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Bankers paychecks grow three times as fast as nurses’ since 2008, says union

Bankers paychecks grow three times as fast as nurses’ since 2008, says union

The pay of bankers’ has risen three times as fast as nurses’ wages and other NHS frontline staff since the 2008 financial crash, according to analysis by the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The TUC, which represents trade unions, analysed private and public sector pay over the last 15 years to find that the financial sector pay has grown at 3.2 times the rate at which the pay of nurses has grown.

Analysis shows that since 2008 the average pay of those working in insurance and financial services has grown 6% in nominal terms, while that of nurses has grown less than 2%.

On average, nurses now earn £32,934 a year according to the TUC’s research, up from £26,123 in 2008. This growth is far less than those working in the financial sector, with average pay of £80,390 for those employed in finance and insurance sectors, a near-doubling of their average 2008 pay of £43,901.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: ‘At a time when ministers are telling dedicated public servants they can’t have a pay rise, they’re letting city executives take home ever bigger sums.

‘It’s not right. We can’t live in a country where nurses are having to use food banks to get by, while bankers are allowed to help themselves to unlimited bumper bonuses. This all boils down to political choices. Ministers could be taxing wealth and giving all of our public sector workers a decent pay rise.

‘But instead, they are choosing to inflict more pay misery on our nurses, paramedics and midwives. Let’s be clear. Without decent pay rises, many more of our dedicated key workers in the public sector will vote with their feet and leave their professions for good.’

Nurses, according to the analysis, have lost £42,000 in real earnings as a result of nurses’ wages not keeping up with inflation since 2008. Midwives, have also been hit hard by inflation, loosing £56,000 in real earnings since 2008 according to the TUC.

This comes as bankers’ bonuses hit record levels, in a separate TUC analysis it was revealed that average bonus for the finance and insurance sector have hit £20,000; over half the average annual salary for a nurse.

Mr Nowak continued to say that NHS workers had been ‘pushed to breaking point’ and had now been ‘forced’ to take industrial action in order to protect their earnings.

 

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