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New TUC boss urges prime minister to resolve nurse pay disputes

Trades Union Congress general secretary wrote to Rishi Sunak to demand a resolution amid a wave of strikes by nurses and other key workers

Trades Union Congress general secretary wrote to Rishi Sunak to demand a resolution amid a wave of strikes by nurses and other key workers

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak. Picture: Alamy

The new general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called for an urgent meeting with prime minister Rishi Sunak to open pay negotiations for nurses and other public sector workers.

Paul Nowak called for a ‘mature’ change in government direction to resolve industrial disputes sweeping across the UK that have so far have seen the government ‘refuse point blank’ to talk about pay.

‘NHS structures already exist to allow immediate start of pay negotiations’

Just five days into the job, Mr Nowak penned a letter to Mr Sunak requesting a meeting and said he would clear his diary to find a resolution to the mountain of disputes.

‘Unions have already made clear their willingness to sit down with the government and talk about boosting pay,’ he wrote. ‘But while your ministers continue to refuse point blank to discuss improving wages, there can be no resolution.

‘In the NHS, for example, appropriate structures already exist to allow the immediate start of pay negotiations involving health unions, employers and ministers. This was exactly what happened in 2018, leading to the three-year wage deal.’

Staff exodus as strikes continue

Mr Nowak added that every month experienced employees are quitting, with one in three public service staff now taking steps to leave their professions or actively considering it.

Last month thousands of nurses staged two days of historic 12-hour walkouts as members of the RCN took industrial action over a pay offer of £1,400.

More strike days are planned for 18 and 19 January, but the college’s general secretary Pat Cullen has said these could be postponed if pay negotiations were opened.

‘Staff shortages and low pay make patient care unsafe’

Ms Cullen told Nursing Standard: ‘The health secretary’s refusal to negotiate is why nurses are being pushed into the cold and onto picket lines in January.

‘Nurses, patients and the public deserve better than a health secretary who continues to ignore the voice of nursing.

‘Staff shortages and low pay make patient care unsafe – the sooner ministers come to the negotiating table, the sooner this can be resolved. I will not dig in, if they don’t dig in.’

The government has been approached for comment.


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