It’s a negotiation tactic, start high settle lower but hopefully higher than they would have offered without the original crazy demands. I think most would settle and be more than happy with around 3 percent. I think they are worth more though and yes I understand that others are not getting anything but those are the breaks and it should never be a race to the bottom.The 12.5% is a crazy number!! There is no way they could afford that without increasing income tax by a large amount!! Seems the people asking for these things don’t seem to take into account where the money us coming from!! Unrealistic completely! Not sure I’d agree about nurses being well paid. Some are but most aren’t IMO.
We need to decide what’s important to us going forwards. A fully funded nhs that rewards staff for dedication and hard work in quite terrible circumstances, or a nation of begrudging dislike of people just like you who happen to have been offered an insultingly low pay uplift because you have not been offered the same as you chose to work in a different sector. We should stand up for the nhs not run it and those who work there into the ground.