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LONDON, Jan. 9 (AP) — British government ministers met with union leaders on Monday but failed to end a wave of strikes that have choked up the rail network and overwhelmed an overwhelmed health system.
There were some small signs of progress but no breakthrough after Health Secretary Steve Barclay met with health care unions. Other ministers met with rail unions, which have been on strike for months, and teachers’ unions, which are considering strikes.
Barclays said talks had progressed and the government wanted to “engage constructively with the unions”.
Sarah Gorton of UNISON, which represents some health workers, said: “The tone has definitely changed today.” However, Onay Kasab, a negotiator for the Unite union, said the talks were a “missed opportunity”.
A strike by nurses and paramedics planned for this month will go ahead, the union said. Nurses are set to strike on Wednesday, ambulance staff next week and junior doctors will vote on whether to strike later this year.
Joanne Galbraith-Marten, of the Royal College of Nurses’ union, said: “There is no resolution of our dispute at the moment.”
Rachel Harrison of the GMB union said the talks were “far from reaching anything of substance that would prevent strikes this week.”
The UK is experiencing its biggest wave of strikes in decades, with airport baggage handlers, border workers, driving instructors, bus drivers and postal workers among others quitting their jobs demanding higher wages.
Nurses and ambulance staff are at loggerheads with the state-funded NHS as they seek pay rises to keep up with soaring living costs. Inflation in Britain hit a 41-year high of 11.1% late last year, driven by sharp rises in energy and food costs.
The government says double-digit wage increases will push up inflation.
Pat Cullen, head of the Royal College of Nursing union, said she saw “signs of optimism” in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s statement on Sunday that he was willing to discuss “affordable and responsible” salary demands. The Conservative government has so far insisted it will only discuss wage rates for the 2023-24 financial year, which starts in April, and not wage rates for the current year.
Sunak’s spokesman Max Bryan said the government was aware that “global economic headwinds are putting pressure on household budgets” and that the prime minister “has indicated that we are happy to hear those concerns”.
But the government, angered by unions, plans to make it harder for key workers to strike by setting a “minimum level of safety” for firefighters, ambulance services and railways that must be maintained during strikes.
The strikes have added to a health system already facing multiple strains, including increased demand for care after the easing of pandemic restrictions; a surge in flu and other winter viruses after two years of lockdown; pandemic burnout and a lack of European workers in the UK post-Brexit. staff shortage
Thousands of hospital beds are occupied by people who are fit for discharge but have nowhere to go due to a lack of long-term care places. This has resulted in ambulances being parked outside hospitals, patients unable to be admitted and people with health emergencies waiting hours for ambulances to arrive. Health leaders say the delays could kill hundreds. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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