The nurses’ union could accept a wage increase of about 10% – half of the original request Politics news

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The president of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it could accept a pay rise of around 10% to end its ongoing dispute with the government.

The union initially demanded an increase of up to 19% to cover the high inflation and decline in real wages over the past decade.

But union president Pat Cullen said she was ready to “meet the government halfway”.

Sky News understands that the figure close to 10% is correct.

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RCN members voted to take industrial action in November – the first national strike by the union in its 106-year history.

They said low wages “drive nursing staff out of the profession and endanger patient care”, and called for a double-digit wage increase, along with better working conditions.

But the government has consistently refused to reopen negotiations when it comes to pay, saying it was right to stick to the independent wage review body’s recommendation of around 4% when public finances are suffering.

Two days of strike action took place in December, and two more strikes are scheduled for January 18 and 19.

Ms Cullen told the Radio Times podcast that nurses “understand the economic climate in which we operate” so they are willing to compromise.

“There’s a rhetoric out there that says the Royal College of Nursing is unrealistic, it’s looking for something completely unattainable, it’s looking for 19%,” she said.

“Now I could sit here all day and tell you that nurses’ wages have fallen 20% over the past decade. Do I think these nurses are entitled to [to 19%]? Sure, I think they deserve 19%. But we also understand the economic climate in which we operate.

And what I will say [health secretary] Steve Barclay and the Prime Minister go into a room and meet me halfway here and do the decent thing for these nurses.”

Safe hiring saves lives.

In his first speech of the year on Wednesday, Mr Sunak praised NHS staff for their work and said “the door is always open” when it comes to negotiations.

But he and Mr Barclay have not yet moved on wages, and today, the government announced it would introduce new anti-strike legislation to force unions to set minimum levels of service in certain sectors, with the threat of suing the organizations if they did not. t comply.

Responding to the earlier announcement, Ms Cullen said: “Last month’s action was safe for patients because of the detailed discussions we chose to embark on with the NHS to protect emergency services and life-saving care. The public respected that and even ministers acknowledged our constructive approach.

“The safe levels of staffing set out in law are what we want to see throughout the year not just in these extreme circumstances. We have long campaigned for governments to be held accountable for safe and effective staffing levels in the NHS and social care to prevent this from happening. Leaving the nurse with 15 or 20 or even 25 patients. The legislation is in other parts of the UK and England is lagging behind.

“The evidence is unequivocal – safe staffing saves lives and having the correct number of registered nurses on duty has a direct impact on the safety and quality of patient care. Today’s extremely unsafe situation is what leads our members to say ‘enough is enough’.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said Mr Barclay “wants to have an honest conversation with the RCN about what is reasonable in wage settlements for next year during these challenging times and is keen to meet for discussions as soon as possible”.

She added: “We have accepted the recommendations of the fully independent NHS Wage Review Board and have given over a million NHS workers a wage increase of at least £1,400 this year.

“This is on top of a 3% wage increase last year when public sector salaries were frozen and the government’s broader cost of living subsidy.”

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