UK
RCN says ‘army’ of 25,000 members are training to become activists to fight ‘pitiful’
1 per cent pay rise for NHS staff
UP TO 25,000 nurses are training to become activists so they can force Boris Johnson to improve on his “pitiful” 1 per cent NHS p rise offer
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) hopes the move will help it achieve a turnout of 50 per cent in the strike ballot it has pledged to call if the Prime Minister continues to resist calls for a real-terms increase in England.
As part of its “don’t get angry, get organised” campaign, the union has enlisted the help of Jane McAlevey, a senior policy fellow at the University of California, who has been training nurses in the United States to unionise and win better pay and conditions for 25 years.
Ms McAlevey’s six-week course, the first of which started last week, will help nurses channel the “anger and frustration” they feel at the 1 per cent offer into creating an “army of activists,” the RCN said.
RCN council chairman Dave Dawes says the initiative will help rouse its 475,000-strong membership to back a strike ballot alongside undertaking local campaigns to win public support.
The NHS pay review body is due to report its recommendations on any rise for England later this month; health unions decide this week whether to accept the Scottish government’s offer of a 4 per cent rise for all health workers north of the border.
The RCN wants a restorative 12.5 per cent pay rise for all nurses after a decade of Tory cuts, while Unite and GMB have backed calls from grassroots groups such as NHS Workers Say No for a 15 per cent increase.
Mr Dawes said: “If we are going to be balloting for industrial action later this year, which looks increasingly likely, this training will make a huge difference in what the turnout of the ballot will be.
“No nurse wants to take industrial action. But if you’re going to do it, and successfully, you need to have the majority of the workforce on your side and you need to have the majority of the public understanding what this is about.”
Ms McAlevey said her course will identify and nurture non-unionised nurses who are natural or organic leaders and demonstrate an ability to move their colleagues through persuasion and action.
UP TO 25,000 nurses are training to become activists so they can force Boris Johnson to improve on his “pitiful” 1 per cent NHS p rise offer
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) hopes the move will help it achieve a turnout of 50 per cent in the strike ballot it has pledged to call if the Prime Minister continues to resist calls for a real-terms increase in England.
As part of its “don’t get angry, get organised” campaign, the union has enlisted the help of Jane McAlevey, a senior policy fellow at the University of California, who has been training nurses in the United States to unionise and win better pay and conditions for 25 years.
Ms McAlevey’s six-week course, the first of which started last week, will help nurses channel the “anger and frustration” they feel at the 1 per cent offer into creating an “army of activists,” the RCN said.
RCN council chairman Dave Dawes says the initiative will help rouse its 475,000-strong membership to back a strike ballot alongside undertaking local campaigns to win public support.
The NHS pay review body is due to report its recommendations on any rise for England later this month; health unions decide this week whether to accept the Scottish government’s offer of a 4 per cent rise for all health workers north of the border.
The RCN wants a restorative 12.5 per cent pay rise for all nurses after a decade of Tory cuts, while Unite and GMB have backed calls from grassroots groups such as NHS Workers Say No for a 15 per cent increase.
Mr Dawes said: “If we are going to be balloting for industrial action later this year, which looks increasingly likely, this training will make a huge difference in what the turnout of the ballot will be.
“No nurse wants to take industrial action. But if you’re going to do it, and successfully, you need to have the majority of the workforce on your side and you need to have the majority of the public understanding what this is about.”
Ms McAlevey said her course will identify and nurture non-unionised nurses who are natural or organic leaders and demonstrate an ability to move their colleagues through persuasion and action.
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