget announcement, the
Department for Health and Social Security (DHSC) revealed that it had
recommended to the National Health Service (NHS) pay-review body only a
one per cent lower than inflation increase for NHS staff for 2021-2022.
The government says they will "wait for the
response from the independent pay review bodies before we announce the
pay settlement."
This decision follows an upsurge last year when the government
attempted to split the ranks of the workers by giving an
above-inflation pay rise to 900,000 public workers but not health
workers.
In the days following the announcement there has been increasing
opposition from health workers and their trade unions that this not
only fails to recognize the contribution of all health workers during
the pandemic, but also because the pay "increase" will amount to a cut
in pay for NHS staff in real terms. In addition, the government has now
frozen the pay of other public sector workers. To add insult to injury,
all the caregivers and those playing a vital role in the pandemic have had
their pay and conditions ignored as well.
"This Government offer is equivalent to one cup of coffee per week!" one of the unions pointed out.
The recommendation by the government to the Pay Review body covers
some 1.5 million health staff in NHS England, Scotland, Wales and the
north of Ireland. The recommendation does not cover over 160,000 staff
who work for agencies, or who have contracted-out employment. It also
does not cover an estimated 1.65 million staff working
as carers in care homes and in adult social care. Doctors, dentists and
very senior managers in the NHS have separate pay review arrangements.
The recommendation says that, during the pandemic, "the government
announced a pause in public sector pay rises for all workforces, with
an exception for employees with basic full-time equivalent salaries of
£24,000 or under and for the NHS. In settling the DHSC and NHS
budget, the government assumed a headline pay award of one per
cent for NHS staff. Anything higher would require re-prioritization."
 While
the
government claims that this is because COVID-19 "has placed a huge
strain on both public and NHS finances," the real issue is its
direction of using "both public and NHS finances" to pay the rich. The
present and previous governments have cut NHS services and public
services whilst contracting out more and more services to
private corporations. During the pandemic, this has seen vast sums
being paid out to private individuals and corporations, private
interests which the government has been keen to include more and more
in the health and social care system. This is the capital-centred
prioritization that the government is following and which it is trying
to justify over
their lack of investment in the human resources of a publicly provided
NHS service.
In the House of Commons, only Jeremy Corbyn, now an independent MP,
highlighted the necessity to pay NHS staff properly and the outrageous
payments to private corporations: "Nurses have seen us through this
crisis and have saved many lives, yet they are offered a pay cut as a
result of it. Some are already having to resort to food banks
to survive, and a third are thinking of leaving the profession unless
they get a decent pay rise. Surely to goodness, if £37 billion
can be found to pay Serco for a failed track and trace system, the
money must be available to pay NHS staff properly," Corbyn said on
March 10.
According to the Minister of State for the DHSC, "every one per cent
increase will cost the taxpayer £750 million." He indicated that
the government is already planning further tax hikes and other ways of
charging to pass the burden of the crisis onto the people, whilst they
continue to pay the rich. They are also planning to push through
further legislation on the NHS as set out in the government's NHS White
Paper which has the same aim.
Health workers reject these self-serving arguments and continue to
express their determination that solutions be implemented that can
alleviate the crisis for the benefit of all.
This article was published in
March 24, 2021 - No. 21
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08213.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
|
