Prime Minister Scrooge

In the run-up to further strike action next year from overworked and underpaid NHS staff, representatives from Unite, along with other leading health unions, presented a Christmas card to prime minister David Cameron this morning (December 23).

 
At the gates of 10 Downing Street, six petitioners gathered, dressed in their NHS uniforms, to present the prime minister with a card showing him as Scrooge, to highlight the government’s continued refusal to grant the health service a mere one per cent pay rise as recommended by its own pay review body.

 
Further strike action by health workers is planned for the newy on 29 January and 25 February with a significant escalation in action short of a strike as well.

 
Unite head of health Rachael Maskell said this morning was a strong success.

 
“It went really well,” she said. “We sent a very clear message that we won’t back down.”

 
“All NHS staff want for Christmas is the one per cent pay rise recommended by the independent pay review body. Instead they face another holiday season worrying about how to pay the bills and put food on the table,” she added.

 
“David Cameron’s Scrooge-like refusal to give all NHS staff in England a miserly 13 pence an hour pay rise this year shows utter contempt for the nation’s 1.4 million dedicated NHS workforce,” Maskell went on to say.

 
“We say that unless Jeremy Hunt urgently establishes proper pay talks for the nation’s nurses, therapists, scientists and support staff, the threat of even more industrial action will loom large right up to the general election.”

 
Stay tuned on UNITElive.org for the latest on the NHS strike next year.