UK Nurses’ Strikes Could Continue Till Christmas, Union Leader Warns

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) chief executive Pat Cullen joins RCN members on the picket line outside University College Hospital, London, on Jan. 19, 2023. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Media)

Nurses could strike until Christmas if they cannot reach a deal with the UK government, a union leader has warned.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced on Friday that its members in the National Health Service (NHS) in England are set to strike again for 48 hours over the May bank holiday.

The announcement came as around 47,000 junior doctors finished their 96-hour strike in a separate dispute over pay at 7 a.m. on Saturday.

When asked if the union will stop strike action, RCN leader Pat Cullen told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg On Sunday programme: “No, our nurses will absolutely not do that. We have strike action for the end of this month and the beginning of May.

“Then we will move immediately to ballot our members. If that ballot is successful it will mean further strike action right up until Christmas.”

Pay Deal Rejected

The fresh threat issued by the union leader comes after RCN members voted to reject the government’s new pay offer.

The pay deal that the government offered to health unions in March includes a 5 percent pay increase for this year (2023/24), a one-off payment for last year that equals 2 percent of one’s salary, and a one-off “NHS backlog bonus.”

All five health unions, including the RCN, backed the offer and recommended their members accept it.

The Unison union said on Friday that just over half of its members (53 percent) voted on the offer, with 74 percent of them (112,458) voting yes.

But the RCN said 54 percent of its members who voted opted to reject the deal, with a 61 percent turnout rate.

The RCN said its members in 130 NHS trusts across England are now set to walk out between 8 p.m. on April 30 and 8 p.m. on May 2.

Nursing staff in emergency departments, intensive care units, cancer care, and some other services, who were exempt from previous strikes, will join the picket line for the first time.

‘Deeply Concerning’

NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said it is “not sustainable” for the NHS to continue managing strike action.

The organisation’s deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery told the BBC on Sunday: “It’s really clear to me that it’s not sustainable going forward for the NHS to manage strike action.

“It feels like a really ugly situation to say we are going to have strikes now until Christmas.

“We really desperately need the government to come to the table alongside the unions coming to the table to sort this out.”

Health Secretary Steve Barclay warned that fresh nurses’ strikes would have a “deeply concerning” impact on emergency services and cancer care.

In an opinion piece for The Sun, he called on the RCN to accept the government’s pay offer so the NHS can “get back to focusing on patients.”

On Sunday afternoon, Barclay posted on Twitter a copy of a letter he had sent to Cullen, which urged the union to reconsider further industrial action and said he would welcome a meeting to discuss avoiding strikes.

In the letter, Barclay said the most recent pay offer was a “fair and reasonable settlement,” adding: “The decision to refuse at this stage any exemptions for even the most urgent and life-threatening treatment during this action will, I fear, put patients at risk.”

‘Wake-Up Call’

Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting appealed to the RCN to continue to protect emergency lifesaving care if it strikes again.

He told Sky News: “I’m deeply worried about the risk of escalation of the nature of their dispute, to remove what’s known as the derogations, the measures they put in place to protect those areas of care.”

Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “The warning of rolling strikes between now and Christmas must act as a wake-up call.

“Conservative ministers need to urgently get round the negotiating table and find a solution instead of sitting on the sidelines.

“Patients should not have to pay the price for this Conservative government’s failure through yet more cancelled operations and delays to treatment.”

Coordinated Strikes?

There are also fears that nurses and doctors may go on strike at the same time.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has urged the government to engage in talks over junior doctors’ demands for “pay restoration” to 2008 levels. Ministers have claimed that would amount to a 35 percent pay rise.

Cullen said on Sunday that “there are no plans in place to co-ordinate strikes with doctors” but did not rule out taking action at the same time as junior doctors.

The RCN leader told the BBC: “We have no plans in place to co-ordinate strikes but if the Government continues to allow doctors and nurses to spend their time on picket lines and not in their places of work, in their hospitals and communities then of course the impact of those strikes whether co-ordinated or not will be felt by our patients.”

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said that any strike coordination between nurses and junior doctors would be a significant escalation.

“It’s very difficult to see how either of those things wouldn’t endanger patient safety and dignity,” he told Sky News.

Lily Zhou and PA Media contributed to this report.