'Covid claps don't pay the bills': What striking nurses could mean for Greater Manchester
Nurses in Greater Manchester could be joining the biggest-ever national action over a pay dispute. Although votes are still being counted, Royal College of Nursing officials believe there are enough members backing winter industrial action, it is understood.
“Cutting nurses’ wages by 20 per cent since 2010 is the opposite of providing ‘considerable support’ for nurses and the Cabinet Office minister shouldn’t insult our members by pretending it is,” said a spokesperson for the RCN, which recommended to its 300,000 members that they strike. Nurses are among the first professions within the NHS to get to this stage of possible industrial action. They are expected to be followed by paramedics and doctors.
Unlike workers in other industries, the Royal College of Nursing has assured that some staff will continue to work to ensure patients are safe, to be negotiated between the union and hospitals beforehand. But the RCN says that agency nurses should not cover shifts for striking NHS-employed workers, and has recommended that agency staff ask for private hospital or care home shifts on the strike days.
The Omicron Covid-19 variant earlier this year almost brought Greater Manchester's NHS to a standstill, as staff were forced to isolate in droves. Summer, which typically marks a period of respite for the NHS, was marred by floods of patients falling seriously ill after long periods of lockdown or their conditions having worsened over the pandemic.
“I do hope that patient care does not suffer as a result of this nurses strike,” said Steve Collier. “I agree they should be paid more appropriate wages for the excellent work they do, but is striking really the only alternative to get their point across? If patient care does suffer or, heaven forbid, someone dies as a direct result, that's hardly going to help their case is it?”
“This government needs to recognise that this is one of the consequences of underinvesting in health and care and not valuing this profession enough. After years of cuts to nursing pay and using workforce numbers as a mechanism to balance budgets, nursing has decided that the time has come to make a stand and demand fairer pay and safer staffing levels.
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