Category: nhs strikes

Blog: Why won’t the chancellor resolve the NHS strike?

UNISON’s industrial action in the NHS intensifies this week. Today is our third day of strikes this winter in England, and NHS staff in Northern Ireland will be out on Thursday.

Ambulance and hospital staff are walking out again over the government’s failure to deliver fair pay. Today’s morning news bulletins are already featuring our picket lines, and our head of health, Sara Gorton, was on breakfast news helping to get our #PutNHSPayRight message out to the public.

We’re also in the middle of re-balloting ambulance branches that fell just short of the government’s draconian ballot thresholds in our ballot last year.

If you’re a member working at Bridgewater Community Healthcare Trust, East Midlands Ambulance Service, East of England Ambulance Service, Great Ormond Street, Liverpool Women’s Hospital, NHS Blood and Transplant, South Central Ambulance Service, South East Coast Ambulance Foundation Trust, Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, West Midlands Ambulance Service or Welsh Ambulance Services, make sure you look out for your postal ballot paper, vote ‘yes’, and return it as soon as possible.

Getting more ‘yes’ votes from our members in the ambulance service will build more pressure on the government to put a pay offer on the table to resolve the dispute.

But the man who seems to be blocking this is the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It’s within Jeremy Hunt’s power to find the money to deliver a fair pay increase.

He knows this is what’s needed to help fix the crisis in the NHS, because he made the case for this while he was health select committee chair. He also knows how to resolve a trade dispute in the NHS, because he negotiated a wage deal in 2015 when he was health secretary. We are left wondering, what’s holding him back?

Whatever the reason, until there are genuine negotiations, our dispute will continue. If you’re on strike today, it’s important to remember that your action is making a difference. You are continuing to highlight the unfair pay you’ve had to put up with and the deep problems in the NHS it’s causing, and piling pressure on government ministers.

Even if you’re not on strike, you can still show your support.

Please have a look at our guide to the five ways you can support ambulance and hospital workers.

The article Blog: Why won’t the chancellor resolve the NHS strike? first appeared on the UNISON National site.

From the frontline to the breadline – NHS strike rolling report

8:55am UNISON head of health Sara Gorton has been on BBC Breakfast to talk about how the strikes can be resolved.

8:55am We know who’s blocking a resolution to this strike.

8:15am Honk if you support the strikers!

Pickets at Deptford with 'honk your support' placard

Find out what you can do to support the strikers – including honking your support – here.

8:05am Christina McAnea is already on the case, highlighting early picket lines across the regions. You can follow the general secretary via Twitter at twitter.com/cmcanea.

8:00am Good morning all. This is the start of another historic day, as UNISON members working in the NHS across England take a third day of industrial action.

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

The article From the frontline to the breadline – NHS strike rolling report first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Christina McAnea tours pickets on second NHS strike day

Photos ©Steve Forrest/Workers’ Photos

Christina McAnea spent the second joint union NHS strike day, yesterday 11 January, touring picket lines in Yorkshire and the North East to show her support and solidarity for the striking ambulance workers.

She began the day in Sheffield at Longley ambulance station where, as they did across the county, paramedics walked out at 10am.

As the picket was set up, she spoke to the workers about why they were striking and, once the brazier was burning, addressed the strikers and the press who had gathered.

Speaking of the recent development where the secretary of state for health had acknowledged that, to deal with this crisis, the government would have to talk to the unions about pay for this year, rather than pay for the future, Christina said: “There’s been lots of speculation about what offer they might come back with, but nothing formal has been put forward yet, that’s why today’s strike has gone ahead.

“We have another strike planned for the 23 January, which gives the government about a week and a half to try and sit down with us and resolve this before we have to take another strike day.

“My door is always open and I’m happy to turn up at their door any time to talk to them about pay.”

She said that the move by the government to bring minimum service levels in during strikes was an “absolute distraction”, adding that it would mean then the NHS “would only have minimum staffing levels, when on strike.”

As though to illustrate the point, just before she began her speech, several members of the press were forced to move after two workers were called off the newly formed picket line and jumped in an ambulance to respond to an urgent call – as had been negotiated by the unions and employers in providing life and limb cover.

She continued, saying the move from the government shows it isn’t tackling the dispute, but is ”trying to take everybody’s eye off the ball and get us looking ‘over there’ instead of looking at what the crisis actually is”.

She finished by thanking the strikers, saying she knew “this is not what you want to be doing – you care about the patients and the public you look after, but you have our full backing from our union and my huge gratitude to you for the courage it has taken you to be here today”.

Two paramedics smile and hold 'official picket' placards outside Longley ambulance station, Sheffield

Unison General Secretary, Christina McAnea, visits picket lines at Ambulance stations across Yorkshire, in support of striking Ambulance and support crews. Photo shows the Longley Ambulance Station, Sheffield.

Photos ©Steve Forrest/Workers’ Photos
Rotherham

Christina then travelled to Rotherham and Wath ambulance station. There she met a long-serving patient transport service team with over 75 years experience between the three of them, Wendy, Michaela and John. They spoke, clearly emotional over the situation, about how their job has changed over those years.

Wendy said: “Years ago, we used to take patients home from discharge, we used tp make fires for them, make cups of tea or coffee, or get them bread and milk because they’ve got nothing in the house when they arrive back.”

Now the team can’t do that “because we’ve not got time, its job after job after job”.

John said: “We came into this job because we care about people. Now it feels like they’re taking that away from us. Sometimes we even take people home and have to lock them in the house. Which, to me, is not right.”

“We hate doing that,” Wendy added.

“They’re locked in, and they haven’t got the mobility to get to the door,” John continued. “God forbid if there’s a fire. We have to lock them in and put the key in the key safe so the carers can get in. But the carers might not be there for another three or four hours”.

On the degradation of relationships between colleagues, Wendy said, “A big thing is the camaraderie amongst us, there’s none of that because we’ve not got time for it, there’s no meeting up anymore”.

“The hospital used to provide us with a crew room, we could have a cup of tea and a bit of a chat,” said John. “Now we hardly see each other.”

Wendy finished by saying: “We used to love coming to work, but now it gets to Sunday night and I get anxiety, that’s where we’re at.”

Christina McAnea stand on Wath ambulance station picket line with striking ambulance workers while waving at a honking car passing by

A woman ambulane worker holds a flag over her should with a small brazier fire and blue sky in the background

Photos ©Steve Forrest/Workers’ Photos
York

Next stop was York ambulance station, a picket line where 999 call handlers were also striking. Call handlers had not walked out in the initial strike just before Christmas and across the region they were striking in batches to keep providing cover to protect patient safety.

Shortly after Christina arrived, they were called back in to provide cover, as another, larger call handling centre in Wakefield was readying to walk out.

Throughout the day there was strong support from the public, with one man coming up to the picket to thank the ambulance workers as the service had recently saved his wife’s life, as well as a number of other people who came to bring food and drinks to the strikers.

Christina stands on York ambulance station picket line behind a flaming brazier with strikers holding, including one holding a young child in their arms

Cathy Newman interviews Christina McAnea on camera in front of an ambulance at York ambulance station

Photos ©Steve Forrest/Workers’ Photos
Chester-le-street

A train to Durham and a quick car ride saw Christina arrive at Chester-le-street and, by virtue of its position on a busy roundabout, the loudest strike of the day with drivers continually serenading the strikers and signalling their support by honking their horns.

There the general secretary was joined by Wilma Brown, chair of UNISON’s health service group executive, who had travelled down from Scotland to offer support, along with members of UNISON’s NEC, Helen Firman and Pat Heron.

From L-R Wilma Brown, Christina McAnea, Pat Heron and Claire Williams

Ambulance strikers at Chester le street stand in front of a pink ad van which says "from the frontline to the breadline"

Gateshead

Christina finished her tour of the pickets in Gateshead ambulance station where the picket took place on the aptly named ‘Windy Nook Road’.

Speaking to a crowd of strikers she said: “It’s not the strikers putting the public at risk, its this government. We’ve been asking the government for six months to do something to resolve this and they’ve sat on their hands the whole time. It’s time the government did the grown-up thing and did something.”

She concluded by telling them: “You have the full support of our union and you absolutely have the public support. We are all hugely grateful to you and the work that you do.”

Christina McAnea with strikerson the ambulance picket line in Gateshead after dark in front of an ad van reading "from the frontline to the breadline"

The article Christina McAnea tours pickets on second NHS strike day 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.

I’m a paramedic – here’s why I’m striking

Ahead of the December strike action, a UNISON ambulance member wrote in The New Statesman, explaining why they were taking action. They wished to remain anonymous.

This week, I, along with thousands of fellow ambulance workers belonging to the UNISON union across England, have voted to take strike action. We know it’s a shock – but we’re doing it out of necessity: not just for ourselves, but for the future of the NHS.

I’ve been a paramedic for more than 27 years, and I’ve seen the health service in all kinds of states – but this is the worst I’ve ever known it to be. For the past 12 years, my colleagues and I have said to each other “surely, it can’t get any worse?” and yet here we are.

Diagnosing the issues paramedics face is easy – because they’re the same problems the rest of my NHS colleagues, across various disciplines, are dealing with: dwindling pay, service overloads and a chronic underinvestment in the health service.

Like everyone, paramedics are feeling the effects of the cost-of-living crisis. Though it’s cliché, we often get asked, “Why do you do what you do?” and the answer is just as well-versed: because we want to help people. But with our pay declining in real terms, with NHS bosses in England giving us a measly pay increase equivalent to 72p per hour, when the cost of living is more than 10 per cent, it is becoming increasingly difficult to cope.

Ultimately, I think I’ll be alright – I’m a senior paramedic, living with a partner who’s in work, and have four grown children – but it really gets to me, knowing that many of my colleagues with young children are actively struggling to put food on the table for their kids, let alone themselves. Much has been made about the “choice” between “heating or eating”. I’ve been made aware of numerous instances of colleagues having to choose between feeding themselves and paying their rent. Staff take on countless overtime (sometimes taking on as many as ten extra shifts a month), and food banks have opened up within hospitals, to keep heads above water.

This simply isn’t sustainable – not least in the context of many of us still recovering from the scars of the pandemic. Many of us paid the price: I was signed off of work for three months because of stress induced by working on the front line during the pandemic. I couldn’t sleep, eat or engage in anything properly. I just closed down within myself.

Two years later, and the general burnout among NHS staff and paramedics continues. Much of the backlogs highlighted in elective care are also reflective of the state of my field. When I first started in the service, we’d attend anywhere between seven and ten patients in a single shift. Now, a lack of staffing, beds and infrastructure means that ambulances often become an extension of A&E, with crews having to stay with patients for as long as ten hours. It means that we’re not always there to help others in dire need.

This isn’t the fault of the ambulance service, crews on the road or the hospitals – this way of operating just isn’t safe for anyone: both staff and patients. Doing what we do, in the conditions we do it in – for 12, sometimes even 16 hours per shift – is it any wonder that staff are leaving the NHS in record numbers? With the deteriorating state of our hospitals an open secret, it should come as no surprise that, despite there being 133,000 vacancies in the health service, the NHS is struggling to recruit. As an institution, the health service is bleeding out.

My colleagues and I haven’t taken the decision to strike lightly. We just want a fair wage for what we put in, and to contribute to a service that is healthy on all fronts. Unfortunately, the current government’s problematic and chronic underfunding of the NHS is only compounded by its refusal to listen to the concerns unions are raising about how unsustainable its current way of operating is.

Politicians were happy to and quick enough to engage with us when it was easy for them: smiling and clapping for us during the pandemic. But when push comes to shove, and difficult paths to improve the NHS need to be forged, it seems more smoke and mirrors than anything meaningful.

So, until they engage with us and the striking nurses, along with our other colleagues across the health service, we’ll keep on pushing for better – for our sake, for your sake, and for the sake of the NHS.

This article first appeared in The New Statesman on 2 December.

 

The article I’m a paramedic – here’s why I’m striking 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.

In my Liverpool home – on the picket lines in Merseyside

As members of UNISON working in the ambulance service took strike action across England on Wednesday, members in two hospitals in the North West region also walked out.

Members of the whole health team – from support workers to specialist nurses, theatre staff, porters and occupational therapists – at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital and the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital took to the picket lines.

They were not only protesting against low pay, but also to call for safe staffing levels and make clear who is to blame for the troubles facing the NHS.

On a chilly day but under blue skies, passing vehicles honked support. And Steve Forrest visited both sites to catch a flavour of the day.

Striking health workers outside The Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool

Striking health workers outside The Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, UK.

Striking health workers outside The Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, UK.

A UNISON flag waving against a blue sky outside The Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, UK

Striking health workers outside The Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Liverpool,

Striking health workers outside The Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, UK.

Striking health workers outside The Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Liverpool, UK

Striking health workers outside The Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Liverpool, UK.

Striking health workers outside The Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, UK.

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

Christina McAnea – a message to strikers on a difficult day

Our rolling report from Wednesday’s strike day

The article In my Liverpool home – on the picket lines in Merseyside first appeared on the UNISON National site.

London calling – a look back at yesterday’s strike in the capital

Yesterday’s moments strikes across England will be reverberating for weeks to come.

The extraordinary response from UNISON members – and support from the public – was clear, and you can look back at that on the rolling report we ran throughout the day.

But today, let’s have a further look at action across London, as photographer Marcus Rose followed UNISON’s general secretary Christina McAnea to three pickets.

It began at Waterloo, with vast media interest, before continuing to Deptford, where it wouldn’t be Christmas without a babe in arms (see above) and then ending after dark around the brazier in Edmonton.

It might have been the shortest day of the year, but in many ways it was the longest.

Christina McAnea addressing the massed ranks of media at the Waterloo picket

Christina addressing the media at Waterloo

Christina McAnea addressing the massed ranks of media at the Waterloo picket

Christina McAnea at the Waterloo picket

Christina with striking members at Waterloo

Christina McAnea with striking members at Waterloo and an ambulance

With striking members at Waterloo

Christina McAnea, smiling and have a cuppa =as she chats with members at Deptford

Time for quick cuppa, as Christina chats with members at Deptford

Christina McAnea chatting with a member at Deptford

Christina McAnea with the pickets at Deptford

Pickets at Deptford holding handwritten signs calling on passing drivers to honk their support

Honk for the NHS!

Picket link at Deptford, from above, with Christina McAnea

Pickets at Deptford with placard and flaming brazier

It’s not a picket without a brazier – especially not in December!

Christina McAnea and striking members around a brazier in Edmonton

From on brazier to another – this time in Edmonton

pickets with UNISON flags and a 'honk for the NHS' placard

Check out our rolling report from yesterday’s strike action

The article London calling – a look back at yesterday’s strike in the capital first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: A message to ambulance strikers on a difficult day

Today’s strikes across the NHS are not taken lightly, and not celebrated, but the government must take serious heed.

UNISON members at two Liverpool hospitals walked out at 7.30am and ambulance road crews across five trusts will start their strike action at 12 noon, as part of our dispute over pay and staffing.

Much planning has gone into contingency arrangements that have been agreed through negotiations with local employers and NHS staff. The same staff who have put so much hard work into patient care over many, many years.

Brave NHS staff who cared for the country in the pandemic are now taking this difficult industrial action to draw attention to the deep crisis in the NHS.

I, and all those involved in the action, expect it to be a difficult day. We are prepared for the government to play the blame game, rather than constructively negotiate with us. But we are not prepared to give up on our aims of improving pay, staffing, and ultimately, patient care.

I’ll be visiting picket lines across London today, to support our members, and my message to all the strikers today is this:

The current state of the NHS, and the resulting industrial action, is not your fault. Any blame from the government today, is a deflection away from taking responsibility for their own actions over the last 12 years.

Not only have they failed to provide the public with a safe, reliable, and first-class health service, they have managed its decline. Not only have they dug a very big hole by refusing to talk about pay, but they’ve also proven they’re incapable of any kind of decent and constructive industrial relations.

But right now, please remember that our action is lawful and right. Stay strong today, and for the rest of this dispute. We have no choice but to carry on, because the future of the NHS depends on all of us fighting for it.

I’ve been receiving messages of support from individuals, and organisations, who can see the damage the government is doing to the NHS and they’re behind us in taking this action today. I genuinely believe most of the public are behind us too.

The article Blog: A message to ambulance strikers on a difficult day first appeared on the UNISON National site.