Watch: Strike Action Won’t Halt – Pat Cullen
Nurses could strike until Christmas, the leader of the Royal College of Nursing has said, as she warned it would not halt a 48-hour strike in England on the first bank holiday in May.
General Secretary Pat Cullen told the BBC the government needed to put more money on the table.
But she had “not planned” to coordinate the strikes with those of the young doctors.
Conservative party chairman Greg Hands said the government’s wage offer was “fair and reasonable”.
Asked if this was a final offer, he told the BBC on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the government should wait to see what the other health service unions involved in the pay dispute had decided in their ballots and pointed out that it had already been accepted by Unison members.
The government has offered a 5% pay rise in 2023/24 and a one-off payment of at least £1,655.
The RCN leader initially called for the deal to be accepted but members voted to reject it 54% to 46%, while unions Unite and GMB will announce the results of their ballots in two weeks.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the same program he was “really worried” about the nurses’ strike and did not support it because of the patient safety risks.
The NCR strike will involve NHS nurses in emergency, intensive care, cancer and other services, which would be a first as the previous nurses’ strike in February included exemptions to keep staff in critical areas.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Hands said the offer was an additional £5,100 for a typical Group 5 NHS worker.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay also said in a letter to the NCR that a nurse at the top of Group 5 would receive “over £5,000” extra.
He added that he would welcome a meeting with the MRC and feared that any strike exemption would “put patients at risk”.
Ms Cullen said following the walkout from 8.00pm BST on April 30 to 8.00pm on May 2, the union would ‘immediately go to our members’ vote’ on their next move.
“If this vote is successful, it will mean new strikes until Christmas,” she added.
She rejected calls from ministers to suspend the strike, revealing she had received a letter from Mr Barclay asking for the half hour before it aired.
She said the letter was ‘disrespectful’ to nurses and claimed the health secretary had spent more time write to the sun on sunday newspaper than responding to nurses.
In the newspaper, Mr Barclay warned that the strikes would mean more operations canceled and treatments postponed – and ‘none of this is good for the NHS or patients’.
Ms Cullen urged the Health Secretary and the Government to join her union at the negotiating table ‘very quickly’, adding: ‘And start putting more money on the table, start treating nurses with a bit of decency and a little respect.”
Asked why RCN nurses rejected the government’s pay offer despite union leadership recommending it, Ms Cullen said members felt it was ‘not fair or reasonable’.
It comes a day after the end of a four-day walkout by doctors in training – who are demanding a 35% pay rise.
On Saturday, the British Medical Association, which represents junior doctors, said it “did not rule out or rule out” the prospect of coordinated action with other unions.
When asked if that was a possibility, Ms Cullen said she had no plan for coordinated action.
“But if the government continues to allow doctors and nurses to spend their time on picket lines and not in their workplaces in hospitals and communities, then of course the impact of those strikes, that whether they are coordinated or not, will be felt by our patients,” she added.
Sir Julian Hartley, of NHS Providers, which represents NHS workers, said it would mark an “unprecedented level of action” and warned against a coordinated strike with young doctors.
Liberal Democrat Daisy Cooper said the warning of continued strikes by nurses until Christmas ‘must act as a wake-up call’ and that ministers should ‘urgently’ find a solution.
In Scotland, unionists accepted a bid worth an average of 6.5% for 2023-24. Health unions in Wales and Northern Ireland are still in negotiations with their governments over wages.
The GMB union has recommended that the latest offer be accepted by its members.
Unite did not recommend the pay deal, but said “ultimately it is important that the members make the final decision”.
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