Workers at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board to take industrial action over wrong pay banding costing them thousands.
Health visitors working in South Wales are to strike for four weeks after their NHS employer refused to pay them the correct salary based on their qualifications which is costing them between £8000 to £9000 per year.
Health visitors who do vital community outreach work for new mothers and families, are furious that they are only being paid as band six workers. This is despite internal job grading now matching them as a band seven acknowledging a masters qualification. 
The CTM University Health Board has refused to acknowledge their own job descriptions and pay health visitors accordingly. This deliberate act of downgrading is costing health visitors between £8000-9000 per year dependent on where workers are on their pay scale. 
Health visitors will now take strike action from 23 February to 20 March.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "This is an outrageous ploy from a health board to try and avoid paying its essential staff the money they are worth.
 
“This is a significant pay difference that has left our members undervalued and underpaid. They have been left with little choice but to take strike action and will have the full support of Unite in this dispute."
The current dispute is also heavily linked to the previous dispute with the CTM Health Board where staff had to take historic industrial action over unsustainable workloads.
Following changes made by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) to the standards for post registration programmes in 2022, and updates to health visitor Agenda for Change (AfC) national profiles in 2025, Unite is campaigning for all Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) members to review their AfC banding and ensure they are being paid correctly.
Unite regional officer Paul Seppman added: "This is not a position our members want to be in but are now left with no choice when they are being underpaid thousands of pounds a year. Cwm Taf Morgannwg has acted shamefully towards a group of female staff, who have now stood up against this appalling behaviour.
"This campaign will not stop at CTMUHB with this quickly becoming a national issue. Unite are taking this issue across all health boards in Wales and urging staff to join Unite the union and become part of the campaign to be paid what members rightfully deserve."