EXCLUSIVE: Health unions offer to halt NHS strikes if government joins pay talks | strike

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Health unions made a dramatic offer on Saturday night to put a wave of planned strikes on hold that threatens to cripple the NHS over Christmas and the New Year if ministers agreed to open serious discussions about pay.

The moves by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the country’s largest union, Unison, mark the first signs of flexibility by either side in a dispute that has been deadlocked for weeks.

The Observer was told that rather than insist on increases commensurate with or exceeding inflation of 5% for nurses, the unions would seriously consider deals similar to those which had already led to the suspension of strikes in Scotland.

There, the risk of striking was raised widely across the NHS after health service workers were served between 5% and 11% by the government in Holyrood, depending on scores.

In a statement to The Observer, Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, which is set to pull 100,000 of its members on strike Thursday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said she was ready to “off the press” about the strike. If the health secretary, Steve Barclay, agrees to meet to work out an agreement.

Unions say Barkley has had only two meetings with them in the past few weeks, and in both cases he has refused to discuss wages. Instead, they say, he shifted the discussion to other matters of working conditions. RCN said it has not contacted Barclay’s division in a week.

“Negotiate with the nurses and avoid this strike,” Cullen said. My offer to negotiate was rejected five times. She added: “I will press pause when the Health Secretary says he will seriously negotiate our row this year. It means each of us is giving some ground. He is gaining nothing by ignoring NHS workforce representatives. The public is blaming the government for this dire situation and they have to confront it.” A quick change in tactics will pay off for all parties involved.”

Strikes were suspended in Scotland after the government in Holyrood made offers of between 5% and 11% depending on the grade. Unison recommended acceptance of the offer north of the border to its members, while RCN took a neutral stance and also put the new offer of membership on the ballot.

Union general secretary Christina McNea said a Scotland-style offer for NHS workers south of the border “might well” mean the lifting of strike threats. “Instead of scaring the public about the consequences of strikes, the Minister of Health should make real plans to improve wages,” she said.

“Sitting down with health unions and improving wages on offer has led to strikes being suspended across Scotland. If Steve Barclay were to reverse Holyrood and commit to higher wages this year, the threat of pre-Christmas strikes could be gone. But the ball is firmly in the government’s court. Ministers know what they need to do to prevent disruption later this month.”

The two planned NHS-wide halts by nurses are due to follow a series of strikes by ambulance service staff belonging to Unison, Unite and GMB federations on 21 December and members-only GMB on 28 December.

NHS chiefs are particularly worried about the impact of ambulance staff strikes, given patients are already being harmed, and in some cases dying, as a direct result of ambulance response times to 999 calls, which are already the worst on record.

On Monday, the polling results of a strike involving NHS midwives and physiotherapists will be announced as actions among health workers threaten to spread.

In the Guardian on Friday, Colin called Barclay a “bully” over his refusal to negotiate. But it also gave a clear signal that the RCN would abandon its months-long pursuit of a 5% wage increase above inflation if the health secretary dropped his insistence that the government could not get any better in offering a rise of at least £1. 1,400 heads for 2022/23.

If talks about wages happen, “negotiations will inevitably involve some give and take on each side. I won’t dig if they don’t dig. But they need to come to the table with me.” She reiterated her desire to reconsider the union’s wage claim if Barkley entered wage talks.

The government’s offer is worth around 4% to more than a million people – all bar doctors and dentists – whose terms and conditions are set out under a long-standing UK-wide ‘Agenda for Change’ agreement. However, if ministers want to increase that, they will have to find a potentially large amount of extra money to secure a deal as every extra 1% on NHS staff costs around £700m.

Labor has indicated in recent days that it supports a more generous deal for NHS staff and has accused the government of deliberately “spoiling a fight” with the unions by accusing them of “keeping Christmas at ransom”. However, the unions are determined to show that they are not rigid and only fight for higher wages close to inflation, after years of wage pegs.

The Department of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.

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