Posted 06 June 2023 - 05:00
Posted 06 June 2023 - 05:00
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Sexism plays a part in nurse pay talks, suggests Pat Cullen in TV show
Nursing is treated differently in ‘bullyish’ negotiations because profession is 90% female, RCN chief says in fly-on-the-wall documentary about the pay dispute
Nursing is treated differently in ‘bullyish’ negotiations because profession is 90% female, RCN chief says in fly-on-the-wall documentary about the pay dispute
Nurses are being treated differently by the government because they are a predominantly female profession, RCN general secretary Pat Cullen has suggested.
Steve Barclay was ‘bullyish’ says RCN chief
Talking to the BBC in a new behind-the-scenes documentary following the pay disputes of nurses and transport workers, Ms Cullen said that health and social care secretary Steve Barclay has been ‘bullyish’ in meetings.
The two-part programme Strikes: Inside the Unions shows the nursing leader speaking at RCN congress 2022 in Glasgow, visiting nurses on picket lines across England and Wales and later outside the High Court in April following the government’s legal challenge to the RCN’s strike mandate.
Travelling with her team before the December strikes, she tells the reporter: ‘The last meeting that I had with the secretary of state, he arrived accompanied by five men, and it was not a pleasant meeting. It was quite a bullyish conversation.
‘Not just I concluded, but the nursing profession is concluding that we are being treated differently because we are a 90% female profession.’
Department of Health and Social Care say it has ‘utmost respect’ for all NHS staff
Ms Cullen added: ‘And you know, ministers are coming into the room and saying to me that they are shocked that nursing staff may be the main breadwinner in the family because they believe that it is a second salary that we don’t depend on.'
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) told Nursing Standard they did not recognise the claims.
A spokesperson added: ‘The health and social care secretary has the utmost respect for all NHS staff and he held constructive negotiations with unions, resulting in a government pay offer which the RCN leadership recommended to their members.’
One nurse named Kath told the BBC that Ms Cullen is like a ‘mother and sister’ to nurses. She said due to the cost of living crisis most nurses now had two jobs and she had been selling her old clothes online to get by.
Striking nurses tell of taking second jobs despite being ‘run ragged’
Explaining that her salary is ‘more or less the same as ten years ago’, she added: ‘Patient safety is paramount, it is absolutely paramount, but we do need fairer pay for what we do. But not just for nurses, for everyone working in the NHS and that is what we are fighting for.’
Travelling to the picket line for the first time in her career Kath and her colleague Inga tell the documentary that they are ‘run ragged’ at work and worry for the future of the NHS. Footage shows emotional nurses embracing Ms Cullen on picket lines as they thank her for ‘giving them a voice’.
The BBC documentary was aired on BBC Two on 1 June and is available on iPlayer.
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