WORKERS expect better, Labour has been warned by the country’s biggest trade union as anger mounts over cruel welfare cuts and public-sector pay.

Protests met Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s address to Unison health conference in Liverpool yesterday, following a sharp rebuke to the government from its general secretary Christina McAnea on Tuesday.

Ms McAnea had thanked the government for taking steps to improve workers’ conditions through the upcoming Employment Rights Bill.

But she said that some of Labour’s decisions, such as stopping winter fuel payments and inflicting “heartless” cuts to welfare, had left her “baffled and speechless.”

“These cuts will place yet more strain on an NHS already creaking at the seams,” she warned.

“They’re counter-productive, will cost more in the long run and are morally wrong. 

“The best way to turn the NHS around is by focusing on the workforce.

“There’s simply no route to fixing the NHS that doesn’t first involve sorting health workers’ pay,” which declined in real terms for over a decade under the Tories.

She called Labour’s 2.8 per cent pay rise for workers “ludicrous,” adding that it “won’t encourage experienced staff to stay in the NHS, nor will it be enough to persuade new recruits to join.”

Ms McAnea noted that this year’s pay award is already a week overdue.

“Unison will soon be asking NHS workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland how far they’d be prepared to go over this year’s pay rise, when it finally comes,” she said.

She added that ministers could take a leaf out of Scotland’s book, where an above-inflation, two-year pay offer has been put to health unions.

Some delegates took part in a silent protest as Health Secretary Wes Streeting addressed the conference yesterday.

Unison activist Karen Buckley wrote on social media that there were “lots of A4 posters saying ‘NHS not for Sale,’ and a big banner saying ‘Vote Labour to Sell Our NHS’ prominently displayed.”

“Many conference delegates are upset at him giving billions in public money to private healthcare companies rather than core NHS services that desperately need it,” the post said.

In his speech, Mr Streeting vowed to “get the service back on its feet” and “reform the service for the long term so that it’s fit for the future.”

The Health Secretary previously said the government planned to increase use of the private sector to tackle waiting lists.

Labour’s 10-year plan for the NHS is set to be delivered this spring.

On the subject of potentially charging patients for NHS care, Mr Streeting said: “The failure of public services to meet the needs of the people is one of the fertilisers of populism we see across liberal democracies.

“We will always defend the NHS as a public service, free at the point of use, so that when you fall ill, you never have to worry about the bill.”

Acknowledging the need to retain health staff, Mr Streeting said there will be a new digital job-evaluation system to ensure that workers are paid the correct rates for the jobs they do.

Unison head of health Helga Pile said: “Commitments and funding to ensure employers properly assess jobs and staff are on the correct grade should improve industrial relations across the health service. 

“But this won’t happen overnight. Until it does, health workers may have to keep resorting to strike action at their trusts to win the wages and salary grade their jobs deserve.” 

Mr Streeting also announced that Labour will be “introducing the first universal career structure for adult social care, setting out four new job roles to give care workers the opportunities to progress,” with millions invested in training.

But Ms McAnea warned: “For too long, the social care system has operated without the shared standards or funding to allow proper investment in skills and qualifications.

“That’s left many working in care frustrated that their NHS colleagues don’t always recognise their expertise.

“But these new opportunities still rely on a fragmented, profit-driven sector. 

“For reforms to make the biggest difference, workers need a fair pay agreement and better still, the national care service that’s been promised.”