The gov is fond of saying negotiations are down to to the people or company that run things but it's increasingly obvious that they interfere.Are NHS staff worth less?
My personal view on nurses is that they should look at tapered pay rises based on current salaries. There is a huge range up to £100k. This sort of thing comes about due to flat increases all of the time. Not that uncommon actually. LOL I had the rare experience of that being fixed when young. Suddenly my pay doubled, Why - simple they were not getting enough young people like me to seek employment in the area I worked in, Still not much though and long term effects of ever increasing introduction of pay scales was reduced salaries compared with how it used to work where some got more than others. That way has it's problems too.
The other state problem in some areas especially in the NHS is that they can not bid for workers. The pay rates are fixed. Maybe the gov should privatise itself as that is how things work there. They think this is a wonderful idea - when it suites them.
Don't forget one other aim is a low wage economy.