Care workers across England are set to strike for two more days in a row in January after the government failed to announce the resumption of wage negotiations.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said nurses would refuse to work at 55 different NHS trusts on January 18 and 19 – 11 more than the 44 trusts in England, where nurses held their first strikes on December 15 and 20. As a result, tens of thousands of appointments and operations were cancelled.
RCN members will no longer strike in January in Wales and Northern Ireland despite union action this month. The college has stated that its obligation to members is that anyone who works where strikes have been called has the opportunity to strike if the dispute continues.
RCN said it had no choice but to revitalize union action after 10 days of no contact between the company and Health Secretary Steve Barclay.
RCN general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said: “The government had the opportunity to end this dispute before Christmas, but instead decided again in January to leave the medical staff in the cold. I don’t want to drag this argument out, but the prime minister has left us no choice.
“The voice of nurses is not ignored. Lack of staff and low wages make patient care unsafe. The sooner the ministers sit down at the negotiating table, the sooner this can be resolved. I won’t dig if they don’t dig.”
Rishi Sunak said he was “sad” and “disappointed” by the massive strikes, but stressed that abandoning public sector wage negotiations would be “the right thing to do” in the long run.
The RCN is calling for a 5% pay rise over retail inflation – currently at 14% – with pay increases often left out. NHS staff in England and Wales, including nurses, have already received a £1,400 pay raise, equating to an average pay increase of around 4.5% – up to 9.3% for the lowest paid. In Northern Ireland, NHS staff will receive a similar increase, retroactive to April.
On 15 and 20 December, two days of strikes took place in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with more than 21,000 care workers taking part.
On Thursday, paramedics represented by Unison announced a new strike across England, with members due to leave on 11 and 23 January. The strike will affect London, Yorkshire, the North West, the North East and the South West and will involve all ambulance workers, not just 999 ambulance crews, as was the case on Wednesday.
Unison said the new strikes were the result of the government’s “repeated refusal” to negotiate this year’s NHS pay raise. The GMB union has canceled a December 28 emergency strike, and instead members will join the union action on January 11 with colleagues from Unison.
Rachel Harrison, the GMB’s national secretary, said next week’s strike has been put on hold after “surprising” public support for union action this week. “We know that the public will appreciate the opportunity to enjoy Christmas without additional anxiety. They support us and we support them,” she said.
“The workforce crisis in our NHS is so severe and our commitment to making sure EMS workers get decent wages is stronger than ever. Therefore, we are planning a new promotion date on January 11, 2023. The incredible UK crowd is the reason we put our promotion on hold for the Christmas period.
“But it also means the government can now do what the paramedics and the public want: sit down and talk about salary now. We work for you around the clock. Anytime anywhere. For you, Steve Barclay. Everyone is waiting”.
In Scotland this week, RCN members voted overwhelmingly to reject the Scottish government’s revised NHS wage proposal. The strike has been put on hold pending the results of the vote, but RCN Scotland will now announce strike dates at the start of the New Year.
On Friday, the Scottish Health Minister is meeting with union leaders to prevent a health worker strike that will shut down parts of the NHS next month. Humza Yousaf will lead the talks after nurses north of the border overwhelmingly rejected the latest salary offer.
But Nicola Sturgeon told the First Minister on Thursday that the latest deal was “the best and last deal.” “As before, we will do our best to prevent strikes in our National Health Service,” she told MSP.
“Obviously we want to avoid the disruptions that patients will cause across the country, but because we value those who work in our National Health Service and I want to make sure they get the highest possible raise that we can give them. This fiscal year, we have made the most of our opportunities.”
On Wednesday, the RCN announced that 82 per cent of its members in Scotland had rejected its proposed deal and that its staff could go on strike for the first time. Nearly two-thirds of the members of the Royal College of Midwives also opposed the deal.
When the RCN announced it had rejected the offer, Scottish Executive Chairman Julie Lambert said “the ball is in the hands of the Scottish Government if we are to avoid strikes”.
“Make no mistake, we don’t want to go on strike,” she said. “Years of underestimation and underemployment made us feel like we had no choice because there was enough.”
Jackie Lambert, director of RCM in Scotland, said the latest salary offer was “just not good enough”. She said: “This is far from rising the cost of living and in real terms will make things worse for many midwives.”
The British Medical Association (BMA) will send out ballots in England and Scotland next month calling on members to strike as members are expected to vote overwhelmingly in favour. NHS leaders have warned that the health service “can no longer cope” with the ongoing strikes.
This story will be updated…
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.