After months of disruption and negotiation, the government has awarded pay rises of between 6 to 6.5%% to key public sector workers including teachers, NHS staff, the police and the armed forced. NHS workers, including nurses and junior doctors also receive a £1,250 one-off payment. These workers have been urged to take what they have been offered and we can only hope that this latest concession will stop them striking.
Tough talking Rishi Sunak said: “Today’s offer is final, there will be no more talks on pay. We will not negotiate again on this year’s settlements and no amount of strikes will change our decisions.” Given the government’s success at stopping the arrival of illegal immigrants on our shores, we can probably expect further disruption. He was quick to point to an early dividend of this latest offer: “all teaching unions have just announced that they are suspending all planned strikes immediately.”
It is especially welcome that the teaching unions have suspended all plans for strikes. Speaking from experience, teaching and learning have been severely disrupted and events such as sporting competitions have been postponed.
Striking, almost a thing of the past, has returned recently. Following quickly in the footsteps of lockdown and the damaging effect that had on society, with the exception of the police, prison officers and armed forces, it is especially galling that strikes were called by the teaching and health service unions. While much of the population languished on furlough and many lost jobs, they were fully employed throughout. We even clapped for the NHS workers and, recently, dedicated a ParkRun to celebrate its first 75 years; but that’s gratitude for you.
It is to be hoped that all the groups involved accept the pay rise, as the end of the strikes will be a relief. However, where the government is going to get this money from is not clear. We already have a problem with inflation currently hovering under 9%, with food price inflation predicted to be back at 9% by the end of the year. ‘Printing’ more money will not help the economy. Of course, the money is not actually printed these days, it is merely created by keystrokes. But the principle remains that, however it is created, once it is created the value of our currency goes down. This cannot have escaped Rishi Sunak’s notice.
Surely workers in other sectors—shop workers; hairdressers and factory workers—who were on furlough during lockdown deserve a pay rise too. The ‘magic money tree’ may have been shaken for them during the furlough, but now that things are back to normal it only gets shaken for the public sector.
One lesson from the recent strikes is that we have seen NHS employees, especially nurses and doctors, in a new light; they proved to be as selfish and uncaring as any workers who are willing to hold the British public hostage in pursuit of their fortune. Recently, over 28 hours, 7,600 appointments were cancelled and thousands more were disrupted. People could not even book an appointment. Sadly, teachers have also exposed themselves to be untrustworthy. They have inflicted further damage on the pupils in their care, whose lives and education were affected by lockdown and school closures. They may call off the strikes, for now, but can we ever trust them again?
At the time of writing, it is not clear whether nurses will accept the pay rise, and it looks as if doctors will decline and return to the picket lines. The nursing leadership is ‘outraged’ (aren’t they always?), but is unlikely to get the support of the membership for further strikes. Junior doctors, who clearly still have a sense of humour claim to be holding out for a staggering 35% which, they say, will see their pay restored, in real terms, to their 2008 level. Perhaps if they worked at 2008 levels, they might have a case. NHS productivity is at an all-time low and, while junior doctors are not completely to blame; standing on picket lines is not going to help.
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