UNISON

RCN (54%), Unite (52%), RCP (podiatrists) and SOR (radiographers) voted against the government's NHS pay offer

Open letter: GMB, Unison and Unite members reject the TUC's ruling against NEU

As the RCN and some Unite health branches prepare for more industrial action, the Tories have taken the RCN to court to try to stop the action. Stephen Barclay, the Health and Social Care minister, says that the original ballot closed at midday on 2 Nov 2022 and therefore its six-month mandate does not cover strikes on 2 May. The RCN has said that the strike (from 8pm 30 April to 8pm 2 May) will continue, and accuses the Tories of bullying. This use of the courts by the Tories and employers could become commonplace if the next raft of anti-trade union law, the Strikes (Minimum Service Level)...

Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England have rejected the government’s derisory offer on NHS pay. Nurses recognised the offer did nothing to redress pay erosion and nothing to solve the job-vacancy crisis that is crushing the NHS. It got nowhere near the original union claim for inflation plus 5%. 54% of members, on a 61% turnout, went against the recommendation made by the union nationally. New strike dates, without derogations, have been announced from 8pm on 30 April to 8pm on 2 May. These days will allow reignition of the dispute alongside the BMA junior doctors action...

A fringe meeting on pay, organised by “Time for Real Change”, on the first day of this year’s Unison Health sector conference, attracted 40 delegates (17 April). It decided that we needed an ongoing network of health activists to continue organising on pay restoration. On 18 April the conference passed emergency motion 1 from the top table which noted the vote to accept the offer and which said the union will seek implementation. Speeches have been made against the Service Group Exec’s ballot recommendation to accept the offer, but we have been unable to get a vote on any wording about that...

The NHS pay consultation ballots of the biggest health unions, RCN and Unison, are due to close on Friday 14 April. The Vote Reject campaign has delivered tens of thousands of leaflets across the country, and is bringing together workers from all the health unions to organise against the offer. Places where the campaign has a good levels of activism expect a strong No vote. However, in some areas many members will be untouched by the debate, and, without a convincing argument about how to win a better deal, may well be tempted by the unconsolidated “bribe” payment for 2022-23. RCN members, who...

Unison National Executive (NEC) elections run from 17 April to 19 May against a backdrop of a ballot on whether to accept a poor offer in health, industrial action ballots in local government, and the failure so far since 2021 to transform members’ anger at real-wage cuts into large enough ballot turnouts to bring the majority of our members into action. The left won the NEC for the first time in 2021, but it was bound to take more than 18 months to turn round this large union with its entrenched bureaucracy. The right of the union, working with the Labour right, manufactured expulsions of...

Consultation ballots on the derisory offer to NHS workers opened on 28 March 2023. The Vote Reject campaign has delivered tens of thousands of leaflets ( click here ) across the country, and is bringing together workers from all the health unions to organise against the offer. The campaign is starting to articulate ideas for an escalation of action alongside the BMA junior doctors if the offer is rejected. The petition for an Emergency General meeting of the RCN has been restarted, and emergency motions for Unison health conference (17-19 April) are circulating. It will be difficult to win a...

Despite the votes to accept poor offers on Network Rail and by RCN in NHS Scotland, and despite the suspension of strikes on Train Operating Companies, there is still potential to remobilise and turn the tide. But workers need independent rank-and-file organisation to develop alternative strategies in disputes. RCN (Royal College of Nursing) in Scotland has announced that among its members in Scotland. 53.3% voted to accept the offer, 46.6% voted to reject, on a turnout of just over 50%. The offer is a 6.5% rise in 2023-4 (or for some, fractionally more) for all staff up to and inclusive of...

The NHS Workers Say No! group has put out a leaflet calling on health workers to vote no to the current offer and organise for renewed industrial action at a higher tempo. Click here for the PDF