NHS strike: I'm angry over my low public sector wage
- Published
For the first time in 30 years, thousands of NHS workers have staged a strike over pay.
They took place in England and Northern Ireland, where experts say all NHS staff should get a 1% salary increase.
However, the government argues it would cost thousands of nursing jobs because there isn't the money to give them.
Nick Turnbull, 27, is a nursing coordinator and took part in the strike and he's given Newsbeat a breakdown of his outgoings on a notepad.
He said: "The average salary for somebody on my band after a couple of years service is about £24,000.
"That includes a 20% top-up bonus of London weighting, because obviously it's more expensive to live in the glorious capital."
Staff in England have been offered a 1% rise, but only for those whose wages don't go up automatically, which makes up around half.
And the main unions, including Nick's, aren't happy with that.
"We want the best for patients and the best way to get the best for patients is to make workers feel valued," he told Newsbeat.
"I pay about £550 a month in rent, about £170 a month in council tax, about £57 to the water board every now and then. Altogether about £1,400 a month?"
Nick reckons after tax, he takes home around £1,550, which leaves him with just £150 a month to do what he likes with.
The average UK wage is just over £26,000, and while Nick acknowledges there are development pay rises within the NHS (which work out at 3% a year), he argues the base rate hasn't gone up.
"The pay review body recommended a 1% pay increase, on the main amount of pay, and that hasn't been put forward" he said.
"Whereas the MPs' pay review body recommended an increase of 11%, which was put through."
Despite these proposals from the pay review board, the government says if it was to put them in place, thousands of nurses would have to be laid off to pay for it.
Louise from Norfolk contacted Newsbeat after she missed her appointment with a midwife there.
She said: "I'm 36 weeks pregnant with my first baby and I don't agree with the strikes. I've not had a pay rise for years and have an absolutely rubbish pension."
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