NHS Lanarkshire staff could accept new pay offer as union suspends strike action

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scotland’s largest health union has suspended its strike ballot, and will now ask NHS Lanarkshire staff if it should accept the offer of a £2000 rise to workers’ wages.Unison will ask its 50,000 members across the country if they are willing to accept the Scottish Government’s £2205 flat pay offer, one which Health Secretary Humza Yousaf last week heralded as the largest in Scotland since devolution.Wilma Brown, chairwoman of the union’s health committee, said: “This is a final pay offer from the Scottish Government, it is also significantly different from the previous offers, so we think it is right that NHS members decide whether they are willing to accept it.”The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android The pay offer is for those on the Agenda for Change pay scale, which includes nurses, midwives, and support staff like porters and admin workers.The proposals will see those on the lowest paid band take home an extra 11 per cent each month, while those on the highest band will see their salaries rise by two per cent.Ms Brown said staff in the health service were “working through two crises, an NHS crisis and a cost-of-living crisis”.“This offer will go some way to helping them with the latter but we have a huge amount of work to do to get our NHS to be world class again, irrespective of the outcome of this