REDDITCH Labour Party were at the Alexandra Hospital on Wednesday morning in support of a Unite day of action fighting for fair pay for NHS workers.
Together with other NHS supporters they joined the protest outside the entrance to the Woodrow Drive hospital.
The goverment has offered some NHS staff a three per cent pay rise, however this will have to be part met from the NHS’s own budget.
Su Lowe from Unite West Midlands said NHS staff who had done and are doing a heroic job and risking their lives to save ours during the Covid-19 crisis deserved a decent pay rise that is fair, necessary and affordable.
“Health workers have been demoralised. Health workers have been ignored. They have been very let down by this government,” she said.
“They see money being poured into the friends of government and into their pockets, but they don’t see money being poured into our hospitals.
“We are clear that – as Boris Johnson says – we need to level up.”
Redditch Labour member and retired nurse Monica Stringfellow added: “Since 2010 many NHS staff have suffered a real terms pay cut of 19 per cent so the government offer of three per cent is an insult, especially after 18 months of fighting the Covid pandemic.
“I’m proud to stand up for my profession and demand fair pay for the NHS.”
The Unite Fair Pay for NHS campaign believes NHS staff deserve better than three per cent so the union is calling on its member to reply ‘no’ to the government’s offer and ‘yes’ to action when the ballot opens.
This ballot will be an electronic consultative and indicative industrial action ballot which will close on September 24.
