Rishi Sunak calls for “constructive dialogue” with unions as strikes mount

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK government wanted to have a “constructive dialogue” with unions, as ambulance staff across England and Wales launched industry action over wages and working conditions.

GMB and Unison union workers have launched an industrial strike at 10 of the 11 ambulance boxes in England and Wales, after an escalation in rhetoric with ministers about the impact of strikes on patient safety.

Rail union leaders warned there had been almost no progress in negotiations to try to stop further strikes on British rail.

“We are much further away than when we started,” Mick Whelan, president of the Aslife Chauffeurs’ union, told members of the House of Commons Transport Committee on Wednesday. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said he could not “see a drop zone” in discussions with the train companies.

Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, Sunak said the opposition Labor Party and its leader Sir Keir Starmer do not have a clear policy on strikes and defended the government’s new anti-strike law that was outlined on Tuesday.

We have always been clear that we want to have a constructive dialogue with the unions. This is also why when it comes to the issue of wages, we have fully accepted the independent recommendations of wage review bodies,” said the Prime Minister.

“This is a simple proposal,” he added, referring to the bill that proposes minimal service agreements. “No one denies the freedom to strike for unions but it is also important to balance this with the right of people to have access to life-saving healthcare.”

Stärmer argued that during the last 13 years of Labor government “there were no national NHS strikes” and accused the government of failing to negotiate wages.

“If the Prime Minister had negotiated with the nurses before Christmas, they would not have been on strike,” he said. “Why does he choose to prolong misery rather than end these strikes?”

Earlier in the day Steve Barclay, the health secretary, urged the public to continue to call 999 in the event of life-threatening incidents, but warned of a “disruption” to NHS services in light of the measure.

He also confirmed that the government is keen to work with unions on this year’s upcoming wage review for 2023-24.

However, unions representing health workers confirmed on Wednesday that they would not be involved in the Wage Review Board’s process to set wages for 2023-24, calling instead for direct talks with ministers to resolve the dispute over the current wage deal and the deal next year. .

“The Wage Review Board process does not fit into the current context,” said Sarah Gorton, Unison’s chief health officer and chair of a group of 14 NHS unions.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of the union Unite, went further, calling for the NHS Wage Review to be abolished because it was “a complete farce” and was “a smokescreen that allowed the government to push the NHS to the point of collapse”.

During the six-month period last year between the deadline for submitting evidence to wage review bodies and ministers accepting their recommendations, the unions argue.

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Train operators offered Aslef two years’ salaries of 8 per cent and a reform settlement on Friday, but Whelan said the proposal crossed several “red lines”. He added, “I cannot recommend any one component of it, and it may destroy the ability to return to conversations in the future.”

RMT is in a separate dispute with Network Rail, which Lynch said makes “difficult” demands. More talks between unions and industry are due in the coming days, and railway chiefs were less pessimistic.

Steve Montgomery, president of the Rail Delivery Group’s industry body, admitted there were “challenges” in finding a deal with the drivers, but Network Rail executive Tim Shoveller said there was “every chance” of a deal with RMT.

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