The head of a leading public sector union has called on ministers to come up with a pay offer for striking workers, insisting it would not necessarily beat inflation.
Hours after the GMB announced it would postpone until January 11 the ambulance workers’ strike planned for December 28, the union’s national secretary Rachel Harrison told the Guardian the extra pay offer would be taken to members even if it was less from inflation.
The development potentially signals a way forward amid a growing wave of shutdowns and what appeared to be an intractable pay dispute.
Harrison said: “What we are saying to the government is: come to us, make us an offer, GMB members will vote for it. We are not making a specific request. We would still like to see a proposal to stop inflation and restore wages lost over decades, but if a proposal is made we will put it back to our members to decide.”
Saying the decision to delay the new ambulance strike was made to show “thanks” to the public for their support during this week’s stoppage, Harrison’s comments on pay were the clearest sign yet from any major union leader. that they can accept an offer below inflation.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) also said it was prepared to back down from its demand for 5% above inflation, while Unison hinted on Thursday that it was also prepared to compromise. However, the RCN also announced two new strike dates in January.
Christina Makanea, Unison’s general secretary, called on ministers to offer its 400,000 members who work in the UK’s NHS an “increase that better matches inflation”.
But ministers insisted they would not consider pay rises above those recommended by public sector pay review bodies, saying it would fuel double-digit inflation and be unaffordable.
Steve Barclay, the health secretary, reiterated that hard line on Friday, saying that agreeing to a demand for higher pay “would mean taking money away from frontline services and causing further delays in care”.
Responding to the GMB’s decision and the RCN’s new strikes, Barclay said: “Although members of the union will not continue with strikes over Christmas, we are disappointed that they have announced further co-ordinated strikes in January to cause maximum disruption at a time when The NHS is already under enormous strain.
“Strike is in no-one’s interests, least of all patients, and I am calling on unions to reconsider further strike action to avoid further impact on patients.”
The RCN’s new action will see nurses walk out of work in 55 NHS trusts on January 18 and 19 – 11 more than the 44 where they staged their first strikes on December 15 and 20.
“The Government had the opportunity to end this dispute before Christmas, but instead they chose to throw medical staff out in the cold again in January,” said Pat Cullen, RCN general secretary and chief executive.
The union’s decision means NHS England will face three consecutive weeks of strike disruption in January after Unison announced on Thursday that members of five of England’s 10 regional ambulance services would stage 24-hour stops on January 11 and 23.
The RCN in Scotland, which is holding separate pay talks, is also poised to call strikes in January after talks with the Scottish Government ended on Friday without an agreement. Scotland’s Health Secretary Humza Youssa is set to enforce an existing offer worth an average of 7.5%.
On Friday, Border Force and postal workers were the latest to go on strike, with six airports – Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff – all warning arriving passengers to expect queues at immigration.
Mark Servotka, head of the Public and Commercial Services Union, told the BBC Radio 4 program today that his union was prepared for six months of strike action.
“We have a strike fund which means we can keep this going after Christmas,” he said. “The strike mandate runs until May – we will support this action until May and will vote again if necessary.”
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