Oliver Dowden states that he would “love” to increase nurses’ salaries, but that doing so would have a “big impact” on the public purse.
A minister told that giving in to nurses’ compensation demands would “fuel” inflation and have a “big impact” on public budgets.
Oliver Dowden stated that he would “dearly love for the government to be able to write the check” and grant the Royal College of Nursing (request)’s for a 17% salary increase.
However, he reiterated that the government remained “resolute” and that caving into public sector unions’ salary demands will cost each household an additional £1,000 per year.
Mr. Dowden responded, “that’s a wholly different notion” when he was challenged on the numbers he supplied, as independent forecasts expected a significantly lower inflation rate of 5.5% for next year.
To “take the politics out” of the discussion, he argued that the government should accept the advice of independent pay review organizations, which advised a 4% pay increase for nurses over the summer – before inflation skyrocketed.
This week, nurses conducted the first strike in their history by staging a walkout on Thursday, with a second planned for Tuesday and more possible in 2023 if their demands are not satisfied.
Pat Cullen, the head of the RCN, said that the strikes could have been avoided if the government had advanced on the pay deal.
But so far, Health Secretary Steve Barclay has refused to put wages back on the negotiating table, sticking to the suggestion of the pay review.
Mr. Dowden stated: “I would love to be able to sit here and tell you, all of your viewers, and especially those nurses that they will receive a 19% wage raise.
“Because of the impact on the public budget, it is impossible to do so.
“These funds are not mine. This is not government money. It is the money of your viewers that is being spent, and as government ministers, we must make extremely difficult decisions.”
He added: “We are attempting to be reasonable with this. However, we must take into account the broader public interest concerning this. This is what ministers would be expected to do in this situation.
“And I must tell the union leaders that we will continue to be reasonable, but we must also be resolute in preserving the broader public finances.”
Mr. Dowden urged all unions to call off industrial action “to give people a rest over Christmas” because strikes are scheduled every day in the run-up to Christmas, involving railway workers, Border Force officials, and others.
But his tone was much different from that of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whom today referred to union executives as “Christmas-stealing Grinches.”
In his Sunday article for The Sun, Mr. Sunak made no mention of the nurses and ambulance drivers who are also planning to strike.
But he singled out rail workers, claiming that their “cruelly timed” walkouts were “creating pain for millions.”
Stephen Kinnock of the Labour Party termed the Prime Minister’s tone “incendiary,” telling that the administration is “eager for a war” with the unions.
He said, “I think the government needs to stop all the hyperbole, hollow posturing, and planting the seeds of division and start finding a constructive solution so that we can get people back to work in a way where they feel appreciated and that there is a real future for them in those jobs.”
The Armed Forces are irreplaceable.
Meanwhile, union leaders and top military officials have voiced reservations about plans to deploy the Armed Forces to cover the vacancies generated by strike action, notably to replace ambulance drivers and Border Force personnel.
Sara Gorton, head of health at Unison, stated that the military is “no substitute” for skilled ambulance workers, but Nathan Holman, from GMB, stated that bringing in “untrained” personnel would be more of a “hindrance” than an “assist.
And the chief of the armed forces, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, warned that it was “dangerous” to expect military people to be frequently utilized as strike coverage.
Mr. Dowden stated that the government has “serious concerns” about the ambulance driver strikes and encouraged the unions once more to end them.
He added: “We are working extremely hard to ensure that individuals can obtain an ambulance, especially in the most critical situations.
“But the only way to eliminate all of these consequences is to cancel this project. This is not a desirable condition for us.”
