NHS strikes: hospitals face fresh disruption as Unite staff announce more walkouts over pay

A fresh wave of strikes in the NHS are set to take place next month in the long-running dispute over pay, coinciding with the next nursing walk out.

Unite has said its members at several NHS trusts will take part in industrial action in May as health workers are unhappy with the government’s pay offer.

It was confirmed earlier this week that members at Guys and St Thomas’ Trust in South London and the Yorkshire Ambulance Trust will walk out on 1 May, and several other trusts will strike on the following day. The union has now announced that members of the following trusts will stage walkouts on 2 May:

• South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust
• South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust
• West Midlands Ambulance Trusts
• Christies NHS Foundation Trust
• Christies Pathology Partnership
• East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
• Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

Unite members in England are currently still being balloted on the government’s offer of a 5% pay increase this year, plus a cash sum for last year.

Voting ends on 28 April but Unite has said the known results so far indicate that members in “a large number of NHS trusts” are voting to reject the offer, and it is therefore preparing further industrial action.

Union representatives in NHS trusts with a live strike mandate will now be issuing strike notices, following an agreement at a Unite meeting on Monday (17 April).

Unite said its members at Guys and St Thomas’ Trust and the Yorkshire Ambulance Trust will overwhelmingly reject the government offer as “totally inadequate”. The union said that workers at these trusts are increasingly angry that the government has blatantly failed to deliver its commitment to find new money to pay for its proposals rather than “robbing other health budgets”.

Unite put the government offer to the ballot of its members without a recommendation to accept, saying the 5% increase for 2023/24 did not come anywhere near to matching inflation.

It also says the pay offer fails to match the higher settlement approved by Unite members in Scotland. For example, under the terms of the current government offer, a paramedic on a band 6 in salary in England will earn almost £3,500 less per year than a corresponding worker in Scotland.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “All along we have said this offer is nowhere near good enough for NHS workers. The new wave of strike action agreed today reflects the growing anger of our members about the total inadequacy of the current government proposals. We knew that the lump sum on offer and the 2023 percentage increase simply would not cut it with our members.

“If the new wave of strike action is to be avoided, the government needs to return to the negotiations and put more money on the table, that includes the consolidation of the lump sum offer into wages as a starter. Otherwise, make no mistake, Unite is organising for more decisive strike action involving more and more of our members.”

She added:  “Unite has been upfront and honest that it did not believe that the pay offer was good enough for NHS workers. A lump sum payment and yet another real-terms pay cut doesn’t meet the challenges faced by NHS workers.

“Where our members have indicated that they want to swiftly return to the picket line, Unite is ensuring they are able to do so.”

The looming strike action comes after members of the Royal College of Nursing voted to reject the pay offer last week and will strike for 48 hours from 30 April, while Unison members voted to accept.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Following constructive discussions, all parties agreed the pay deal was a fair and reasonable offer which is demonstrated by Unison, representing the largest share of the NHS workforce, choosing to accept it.

“Thousands of Agenda for Change staff continue to vote in their unions’ pay consultations over the next two weeks and we hope this generous offer secures their support. Strikes are in no one’s best interest – least of all patients – and it would not be appropriate to pre-empt the results of the ballot by calling for further industrial action before the voting has closed.”