Due to intense workload responding to COVID-19... UK raises healthcare workers' wages by 1%

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] There is strong backlash in the UK following news that the wages of healthcare workers who endured COVID-19 will increase by only 1%.

On the 4th (local time), according to local media, the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced plans to raise the wages of National Health Service (NHS) staff by 1%.

Although the UK government announced the day before that it would spend ?65 billion (approximately 101.6 trillion KRW) on additional COVID-19 support measures, the NHS budget has not increased.

As a result, NHS employees will receive a 1.7% wage increase starting next month, including the 0.7% raise agreed upon in the 2018 wage negotiations.

According to reports, 1.4 million NHS employees and UK healthcare unions strongly opposed this.

Donna Kinnear, General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the nurses' union, said, "(This wage increase plan) is meager and painfully disappointing," adding, "Even nurses who have worked for a long time will receive only an additional ?3.5 (about 5,500 KRW) per week."

General Secretary Kinnear pointed out, "No one would think this wage increase plan is fair amid the COVID-19 pandemic," and warned, "It will not prevent the nurses' 'exodus.'"

Sarah Gorton of Unison, the UK's largest union, criticized, "A 1% wage increase is the worst insult the government can give to healthcare workers who have devoted everything over the past year," adding, "The government should be ashamed and bow its head."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.