Huge number of NHS workers balloting for action
Holly Johnston, GMB rep in the NHS
The health union ballots are now in full swing. Each union is recommending members vote ‘yes’ to strike.
What is clear is that the appetite for action on pay among NHS staff has strengthened, and the unions have responded.
Many staff that have never considered striking before are now voting for it. Workers are making the link between constantly working unsafe, understaffed shifts in an underfunded service, and pay erosion and the cost-of-living crisis affecting us all. We see colleagues leaving at an alarming rate, as they have little incentive to stay.
The campaign ‘NHS Workers Say NO’ is calling for a general election and for coordinated strike action across all sectors to push the Tories out altogether, as does the Socialist Party.
The outcome of the ballots will no doubt result in strike action in the NHS, adding to the thousands of workers taking action across the UK.
- Unite and GMB have completed their consultative ballots and will be moving to formal strike ballots, balloting in trusts with the highest turnouts, and all 15,000 of their ambulance service members. Unite have coordinated England with Scotland and Wales, and its ballot opens 26 October and closes 30 November. GMB opened on 24 October and finishes on 29 November
- Over 400,000 members of Unison are being balloted for action, from 27 October to 25 November
- 300,000 nurses in the Royal College of Nursing are being balloted for strike action currently. That ballot closes on 2 November and is coordinated with Scotland
- The Royal College of Midwives has completed its consultative ballot and is moving to a formal strike ballot on 11 November, which will run for four weeks
Biggest campaign ever
Steve Bell, Unison health service group executive, personal capacity
Unison’s campaign among 400,000 workers will be its largest campaign ever, with phone-banking and text-canvassing, to ensure the anti-trade union thresholds are met. Health branches are gearing up to talk to their members, to ensure the widest possible turnout.
It will be a disaggregated ballot, which means that all NHS trusts in England have been written to, to inform them that Unison members are being balloted, to enable those areas that reach the threshold to take industrial action.
Immense pressure on ambulance workers
Gareth Bromhall, Ambulance service worker, Swansea
Emergency department wait times, and the immense pressure on the ambulance service, have become daily headlines – the sharp edge of the NHS crisis, that is arguably the most visible example of how underfunded, understaffed and undervalued our NHS has become.
Many colleagues see the pay offer as insulting, with some being offered as low as 4% in Wales under the Labour Welsh government, less than staff on the same grade are being offered outside of Wales.
The GMB union’s indicative ballot in the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust delivered a 90% vote in favour of strike action.
It will be going for a full ballot, as will our colleagues in ten other ambulance services across England. The ballot of all ambulance staff, from call-handlers and dispatchers, to clinical and admin staff, opened on 24 October and runs till 29 November.
