Originally Posted by
JFKvsNixon
Prior to the pandemic, the only time in my career that a strike was called, I refused to join it and only really saw my union membership as a form of legal insurance. Now things have changed. In the last 18 months, countless healthcare professionals have stepped up and many have paid a huge price. Now it's only fair that a decade of austerity, where once again the health care professionals were expected to make their sacrifice, was reversed and financial recognition given.
As a nurse of 40 plus years and 29 of those years working in ICU, be careful what you wish for. Have any pay rise you want, but there will be consequences in that as any rise will have to be funded and if you destroy Agenda for Change many many people will lose out as happened when AfC was started and clinical grading before that. Management saw AfC as a way to redefine jobs and grading and things such as unsocial hours plus the hoops to jump through for promotion or just an increment point will be harder to attain. Then add in changes to unsocial hours pay, management has for years wanted to get rid of unsocial hours and replace it with an across the board one off payment. When I was working in the NHS my unsocial hours pay allowed me to pay a large slice of my mortgage each month as single householder. Sick pay. will be another target.
A pay rise means you will pay more tax and NI and possibly move up a tax band, increased parking fees etc.