Inflation rise will add misery to nurses facing a pay cut
Published: 28 August 2007
Today's rise in inflation will be greeted with dismay by nurses who face the prospect of a substantial pay cut this year, says the Royal College of Nursing.
The Government has called on the Independent Pay Review Body to offer nurses a meagre 1.5% wage deal at a time when the CPI has reached 3% and the more accurate RPI is running at 4.4%, its highest level since 1991. By insisting on a below inflation pay deal, the RCN warns, ministers are actually telling nurses they must suffer an unjust, unfair and unwarranted real terms pay cut.
With company directors receiving average pay increases of 28%, MPs demanding a 66% hike in their salaries and City traders sharing one billion pounds worth of bonuses it is beyond belief that the Government has decided to fight inflation by slashing the pay of low paid nurses.
General Secretary of the RCN, Dr Peter Carter, said:
“Asking public sector workers, such as nurses, to accept wage discipline in the wider economic interest is one thing. But creating the conditions whereby their pay is actually cut in real terms is quite another.
“If ministers insist on cutting nurses' pay then staff morale will fall, recruitment and retention levels will collapse, the modernisation programme will falter and patient care will suffer as a consequence.
“Day in and day out nurses have delivered for patients and they have delivered for this government. They deserve pay justice, not a pay cut.”
Notes to editors
For further information, interviews or illustrations please contact the RCN Media Office on 0207 647 3633, press.office@rcn.org.uk or visit http://www.rcn.org.uk/news/mediacentre.php
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the voice of nursing across the UK and is the largest professional union of nursing staff in the world. The RCN promotes the interest of nurses and patients on a wide range of issues and helps shape healthcare policy by working closely with the UK Government and other national and international institutions, trade unions, professional bodies and voluntary organisations.