UK nurses walk out in new wave of strikes over pay
PBS NewsHourSep 25, 2022
England: Nurses Reject 5.5% Pay Raise Offer
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Above: Striking Nurses attend their picket line Sept. 3, 2024 in London. Image copyright: Guy Smallman/Contributor/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
About two-thirds of England's 145K National Health Service (NHS) nurses voted to reject the Labour Government's offer of a 5.5% pay raise for 2024-25, which was first proposed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves in July.
The 5.5% offer would give newly registered nurses with a band five salary a raise of £1.5K ($2K), bringing their annual salary to £30K ($40K). They would receive another raise after two years of work.
The Spin
Labour narrative
While this rejection is a setback for Prime Minister Keir Starmer's economic agenda, it's important to remember that under Rachel Reeves' treasury department, the government has secured significant pay raises for millions of government workers. In contrast to the previous government's policy of gutting the public sector, Labour is focused on allocating money where it matters most — paychecks.
Progressive narrative
Unsurprisingly, the Labour Party, which has received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from the private healthcare industry, has gone against everything it campaigned on. From Starmer to Streeting to Reeves, the current cabinet is full of two-faced politicians who promise to strengthen the NHS while secretly doing the private sector's bidding.
Tory narrative
No matter how much money the left throws at the NHS, the British people are still choosing to switch to private care and pay the extra costs. The NHS, staffed with more nurses and doctors than ever before, remains slow and inefficient. To save the health system — as both parties genuinely desire — the government must stop with the rhetoric and begin mixing in private provisions.
