The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) council “reluctantly” voted this Saturday to accept the government’s revised pay offer for nurses in England.
The move came a day after thousands of NHS workers, members of the union ‘Unison’, voted to do the same.
Earlier this year nurses were disappointed when the government failed to give nurses working in England a 2.5% wage rise.
But a month later government ministers changed their offer to include a £400 bonus for the lowest paid NHS workers and help towards paying registration fees.
Dr Peter Carter, General Secretary of the RCN says that nurses in England have voted to accept the new deal “with a very heavy heart.”
He adds: “The revised offer is imperfect but it is improved.
“It was only after months of campaigning by the RCN that the government, which had refused to budge revised its original offer.
“The government should learn the lessons from this year’s pay negotiations – it should not underestimate the long-term implications of this year’s pay round on the morale of the nursing workforce and it should remember that it is much harder to attract first class nurses to the health service by offering them second rate pay.”
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