NHS "reject" campaign discusses plans

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 struck across the country, are thought most likely to vote reject. In Unison, thresholds for strike were not met in many places, and a practised bureaucracy is working harder to sell the deal than they ever did to mobilise for strike ballots.

RCN leaders are showing their fears about the potential reject vote by desperately conniving against the emergency general meeting (EGM) petition that was completed and is still up and running. The RCN has a rule that 1,000 members can call an EGM. The union leadership have repeatedly, including in the national press, accused organisers of rigging the petition with false names, and have taken the issue to the police.

The petition was circulated openly, so the organisers had no control over who signed it. They could get no gain from entering false data. Many have pointed out that the only people who could have entered such data systematically are those holding the RCN membership records.

The RCN leaders’ fear of the petition shows they understand the high stakes and the implications of a reject vote in terms of the future strategy for the dispute. If RCN votes to reject, we will need an organised rank-and-file network to push for further strikes and a continued serious campaign to restore real-wage losses over the years.

The “vote reject” campaign is articulating ideas for an escalation of action alongside the BMA junior doctors if the offer is rejected. A further meeting will discuss the measures needed to prepare for that.

Votes run until 14 April in the RCN and Unison, and 28 April in GMB and Unite.