NHS workers could be set to strike over their anger at "being taken for granted".
Public sector workers' union Unison are set to ballot their members for industrial action after they recommended refusal of the Scottish Government's five per cent pay offer.
The union represents large swathes of NHS personnel, from nurses to cleaners and porters.
We have repeatedly told how Unison leaders at Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital have spoken out over difficulties facing their members.
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Shop stewards Margaret Duffy and Barbara Steele revealed how the Corsebar Road hospital had been under pressure from "chronic" staff shortages.
They warned of a "dire" situation at the site in January and told how personnel are "on their knees" trying to battle through the twin effects of providing vital frontline services during the coronavirus pandemic and shouldering the strain of depleted staff numbers after workers were also hit.
Now Unison will ballot 35,000 Scottish NHS staff and recommend they knock back the offer in a consultative digital ballot which opened today (Monday) and closed on August 8.
They cite the fact members are "angry" and the current ten per cent rate of inflation as the reasons behind the move, branding it "deeply unfair" that those at the top of pay bands will be handed a rise of more than £5,000 per year, while those on lower bandings will get nearer £1,000.
Unison say the ballot comes in the middle of an NHS staffing crisis, while turnover is higher than ever as are waiting lists, and the NHS is "facing real challenges" in recruitment - with over 6,000 nursing vacancies across Scotland.
Union leaders say staff also report that they are regularly left in wards working with staffing levels below minimum standards, leaving them constantly worried they make mistakes, or fail to deliver basic patient care
They say the problems were building long before covid but the pandemic has only exacerbated the issues.
We told in December how RAH staff were left furious after a single nurse - who had been qualified for just a year - was left in charge of 24 patients on a gastroenterology ward on a Saturday nightshift, with just a health care assistant to help care for patients.
Wilma Brown, chair of the UNISON Scotland health committee said: “NHS staff have been taken for granted, staff have endured over 10 years of real terms pay cuts only to be told by the Scottish Government that, yet again, they will have to accept a below inflation pay rise.
“NHS staff have family bills to pay, food, energy and petrol prices are rocketing. NHS staff are struggling to afford the price of fuel to get them to work. They need more than praise and platitudes from Government, they need a decent pay rise to support their families."
She added: "A five per cent pay increase across the board just doesn’t cut it and the Scottish Government need to understand how angry we are. Unison are urging Unison members to vote to reject this pay offer and indicate that they will take the very difficult decision to take industrial action, unless of course the Health Minister improves the offer on the table."
It comes less than a week after health supremo Humza Yousaf set out targets to help ease patient waits for NHS services, including a move to end outpatient two year waits for most specialities by end of next month, eliminate two year waits for inpatient and day cases for most specialities by the end of September this year a move to treat outpatients waiting longer than a year by the end of March 2023 and inpatients in a similar position by Sept 2024.
The Scottish Government , which has previously insisted that Scotland's NHS is faring better than those elsewhere in the UK, expressed "disappointment" at the union's move.
A spokesperson said: "We are disappointed that Unison is recommending members reject this offer which, if accepted, will be the biggest single year pay rise NHS Agenda for Staff have seen since devolution, and will ensure that our staff continue to remain the best paid in the UK.
“Under this pay offer experienced porters will receive more than £1,000 extra, while a healthcare support worker will see more than £1,200 extra. Experienced nurses will see their pay rise by more than £1,600 and an experienced advanced nurse practitioner will receive almost £2,400 more.
“The record 5 per cent pay offer builds on NHS Scotland staff being the best paid in the four nations. The UK Government would need to deliver pay uplifts of between 6 per cent to 14 per cent to front line NHS England Agenda for Change staff to catch up with pay levels in Scotland.”
The Scottish Government says the country has the best performing A&E departments in the UK, "outperforming those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for over six years", despite the fact that their own four hour emergency waiting time target has been largely missed since the pandemic began.
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