Nurses need to push ministers further over pay, says Pat Cullen
Posted 02 January 2024 - 13:02
RCN general secretary says College would back nurses to strike again for ‘hard cash and safe staffing’ after last year’s action led to only modest progress
Nurses must ‘push ministers further’ in 2024 to secure ‘hard cash and safe staffing’ as strikes by nursing staff last year led to only modest progress on pay, a nursing leader has said.
In a New Year’s message to members, RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said the college would back nurses to strike again after last year’s pay rise fell short of the revolution nursing needs.
Reflecting on a historical year of strike action in 2023 that saw nurses take to pickets line across the UK, many for the first time, Ms Cullen said members would do it all over again.
She said: ‘We were on picket lines across the country either side of last Christmas and we’d never been louder as a profession – pushed there because nobody was listening but very firmly believing something positive would come out of it all.
Politicians only granted nurses modest progress to save their own skins, says Pat Cullen
'Politicians only granted us modest progress – enough to save their own skins but not the revolution that nursing needs and patients deserve.
‘Would we do it over again? Yes, by your actions you forced ministers to announce a top-up on the previous year’s pay settlement and give more than they had wanted to for the current year. Me and other RCN negotiators got every penny they were ever going to give – and that was real money in your banks when it’s really been needed most – but their desire to fix nursing was simply not as strong as ours.’
RCN members voted in favour of industrial action in November 2022 after the government offered NHS staff a pay rise of 4% (around £1,400) for 2022-23. Strikes were halted and new pay negotiations between unions in the NHS Staff Council and the government were launched in February 2023 . The NHS Staff Council, of which the RCN is part of, agreed a new offer of 5% for 2023-24 along with one-off bonus payments for 2022-23.
While members of the RCN and Unite rejected the new offer, it was accepted by the majority of other unions in the Staff Council. A later vote to extend the RCN’s strike action mandate in July fell short of the legal threshold after not enough members voted in the ballot.
RCN will look to secure commitments on safe staffing levels as well as a fair pay rise
Looking ahead to the union’s campaign for 2024, Ms Cullen said the RCN would look to secure commitments on safe staffing levels as well as a fair pay rise for nursing.
There are currently more than 42,000 nursing vacancies in the NHS in England, and according to the RCN nursing staff each routinely care for up to ten to 15 patients at once.
Ms Cullen used the message to urge nursing staff to make their voices heard. ‘What’s your appetite to campaign for more? Not just a pay rise but a big commitment to improve staffing levels and patient safety,’ she said.
‘2024 is a general election year and every party will be challenged by the RCN to demonstrate clear vision and hard cash for nursing, the NHS and social care. Let’s make sure we again push ministers further than they want to go.’
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