Letter from Steve McKenzie, Unite Community member
The end of the nurses, dispute, could signal the beginning of the end of the strike wave that started with the RMT in June 2022. The RCN ballot to renew the strike mandate, wasn’t successful. The threshold set by the Tory government’s anti-union laws was not met.
According to the returns, only 43% of those eligible to vote did so and 50% is required to meet the threshold. Of those who did vote, 84% were in favour of more strike action.
Although this result is a setback and is being cynically viewed by the government as a victory, there are positives to be taken from this dispute, as well as lessons to be learned.
We all owe a great debt of gratitude to the nurses for putting the issue centre stage and highlighting how appallingly NHS staff are being treated. They received overwhelming support from the public, and that support will be there again if and when this awful government forces yet another confrontation.
The problems that sparked the strike haven’t gone away, the rampant hikes in food and energy costs are still there. Interest rate rises will increase housing costs for home owners and renters alike. The underlying problems of our privatised, indebted and underfunded NHS are still there. Future conflicts are inevitable.
The rank and file organisation of nurses’ activists during this dispute, was an example for every genuine activist in the Labour and trade union movement. The use of social media to keep members up to date and informed of what was really going on at every stage, was of vital importance and an example to be followed.
Mistakes were made at a leadership level. The calling off of strikes, and the recommendation of what was clearly a poor offer, clearly didn’t help. Not the sort of mistakes that nurses will want their new leader to repeat. (Pat Cullen is due to retire soon).
Is this the beginning of the end of this current strike wave? It’s hard to tell. The doctors will be out on strike in July and so will the teachers so perhaps this wave still has a little way to go.
