The UK government’s hopes of resolving a bitter dispute over health workers’ pay in England were boosted on Friday when the GMB union said its members had accepted a deal negotiated after months of strikes.
Although Unite, another large union representing NHS workers, had announced its members’ rejection of the deal earlier in the day, the GMB’s backing is likely to swing a crucial vote at a meeting next week of NHS employer representatives, unions and the government.
Meanwhile, four teaching unions on Friday announced plans for fresh strike ballots and co-ordinated action in schools from the autumn should they win a mandate from members.
Health secretary Steve Barclay has said he would implement the NHS pay deal — which would give staff two one-off payments for 2022-23, worth up to £3,789, and a 5 per cent wage increase for 2023-24 — if it is accepted at the meeting on Tuesday.
Approval of the deal by the NHS staff council would not prevent unions that have rejected it, including the Royal College of Nursing, from pursuing further industrial action.
Barclay said the GMB’s backing made him “hopeful” the council would accept the offer, which he described as “a fair and reasonable proposal that can bring this dispute to an end”.
GMB members in the NHS and ambulance service voted by 56 to 44 per cent, on a turnout of 51 per cent, to accept the deal. Members of Unison, one of the biggest NHS unions, have also backed it, as have smaller unions representing midwives and physiotherapists.
Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said the improved offer was “just one step in the battle to restore NHS workers’ decade of lost earnings” but that it had delivered “a huge pay uplift for the lowest-paid”.
Unite, however, said 52 per cent of members had rejected the pay offer on a 55 per cent turnout, with stronger opposition among frontline workers such as paramedics. This follows similar rejections by the RCN and by unions representing radiographers and podiatrists.
“Rishi Sunak now needs to take over this mess, roll his sleeves up and sort it,” said Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, which will now press ahead with strikes at various NHS Trust early next week.
The RCN was forced to cut short a more extensive strike by nurses at hospitals across England that will begin on Sunday, after a court ruled this week that its second day would fall outside the six-month window in which it had a mandate for action.
But NHS leaders warned the latest RCN strike would still be damaging as the union withdraws cover for emergency and critical care for the first time. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said he hoped the RCN’s local representatives would allow members to cross the picket line “in the event of emergencies where life is at immediate risk”.
Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents health organisations across England, said some trust leaders were “struggling to find enough staff for specialist areas including children’s services”.
Earlier London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children declared a “business continuity incident” because it was not confident it could provide safe care during the strike.
NHS England said it was seeking to agree cover “on an organisation by organisation basis” with the RCN if there was “a critical risk to patient safety”.
The government remains at odds with workers in much of the rest of the public sector.
The threat of co-ordinated action later this year by the four teaching unions came as the National Association of Headteachers announced it would join the NASUWT and the Association of School and College Leaders in balloting members.
The National Education Union will stage a further walkout next Tuesday and also said it would seek a new strike mandate.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said the commitment to co-ordinated action was an “unprecedented show of solidarity” that would send “a clear signal to government that our dispute is not going away”. The government has insisted it will no longer negotiate over teachers’ pay.
Separately, 133,000 civil and public servants across more than 130 department and agencies belonging to the Public and Commercial Services Union held a third day of strikes on Friday.
Additional reporting by Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe and Bethan Staton
