Pay squeeze threat to public services
MINISTERS are set on a collision course with public sector workers as they attempt to hold down public spending and force low-paid staff to carry the can.
All the hollow boasts of multi-billion pound hand-outs to the NHS and education in Gordon Brown’s July spending review are now being revealed as nothing more than hot air. When it comes to the vital question of raising pay levels sufficiently to recruit and retain the front-line staff vital for quality services, ministers offer nothing more than the Tories.
But without urgent action to draw young people into teaching, nursing and other health professions, Tony Blair’s pledges to cut class sizes, improve education and reduce hospital waiting lists will be no more than a sick joke.
Despite dwindling numbers applying for teacher training courses, teaching unions are being told that the only increase they can expect is a miserable deal based on "performance related pay", which will leave most teachers struggling to keep pace with inflation. The shortage of nurses is if anything more serious, with thousands of unfilled training places, and thousands more vacant posts in hospitals throughout the country. A recent snap-shot survey by the Evening Standard showed that London’s hospitals alone are under-staffed by almost 5,000 nurses, with Trusts admitting that over 300 beds were closed for lack of staff.
This is almost certainty an under-estimate: there are similar desperate shortages of other NHS professionals, with salaries starting at a pitiful £12,500 after three years training — less than a shelf-stacker in Tesco! The growing anger in the NHS was shown by the recent lunchtime protest at Kingston hospital, where over 100 nurses came out to show their anger at staff shortages. Union leaders may not want to challenge the government, but a fight has to be waged to prevent low pay and rock-bottom morale driving away the staff we need for health and education.