Nurses and ambulance workers will strike again next month as unions and the UK government refuse to back down in a row over pay.
(Bloomberg) — Nurses and ambulance workers will strike again next month as unions and the UK government refuse to back down in a row over pay.
The move threatens a chaotic start to the year for Britain’s National Health Service.
Still, there was one reprieve for patients as the GMB union called off next week’s ambulance strike as a gesture of goodwill to the public.
Nonetheless, the GMB also said Friday that its members would strike on Jan.
11 alongside the Unison labor group which is staging industrial action on that date and Jan. 23.
“While union members will not be going ahead with strikes over Christmas, we are disappointed they have announced further co-ordinated strikes in January to cause maximum disruption at a time when the NHS is already under extreme pressure,” said Health Secretary Steve Barclay.
The Royal College of Nursing said that members will strike on Jan.
18 and 19, following two days of historic industrial action in December. It’s the first time strikes have taken place on such a wide scale since the union was founded over a century ago.
“The government had the opportunity to end this dispute before Christmas but instead they have chosen to push nursing staff out into the cold again in January,” said Pat Cullen, the RCN’s general secretary.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted again Friday that the government would not increase pay by more than the level recommended by its pay review body.
Unison said next month’s strikes will involve more ambulance employees, not just the emergency response crews who walked out on Wednesday.
The action will also last longer than the 12-hour strike earlier this week, with each set to stretch for a full day across large parts of the UK, including London.
Ministers have consistently said they won’t discuss a higher pay raise for NHS staff than an independent panel’s recommendation earlier in the year, which averages at just under 5% for nurses.
Inflation has risen above 10% in recent months, which the government said will be taken into account by the 2023 pay review.
“Speeding up next year’s pay-review-body process won’t solve the current dispute, which is about the pitiful amount the government gave health workers this year,” Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said.
Health unions have said they’re willing to call off strikes if negotiations take place.
Their leaders argue that pay review bodies are not fully independent because they operate within parameters set by the government.
–With assistance from Ellen Milligan.
(Adds quotation from Steve Barclay.)
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