Government’s limiting of average pay rise to between 4.5% and 5% prompts fresh strike dates and possible FDA ballot
The UK’s most senior civil servants could take their first strike action in more than a decade after ministers imposed an average pay rise of between 4.5% and 5%, in a move described as “unconscionable” by union leaders.
The Cabinet Office published pay remit guidance limiting awards to an average of 4.5%, plus an additional 0.5% for the lowest pay bands.
Continue reading...Conciliation service urged to look for ways to end logjam with government over demand for 35% pay rise
The junior doctors’ union has asked the conciliation service Acas to look into ways of breaking the deadlock in their dispute with the government over their claim for a 35% pay rise.
Tens of thousands of junior doctors in England are on the second day of a four-day strike in pursuit of their campaign to achieve “full pay restoration” after a significant loss of earnings since 2008-09. It is expected that up to 350,000 appointments and operations could be cancelled as a result.
Continue reading...Cross-union group sends out leaflets and hold online calls to persuade staff to vote against package agreed by leaders
Members of Britain’s biggest health unions are organising a campaign to reject the pay agreement being recommended by union leaders, in a move that threatens to destroy the tentative truce between the government and NHS staff.
A cross-union group called NHS Workers Say No has sent out thousands of leaflets, held online calls and started WhatsApp networks in an effort to persuade members to vote against the 5% increase hammered out during months of talks.
Continue reading...Offer includes two one-off payments – 2% bonus and 4% Covid payment – plus pay rise of about 5%
Health unions hailed a historic victory on Thursday, after Steve Barclay made a significant new pay offer aimed at ending NHS strikes in England, in a climbdown that could embolden other unions at loggerheads with the government.
After months of rolling strikes involving thousands of NHS workers including nurses, ambulance staff and physiotherapists, the government ditched its claim that this year’s pay deal could not be reopened and offered a one-off bonus worth up to 8.2%.
Continue reading...Ten of thousands to take part in industrial action in escalation of row between NHS staff and government
Hundreds of thousands of operations and medical appointments will be cancelled in England next month and progress in tackling the huge care backlog will be derailed as the NHS prepares to face the most widespread industrial action in its history.
Junior doctors are poised to join nurses and ambulance workers in mass continuous walkouts in March after members of the British Medical Association (BMA) voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action.
Continue reading...Squeeze on households as pay growth falls at among fastest rates for 20 years
The number of working days lost to strike action last year reached the highest level since 1989, according to official figures showing that wage growth failed to keep pace with inflation amid the biggest real-terms fall on record.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics further highlight the squeeze on households in the cost of living crisis.
Continue reading...UK’s biggest nursing union prompts alarm among senior officials by calling on intensive care workers to join walkouts
The UK’s biggest nursing union is preparing an escalation of its pay dispute with the government that will see members working in emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care services being asked to join the next round of strikes.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is also planning to announce the first continuous 48-hour strikes running through two days and two nights, rather than limiting walkouts to the 12 hours from 8am to 8pm, as they have done to date.
Continue reading...Chancellor’s comments follow call from consumer champion Martin Lewis to cancel the rise in the energy price cap
This morning the Daily Mail splashed on a story about AstraZeneca building a new factory that had been planned for the north-west of England in Ireland instead. Sir Pascal Soriot, the company’s chief executive, suggested the government’s plan to increase corporation tax was a key factor (although, as my colleague Nils Pratley reports in his analysis, other factors are relevant too). The Mail is one of the Tory papers pushing for tax cuts and it reports the story as evidence that supports its case.
Asked about the AstraZeneca decision, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, said today he was “disappointed” but that he would not implement tax cuts funded by borrowing. He told reporters:
We’re disappointed that we lost out this time and we agree with the fundamental case they’re making which is that we need our business taxation to be more competitive and we want to bring business taxes down.
But the only tax cuts we won’t consider are ones that are funded by borrowing because they’re not a real tax cut. They’re just passing on the bill to future generations.
Continue reading...Little prospect of breakthrough as strikes hit schools, trains, universities and border checks across country
Unions and the government appeared as far apart as ever, after Wednesday’s widespread strike action closed thousands of schools across England and Wales.
Striking workers from participating unions held rallies in cities including Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham and London, as teachers, university staff, rail workers and civil servants stopped work to demand better pay.
Continue reading...Action by teachers, civil servants, Border Force staff and train drivers to go ahead, with ministers accused of ‘stonewalling’
Up to half a million workers will go on strike on Wednesday with thousands of schools shut, rail lines closed down and significant border disruption, as unions said negotiations on ending strikes were “going backwards”.
Ministers have been accused of “hoodwinking the public” and freezing any moves towards a settlement with NHS workers and rail unions. Government sources privately conceded that optimism at the beginning of the month about bringing an end to industrial action had faded.
Continue reading...NHS leaders warn disruption to patients could become even worse as healthcare staff plan further strikes
Hospitals in England have had to cancel 88,000 appointments because of strikes by nurses and ambulance staff over the last seven weeks, figures have revealed.
NHS bosses warned on Tuesday that the already “shocking scale of disruption” to patient care could “skyrocket” in coming weeks as unions intensify their campaign and walkouts over pay become commonplace.
Continue reading...Industrial action to take place in February and March in dispute over pay, conditions and pensions
More than 70,000 staff at 150 universities across the UK will strike for 18 days between February and March in disputes over pay, conditions and pensions, it has been announced.
The University and College Union (UCU) said the precise dates of the action will be confirmed next week.
Continue reading...Industrial action on 23 January in England and Wales will coincide with strike by Unison members
More than 2,600 additional ambulance workers plan to strike in late January over pay, the trade union Unite announced on Friday.
Unite’s members will join colleagues belonging to Unison in striking on 23 January, with hospital bosses calling for “serious talks” between the government and unions to avoid “even more pressure on already overstretched NHS services”.
Continue reading...Prime minister facing industrial action records calls thanking public sector workers for ‘sacrifices’
Rishi Sunak has chosen to record phone calls with public servants in which he thanks them for their “selflessness” rather than broadcast a Christmas message to the nation.
The prime minister made apparently surprise calls to four workers and the crew of a naval ship to express his gratitude for their “sacrifices” after an “extraordinary year”.
Continue reading...Doctors warn of a backlog of patients and ‘deteriorating health’, with calls to 999 down 25% during paramedics’ 24-hour stoppage
The NHS is bracing itself for an influx of patients between now and Christmas after thousands of people deferred seeking treatment during the ambulance workers’ strike on Wednesday.
Senior doctors are warning that the decision by many people in England and Wales not to request help while paramedics were staging a 24-hour stoppage will leave the NHS struggling to cope at a time when hospitals would traditionally be scaling back their services for the festive break.
Continue reading...Bodies representing NHS care in England also call for Rishi Sunak intervention but PM refuses to budge on pay
NHS leaders have urged the public to avoid risky activity on Wednesday for fear they may be left helpless and unable to reach A&E during the ambulance strike.
The industrial action by staff across England and Wales comes as the ongoing pay dispute between ministers and NHS workers looks poised to descend into an increasingly bitter and disruptive war of attrition that could go on for months.
Continue reading...Royal College of Nursing leader criticises ‘belligerence’ in meeting with Steve Barclay at which ministers refused to discuss pay
Nurses’ strikes will go ahead this week after a meeting between the union and the health secretary ended in deadlock, with the Royal College of Nursing condemning ministers’ “belligerence” for refusing to discuss pay.
Six hundred military personnel from all three armed forces will start training to drive ambulances to cover for striking NHS workers across the UK later this month. A further 150 are being readied to act as logistical support, defence sources said, with training for both groups to start “shortly”.
Continue reading...Chancellor did not contest claim when asked whether his department blocked a pay rise of around 10% for rail workers
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has refused to quash claims that the Treasury vetoed a pay offer that may have led to a resolution of the rail strike.
Last month the Daily Telegraph claimed that the Department for Transport wanted to offer rail workers a rise worth between 8% and 9% over two year, but that it was prevented from doing so by the Treasury.
There is unanimity across the government in that it wants high inflation to be temporary, and I think there is understanding that that is essential for the very people who are feeling most angry about their situation.
We have to be really careful not to agree to pay demands that have the opposite of the intended effect because they lock in high inflation.
So if we make the wrong choices now, we won’t have that 3.7% of inflation in January or February of 2024 and this will change from being a one-off problem, to being a permanent problem, which will be the worst possible thing for people working in public services. That is why it’s generally a very difficult issue.
I would urge everyone to boycott Netflix and make sure that we actually focus on the things that matter.
Continue reading...Comparisons with 1979 are misleading – strikes over pay now are smaller in scale and focus, and stoked by inflation
Britain is facing a winter of strikes, as industrial action on the railways spreads to the health service and other key sectors of the economy. Such is the wave of discontent that more than 1m working days could be lost to disputes in December, the most since 1989, during Margaret Thatcher’s final years in power.
With inflation at the highest rate in 41 years amid the cost of living crisis, it’s not difficult to see why workers are pushing for better pay. Coming after the worst decade for average wage growth since the Napoleonic wars, including deep real-terms pay cuts for many in the public sector, it’s even less surprising still.
Continue reading...Unite says offer from Scotland’s councils is unacceptable and ‘represents a waste of precious time’
Refuse workers in Scotland will continue to strike next week after the Unite union rejected the latest offer from local authorities.
Council cleansing staff across much of the country are striking over pay. A strike in Edinburgh that led to rubbish building up in the streets during the city’s festival fringe – the busiest time of year for the city – is due to end on Tuesday morning. But further action in other council areas is planned.
Continue reading...