More than one million NHS employees in England will receive a 5% pay increase after health unions supported the agreement.
Staff, including paramedics, nurses, physiotherapists, and attendants, will also receive a one-time payment of at least $1,655.
At a meeting between the government and 14 health unions representing all NHS staff besides physicians and dentists, a pay agreement was reached.
Ministers stated that it was time to end the strikes, but three unions continue to threaten further action.
Only Unite has a strike mandate for local strikes in a few hospitals and ambulance services.
Sara Gorton, head of health at Unison and chair of the joint NHS union group, stated, “NHS employees will now demand the pay increase they voted to approve.
“It is anticipated that the one-time payment and salary increase will be included in June paychecks.”
Since December, nurses, physiotherapists, and ambulance workers have gone on strike.
Proper pay negotiations last autumn could have prevented health employees from losing money they could not afford to lose.
“The NHS and patients would have also been spared months of disruption.”
The Secretary of State for Health, Steve Barclay, was pleased that the unions had approved the March proposal.
“Where some unions may choose to remain in dispute, we hope their members – a majority of whom voted to accept this offer – will recognize this as a fair resolution supported by their coworkers and conclude it is time to end the industrial action.
“We will continue to engage constructively with unions on workforce changes to ensure that the NHS is the best place to work for staff, patients, and taxpayers.”
“Nothing or nothing”
Even though some of the unions rejected the offer, it was accepted after a majority of unions supported it, including Unison, the GMB, and those representing physiotherapists and midwives.
All employees will now receive the additional pay.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) rejected the offer and threatened to continue striking.
However, it must conduct another vote of its members as its six-month mandate expired after its latest protest on Monday.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, stated that the union would begin balloting in the coming weeks.
In a letter to Mr. Barclay, she stated that while she “entirely respected” the other unions that voted to accept, she would continue to fight for her members who rejected the agreement despite the RCN leadership’s recommendation.
“Nurses comprise the largest portion of the NHS workforce, and they require compensation commensurate with their true worth,” she added.
In contrast to the previous election, the RCN is conducting a national vote rather than a series of workplace-specific ones.
In a last-ditch effort to convince ministers to return to the negotiating table, this will make it more difficult to obtain a strike mandate, termed an “all-or-nothing” approach.
The health secretary and the British Medical Association will discuss the junior doctors’ salary dispute on Tuesday.
They have a different contract, so the agreement reached with the other NHS personnel does not affect them.
To make up for 15 years of below-inflation wage increases, the BMA desires a 35% rise.
Junior physicians have staged two strikes to date. Mr. Barclay characterized the compensation demand as prohibitive.
