A UK union representing health care workers accepted a government pay deal, boosting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s efforts to draw a line under months of strikes that have crippled the National Health Service.
(Bloomberg) — A UK union representing health care workers accepted a government pay deal, boosting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s efforts to draw a line under months of strikes that have crippled the National Health Service.
NHS staff with Unison accepted the offer by 74% to 26%, the union said on Friday in an emailed statement. A second union, the Royal College of Nursing, also closed its ballot on the deal on Friday morning, with results expected later in the day.
“Health workers would have wanted more, but this was the best that could be achieved through negotiation,” Unison Head of Health Sara Gorton said in the statement. “They’ve opted for the certainty of getting the extra cash in their pockets soon.”
The pay plan accepted by Unison members is for a 5% rise this year, alongside a one-time bonus worth 2% of salary for 2022-23. It’s a boost to the growing narrative that Sunak’s administration is steadily cleaning up the messes he inherited, after striking a new deal on Brexit, unveiling fresh proposals to tackle immigration, and calming the nerves of markets roiled by the economic policies of his immediate predecessor, Liz Truss, during her disastrous 7-week tenure.
Momentum
It also builds momentum for Sunak’s governing Conservative Party ahead of local elections next month. The Tories have gained ground on the Labour opposition in recent national opinion polls, though they still trail by a double-digit margin.
Nevertheless, the prime minister still has some way to go to resolve a series of industrial disputes that have rocked the NHS, schools and rail services for months and harmed the UK economy. The RCN could yet reject the same deal that Unison accepted.
Meanwhile, civil servants on Friday reacted with anger to government proposals to make average pay awards of 4.5%, with additional flexibility to raise remuneration for the lowest-paid workers by 5%.
‘Insulting’
“This insulting proposal will serve only to anger PCS members,” PCS union General Secretary Mark Serwotka said in an emailed statement. “We were given no opportunity to negotiate — it’s the most deplorable way to treat their own staff.”
Some 133,000 civil servants plan a mass walkout on April 28, and the PCS is holding a vote to extend a mandate for industrial action beyond May. Serwotka said the fresh pay proposal will “stiffen” the resolve of members.
The FDA, a second union representing civil service managers, accused the government of shooting itself in the foot and threatened to ballot members over potential strike action.
The government said in a statement that it recognizes “the hard work and vital importance” of civil servants and that the deal represented the biggest pay increase in 20 years. “The deal is also fair to the taxpayer and supports the government’s promise to halve inflation this year, which will help everyone’s incomes go further,” it said.
Teachers have rejected a recent government pay offer, while Sunak’s administration is yet to hold formal meaningful discussions with doctors, whose demand for a 35% pay increase the government has dismissed as excessive.
Doctors
A four-day strike by doctors is due to end at 7 a.m. on Saturday, with little sign of any rapprochement between the positions of the government and the British Medical Association union. Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt on Thursday said ministers are prepared to engage with the BMA, so long as it lowers its opening pay demand. He and other ministers have reiterated the importance of ensuring new pay deals don’t risk stoking inflation that’s currently running at more than 10%.
But the BMA has said the government should drop its preconditions for talks, calling on ministers to agree to use the arbitration service, ACAS, to facilitate discussions with the union.
The ongoing industrial action has led to the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of patient appointments. It’s also compounded already-long waiting times, with the latest NHS England statistics show that 10.6% of accident and emergency patients had to wait 12 hours or more to be attended to in February.
Office for National Statistics data on Thursday showed the economy stalled unexpectedly in February when strikes crippled public services. Services output fell 0.1%, hit by walkouts by NHS staff, teachers, civil servants, rail workers and university staff.
–With assistance from Stuart Biggs and Andrew Atkinson.
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