RCN Admits No Hope of Improvement on Three-Year Deal

In a statement released this week, Josie Irwin, the chief Royal College of Nursing negotiator admitted that the so-called re-opener clause was almost useless.

She said:'We are in recession and are expecting strong evidence from the employers and government saying that salaries in the NHS look healthy compared with those of workers in other sectors.

'The economic situation makes the process more challenging and we have to be realistic.'

This is not what NHS staff were told by the RCN or Unison when they urged staff to accept the three-year deal. In their 'Pay Matters' newsletter from 14th April 2008, Unison attacked Unite for claiming that the re-opener clause was weak.

Even though inflation has dropped, it is still 2% above our pay settlement for last year.