The strikes crippling public services in Britain may soon abate after the government struck a pay deal with health unions, and teachers agreed to pause industrial action to enter talks. Train companies are also due to hold fresh talks next week with rail unions, who say “the end is in sight” if a pay offer improves.
Workers across the health service from nurses to ambulance drivers have been striking intermittently for months for better pay in the biggest industrial relations crisis in National Health Service history.
A pay deal struck with NHS unions on Thursday night includes a 2 per cent of salary lump sum, a bonus of at least £1,250 (€1,425) per person and a 5 per cent pay rise over 2023 and 2024. It is unclear how the deal will be funded, however. It will cost up to £4 billion, said a spokesman for prime minister Rishi Sunak.
The government said it would “guarantee… no impact on frontline services or patient care”. Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS confederation, the healthcare services’ representative body, said there was “no way” the health system could afford to pay for the deal without affecting patient services.
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Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab suggested on Friday that the cash would come from the existing NHS budget. The spring budget announced by chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday contained no new provision for a health pay deal beyond a previous 3.5 per cent pay offer that was already rejected by union leaders.
It is expected that the Treasury may be able to pull resources from some of the funding for cost-of-living supports, if UK inflation dips below 3 per cent this year as predicted.
The NHS pay deal is subject to votes by union members although union leaders will recommend staff take what is on offer. Junior doctors, who were on strike on Wednesday, budget day, have separately sought a pay rise of up to 35 per cent, but they are expected to also enter talks shortly.
Meanwhile, the biggest teachers’ union in England has agreed to pause strike action for two weeks to create a period of calm for “intensive talks” with the government on the prospect of a pay deal. The National Education Union will now join three other teaching unions in entering negotiations. The latest round of teacher strikes on Wednesday and Thursday shut up to half of schools in England.
Strikes are already on pause in Scotland, where teachers have been offered a 7 per cent rise by the devolved government, and Wales, where they have been offered 8 per cent.
Rail strikes that have been ongoing since last summer are continuing this week, with walkouts planned on Saturday, following further disruption on Thursday. Fresh strikes are planned for the end of March. Talks are expected to take place next week between rail unions and representatives of up to 18 train companies that are privately owned, but reliant on a state-controlled network.
Other industrial disputes are rumbling on. Tube drivers and station workers walked out on Wednesday and are due to go out again on Saturday in a pay dispute with Transport for London. Various civil servant groups are also taking action, with passport workers the latest to vote to strike.
