Strikes are not over, defiant nurses tell ministers
Posted 15 May 2023 - 12:16
Nurses gathered for the RCN Congress debate steps to secure better pay offer as ballot seeking mandate for fresh strike action approaches
‘We will win the fight’ declared nurses in the opening debate of the annual RCN Congress in Brighton, where speakers told the government ‘we are not going away’.
Discussing the successes and failures of the fair pay for nursing campaign, one nurse said members of all unions needed to join together in industrial action, adding that nurses should be striking alongside doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA).
Cancer nurse Anna Pichierri added: ‘The government wants to divide and rule. Nurses should be striking together with other unions, with the BMA.’
Pat Cullen tells health secretary to come back to the table with a pay offer in double digits
Nurse Lynsey Curtis-Dawson said: ‘Rishi Sunak are you listening? We are not going away. This is not the end of the nursing strikes.’
As the RCN prepares for a new ballot on strike action, RCN public health forum member Jason Warriner asked members to reflect on what more could be done to secure a better pay offer. The ballot opens on 23 May and closes on 23 June.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen told the Sunday Times that health and social care secretary Steve Barclay should come back to the table with a pay offer in double digits for nurses.
Mr Warriner told delegates that ‘non-NHS nurses and NHS staff have been widely used in the campaign, implying that they are second class citizens’. He said: ‘The campaign needs to embrace all members and make them feel valued.’
He added: ‘We need to get out there and get voting. We’ve got to bring this government down and get a new offer.’
Fresh approach to the fair pay for nursing campaign suggested
Meanwhile, nurse Karma McKeefery said RCN membership had surged at her trust since the challenge to the pay offer in July 2022, which ‘has given me hope that change is coming’.
But she urged members to encourage as many colleagues as possible to vote, saying it is vital – whether in favour of strike action or against – as each vote helps secure the legal threshold for the mandate.
RCN Nurses in Management and Leadership Forum chair Sally Bassett suggested that the RCN could take a fresh approach to the fair pay for nursing campaign and suggested launching an economic assessment of the contribution nurses make to society ‘not just what we cost’.
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