UK NHS Pay

It’s relatively common knowledge that the NHS unions believe that pay in the NHS is not where it should be but ….

Isn’t it important to recognise that when negotiating you have to first establish a baseline of the whole situation and not allow yourself to be cherry picked on just one element of the whole package?

Anyone doing a meaningful and legal full time job should not have to rely on state handouts, the reason that NHS workers do have to reply on handouts is not because their package is bad it’s simply because their take home income is poor and if their overall package was aligned to the private sector they would lose substantial pension benefits (and other less visible benefits) but gain a much better take home pay – just like the rest of us.

Could it be the Government doesn’t want to do this simply because they themselves receive the same package of benefits and by highlighting this in NHS pay they shine the light on themselves and risk killing the goose that lays the golden egg?