NHS Strike – Union Newswire

The numbers behind NHS pay

UNISON is currently leading the union side of the talks with the Westminster government in an effort to resolve the long-running pay dispute.

But even though the government has finally agreed to talk to unions, there’s still a long way to go until the current dispute is resolved.

And while pay is seen as the defining feature of this industrial action, there’s frequently a lack of understanding of how pay affects staffing levels which ultimately affects patient care across the NHS.

Tap through the stats below to find out why we are where we are.

The article The numbers behind NHS pay first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Strikes are serious in Yorkshire

In the third day of strike action in the NHS, UNISON members working for the ambulance service at Rotherham Hospital in South Yorkshire took to the picket lines, while the union’s head of health, Sara Gorton, joined the picket at Wakefield, where she fielded questions from the media.

Photographer Mark Pinder took his camera along.

Pickets with flags in Rotherham

Unison ambulance workers strike in South Yorkshire and Sara Gorton. Sheffield/Crowder Road ambulance station. Monday 23rd January 2023. Photo © Mark Pinder +44 (0)7768 211174 pinder.photo@gmail.com www.markpinder.net

Unison ambulance workers strike in South Yorkshire Wakefield picket. Monday 23rd January 2023.

Unison ambulance workers strike in South Yorkshire Wakefield picket. Monday 23rd January 2023. with Sara Gorton

Unison ambulance workers strike in South Yorkshire Wakefield picket. Monday 23rd January 2023.

The article Strikes are serious in Yorkshire first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Five ways that you can support Monday’s NHS strikers

A third strike in the ongoing NHS pay dispute takes place on Monday 23 January. UNISON members working in the ambulance service in five regions will be walking out, as well as staff in hospitals across Liverpool.

But before getting into how you can show your support, it’s important to note that there are strict legal provisions and a statutory code of practice around who can picket and how pickets are run.

It’s vital to make sure legal requirements and patient safety are maintained, and UNISON regional offices will be working with striking branches to manage invitations and arrangements for visitors to their pickets.

So please don’t go to picket lines unless invited by striking branches.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t still support the strikers, so here are five ways.

1.#PutNHSPayRight

Use our template tweet, but don’t be scared to give it a personal touch!

Show your support

Follow #PutNHSPayRight on twitter, get involved on Facebook, retweet and repost striking branches as well as UNISON’s national and regional accounts.

2. Honk those horns – and share our video

While you may not be able to join the official pickets, if you happen to be walking or driving past as part of your day, you can still show your support, honk your horns or give them a cheer, we’re sure they’ll appreciate it.

3. Share our graphics

Make sure to use our graphics, if you want your support to pop, with shapes and sizes to suit all the social channels.

Download the graphics

4. Write to your MP

This is an issue that the government can fix, if it chooses to. Write to your MP using our template letter to tell them to support the campaign and put pressure on the government to put NHS pay right and fix our NHS.

Write to your MP

5. Keep up to date

Make sure to follow our live feed on Monday. We’ll be posting updates from all over the country all day so you can follow along – you’ll find the rolling feed on the front-page of the UNISON website.

You can also read a recent blog from a ‘NICE’ member about why they went on strike on Tuesday.

Blog: NICE and NHS staff are for life, not just for COVID

The article Five ways that you can support Monday’s NHS strikers first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: NICE and NHS staff are for life, not just for COVID

By Trudie Pandolfo

On Tuesday, this week, NICE staff staged a one-day strike, the first time we have been on strike since the national pensions dispute in 2011.

What is NICE, you ask? The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. We work to assess new drugs and technologies and advise the NHS on clinical and cost effectiveness.

We also write guidance for clinical staff on how to treat various medical conditions. Our work was particularly important during COVID, when we produced guidance very quickly to support our frontline colleagues.

I work in the public involvement programme at NICE and am also joint branch secretary for the UNISON branch.

A lot of people have asked me – why did we go on strike? Why were we stood out in the freezing cold all day, sacrificing even more pay? Well …

we went on strike because we have had 13 years of real-terms pay cuts;
we went on strike because up to 500 people a week are dying because the NHS cannot provide the level of care they need;
we went on strike because there are over 100,00 vacancies in the NHS and pay cuts will only make that worse;
we went on strike because our front line colleagues are traumatised every day by the level of care they are able to provide.
we went on strike because frontline colleagues are leaving the NHS for better pay in supermarkets;
we went on strike because we were standing up for patients and the public;
we went on strike because we government need to hear and understand that enough is enough.

But most of all, we went on strike because the NHS will only last as long as there are folk with the faith to fight for it. We and our NHS colleagues have the faith and we will carry on doing all we can to protect it.

This was not a decision that any of us took lightly. Just like our NHS colleagues, many of us at NICE are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

And for many of the staff at NICE, this has been their first experience of union membership and also their first experience of going on strike.

Having spoken with members throughout the ballot period and since, they feel that this vote was about securing the very future of the NHS.

At NICE, we have a bird’s eye view of the whole system, as we work on clinical, social care and public health guidance.

This is why I think our branch had the highest ballot turnout in the country, at 67.3%. This unique perspective gives us the ability to see the problems right across the system, caused by years of chronic underfunding, increasing workloads and huge staff shortages.

For me, my rent has increased, as has my energy bill, so losing a day of pay was not an easy thing to choose to do.

But, it came down to a choice between losing a day’s pay or doing what I can to try and protect the NHS. I have a disability and have been a patient of the NHS over the years.

In the past, I have waited two years for treatment, and I have friends who have been quoted a wait of up to four years for similar treatment. This is just not sustainable and affects the quality of life of all patients, but especially those of us with disabilities.

On the day, the mood on the picket line was determined, it was lively and well attended, despite the sub-zero temperatures! We had fantastic support from sister branches and other unions, and great speeches by representatives from Manchester Trades Council and the People’s Assembly, as well as Andrea Egan, UNISON president.

It seems so obvious that the solution to the current crisis is to pay and value staff properly. As a brilliant placard on Tuesday read, NHS staff are for life, not just for COVID.

The article Blog: NICE and NHS staff are for life, not just for COVID first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Staff with expert view of NHS crisis to strike over pay and staffing

Several hundred staff working for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) are taking strike action today (Tuesday) over pay and staffing, says their union UNISON.

The strike will be followed by four days when the NICE employees, who belong to UNISON and are based in Manchester and London, will work to rule.

This means the staff, who advise the NHS on the best drugs and treatments available for patients, will only work the hours set out in their contracts and refuse any overtime.

NICE workers also played a critical role during the pandemic, providing guidance on the best ways of treating the various medical conditions caused by Covid.

UNISON head of health Sara Gorton said: “The staff at NICE are critical to ensuring the NHS provides the most effective drugs and treatments to patients. They can see only too well the unbearable pressure across all parts of the health service.

“No one wants to strike. But the hope is the action taken by key health staff proves enough to convince the chancellor he needs to act now to improve NHS pay. The need for urgent talks to resolve the dispute is becoming more pressing by the day.”

UNISON NICE joint branch secretary Trudie Pandolfo, who works on NICE’s public involvement programme, said: “At NICE, my colleagues and I work with all parts of the NHS – including public health, clinical services, social care – so have a proper bird’s-eye view of just how bad things have become.

“Unless the government acts quickly to boost pay across the NHS, services will soon be unable to function, let alone provide decent patient care. The NHS and the public deserve much better from this government.”

Notes to editors:
-There will be a picket outside the NICE offices in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester today, with a rally in support of striking NHS workers beginning at 12.30pm.
-Ambulance staff belonging to UNISON took strike action last week (11 January) at five services in England – London, Yorkshire, the North West, North East and South West – over pay and staffing. The next strike is planned for Monday (23 January). That same day, NHS staff belonging to UNISON and working at the Liverpool University Hospitals Trust and the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital are also due to take strike action. The union is re-balloting ambulance workers at five ambulance services in England (South East Coast, South Central, East of England, West Midlands and East Midlands) and the Welsh Ambulance Service. This began on 6 January and continues until Monday 16 February.
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union and the largest union in the NHS and in the ambulance sector, with more than 1.3 million members providing public services – in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Press contacts:
Liz Chinchen M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk
Sam Doherty M: 07432 549759 E: s.doherty@unison.co.uk

The article Staff with expert view of NHS crisis to strike over pay and staffing first appeared on the UNISON National site.

The streets of London – pictures from the picket lines

Wednesday’s day of strike action in the ambulance service, across England, saw pickets throughout London.

Touring the capital was UNISON head of health Sara Gorton – above, with pickets at Waterloo – moving from there, where she addressed massed ranks of news media, to sites including Deptford and Greenwich.

She was accompanied by photographer Marcus Rose, who recorded events.

Waterloo picket – sun shining through flags

Pickets at Waterloo attaching a sign to an ambulance to stress provision of emergency cover

Waterloo picket – UNISON head of health Sara Gorton being interviewed by media

UNISON ad van between two ambulances at Waterloo

Pickets at Waterloo with an ad van

Waterloo picket with 'honk for the NHS' handwritten placard

Sara Gorton addressing media at Waterloo picket

Flags waving on Waterloo picket

Three pickets with placard, around a brazier, at Deptford

Cyclist waving to pickets at Deptford

Pickets at Deptford applaud as emergency cover ambulance leave the station

Pickets at Deptford Show placards to passing traffic

Pickets at Deptford with 'honk your support' placard

Pickets at Deptford

Sara Gorton with pickets at Deptford

Sara Gorton talking to media at Deptford

Pickets at Greenwich stand clear as emergency cover ambulance leaves

Sara Gorton with UNISON flag, with pickets at Greenwich

Pickets at Greenwich greet two small dogs

Pickets at Greenwich with a brazier

Sara Gorton listening to a picket at Greenwich

Christina McAnea tours pickets in Yorkshire and the North East

Through sun and rain, on the picket lines in Bristol

#PutNHSpayright – our rolling covering from the day itself

The article The streets of London – pictures from the picket lines first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Through sun and rain – on the picket lines in Bristol

After an extraordinary day across England, with ambulance workers in five regions taking action on pay and highlighting the crisis in the NHS, it’s time to look back on the day’s events.

Here is a selection of photographs from two pickets in Bristol, at Lansdown Road and Croydon Street, taken by Nigel Goldsmith.

Email ambulance striker with UNISON placard saying 'Put pay right'

Two women on a picket line with a dog, and UNISON banners in the background.

Picket with UNISON flag waving to an ambulance passing by

Pickets with an ambulance

Two pickets, wrapped up against the rain, with UNISON flags, smiling

Two female pickets with umbrellas, smiling

Pickets in the rain, by a road

Two pickets, with placard and flag, waving at a passing car, which is blurred by its speed

Two male pickets with placard and flag

Pickets with two ambulances behind them, in the rain

The article Through sun and rain – on the picket lines in Bristol first appeared on the UNISON National site.

#PutNHSpayright – all the news with our rolling report

08:20am In response to government plans to introduce minimum cover regulations for strikes, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea told the BBC that during the strike in December, staff didn’t hesitate to leave picket lines when someone’s life was in danger”.

But she continued: “After a decade of refusing to bring in minimum staffing levels, it’s ironic that the government is only prepared to do so during a strike.

“Every other day of the year, ambulance crews are stuck queuing for hours outside A&E departments and hospital staff are rushed off their feet. But the government isn’t interested in minimum staffing levels then.”

07:45am Good morning all. This is the start of another historic day, as UNISON members working in the ambulance service across England take a second day of industrial action.

We will be bringing you reports from around the regions, so stay tuned.

The article #PutNHSpayright – all the news with our rolling report first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Ambulance workers will walk out on Wednesday – and I’ll be out on the picket with them

Our next strike days in the NHS will go ahead on Wednesday 11^thJanuary and Monday 23^rd January, despite last minute talks between UNISON, other health unions and the secretary of state for health and social care.

Our head of health, Sara Gorton, was at the meeting and was interviewed by the press immediately afterwards. Sara explained how the government has moved from the position they’ve held for months, but there was a lack of clarity or concrete proposals and so our strike on Wednesday is still on.

Of course, our industrial action could have been avoided entirely if the government had opened up pay negotiations with us, and other health unions, months ago. But their continued refusal had led us to our first round of industrial action in December.

Despite almost daily news coverage of the problems in the NHS and the harm this is causing to patients, the Prime Minister and his government are failing to get to grips with this crisis and the cost of living crisis. They’re also failing to respond to the needs of hardworking NHS staff, by coming up with no solution to this dispute. And that’s being generous of me.

But with your action, perhaps they’re starting to get it. We are clear, that until they deliver a pay boost for NHS workers for 2022/23, this dispute will not be resolved.

Ambulance workers in five regions will walk out on Wednesday and I’ll be out on the picket lines to show striking health workers that UNISON is 100% behind them. And here’s how you can show your support too. Our guide gives you five quick ways you can show your solidarity to striking ambulance workers.

Finally, it’s important to remember that it’s our union’s commitment to fighting for decent public services across the UK, and for better working lives for the people who deliver them, that drives our work and collective action. Without a well-paid, valued and supported workforce, the NHS cannot deliver the quality of care that patients need. Our members’ livelihoods, and the future of our NHS, are always worth fighting for.

The article Blog: Ambulance workers will walk out on Wednesday – and I’ll be out on the picket with them first appeared on the UNISON National site.

General secretary thanks strikers

“I want to thank you so much for taking that tough decision.” That was at the heart of a video message from UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea today, to “all of our members and activists” who took part in Wednesday’s strike action in the NHS.

Noting that the union had seen “huge public support”, Ms McAnea said that this had been “so good to see”.

And she said that it was important that members should remember that in the new year, during further industrial action.

“I hope they come to their senses and talk to us,” she said of the government. But if they don’t, UNISON is a strong union “and we are all together in this”.

And the general secretary concluded by wishing members well and hoping that they would all be able to have time off this Christmas to spend with their families.

Watch the video

Our rolling report from Wednesday’s action

Christina McAnea: A message to ambulance strikers on a difficult day

London calling – a look back at the strike in the capital

In my Liverpool home – on the picket lines in Merseyside

The article General secretary thanks strikers first appeared on the UNISON National site.