Nursing Union Calls for Double-Digit Pay Offer to Relaunch Talks

Royal College of Nursing General Secretary Pat Cullen (centre) joins nurses outside the High Court in central London, on April 27, 2023. (James Manning/PA Media)

The trade union representing British nurses has called for a double-digit pay offer from the government and has threatened to strike again if the demand is not met.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) leader Pat Cullen urged Health Secretary Stephen Barclay to restart pay negotiations with a proposed rise of at least 10 percent.

RCN members will begin a new ballot for strike action on May 23 after the existing six-month mandate ran out at the start of the month.

Cullen said fresh negotiations are needed to prevent six more months of industrial action in the National Health Service (NHS).

“They (ministers) owe that to nursing staff not to push them to have to do another six months of industrial action right up to Christmas,” she said ahead of Sunday’s RCN congress in Brighton, telling Barclay that talks need to “start off in double figures.”

“It’s just not right for the profession,” she said. “It’s not right for patients. But whose responsibility is it to resolve it? It is this government.”

Having previously pushed for a 19 percent pay rise, the union had advised members to accept an offer of 5 percent. But members rejected the deal, which was accepted by 14 other unions.

A union spokesman said: “The negotiations covered two financial years which resulted in a consolidated NHS pay increase of 9 percent. When our members rejected that, it is clear they expect an offer into double figures.”

‘Exceptional People’

Earlier this month, most health unions voted to accept the government’s offer of a 5 percent pay rise.

The deal also includes a one-off payment for 2022 that equals 2 percent of one’s salary, and a one-off “NHS backlog bonus” for staff under the “Agenda for Change” pay system.

But RCN and the Unite union voted against the deal and threatened to stage further strikes.

Asked why nurses warrant a larger increase than other healthcare workers, Cullen said: “It’s not so long ago since the prime minister went on the media and very publicly said nurses are an exception. I would totally agree with him … they should be made an exception because they are exceptional people.”

‘Very Curious’

Cabinet minister Grant Shapps said that he found the union boss’s remarks “very curious.”

“Pat Cullen just recently was encouraging her members to settle for the pay rise that was put on the table, that would see £5,000 go into the pockets this year of hard-working nurses,” the energy secretary told Sky News on Sunday.

“I thought this was a great settlement. I thought it’s terrific that it had been reached. It’s frankly rather confusing now that having encouraged her members to accept that deal, she seems to now be coming back and saying the opposite.”

In her interview, Cullen said she had “underestimated” her members.

“Looking back on this pay offer, I may personally have underestimated the members and their sheer determination,” she said.

She warned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: “Don’t make that same mistake, don’t underestimate them.’

“Nurses believe it’s their duty and their responsibility because this government is not listening to them on how to bring it back from the brink and the message to the prime minister is that they are absolutely not going to blink first in these negotiations.”

Nurses in England have staged several mass walkouts earlier this year, striking on Jan. 18–19 and Feb. 6–7.

The union organised another strike for 24 hours on May 1, the first time RCN members walked out of all areas, including intensive care.

RCN had originally planned a 48-hour strike, which would begin on the evening of April 30 and end on May 2.

But a High Court judge ruled the last day of the action would be unlawful, as the RCN’s strike mandate was set to run out on May 1.

Lily Zhou and PA Media contributed to this report.