UK: Ministers rebuff union's offer to negotiate over pay to suspend NHS strikes

UK ministers refused to hold any negotiation talks over pay in return for nursing unions' offer to suspend the strikes planned, saying that the government cannot amend awards decided for NHS staff by the independent pay body.

While speaking to Sky News, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Sunday said that the health secretary is willing to hold talks with the unions about how the performance and working conditions of NHS can be improved and not about the pay demand.

He said, “Of course, the health secretary wants to talk to the profession about how we can make the job better, how we can improve the NHS performance for everybody. But ultimately pay is decided by an independent pay body.”

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“The point is, meetings are different from pay negotiations. Ultimately, independent bodies are there for a reason, to take the politics out of this kind of stuff. And we respect the judgment they have made, and we’re implementing it,” he added.

Wes Streeting of the Labour party called the ministers “irresponsible”, saying they are looking to blame the striking staff for the NHSa crisis and not finding a solution.

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen, over the weekend, had made the offer to "press pause" on the strikes if serious talks can be held with Health Secretary Steve Barclay.

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For the first time in 106 years of the union's history, UK nurses will be walking out on a strike this week, which they insist is the "last resort” to press for their pay demands.

The one-day stoppage will be held by the Royal College of Nursing's (RCN) 100,000 members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland after they rejected the pay offer of the government.

The RCN said that they will be able to protect intensive care and high-dependency units, chemotherapy, neonatal intensive care, dialysis and paediatric intensive care.

It added that they will have Christmas staffing levels in other services. Accident and emergency staff nurse Mark Boothroyd said that the crisis has reached a tipping point.

"Workloads are horrendous. Nurses are burnt out, can't provide safe service to patients. We are seeing harm to patients and patients put at risk every day," he said.

RCN member and Unite union's staff representative Boothroyd said that the stoppage to be held on Thursday and on December 20 is aimed at restoring "quality of care for patients".

Britain has been battling a cost-of-living crisis and the prices of energy, food and housing have been soaring. The industrial action of RCN is part of increasing dissent among private and public sector employees.

(With inputs from agencies)