A new pay deal from the government has been announced that
appears to be one of the most generous in the seventy year history of the
National Health Service. If NHS servicemen agree to it, which they almost
certainly will, it will see an average basic grade porter's income rise by 15%
to above £18,000 pa. Some staff will receive 29%. The payrise will be backdated
to this month if they agree by the summer. Despite the title I've given this
article, porters are only some of the beneficiaries. The deal will improve the
salaries of the lowest earners in the NHS most of all; porters, cleaners, nursing
auxiliaries and junior nurses. However even higher paid staff, such as nursing
sisters, will gain 6.5%. The rise will not be an instant handout; it is going
to be spread over three years. The health unions are very much behind it but
the GMB has voiced a note of pessimism. This payrise does not make up for the
massive blow caused by the "Austerity crush" in the late 2000's that
saw five or more years of frozen pay. That's true, but it is a step in the
right direction. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43481341.
When I first heard about this, I thought it sounded too good to be true. Indeed
many other similar situations have emerged in which apparently generous
payrises have been offered, but only in exchange for a massive increase in
workload and difficult new roles added to job descriptions. For example, maternity
midwifery auxiliaries were originally on Band 1 of the Agenda for Change pay
reshuffle. Their duties were simple tasks like making beds and blanket-bathing adult
patients. They were then offered Band 2, the same as a basic grade porter; but
they had to agree to taking on additional duties previously only carried out by
qualified midwives on a far higher salary. This is called being "labour
intensive"; that's Orwell-speak for getting the lowest paid personnel in
your organization to do the most amount of work. However, this new pay deal
appears not to have any of these strings attached; and, believe me, I was on my
guard against them. Is this really too good to be true? It's out of my hands
now; I shall just have to wait and see.
See here for
background: http://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/hospital-porters-and-nhs-strike.html.
