Berlin Wall of intransigence

NHS staff across England and Northern Ireland will gear up for a second four-hour strike on Monday (November 24), after health secretary Jeremy Hunt has persisted in his refusal to start talks with health workers, who were denied a one per cent pay rise earlier this year.

 
The one per cent rise, recommended by an independent pay review body (PRB), was unequivocally rejected by the government in April, despite the PRB confirming that the across-the-board one percent rise would be entirely affordable.

 
Unite head of health Rachael Maskell denounced Hunt’s wilful silence, saying, “As ministers ponder their departmental legacies as May’s general election looms, Jeremy Hunt’s ministerial epithet will be: ‘I did not talk to hardworking NHS staff on pay’.”

 
“We understand that MPs from all parties have been urging Hunt to start talks, but, so far, he is cowering behind a Berlin Wall of intransigence,” she added.

 
Maskell argued that health workers, after being pummelled year on year with deep, real-terms pay cuts, have no other option but to strike.

 
“The 1.35 million NHS workforce has been forced, reluctantly, to take strike action on Monday as they have seen their incomes eroded by 15 per cent since the coalition came to power in May 2010,” Maskell said.

 
“We expect a strong turn-out buoyed up by very welcome continuing public support, following the four hour action last month,” she added.

 
Hunt’s stubborn refusal to begin talks stands in marked contrast to Scotland and Wales’ concessions on health workers’ pay.

 
In Scotland, the devolved government has agreed to pay the one per cent pay rise to all staff as recommended by the PRB and to implement the Living Wage by paying an extra ÂŁ300 to low paid workers. Unite accepted this and, therefore, did not ballot its members in Scotland.

 
The Welsh government health and social services minister Mark Drake ford announced that NHS workers will receive a non-consolidated cash payment of ÂŁ187 for this year, with one per cent pledged for the next financial year 2015/16. The Living Wage will also be introduced in the New Year.

 
“The contrast in the attitude between the financially challenged Welsh government and the hard line adopted by Hunt could not be greater,” said Maskell. “It is time for Hunt to get around the negotiating table in good faith.”

 
Unite highlighted this disparity of outcome between England and Wales in a letter to Hunt today.

 
“The tight financial situation is more severe in Wales than England, however, an outcome has been achieved,” the letter noted.

 
Monday’s strike will commence at 7am and will run until 11am in England. In Northern Ireland, the strike will run from 8am and end at noon. The strike will be followed by eight weeks of working to rule.

 
Stay tuned on UNITElive.org for the latest on the dispute.