- Conference
- 2015 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 4 December 2014
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes, at the time of writing, the failure of the Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt to meet and negotiate with NHS trade unions in England on their pay demands as set out in the Staff side letter of 25th June 2014.
Conference applauds the efforts of all sections of the health group in delivering the campaign called for by the emergency motion to last years conference and especially the two days of strike action and up to two weeks of action short of strike action (ASOS).
As a result of this failure to engage an important element of those demands remains unmet, namely the additional monies to ensure no NHS worker is paid below the living wage.
With an identical offer thrust upon us for next year and explicit statements of further public sector pay restraint for the rest of the next parliament it is clear that more and more NHS workers will fall below the living wage level as its level increases faster than our pay rises. By the middle of the next parliament this could reach the lower increments of Band 3.
This is completely unacceptable in its own right and also undermines our wider strategy for the public sector to be an exemplar to other employers to become living wage employers.
Conference calls on the Health Service Group Executive to continue its pay campaigning including its Industrial Strategy to deliver on its objectives including the living wage.
Conference also asks that the Health Service Group calls on the Department of Health and all NHS bodies, through the procurement process, to only utilise those employers who pay the living wage.