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The UK is about to experience a wave of strikes, starting with the nurses unions.
Tens of thousands of nurses across the United Kingdom are set to walk off the job Thursday in what’s been described as the largest-ever strike by National Health Service workers, who said they were forced to act after the government refused to negotiate over pay amid painfully high inflation.
The walkout represents NHS nurses’ first national strike, and it comes as U.K. rail and postal workers are also taking major labor actions in response to falling real pay, meager benefits, and worsening conditions.
…The RCN [Royal College of Nursing] said a strike became inevitable after U.K. ministers declined every offer to start formal pay negotiations. Earlier this week, [Pat] Cullen [general secretary and chief executive of the RCN] met with Tory Health Secretary Steve Barclay in a last-ditch effort to discuss pay before launching the national strike, but he refused to budge.
“I asked several times to discuss pay and each time we returned to the same thing—that there was no extra money on the table, and that they would not be discussing pay with me,” Cullen said. “I needed to come out of this meeting with something serious to show nursing staff why they should not strike this week. Regrettably, they’re not getting an extra penny.”
✓ Jonathan Pie says that all those striking deserve the increases in wages and benefits and job security they are asking for.
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Rishi Sunak warns his cabinet about 'challenging' winter of UK strikes
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Rishi Sunak has warned his cabinet that winter will be “challenging” as widespread industrial action ramps up and as the economic downturn deepens.
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The Prime Minister’s official spokesman today said the “government will do all we can to minimise disruption”, while calling for union bosses to get back to the negotiating table.
Today marks the first day of widespread rail strikes this month, with services set to be severely disrupted throughout much of the Christmas period.
Nurses, airport workers, posties and assorted civil servants will also walk off the job this month as workers fight for pay increases close to the UK’s near 11 per cent inflation rate.
It comes as the UK is expected to fall into an official recession in early 2023, which could last for two years.
“The Prime Minister opened cabinet by saying the country is facing significant industrial action across a range of sectors this winter and that this will be a challenging period to get through,” Sunak’s spokesman said.
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“He added that the government had been fair and reasonable in its approach to agreeing the independent pay review bodies’ recommendations for public sector pay rises and in facilitating further discussions with unions and employers.
“He said while the government will do all we can to minimise disruption, the only way we can stop it completely is by unions going back round the table and calling off these strikes.”
Over 400,000 working days were lost to strikes in October, the highest since November 2011, official figures from the Office for National Statistics out today revealed.
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) chief Mick Lynch today accused Number 10 of “deliberately obstructing” a resolution with rail workers.
RMT members have been offered a pay rise of about 9 per cent over two years, however they are calling for a larger increase and guarantees around job security.
“We’ve seen it with the nurses, we’ve seen it with the paramedics,” he said.
“They are obstructing these deals because they want to keep wages lowered and they want to strip out the terms and conditions for many people”.
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