‘WE WILL absolutely not pause our strike action,’ Royal College of Nursing (RCN) General Secretary Pat Cullen said yesterday morning on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg show when urged to call off the 48-hour national May Day strike that the nurses’ union announced last Friday.
‘Our members have spoken loud and clear in this ballot,’ Cullen said, referring to the union’s decisive 54%-46% rejection of the Tory government’s paltry pay offer of 5% plus a one-off ‘Covid bonus’ of £1,500.
Cullen told Kuenssberg: ‘I have the greatest respect for our members and they believe that this deal was neither fair nor reasonable.
‘Our members took historic action for the first time in 106 years and for them this pay deal was not historic.
‘They have said very loud and clear that the one-off bonus that was given to them was actually a bribe in their eyes. It isn’t going to fix the long-term problems within the NHS.’
She went on: ‘I’m directed by our members. Our members know what’s right … Our members have made that decision. We believe it is the right decision. The decision is that we need to fix the health service.
‘We need to fix the problems in nursing. There are still tens of thousands of vacant posts and a one-off payment put on the table described as a “Covid bonus” is not going to fix the health service.’
She went on to describe Tory Health Secretary Barclay as ‘not disrespectful to me, but to the 500,000 nurses that I represent’.
Kuenssberg asked Cullen if she would ‘pause’ the strike action, as Barclay had asked her to do.
She replied: ‘No. Our nurses will absolutely not do that. We’ve strike action for the end of this month/beginning of May and then we will move immediately to ballot our members and if that ballot is successful it will mean further strike action right up until Christmas.’
Cullen continued: ‘What I want to say to every patient that’s listening this morning is that the health service is in a crisis, a crisis caused by this government, not our nurses.
‘This government can’t say on the one hand “we value nurses so much that they shouldn’t go on strike” and then “we don’t value them enough to pay them”.
‘That’s why we’re in the crisis we’re in. Nurses will not turn their backs on patients when we are on strike. We’ve had six days so far and nurses made sure at all times that patient safety was at the core of our decision-making.
‘We’ll continue to do that. And should there be a major incident or a particular incident that nurses have to deal with during a strike they will return immediately as they have done from picket lines right throughout this.’
She went on: ‘The health service is underfunded and left with total neglect by this government, with tens of thousands – 47,000 – vacant nursing posts.’
Asked by Keunssberg: ‘Do you accept that this strike will put patients in more danger?’ Cullen replied: ‘Patients are at risk every single day in this health service, not just on days when nurses are taking strike action. Nurses are taking strike action to highlight these risks …
‘The risks within the health service are not just there during the days of strike action, the risks are there every single day because we do not have the nurses and the doctors to look after our patients. Patients deserve better, the public of this country deserve better.’
Cullen concluded: ‘Our members have spoken loud and clear in this ballot … they have said the offer is not fair and is not reasonable. I absolutely support them in that.’
Also appearing on the programme, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting was asked: ‘Do you support the nurses’ strike, to which he replied: ‘No. How could I if there’s a risk to patient safety?’
Then, Tory Party Chairman Greg Hands appeared on the programme and condemned the nurses for their ballot result, claiming: ‘The offer is very fair and reasonable – 4% for last year and 5% for this year – plus a cash payment as well.’
