Nurses in Northern Ireland have been offered a derisory 1% pay by the Tory government in Westminster. This is an insult to our front line staff.
In Scotland, the nurses will be offered 4% and the Stormont regime, dominated by the DUP and Sinn Fein, have yet to make an offer. But even the 4% is not enough.
In the South, public sector workers have been offered a 1% pay rise from October 2021 or a €500 increase, whichever is the greatest. They still have to work extra hours for free that were introduced after the Celtic Tiger crash. Nurses, for example now work a 39houyr week whereas previously they had a 37.5 hour week.
All of this shows that there is much talk about ‘appreciating’ essential workers – but it is all talk.
