Shoulder to shoulder

Why are Unite NHS members so angry about their pay? We look at what they do and how much these hard working, highly skilled workers actually earn. Today we focus on porters, maintenance staff and scientists.

The government uses ÂŁ21,000 as the low pay threshold, and around 350,000 NHS workers earn less than this. Around 40,000 NHS workers earn less than the living wage (ÂŁ7.65 or ÂŁ8.80 in London). Paying all NHS workers the living wage would cost 0.018 per cent of the total NHS budget 2012/13.

Other changes, such as to on-call payments, sickness policies, overtime rates, and down-grading have left some Unite members with a dramatic loss of take-home pay – up to 30 per cent.

Low pay, cuts and more strenuous conditions are seriously lowering the morale of vital NHS employees – potentially putting patients at risk.

Porters

If you’ve ever had to stay in hospital you’d be only too aware how essential porters are. They do physically draining jobs which include heavy lifting and walking long distances. Some porters need a driving licence if they are working on large sites. Porters start on a salary of £14,294.

“Morale is fairly low amongst porters with more and duties and pressures added to our already overburdened work load,” said one porter. “Most porters stay with the NHS because there is little or no other alternative employment outside.”

Maintenance

Hospital maintenance workers are key to the running of the hospital. They need specialist knowledge about machinery, gas and electricity. They earn from ÂŁ16,271.

“This is the worst I have seen the NHS in 29 years’ service and it is in my opinion getting very corrupt,” said one maintenance shift technician.

“We are being bullied into doing more shift work,” added an estates and maintenance worker.

Scientists

There are a huge number of different types of scientists working in the NHS, from biomedical scientists to clinical scientists to embryologists. To work as a scientist in the NHS you need a very good degree and research experience. A biomedical scientist starts at entry level earning ÂŁ21,478.

“Biomedical sciences are currently being broken up and ruined in the chase for profits by private companies,” said a biomedical scientist.

“The staff are being replaced with people with no science background who are cheap. Over 70 per cent of hospital patients rely on our work – it’s a scandal waiting to happen. I am seriously concerned,” said another.

And a support worker said, “It is ridiculous that in blood sciences for the amount of work I do as a biomedical support worker I get paid peanuts, still on band 2 after 10 years of working in the same department and after paying for my degree in biomedical sciences the department can’t even offer me a biomedical scientist post.”

According to a Unite survey, 68 per cent of NHS workers say that morale has got worse over the last year; 87 per cent think government pay policy is unfair; 56 per cent would not recommend their job as a career in the NHS, and 89 per cent say they are worse off compared to the cost of living.

Our NHS workers deserve better than this.

Franco Villani, a Unite rep, agrees. He says, “Year on year our pay has been on a one per cent increase but gas, electricity, petrol – the price of everything else has gone up much more quickly.

“It is an absolute insult to the passionate healthcare staff who work in the NHS. The way this government is treating NHS workers is a disgrace. It is long overdue that we stand should to shoulder and get a yes vote.”