Ministers are pressing ahead with a legal challenge to halt some of this weekend’s planned strike by nurses in England.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) disclosed on Monday evening that the government is applying to the high court in London for a ruling that the action by nurses on Tuesday 2 May is illegal.
However, the health secretary, Steve Barclay, has abandoned an attempt to prevent all of the strike, which is scheduled to run from 8pm on Sunday 30 April to 8pm on Tuesday 2 May.
Instead he is asking the high court in London to rule that the portion of the industrial action that is due to take place on 2 May is illegal because, he claims, the RCN’s legal mandate to go on strike runs out at midnight on Monday 1 May.
The RCN’s general secretary, Pat Cullen, said the government’s “threat” was “wrong and indefensible”, adding: “The only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them … including in court.”
She criticised Barclay for deploying “draconian anti-trade union legislation” in a move which, if successful, would mean that nurses could not legally strike as planned for the 20 hours between midnight on 1 May and 8pm on 2 May.
The union intends to contest the government’s attempt to have that part of the strike – the first by nurses since February – deemed unlawful. A hearing is due to take place over the next few days.
Cullen told RCN members in an email that it would truncate the strike if it loses the case. “If the government succeeds in silencing members like you and convinces the court to stop part of our strike, then we’ll have no choice but to cut it short,” she said.
The RCN called this weekend’s strike earlier this month when its members rejected the government’s improved pay offer for 2022-23 and 2023-24 in a ballot. Of the 61% of RCN members in England who voted, 54% rejected the deal, which the union had endorsed, but the other 46% voted to accept it.
The RCN has been criticised for refusing to grant the NHS any “derogations” or exemptions from this weekend’s walkout for key areas of care, such as A&E, intensive care and maternity services, even though it did so during the six strikes it held in December, January and February.
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It plans to reballot its members next month in an attempt to gain a fresh legal mandate for a further series of strikes, which Cullen has warned could run until Christmas, in pursuit of a better pay award.
Barclay said the strike as planned was “plainly unlawful”. “Following a request from NHS Employers I am regretfully applying to the high court to declare the Royal College of Nursing’s planned strike action on 2 May unlawful,” he said. “Despite attempts by my officials to resolve the situation over the weekend, I have been left with no choice but to proceed with legal action.
“I firmly support the right to take industrial action within the law. But the government cannot stand by and let a plainly unlawful strike action go ahead nor ignore the request of NHS Employers. We must also protect nurses by ensuring they are not asked to take part in an unlawful strike.”
