The nurses’ strike in England is ‘premature and disrespectful’ to other unions, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said on Sunday as the dispute between the government and healthcare workers over pay and working conditions was intensifying.
The walkout for members of the Royal College of Nursing begins at 8 p.m. on Sunday evening and will end at 11.59 p.m. on May 1. It follows the union’s decision in April to dismiss a government offer that included a one-time payment and a 5% salary increase in the 2023–24 financial year.
Barclay criticized the MRC’s decision to launch further strike action before the NHS staff council, which has representatives from 14 unions and oversees NHS pay, meets on Tuesday to consider what it said was a “fair and reasonable” wage offer from the government.
“Here is a deal that Pat Cullen herself recommended to her members and that we have reached after days of bargaining in a fair and reasonable settlement,” he said, noting that other health care unions such that GMB and the Royal College of Midwives had backed the government’s deal.
“The NHS Staff Council will meet to vote on whether to accept the deal we have negotiated with them. I think it is fair to wait for the NHS Staff Council to make this decision. And I think this strike is premature and disrespectful to the unions that will meet on Tuesday.”
The latest action by the NCR comes as other public sector unions are stepping up strikes after rejecting government deals to improve wages and working conditions.
Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary © REUTERS
Teachers represented by the National Education Union are due to leave on May 2, while the UK’s four main teachers’ unions – the NEU, the National Association of Head Teachers, the Association of School and College Leaders and the NASUWT – threatened coordinated strike action last week that could see more than 300,000 teachers run out of tools.
Meanwhile, officials represented by the Perspective the syndicate will be released on May 10 and June 7.
Leaders and health ministers have expressed concern over the possible impact of the 28-hour nurses’ strike on patient safety. The walkout will affect 125 NHS trusts and include nurses working in intensive care units, cancer care and emergency services for the first time.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, insisted on Sunday that the union would never leave “patients at risk or create more risk”.
“There are national exemptions for a range of services, for emergency departments, for intensive care units, for neonatal units, pediatric intensive care units, those really acute emergency departments,” Cullen said. . Sky News.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper has accused striking railway workers of targeting the Eurovision Song Contest ©Getty Images
Despite the mitigations, Dame Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England, warned the health service was at risk of severe disruption over the bank holiday.
“Industrial action will still have a very significant impact on services during the strike period and patients can expect to see longer waits for care,” she said.
Meanwhile, the general secretary of the train drivers’ union, Aslef, criticized the transport secretary on Sunday, after he accused the striking railway workers – who are due to leave on May 12, May 31 and June 3 – of having deliberately targeted the Eurovision song. Contests and other events.
“Ukrainian Railways was specifically targeted by Vladimir Putin, railway workers were killed by the hundreds and I would honestly have thought that the railway workers would have wanted to stand in solidarity with them rather than aiming for the Eurovision Song Contest,” said Harper at Sky News.
Aslef’s general secretary, Mick Whelan, called the minister’s remarks “ridiculous”, adding: “The only ones responsible for the strikes going on in this country – in all the different sectors of the UK economy – are the government and employers”.
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