26 C
Dubai
Thursday, March 28, 2024
spot_img

UK ambulance workers, nurses strike; union leaders call for new pay talks

[ad_1]






British ambulance workers and nurses went on strike on Monday as union leaders called for a new round of pay talks.Photo by Adam Vaughan/EPA-EFE
For weeks, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Conservative government have grappled with growing divisions over economic cuts that have sparked widespread protests across the country since December. File photo of Simon Walker / No. 10 Downing Street / UPI
A recent strike by the RMT rail workers union over low wages and poor working conditions has caused severe disruption to the UK rail network for five days.File photo courtesy of Andy Rain/EPA-EFE
NHS nurses have joined a nationwide strike by public sector employees. Debbie Hill/UPI file photo

February 6 (United Press International) — British health workers went on strike on Monday over low wages and poor working conditions in the latest labor movement, as union leaders accused the Conservative government of delaying restart talks after weeks of stagnation.

Monday is the first time ambulance workers and nurses He will strike on the same day since widespread protests began in December.

advertise

NHS officials have been making urgent calls for new talks ahead of another round of strikes planned for nurses and ambulance workers in many parts of the country this week.

Members of the Royal College of Nursing in at least a third of Britain’s emergency service industry are planning to strike on Tuesday, followed by a strike by physiotherapists on Thursday, expected to affect about a quarter of services across the country. Half of the ambulance staff in England’s 10 service areas also planned to stay at home on Friday.

A small union of ambulance workers in Wales plans to take part in demonstrations this week, while dozens of strikes are expected in Northern Ireland next week.

Additional strikes are planned throughout February and will continue until at least mid-to-late March.

weeks, tens of thousands strike Emergency technicians and other key public sector employees have stymied the nation’s most critical industries to pressure British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to raise federal wages, but his Conservative leadership has been under pressure since its last meeting in early January. The party government has failed to come back for new talks, union leaders said.

Ahead of several strikes this week by some unions, Unite union secretary Sharon Graham said the government has been misleading The public is aware of progress and other aspects of the talks, in which unions seek to boost staff and build better working conditions in the country’s National Health Service.

“With Rishi Sunak or [Health Secretary] Steven Barclay talks about this controversy in any way, form or form,” Graham told Laura Kuensberg on BBC One’s Sunday programme. “They danced around the handbag, they danced around the fringe , but they don’t talk about salary. To me, it’s a shift of responsibility. “

Graham accused Britain’s business, energy and industrial strategy secretary, Grant Shapps, of “actually lying” that the strike would continue when he suggested there was poor cooperation between the strikers and the country’s troops who were dispatched. The number of ambulance workers on duty is acting as back-up responders amid the ongoing demonstrations.

“We’ve seen the Royal College of Nursing very responsibly tell the NHS before going on strike, ‘This is where we’re going to strike’ and they were able to put emergency coverage in place,” Sharps said. “Unfortunately, we’ve been seeing cases where the ambulance unions refuse to provide this information. It puts the troops who drive the reserves here in a very difficult position – having a heart attack or a stroke while owning a strike.”

It comes after union leaders vowed that regional emergency services would remain in place during the shutdown to respond to life-threatening emergencies.

“In 30 years of negotiating, I have never in my life seen such a passer-by,” Graham said in an interview, adding that union negotiators were also waiting for Sunak to simply “go back to the table.” forward”.

“We’re trying to sit down with him and negotiate,” Graham said. “It’s very difficult to negotiate a dispute like this if they don’t even come to the negotiating table.”

Strikes by several unions in Wales were averted this week after the Welsh government agreed to a 3% wage increase on top of the 4.75% rise previously given to support staff, and similar moves called off planned strikes in Scotland.

On Sunday, Pat Cullen, who is president of the Royal College of Nursing, challenged Sunak to propose a similar deal in England, saying thousands of lives were at risk due to the ongoing strike.

“We have always said that where negotiations are taking place, we will call off the strike in order to consult with our members,” she said. “That’s what’s happening in Wales, that’s what’s happening in Scotland.

“It’s almost like the NHS is on strike every day; we have 130,000 vacancies. So, we’re doing our best to resolve this dispute…” she said.

Sir Julian Hartley, head of NHS providers, added: “We would all like to see the government enter into open negotiations with unions, especially given what we have seen in other parts of the UK”

Sunak’s government has been grappling with growing public discord over deep economic cuts aimed at propping up the country’s economy amid global inflation and an ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

There has been a back-and-forth between the two sides for weeks, with no end in sight, as the government, while acknowledging the impact on the health service, has not abandoned its fiscally responsible stance in difficult times.

British ministers have already said they will not budge on a previously agreed average pay rise of 4.75% this year and called on union leaders to turn their attention to next year’s pay deal. But all 14 of the country’s health unions agreed to drop the proposal.

Negotiations between the two sides have been contentious so far without any meaningful agreement.

Negotiations have become more complicated after the government recently introduced new anti-strike legislation in parliament that would tighten maintenance of key public services, expose unions to lawsuits and allow employers to summarily dismiss workers who choose to resign.

Following the latest sit-in, Sunak would not commit to a deal that could include one-time payments to nurses, while union leaders said they did not consider Sunak’s demands for higher productivity in exchange for higher wages to be unreasonable. of.

Throughout the negotiations, the prime minister has been emphatic that any pay deal must be affordable for the country.

“We want to have a reasonable two-way conversation about pay and everything else,” Sunak said recently. “People need to start talking, that’s what they’re doing, and hopefully we’ll find a way around that.”

The national rail industry – including more than a dozen train operators – recently cut services across Britain after weeks of disagreement with the government over low wages and poor working conditions.

The pay dispute is similar to one that arose in mid-December when RMT, the country’s largest railway union, rejected the government’s pay proposal, which Sunak insisted was fair.

[ad_2]

Source link

Related Articles

Saudi Arabia Grants 6-Day Holiday for Eid Al Fitr 2024 to Public and Private Sector Employees.

Saudi Arabia Declares 6-Day Eid Al Fitr Holiday for Public and Private Sector Employees The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development in Saudi Arabia...

Apple Empowers Innovation: Acquisition of Canadian AI Start-up DarwinAI Sparks Excitement for iPhone Users

Apple Acquisition of Canadian AI Start-up DarwinAI Apple made headlines earlier this year with its acquisition of Canadian startup DarwinAI, a move that signals a...

New Zealand Condemns China for Unacceptable Hacking of Parliament

New Zealand Condemns Blatant Chinese Cyberattack on Parliament as 'Unacceptable' New Zealand's Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, minced no words as he condemned the recent cyber...

Ramadan 2024: Glorious Images of Muslims Worldwide Celebrating.

Ramadan 2024: Embracing Unity and Devotion as Muslims Worldwide Commemorate Sacred Month In the spring of 2024, the global Muslim community once again came together...

Google Slammed: 250-Million-Euro French Fine Strikes Blow in News Copyright Battle

Google Slammed: Massive 250-Million-Euro French Fine Strikes Blow in News Copyright Battle French regulators announced on Wednesday that Google is facing a hefty fine of...

Latest Articles