Nurses strike again as ministers prepare to introduce ‘spiteful’ bill | strike

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A wave of strikes in teaching, ambulances and the civil service is likely to advance this week as nurses are set to begin the second major period of the industrial strike.

While ministers signaled a new deal could be close to railway unions, strikes appeared set to escalate in other sectors as ministers prepare to introduce controversial new anti-strike legislation to the House of Commons on Monday.

Nurses from the Royal College of Nursing will strike on Wednesday and Thursday, with the union warning that more members in England will take action next time in early February if there is no breakthrough by the end of the month.

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen called the prime minister’s stance on the impasse in negotiations “baffling, reckless and politically ill-considered”. Health ministry sources said there were no talks currently scheduled but they still hoped for more meetings after discussions collapsed sharply last week.

Meanwhile, the National Education Union (NEU) and school leaders union NAHT are expected to announce the result of the payroll strike poll on Monday.

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Marie Boustead, Secretary General of NEU, told the Radio Times that she is “confident from our internal polling of our membership that we will reach the polling threshold, but the only vote that matters is that posted by the independent polling company and we know that just before the announcement to members tomorrow afternoon.” .

In the teaching sector too, the Education Institute of Scotland (EIS) will stage a strike for 16 consecutive days until 2 February, which will see members of two local authorities strike each day. London bus workers strike in Abilio on Monday and Wednesday.

Industrial tensions have also been inflamed by the government’s proposed anti-strike bill, which will undergo its first reading in the House of Commons on Monday.

The TUC, the trade unions’ coordinating body, accused the government of being “spiteful” with the legislation and trying to “control” through new, brutal new measures without proper consultation or scrutiny.

This means that when workers vote to strike in health, education, fire, transportation, border security and nuclear decommissioning, the organization said, they can be forced to work and sacked if they do not comply.

The Food and Drug Administration Senior Civil Servants union will reveal the result of its ballot for the graduate express strike early this week, and about 300 CPC union members are set to strike at court and court service on Saturday. GMB leaders will meet on Monday to decide whether to call in more strikes by the ambulance service, with talks currently on hold.

With several strikes in the pipeline, the sector that seemed closest to a deal was the railroads. Mark Harper, the transport secretary, confirmed on Sunday that he had given a “new mandate” to operating companies to discuss wages along with reforms with railway unions, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the long-running dispute.

He told Sky News: “The train operators have obtained my permission to make a new offer to the railway unions. “This is what they will do. This is what I have been asked to do, this is my role in the operation.”

TUC is coordinating a strike day on February 1 in protest of the legislation. About 100,000 civil servants who are PCS union members are likely to take action that day.

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