Status: 01/18/2023 1:15 p.m
Strikes have been paralyzing Britain for weeks. The nurses stopped work again. Teachers, employees of the railways and other industries announced new walkouts. The government is reacting: it wants to restrict the right to strike.
Thousands of NHS nurses have been on strike since the morning. They are demonstrating for higher wages and better working conditions. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, patients have to be prepared for long waiting times and absences. Thousands of appointments and procedures are expected to be postponed.
The walkout called by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union is expected to last until Thursday. About a quarter of all hospitals and clinics in England are affected by the twelve-hour strikes.
Government does not want to improve the offer
The fronts in the labor dispute have hardened: the union is demanding a plus that is well above the inflation rate of more than ten percent recently. The conservative government, on the other hand, does not want to increase its offer, which corresponds to around 4.5 percent more wages. She warns that an increase in line with inflation is not affordable and will only drive up consumer prices even further.
Commenting on the well-being of patients, British Health Secretary Steve Barclay wrote in an op-ed piece for the Independent: “If we agree unaffordable wage increases for health workers, we are taking billions of pounds from where we need it most.”
Pat Cullen of the Royal College of Nursing defended the workers. “People aren’t dying because nurses are on strike. Nurses are on strike because people are dying. This is how bad the health service is and it’s time the Prime Minister led the fight for its future.” The NHS is chronically underfunded and severely understaffed.
Further strikes have been announced for February. The RCN said its members in England and Wales would be on 12-hour walks on 6 and 7 February respectively if there was no progress in salary negotiations with the government by the end of January. NHS Confederation boss Matthew Taylor has warned of a “long war of attrition between government and unions” if there is no agreement. The NHS Confederation brings together health service organisations.
Teachers plan to go on strike in February and March
There have also been strikes in many other sectors in Great Britain for months. Rescue workers, train drivers, airport workers, border guards, driving instructors, bus drivers and postal workers demand higher wages. In England and Wales, the teachers’ union National Education Union (NEU) now wants to join the strikes. Government employees in dozens of agencies and employees of the railways have also announced new strikes. Paramedics and ambulance drivers will decide on further strikes this week.
The NEU, the country’s largest education union with around 500,000 members, justified the decision by saying that the government’s offer to raise wages by five percent was far too low. With inflation in excess of 10 percent, this is tantamount to a pay cut, argued the NEU, announcing a nationwide strike day on February 1. This will be followed by further regional strikes over six days in February and March. According to the information, there will be a four-day strike at each school.
Union leaders are meeting with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan later in the day. She described the planned strikes as “deeply disappointing” and stressed that the government had already provided additional funding. “Talks are ongoing with union leaders and any strike action by a union will be detrimental to the education and well-being of students,” who are just catching up on the shortfalls of the pandemic, she told Sky News broadcaster.
The members of the Scottish teachers’ union Educational Institute of Scotland had already started walkouts on Wednesday. 16 strike days are planned until February 6th. Scottish teaching staff also went on strike in December and earlier this month.
Sunak wants to restrict the right to strike
In view of the waves of strikes, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to extensively restrict the right to strike in vital sectors such as health, fire brigades and education.
The draft by Economics Secretary Grant Shapps is intended to force unions to ensure basic services, for example for rescue and security forces or the railways. Otherwise there is a risk of dismissal. The draft has already taken its second reading in the House of Commons.