The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is to set up a £35 million industrial action fund in response to the government's recommendation of a 1% pay rise for NHS workers.
RCN chief executive and general secretary Dame Donna Kinnair condemned health minster Nadine Dorries' claim that 1% was "the most" the government could afford, calling it "pitiful and bitterly disappointing".
The nursing union has now said it has set up a fund that can be used to provide compensation for loss of earnings and campaigning should members resort to strike action.
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And Unite, which also represents tens of thousands of health service staff, has warned it too is considering industrial action amid growing anger at the pay proposals they branded an "insult" and "hypocrisy in its greatest form".
Many healthcare workers said the proposal would see them take home around £3.50 extra per week.
Ameera Sheikh, an intensive care nurse and Unite union representative, said increasing costs of living had left people struggling on stagnant wages and that the support the government had shown earlier in the pandemic now felt "fake".
"We have treated people from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds to quite literally the leader of the country," she said.
"We have sacrificed so much since the start of the pandemic, and that includes moving out of our family homes to live close to the hospital and protect our families and live in complete isolation, which is something that I've actually had to do.
"We are facing an increasingly dangerous workload in the intensive care unit, and a lot of staff being redeployed to ICU without basic intensive care training.
"Also, the lack of PPE and having to reuse PPE or wear expired PPE and risking our lives."
The RCN Council said it had quickly set up its strike fund in order to have the finances available to its members should they wish to take action.
"In setting up this fund, the RCN will create the UK's largest union strike fund overnight."
And Ms Kinnair warned the government to expect a "backlash" from a million NHS employees over its announcement on pay.
She added: "The government is dangerously out of touch with nursing staff, NHS workers and the public.
"It is not a done deal but the government has revealed its hand for the first time.
"With the time remaining before the Pay Review Body recommendation, the government can expect a backlash from a million NHS workers."
The RCN had been campaigning for a 12% pay rise but on Friday Ms Dorries told Sky News the recommendation was for 1%.
She said: "We did not want nurses to go unrecognised - or doctors - and no other public sector employee is receiving a pay rise, there has been a pay freeze.
"But the 1% offer is the most we think we can afford, which we have put forward to the pay review body."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZmh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L251cnNpbmctdW5pb24tc2V0cy11cC0zNW0tc3RyaWtlLWZ1bmQtYWZ0ZXItbmV3cy1vZi0xLW5ocy1wYXktcmlzZS0xMjIzNjYwN9IBamh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2FtcC9udXJzaW5nLXVuaW9uLXNldHMtdXAtMzVtLXN0cmlrZS1mdW5kLWFmdGVyLW5ld3Mtb2YtMS1uaHMtcGF5LXJpc2UtMTIyMzY2MDc?oc=5
2021-03-05 13:29:02Z
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