By Steve McKenzie (Unite Community – Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley)
Events have been unfolding at a rapid pace, in relation to the NHS dispute. Since RCN members rejected the government’s inadequate pay offer, and Unison members accepted it, other results have been announced. Unsurprisingly the GMB members accepted the offer, but the Unite members rejected it. The GMB leadership had recommended the offer, Unite had not.
The government takes the RCN to court.
The RCN had industrial action planned for 48-hours over the Mayday bank holiday weekend – 30th April to 2nd May. The government took them to court on a technicality, using the anti-union laws to prevent the strike extending to 8 pm on 2nd May, alleging that this was outside the six-month mandate that the Royal College had in which to call strike action.
They were successful and the strike had to end just before midnight on on 1st May. Tactically, this was not the most astute move, to antagonize the nurses, when a further ballot is going to take place to extend the strike mandate for another six months. The outcome of that ballot, that starts on 15th May, will be critical.
Pay review body.
The government’s pay review body for the health service met with the unions last week. The establishment (the employers, the government and the media), attempted to paint a picture that the RCN and Unite are in the minority and that Unison and the GMB represent the majority of health workers, who have accepted the offer.
It looks as if the government/pay review body will try and impose the offer, in an attempt to isolate the RCN and Unite. A move that could backfire, dependent largely on the outcome of the RCN ballot. A massive yes vote by RCN members to extend the strike mandate, and a huge effort by Unite to get more organised in the NHS, is now on the order of the day.
Short term
It is clear that the pay deal, with its one-off unconsolidated payments will help resolve a few problems, for a few NHS staff, on a very short-term basis. It does nothing to resolve the pay crisis, and the staffing crisis in the NHS. There are currently 135,000 unfilled posts. The 5% for 2023 is yet another pay cut, and with food and energy inflation running at nearly 20% more health workers will be driven into poverty as a result of this offer being accepted.
What sort of union leaders recommend such deals? What really motivates them? Most of them are on six figure salaries; surely, they don’t expect an easy ride to go with it! It would appear that they are living in a parallel universe.
It is time to follow the example of RCN members and get organised at a rank-and-file level!
