Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Kemptown and Peacehaven supports NHS staff over pay cuts

Nancy Platts will be joining NHS staff to protest over pay cuts outside the Royal Sussex County Hospital tomorrow, Monday March 3 at 11am.

The purpose of the protest is to highlight the proposal by Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust to cut the pay of ‘bank’ workers at the Royal Sussex to equalise pay with permanent staff. In fact bank workers and staff are often one and the same – with permanent staff joining the ‘bank’ to work extra shifts to make up their pay.

Nancy said: “It is shocking that our dedicated NHS staff, who work so hard and many of whom are on low wages are facing further cuts to their pay. If this proposal goes through, there is a risk that trained NHS staff will be unable to afford to live on their wages and be forced to look for jobs outside our local NHS. I think this would be a tragic loss to Brighton and exacerbate the current problem of unfilled vacancies.

“If the Trust wants to reduce the number of bank staff it uses and instead fill all their vacancies, then the obvious solution is to increase the wages of permanent staff so they can afford to live and work in our City.”