Health unions made a dramatic bid on Saturday night to call off a wave of planned strikes that threaten to paralyze the NHS over Christmas and the New Year if ministers agree to open serious pay discussions.
The moves by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the country’s biggest union, Unison, are the first signs of flexibility on both sides in a dispute that has been deadlocked for weeks.
The Observer has been told that instead of insisting on rises that match inflation or, for nurses, exceed it by 5%, unions would seriously consider deals similar to those that have already led to the suspension of strikes in Scotland
There, the threat of widespread NHS redundancies has been lifted after the Holyrood government offered health service workers between 5% and 11%, depending on grades.
In a statement to the Observer, Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, which is due to withdraw 100,000 of its striking members from England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Thursday, said she was prepared to “press pause” in industrial action. if the health secretary, Steve Barclay, agreed to meet to approve a deal.
The unions say Barclay has held only two meetings with them in recent weeks and that on both occasions he refused to discuss pay. Instead, they say, it has turned the discussion to other issues about working conditions. The RCN said it has been out of communication with Barclay’s department for a week.
“Negotiate with the nurses and avoid this strike,” Cullen said. “Five times my offer to negotiate has been rejected.” He added: “I will pause when the health secretary says he will seriously negotiate our dispute this year. That means each of us giving ground. Nothing is gained by ignoring NHS workforce representatives. The public is to blame the government of this dire situation and must face up to it. A quick change in tactics will pay off for all concerned.”
Strikes in Scotland have been called off after Unison recommended acceptance of the offer north of the border to its members, while the RCN has taken a neutral stance and also put the new offer to members in a vote .
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said a Scottish-style offer to NHS workers south of the border “could mean strike threats are lifted”. “Instead of scaring the public about the consequences of strikes, the health secretary should come forward with genuine plans to improve wages,” he said.
“Sitting down with health unions and improving the pay on offer has put strikes on hold across Scotland. If Steve Barclay were to mirror Holyrood’s approach and pledge to raise wages this year, the threat of strikes ahead of Nadal could stand up. But the ball is firmly in the government’s court. Ministers know what they have to do to avoid disruption later this month.”
The two planned NHS-wide walkouts by nurses are to be followed by a series of strikes by ambulance service staff belonging to the Unison, Unite and GMB unions on December 21 and by GMB members only on December 28.
NHS chiefs are privately alarmed at the impact of ambulance staff walks, given that patients are already being harmed, and in some cases dying, as a direct result of ambulance response times in 999 calls, which are already the worst on record.
The results of ballots for strike action involving NHS midwives and physiotherapists will be made public on Monday, as action among health workers threatens to spread.
In Friday’s Guardian, Cullen described Barclay as a “bullyboy” for his refusal to negotiate. But he also made it clear that the RCN would drop its months-long pursuit of a 5% above-inflation pay rise if the health secretary abandoned his insistence that the government cannot afford to improve its offer an increase of at least £1,400. one head for 2022-23.
If wages were discussed, “negotiations will inevitably involve some freebies from each side. I won’t get into it if they don’t. But they have to come to the table with me,” Cullen said. He reiterated his willingness to review the union’s wage claim if Barclay enters talks.
The government’s offer is worth around 4% to more than 1 million workers, all but doctors and dentists, whose terms and conditions are set out in the long-standing Agenda for Change deal across the UK . However, if ministers were to increase it, they would have to find a potentially significant amount of extra money to secure a deal, as every extra 1% of NHS staff costs around £700 million.
Labor has signaled in recent days that it backs a more generous deal for NHS workers and has accused the government of “smashing a fight” with unions by denouncing them for “having Christmas as a bailout”.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “NHS workers do an amazing job looking after our loved ones and it is disappointing that some are taking industrial action, ahead of a difficult winter. Ministers have held constructive talks with unions , including the RCN and Unison, on how we can make the NHS a better place to work, and have been clear that the door remains open for further conversations.”