Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hinted the UK government may take a softer line against striking workers as he delivered a speech setting out his government’s priorities.
(Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hinted the UK government may take a softer line against striking workers as he delivered a speech setting out his government’s priorities.
“We hugely value public sector workers like nurses: that’s why we want a reasonable dialog with the unions about what’s responsible and fair for our country,” Sunak said on Wednesday in London. “In the coming days we’ll update you on the government’s next steps.”
Sunak also pledged to cut National Health Service waiting lists as one of his main priorities. Still, union bosses were unimpressed.
“The prime minister’s language appeared detached from the reality of what is happening and why,” said Pat Cullen, the Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary. She said this month’s strikes would go ahead and urged the government to lift pay to avoid further industrial action.
“The government must raise wages sufficiently across the health service right away,” added Unison’s deputy head of health, Helga Pile.
Sunak’s government has faced a wave of strikes this winter including by nurses, ambulance drivers and railway workers. So far, he’s taken a hard line on pay demands, vowing to stick to the recommendations of independent pay review bodies for public sector workers, which has seen the average pay of nurses rise by around 4% despite calls from their union for double-digit wage growth to outstrip inflation.
“If Rishi Sunak is serious when he says he values public sector workers, then he would give our members an above-inflation pay rise,” added Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union.
–With assistance from Eamon Akil Farhat.
(Adds reaction from trade unions.)
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