The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the industry’s largest union, asked its 300,000 members a simple question: are you ready to strike for pay rises? The consultation lasted almost a month, starting on October 6. The count must be completed by Wednesday, November 9 at the latest. The result is not in doubt according to Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the union: the answer will be yes.
It will then be up to the RCN to define the terms of the action. But everything points to a strike notice before Christmas throughout the NHS, the British health system. All nations of the country combined: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland. Although some hospitals may be spared, the rules of the right to strike in the NHS only allow work to stop in an establishment if the strike has been voted by a majority, each time, at the local level. In any case, it will be a historic event, unprecedented for more than a century. The other unions, Unison and GMB, are also in the process of consulting their members. The result will probably be the same.
The watchword is simple: wages. Nurses have seen their purchasing power decline by 20% over the past ten years in the United Kingdom and since the Conservatives came to power. The government is proposing a 4% increase. The unions are asking for a minimum of 15%. They claim that many of their members are now forced to turn to food banks for food.
This probable conflict will not help the state of the British health system already in bad shape, the consequence of years of underinvestment. Seven million patients are waiting for an appointment. Nearly 30% of patients who are diagnosed with cancer have to wait more than two months before benefiting from the first treatments. Nurses are slamming the door of the NHS due to falling purchasing power: more than 25,000 quits in the past year. The number of vacancies exceeds 40,000.
The public authorities are so destitute that last month, they launched an appeal to retired doctors, to nursing staff who work abroad and even to volunteers, to come and help in dispensaries and pharmacies. During the upcoming strike, only emergency and critical care services will be maintained. Otherwise, it will be curtain with pickets in front of the establishments, according to the projects of the unions.
Suffice to say that the waiting lists promise to grow significantly longer and that promises to be a big challenge for the new government of Rishi Sunak. After the cacophonous episode Liz Truss, the new Prime Minister, former Minister of Finance, presents himself as a rigorous man. Rishi Sunak intends to restore the balance of public spending. He faces a £50bn, 57bn hole. He therefore intends to raise taxes while lowering public spending. It is a policy that is difficult to reconcile with salary increases for nurses. This case can therefore turn into a showdown.