GMB nurses stage Sheffield banner protest over real-terms pay cut

GMB NHS staff gathered on footbridge with banners to protest the 3% pay offer

GMB NHS staff gathered on footbridge over park square roundabout with banners to protest the 3% pay award for all NHS workers

The demonstration took place the day after the government snuck out the pay award to avoid Parliamentary scrutiny, whilst MPs are packing up for summer and fails to match the 15% pay increase - or £2 per hour - GMB has been calling for to make up for a decade of real terms pay cuts for NHS key workers deserve.

The 3 per cent offer is lower than inflation, which was 3.9 per cent in June (according to the RPI index).

Nurses, health workers, patients and the public are all expected to show their anger at the insulting pay award at the demo. 

This morning GMB released damning figures that showed that NHS workers in England were losing up to £9000 a year through a decade of real term pay cuts.

Ben Kirkham, GMB Organiser, said: 

“NHS staff are furious. 

“This is a shameful pay offer, and insufficient recognition of the huge efforts made by NHS staff  during the pandemic.

“The NHS is under unprecedented pressure, and staff face a gruelling year ahead with millions of patients on waiting lists in the midst of another Covid-19 wave.

"Morale is extremely low, and after a decade of real terms pay cuts there's a lot of people leaving the NHS and there's a lot of people leaving the health sector more widely.

“GMB will now be balloting all eligible GMB members, their vote matters. There's no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter at times like these.”