RCN launches Summer of Protest over public sector pay cap

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is seeking to ramp up pressure on the government to abolish its cap on public sector pay rises with a summer of activism.

A new campaign called the Summer of Protest has been launched by the organisation, with nurses and healthcare assistants joining protests in 30 locations across the UK to coincide with June's payday for NHS staff.

It follows a recent poll showing that 91 percent of RCN members would support industrial action over the controversial pay cap, which limits annual pay rises for public sector workers to one percent, regardless of inflation or other factors.

This week, an amendment to the Queen's Speech was tabled by the Labour Party that would have abolished the cap, but ministers sympathetic to the government voted against it.

The RCN described this as a "bitter disappointment", saying the pay cap is preventing 40,000 vacant nursing posts in England from being filled.

Janet Davies, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, said: "When NHS and care services are short of staff, patients pay a heavy price. Nursing staff are taking an unprecedented stand and saying 'enough is enough'. They know the risks of cut-price health care and will not tolerate it."

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