NHS TRADE unions, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Unison and Unite condemned Tory Party Chairman Nadhim Zahawi’s announcement yesterday morning that he is mobilising the British army to break their strikes this month.
Appearing on the Sophie Ridge Show on Sky News, Zahawi first accused Russian President Putin of responsibility for bringing to the UK ‘very high inflation rates, so we’ve got to try and bring down inflation’.
He went on to accuse the health workers of the same crime, saying: ‘If you chase inflation, or above inflation, in some cases, pay, then you will embed inflation for much longer and hurt the most vulnerable in fact.
‘Our message to the unions is to say, this is not a time to strike, this is a time to negotiate.
‘But in the absence of that it’s important for the government and it’s the right and responsible thing to do to have contingency plans in place and we have a very strong team at COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A – otherwise known as the Civil Contingencies Committee).’
Ridge asked: ‘Let’s look at the specifics. Are you talking about the military being involved – soldiers driving ambulances?’
Zahawi replied: ‘We are looking at the military, we are looking at a specialist response force which we actually set up a number of years ago, a surge in capacity to be able to deal with, in the unfortunate circumstance, if you do have, say, a strike at Border Force, you’ve got to make sure that there is minimum disruption.’
He continued: ‘Of course with ambulances and other parts of the public sector we’ve got to try and minimise disruption.
‘But the way you try and deal with this is if the unions can see that chasing inflation or above inflation pay deals is not the thing to do right now.
‘It’s a time to come together and to send a clear message to Mr Putin that we’re not going to be divided in this way.’
RCN general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen, responded: ‘Using Russia’s war in Ukraine as a justification for a real-terms pay cut for nurses in the UK is a new low for this government.
‘The public does not believe this kind of rhetoric and wants ministers to address our dispute.
‘Nursing staff cannot afford their food and other bills and still fear the worst on energy this winter.
‘But our campaign is about more than today’s cost of living crisis – it’s a cry for help for an NHS that’s had a decade of neglect.
‘Record numbers of nurses are leaving because they feel undervalued and patients are paying the price.
‘Ten days until our strike action is due to begin, I reiterate my commitment to meeting with ministers to address our dispute.
‘Instead of negotiating with nurses, they are choosing strike action.’
Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham also vehemently rejected the Zahawi attacks, saying: ‘Today, another multi-millionaire government minister has chosen to attack ordinary workers whose only crime has been to refuse to take a pay cut.
‘Nadhim Zahawi’s allegation that Britain’s nurses, ambulance drivers and teachers are allies of Vladimir Putin is as ridiculous as it is disgraceful.
‘Rather than running down our NHS in an act of catastrophic self-harm and threatening to bring in the military, the minister should instead ask himself why health staff are leaving in droves.
‘The truth is, if pay and conditions are not dramatically improved, no army will be big enough to cover the vacancies never mind strikes.’
Unison head of health Sara Gorton said: ‘The government can easily prevent strikes across the NHS this winter.
‘Steve Barclay (Tory Health Secretary) simply has to start talking to unions about increasing NHS staff pay.
‘But instead of taking responsibility for trying to solve the growing staffing crisis, ministers want to ratchet up the rhetoric and pick fights with ambulance workers and their NHS colleagues.
‘This won’t go down well with the public.
‘People have lots of sympathy for health workers and know that if wages improve so will vacancy rates and patient care.
‘The Scottish government has averted strikes by talking to health unions and boosting pay.
‘Ministers in Westminster should do the very same.’
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