GMB Union has responded to yesterday’s consultation on a separate NHS pay spine for nursing

Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said:

“The NHS is built on cooperation from its hard-working staff. These proposals would completely undermine this cooperation.

“Agenda for Change was hard fought for by GMB and other health unions.

“There must be no going back to the days of discriminatory pay awards that were inefficient at best and unlawful at worst.

“The national agreement must be protected and improved – not fragmented. 

“Fourteen long years of underfunding and failed outsourcing have undermined the NHS and its workforce.

“Reversing this damage must be Ministers’ focus, not pitting the workforce against each other and using our NHS as a political football.”