from Latest news and comment from Britain | guardian.co.uk by Denis CampbellNHS staff told to give up annual pay increments or 35,000 jobs will go: "
Unions say Department of Health bid to push through two-year freeze on salary increments 'is a gun to our members' heads'
The NHS plans to make 35,000 nurses, cleaners and medical secretaries redundant unless staff accept a pay deal that will see them lose up to several thousand pounds a year, the Observer can reveal.
The Department of Health's own calculations show the losses will happen if NHS staff in England reject a two-year freeze on their pay increments in return for no compulsory redundancies.
Health unions are furious at what they call "a gun to our members' heads", because it would force staff to see their own incomes drop or risk colleagues losing their jobs. The 1.1 million workers facing the dilemma are mostly the lowest-paid, who, in common with other public sector workers, are already facing two years with no pay rise from April. They are on NHS pay bands 1-6, earning between £13,653 and £34,189.
NHS Employers, the organisation representing hospitals, primary care trusts and other healthcare providers, wants them to sacrifice annual pay increments from April until 2013. These guaranteed rises give staff between a few hundred and a few thousand pounds a year more as they move up the pay scale.
The figure of 35,000 compulsory redundancies, unpublicised until now, puts new pressure on health unions to accept. 'If you don't accept these swingeing proposals, other people may lose their jobs. This is a blunt threat by employers and a negatively emotive way of trying to do business,' said Karen Reay, Unite's national officer for health. 'Staff who are loyal to the NHS and aren't paid too much to start with are now being asked to take another hit. It's unfair. Many are angry that, after the two-year pay freeze, they are expected to lose their pay increments for two years as well.'
Mike Jackson of Unison, the UK's largest public sector union, said NHS workers faced 'a very tough choice, to accept that they should take a drop in their living standards to save the jobs of their colleagues in some cases'.
He demanded to know what else the NHS was doing to save money beyond expecting staff to accept standstill salaries until 2013. 'It's economic madness to be spending up to £3bn on turning the NHS upside down in an unnecessary, unproven shake-up, as the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, is proposing, especially when the NHS is facing a major financial crisis,' he said.
NHS Employers says that accepting a two-year freeze on increments would save £1.9bn a year, or 2.1% of the NHS's total pay bill. The NHS in England has to find £20bn of efficiency savings by 2014-15 and says that this new deal is 'the only pay-related solution' that would help to close an unspecified 'financial gap between resources and costs'.
Even if unions accept, there are serious doubts that the no compulsory redundancies part of the deal will prove binding. 'The so-called guarantees in return for a freeze on contractual increments appear to be very limited and will be left to local agreement,' said Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association council. 'We are extremely concerned that it seems hitting staff pay still further is the only offer on the table.'
Nurses' leaders are also uneasy at the prospect of forced layoffs. 'Nurses are dealing with the effects of increased demand for health services at a time when 27,000 posts have already been identified as at risk,' said Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, which represents 400,000 nurses.
'Nursing is the backbone of the NHS and government and employers need to be aware of the importance of morale. This winter is likely to be a major test for the NHS and the government.'
The only NHS workers to receive a rise, of £250 a year, will be those earning less than £21,000.
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