Up to 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have walked out in a one-day work stoppage, the biggest-ever strike by nurses in the UK, after the government rejected their pay demand as unaffordable.
It’s the first time the RCN has taken action across the whole of the UK in its 106-year history. The move is affecting around a quarter of hospitals and community teams in England, all trusts in Northern Ireland, and all but one health board in Wales. Scotland is currently unaffected, as the local government has reopened pay talks for the National Health Service (NHS).
Health minister Maria Caulfield told Sky News on Dec. 15 that 70,000 appointments, procedures, and surgeries will be lost in England because of the nursing strike.
“That is an inevitable action of strike action and that’s why it’s with regret we see that the RCN are going out on action today,” she said.
The RCN has been calling for a pay rise at 5 percent above inflation, though it has indicated it would accept a lower offer.
But Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the government is sticking to the recommendations of the independent pay review body, which said nurses should get a pay increase of about £1,400 ($1,730).
‘Tragic Day’
“This is a tragic day for nurses, a tragic day for patients.” RCN Chief Executive Pat Cullen told “BBC Breakfast.” “It’s tragic that this government has decided not to speak to us, talk to us, get into a room on the first day of strikes.”She said nurses are asking for the “20 percent that has been eroded” from their pay over the past decade to be put back, but the health secretary had told her she could talk about “anything but pay.”
Downing Street has said a 1 percent pay boost for all NHS staff except doctors, dentists, and very senior managers would cost £700 million ($865 million).
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said that double-digit pay rises across the board for public sector workers would cost £28 billion ($35 billion), which he said “could be inflationary” and would have to come from higher taxation or borrowing.
“The government does not think those sorts of sums are affordable in the current circumstances,” he said.
The health secretary said “there is room” for discussion with the nursing union, but appeared to rule out moving on pay.
“I’ve had a series of meetings with trade unions this week,“ Barclay told broadcasters at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. ”There’s a number of issues where there is common ground where we can work together.
‘Challenging Period’
A second nursing strike is scheduled for Dec. 20, and industrial action is also affecting other parts of the NHS.Ambulance workers will walk out on Dec. 21. Physiotherapists in England and Wales have voted to strike in their first-ever ballot on pay, and industrial action is expected to take place early next year.
Midwives and maternity support workers in Wales who are members of the Royal College of Midwives have also voted to strike over pay.
Industrial action has been causing disruptions in multiple sectors. Rail services have been crippled because of a walkout by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, with more stoppages planned during the holiday season.
Members of the Communication Workers Union at Royal Mail have also held strikes, with more planned before Christmas.
Other workers planning strikes include Border Force officers and staff in government departments.
According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, 417,000 working days were lost to labour disputes in October, which is the highest since November 2011.
The prime minister has warned that the country is facing a “challenging period,” according to Downing Street.
During a Cabinet meeting on Dec. 13, Sunak was quoted as saying that “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.”
He said 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 discussion with unions and employers.”
But while the government will do “all we can to minimise disruption,” he said, the only way to stop it was “by the unions going back round the table and calling off these strikes.”
