People across Northamptonshire have been joining a mass slow handclap against the government’s miserly 3% pay rise for NHS staff, in a campaign backed by the country’s biggest trade union.
Northamptonshire Needs to Work, a community-led campaign group, have recorded a series of ‘slow clap for carers’ videos to communicate their disappointment at the low pay carers receive. It also aims to highlight the low pay of care staff and the resulting problems in recruitment.
The posting of the videos coincides with the two-year anniversary of ‘clap for carers’ which started at the end of March 2020, when weekly applause for NHS staff, carers and key workers ran across the UK for ten weeks during the first national lockdown.
Local residents across Northamptonshire are doing a 'slow clap for carers' to communicate their disappointment at the low pay carers receive #PayFair4CareNorthants pic.twitter.com/nDZDGr0fMg
— Northamptonshire Needs to Work (@NorthantsN2W) March 24, 2022
UNISON East Midlands regional organiser Cathy Symes says: “Low pay and poor working conditions have resulted in services being unable to recruit or retain the staff they need. In 2020, we stood on our doorsteps to show our gratitude to carers and now they need our support.
“Care services across Northamptonshire are in crisis. Over the winter, services across the county were forced to declare a critical incident due to staffing shortages. We cannot be in the same position next winter.”
UNISON East Midlands is seeking to build a coalition of people working in the care sector and those using carers to call on the NHS, Local Government, and private providers across Northamptonshire, to work together to create a new deal for care in the county.
You can see the ‘slow clap for carers’ videos and submit your own by searching NorthantsN2W on Facebook and Twitter.
Notes to editors:
– Videos are available on request
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
Media contact:
Chris Birks M: 07870 407670 E: c.birks@unison.co.uk