England’s biggest nursing union on Thursday extended strike action to emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer services, in a major escalation of its pay dispute with Rishi Sunak’s government.
Announcing the withdrawal of exemptions for nursing staff in critical areas, the Royal College of Nursing also said its next walkout would run for 48 consecutive hours from 6am on March 1, the longest yet.
The unprecedented move came as the UK’s biggest transport union announced four new strike dates and Royal Mail workers balloted overwhelmingly for up to six more months of walkouts.
Previous RCN action took place only during the day and had been limited to 12 hours at a time. Ahead of a walkout last week, the union agreed 5,000 individual exemptions through local talks with hospital representatives, but this process will be stopped for the March dates.
The tougher stance comes as the government refuses to reopen pay talks for the current financial year, despite repeated demands from the RCN and others. Unions across multiple sectors are calling for higher pay as workers contend with double-digit inflation.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said the prime minister’s refusal to discuss pay was “pushing even more people into the strike”, adding that Sunak must “not let this go ahead”.
Sir Julian Hartley, head of NHS Providers, which represents health organisations across England, described the RCN’s decision as “the most worrying escalation of strikes yet” and urged the government to “talk to the unions urgently about pay for this financial year”.
Ministers have consistently refused to reopen pay talks for 2022-23, after endorsing a review body recommendation for an average rise of about 4 per cent.
The RCN will continue discussions with the NHS at national level as part of its commitment to provide “life and limb” care. But it will reduce services “to an absolute minimum” and ask hospitals to rely on members of other unions and clinical professions to plug gaps.
Health secretary Steve Barclay said the RCN’s “significant escalation . . . will risk patient safety” and “inevitably cause further disruption”.
He added that the government was working on contingency plans and had held “a series of discussions with unions . . . about what is fair and affordable for the coming year”.
Separately, the RMT union on Thursday said members at 14 train operating companies would stage four days of strikes on March 16, 18 and 30 and April 1 in a long-running row over pay, conditions and the threat of job cuts.
RMT members at infrastructure owner Network Rail involved in a separate dispute would also stage a 24-hour strike on March 16, the union added, as it launched an overtime ban to disrupt operations and maintenance on non-strike days.
The union last week rejected pay proposals aimed at ending the wave of strikes, after employers offered rises of 9 per cent over two years, tied to major reforms.
The industry has warned the rejected pay offers were in effect final offers, leaving the dispute at an impasse.
But RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the government’s refusal to allow train operators to present “a new deal” meant “members will now take sustained and targeted industrial action”.
The union also said it planned to seek a new mandate from members to extend industrial action for another six months when it runs out in May. Under UK law, unions are required to ballot workers every six months before strike action can continue.
Responding to the announcement, transport secretary Mark Harper accused the RMT of “trying to make [members] lose multiple days’ wages through yet more strikes”.
“These best and final offers would have given workers what they want and, crucially, the passengers what they need,” he added, warning that more stoppages would only “damage the rail industry even further”.
Meanwhile Royal Mail workers balloted for up to six more months of strike action, setting the stage for additional disruption.
The Communication Workers Union, which represents about 110,000 postal staff, on Thursday said 96 per cent of the roughly three-quarters of members who voted were in favour of further industrial action.
Royal Mail said it was “disappointed” by the result and that its financial position was “worsening with every strike day”.
