After being excluded from pay negotiations between the health minister and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), ambulance personnel and other health professionals who are members of the British Unison trade union have announced additional strike action on the 8 of March 2023.
According to Unison, up to 32,000 of its members who work for the NHS will go on strike again on March 8 as a “direct result of the government’s failure to hold proper pay talks with health unions.”
Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, stated that employees in five unions within the NHS were on strike over issues related to pay, staffing, and patient care. “Choosing to speak to one union and not others won’t stop the strikes and could make a bad situation much worse,” she continued.
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The RCN suspended its strike on Tuesday, postponing a 48-hour walkout that was intended to intensify labor unrest the following week.
The RCN and the health ministry released a joint statement in which they both stated that they had agreed to meet with ministers to discuss pay and terms and conditions in England and that they would postpone any planned strikes while these discussions took place.
“We just released additional NHS strike dates. We won’t suspend these based solely on the prospect of talks, McAnea wrote on Twitter.
The British Medical Association said it was “very disappointed” that British Health Minister Steve Barclay had not attended a meeting between the union and health department officials on Wednesday. The association’s junior doctor members are scheduled to strike for 72 hours next month.
The department explicitly stated that they are not prepared to enter into negotiations and that there was no offer on the table, according to the statement.
On Wednesday, Downing Street said it would not comment on specifics of the discussions between Barclay and the RCN, but added that ministers wanted a deal that was “fair for all taxpayers.”.
Other unions engaged in NHS strike action, such as Unison but also Unite and the GMB, have been in discussions with Barclay in the past.
More than 10,000 ambulance workers are covered by the GMB, which also intends to carry out the strikes set for March 6 and 20.
Following the announcement of talks on Tuesday, Rachel Harrison, the national secretary of the GMB, alleged that the government was using “divide and rule” strategies.
She called the backroom agreement with certain segments of the workforce “a tawdry example of ministers playing divide and rule politics with people’s lives.”
The GMB and Unison are concerned that the government may be seeking to cut a pay agreement with the RCN at the expense of other NHS employees who are typically covered by the same wage structure.
The government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has argued that pay increases would only lead to increased inflation, mortgage and interest rates, and other costs. The intensive phase of negotiations can only start after the strike is called off, according to a red line established by No. 10.
Thousands of healthcare workers, baggage handlers at airports, border guards, driving instructors, bus drivers, and postal workers have walked off the job in recent months to demand higher pay and be able to cope with skyrocketing inflation and the worsening cost-of-living crisis.
More than 500,000 people have taken strike action so far in February. The walkouts are likely to last for months because there is no sign of public strike fatigue.
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