{"id":1025,"date":"2014-09-02T16:50:18","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T15:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=1025"},"modified":"2014-09-02T16:52:47","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T15:52:47","slug":"shoulder-shoulder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=1025","title":{"rendered":"Shoulder to shoulder"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The government uses \u00c2\u014121,000 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 (\u00c2\u01417.65 or \u00c2\u01418.80 in London). Paying all NHS workers the living wage would cost 0.018 per cent of the total NHS budget 2012\/13.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c up to 30 per cent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Low pay, cuts and more strenuous conditions are seriously lowering the morale of vital NHS employees \u00e2\u20ac\u201c potentially putting patients at risk.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Porters<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever had to stay in hospital you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d 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 \u00c2\u014114,294.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMorale is fairly low amongst porters with more and duties and pressures added to our already overburdened work load,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said one porter. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMost porters stay with the NHS because there is little or no other alternative employment outside.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maintenance<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hospital maintenance workers are key to the running of the hospital. They need specialist knowledge about machinery, gas and electricity. They earn from \u00c2\u014116,271.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is the worst I have seen the NHS in 29 years\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 service and it is in my opinion getting very corrupt,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said one maintenance shift technician.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are being bullied into doing more shift work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added an estates and maintenance worker.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Scientists<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 \u00c2\u014121,478.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBiomedical sciences are currently being broken up and ruined in the chase for profits by private companies,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said a biomedical scientist.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe staff are being replaced with people with no science background who are cheap. Over 70 per cent of hospital patients rely on our work \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a scandal waiting to happen. I am seriously concerned,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said another.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And a support worker said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even offer me a biomedical scientist post.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our NHS workers deserve better than this.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Franco Villani, a Unite rep, agrees. He says, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYear on year our pay has been on a one per cent increase but gas, electricity, petrol \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the price of everything else has gone up much more quickly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[29,80],"wps_subtitle":"Why Unite NHS members so angry about their pay","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1029,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions\/1029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}