Trading picket lines for painkillers: Nurses strikes are set to end

Yesterday, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced that members had failed to vote in sufficient numbers, resulting in them not achieving a new mandate.

After nurses in England were denied the right to strike for two days earlier this year, the RCN sought a fresh mandate for industrial action over pay until Christmas through a ballot of more than 300,000 nursing staff which closed on 23^rd June.

The decision to continue striking came after the RCN – along with Unite – rejected the governments latest pay offer of 5% and a one-off payment of at least £1,655, which was accepted by several other unions.

However, with an overall turnout of 43.4%, the ballot fell short of the 50% of union members voting required by 2016 trade union laws for the result to stand, equivalent to more than 150,000 of the RCN’s membership.

Although, the news came as a major blow as in the ballot, more than 100,000 RCN members voted in favour of strike action – about 84% of the total number who voted.

Despite the news, RCN general secretary, Pat Cullen, claimed that the fight for fair pay and safe staffing is ‘far from over’.

In an email to RCN members, which was written yesterday, Ms Cullen said: ‘This week, the government will say it has a plan for the NHS workforce. I am seeing the Prime Minister this afternoon to hear him out and to ask him the questions you wanted answering on his commitment to nurses and support workers.

‘I know staff morale is low and the staffing crisis is set to worsen without immediate action. I will be telling him this today. We have started something special – the voice of nursing has never been stronger and we’re going to keep using it.’

The RCN added that members working on Agenda for Change contracts in the NHS in England would not be balloted again about the 2022-23 or 2023-24 pay offer.

Against this backdrop, NHS consultants in England have voted in favour of strike action in their fight for more pay. The union, known as the British Medical Association, had already announced that a 48-hour walkout on 20^th and 21^st July would take place if doctors backed the action.

This will follow a five-day strike by Junior doctors across, which is set to end 18^th July. It is believed that junior and senior doctors strikes taking place so close together will lead to a huge disruption to services and cancelled treatments.

Image: Ani Kolleshi