The island’s largest nursing union is surveying its members over a revised pay offer from Manx Care for the last two financial years - and a representative for the group has admitted the vote could go ‘either way’.
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members have protested on a number of occasions this year as part of a long-running dispute over pay and safe staffing levels.
Members previously marched outside the Tynwald building, embarked on an island-wide bus tour and held two 12-hour strikes as part of their pre-planned industrial action.
A further two back-to-back strikes were planned for this week but were called-off after Manx Care submitted a revised offer to the union.
The new deal would see pay increased by 8.75% - 2.75% more than the original offer of 6% tabled by Manx Care for the 2022/2023 financial year.
A 4% pay increase put forward by the healthcare provider covering the 2021/2022 financial year remains unchanged.
If accepted, the deal would mean nurses’ pay will have increased by 12.75% over the last two financial years.
Union members are currently submitting their votes on the revised offer with the ballot set to close on October 23.
RCN has said it is hoping to learn the outcome of the vote by Friday (October 27) at the latest.
It was originally reported that RCN were holding out for a 15% pay increase for its members. However in early September the RCN’s regional director for the North West, Estephanie Dunn, said that figure was ‘not specifically what the members are looking for’.
The latest offer from Manx Care comes as a surprise to RCN members.
Previously, the organisation said it did not have the funding available to offer an enhanced deal and that it had ‘exhausted its funding pot’.
Mary Anne-Parkinson, RCN senior regional officer for the Isle of Man, believes that previous industrial action along with the threat of future strikes led to the revised offer from Manx Care.
Despite this, she said the union was still ‘shocked’ to receive the new offer given Manx Care’s previous insistence that there were no funds available to boost pay.
She added: ‘Regarding whether the RCN members will accept or reject the offer, it’s 50/50.
‘Speak to some nurses and they’ll say they’re going to accept it.
‘Speak to others and they’ll say it’s still not enough so we’ll just have to wait and see.
‘I can’t really call it.’