The idea that only NHS workers have sacrificed during this is utter farcical. People have gave away a year of their lives and lost much more. Many if not all of those would snap your hand off to be 1% better off.
Pure greed saying any rise isn't enough.
It's your job, you choose it, do it.
Firstly, I don't think the NHS think they are the only ones to have sacrificed during the pandemic, but I would say they've been one of the hardest pushed.
They do choose to do it, that's the point. Thanks to them people survived COVID and went home to their loved ones, many didn't as well and the NHS were the ones trying and failing to get them home too, due to being under staffed and under funded. Even more so with a large percentage of those staff having to shield as well.
Nurses go through 3 years of university, not being paid to do so but expected to undergo placement on hospital wards, working full 13 hour shifts for the pleasure and then end up on a pretty poor wage once qualified.
To say they don't deserve a pay rise because others have suffered due to furlough, made redundant etc is an absolute joke. So because people are now unemployed we all should work for free, because to expect a wage is, well, greed! Jesus, £3.50 a week, £14 a month is the biggest insult, they've chosen to give the NHS the lowest possible number available!
As for it being there job, thank the Lord some people do choose to do it but I'll hand that one back to you because in your very own words, those who lost work due to it, you chose that career, so get on with it. Why not choose a career that is sustainable if you're going to get upset about losing your job when others are still working? Bars, restaurants and shops close all the time as well as warehouses and factories.
FWIW, no I don't work for the NHS but my wife does and I went through redundancy last year too. A full time nurse comes out with around £1500 month, is that a great wage as some have pointed out on here? Because personally I think it's ****.