Radiographers voted for strike action yesterday in an increasingly bitter row with the government over health workers’ pay.

The ballot — the first of its kind for over 30 years — revealed radiographers’ anger about pay, the Society of Radiographers (SoR) said.

SoR members, mainly based in hospitals across Britain, backed walkouts by 53 per cent, and other forms of industrial action by 78 per cent.

Unison, Unite, the GMB and the Royal College of Midwives, have already supported action and will strike on October 13.

The unions are protesting against a controversial government decision not to accept a recommended 1 per cent pay rise for all NHS staff.

SoR chief executive Richard Evans said health workers had suffered a pay freeze for four out of the past five years.

“Working people in the NHS have had to accept decreasing standards of living for long enough,” said Mr Evans.

“Pay has been eroded by inflation and the government year after year has refused even the smallest of increases.

“In real terms, radiographers and many millions of others who work in the NHS have taken a pay cut and there is no increase planned for next year either.”

The society’s council will meet next week to decide its next move as the government now faces days of strikes by different groups of public-sector workers involved in separate disputes over pay, jobs and cuts.