Nurses’ leader defiant over threat to declare new strikes illegal

RCN's Pat Cullen rejects 'bullying' by ministers and insists ‘We won’t be gagged’

Nurses are being treated like criminals after the government threatened legal action over their upcoming strikes, RCN general secretary Pat Cullen has said.

Ms Cullen accused ministers of ‘bullying’ nurses amid a row about whether strikes over the May bank holiday weekend are legal.

‘This is nakedly political. Nurses will not be gagged in this way by a bullying government,’ she said.

It comes after health and social care secretary Steve Barclay provided notice to the RCN of the government’s intention to pursue legal action and ask the courts the declare the planned strikes for 30 April to 2 May to be unlawful.

Barclay says the strikes could put professional registration of nurses and patient safety at risk

Mr Barclay said he had been left with ‘no choice’ because the strikes could put the professional registration of nurses and patient safety at risk. ‘Strike action with no national exemptions agreed, including for emergency and cancer care, will also put patient safety at risk,’ he said.

• RELATED: NHS attempts to block nurses’ plans to strike in early May

‘This legal action also seeks to protect nurses who could otherwise be asked to take part in unlawful activity that could in turn put their professional registration at risk and would breach the requirements set out in the nursing code of conduct.’

Mr Barclay gave the college until midday today (24 April) to respond to a ‘pre-action’ letter, which was issued after NHS Employers claimed the final day of a planned walkout between 30 April and 2 May was illegal.

RCN says strikes fall within required six-month period from when its ballot results were announced

NHS Employers say because the RCN’s ballot for industrial action ended at midday on 2 November 2022, its mandate for strike action is only valid until midnight on Monday 1 May.

In a letter to Mr Barclay asking him to intervene, NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer said: ‘The advice that we have received makes clear it is highly likely that if the notices for industrial actions are incorrect in one respect, then they are incorrect in total and that the strike action for the entire period of 30 April to 2 May is illegal.’

• RELATED: Nurses brace for more strikes as RCN members reject 5% pay offer

But the RCN maintained the upcoming industrial action falls within the required six-month period from when its ballot results were announced, adding it would be prepared to fight its case in court.

‘We are clear that court arguments should only relate to 2 May and not 30 April and 1 May,’ Ms Cullen said. ‘The government is now desperate to silence nurses rather than address this properly.’

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on 22 April, Ms Cullen accused ministers of treating nurses as criminals by ‘dragging them through the courts’.

But she confirmed that if a court found against the RCN, it would ‘absolutely work within the parameters of the law’.

See more information on the nurses’ strike and the pay dispute here

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