Unions say no major talks are scheduled between ministers and Britain’s health workers or civil servants, despite the country suffering its worst run of strikes in more than three decades.
Nurses and ambulance workers will stand side-by-side on picket lines for the first time on Feb. 6 in an escalation of their campaign against below-inflation raises, with Britain still stuck in the most severe cost-of-living crisis for a generation.
As many as 100,000 civil servants, meanwhile, will strike on Feb. 1 alongside teachers, university staff and train drivers. Unions have started coordinating more of their industrial action in an attempt to convince the government to negotiate higher pay for the current fiscal year.
Ministers insist they won’t reconsider any raises determined by pay review bodies that they say are independent. Labor groups say the pay bodies aren’t fully independent and are furious over real-terms wage cuts for their members.
“It’s been nearly three weeks since GMB had any kind of meaningful dialog with the Department for Health or the Secretary of State,” Rachel Harrison, the GMB union’s national secretary, said in an emailed statement.
“Meanwhile ambulance workers are suffering and people are dying. Ministers need to speak to us and get serious on pay. We are waiting.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care declined to comment. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said last week he’d had “constructive talks” with unions about the pay process for 2023-24.
EXPLAINER: Why Strike-Averse Britain Is Gripped by Labor Unrest
Around the Table
Physiotherapists have become the latest NHS workers to walk out. Their union held talks with Barclay this week but labor groups said that as of Thursday evening no dates had been set for government negotiations concerning most health staff.
Barclay suggested earlier this month he’s prepared to be flexible on pay, possibly by backdating next year’s increase. But talks with unions have yet to yield a breakthrough.
“Ministers should be getting people around the table to find a deal,” said Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, an umbrella group. “But they are investing far more energy in attacking workers’ right to strike than they are in resolving disputes.”
The government is planning new laws to impose minimum service levels during strikes. The legislation is due to complete its passage through the House of Commons on Monday, before moving to the Lords.
Some rail workers employed by train companies or the operator Network Rail have accepted pay deals or remain in talks. Train drivers have strikes planned for Feb. 1 and 3.
In the private sector, workers have had more luck securing higher pay deals. The Unite union boasted of a 28% raise for 200 workers at Luton airport on Wednesday, while the PCS union said this week that some outsourced workers who assist the government’s Disclosure and Barring Service had secured an increase of more than 10%. Inflation in the UK remains in double digits.
Talks are expected with education ministers next week, ahead of the teachers’ strike.
A spokesperson for the Department for Education said it wants to “support school leaders to do everything they can to keep as many children in school as possible” during the walkouts, which begin on Feb. 1.
--With assistance from Ellen Milligan.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
