December has been a month of strikes and it shows no sign of slowing down.
Walkouts across the country this month include nurses, rail staff and ambulance workers, who are all downing tools in disputes about pay and conditions.
Here’s everything you need to know.
A newly qualified nurse starts in Band 5 and will earn £27,055 a year in England, or slightly more in London. Most nurses operate in Bands 5 and 6, while Band 7 and above are management positions.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has estimated that an average NHS nurse’s pay is around £34,000.
The RCN has said nurses have endured a real-terms pay cut of 20 per cent since 2010. There are also record nursing vacancies, with 25,000 nursing staff leaving the register in the past year.
Nurses are calling for a rise in pay of 5 per cent above RPI inflation – although it has indicated it would accept a lower offer – as well as better working conditions amid the huge shortfall in staffing.
This equates to a pay rise of about 19 per cent, which the Government has said is unaffordable. The strikes went ahead after talks broke down on Monday, when Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, refused to discuss pay. The Government said it would continue to engage on non-pay related issues.
RCN general secretary, Pat Cullen, has previously accused Mr Barclay of “belligerence” after he refused to discuss the issue of pay. Speaking on the picket line at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, she said the strikes can be brought to an end if the Government moves on pay.
The Government said most ambulance staff have received a pay increase of at least 4 per cent, meaning their average basic pay is £34,300.
Mail Online reports unions as saying, however, that the basic salary for a call handler is around £23,000 and Prospect.co.uk says the starting wage for a paramedic is £25,655.
GMB national secretary, Rachel Harrison, said when the strike was confirmed: “After 12 years of Conservative cuts to the service and their pay packets, NHS staff have had enough. The last thing they want to do is take strike action but the Government has left them with no choice.
“Steve Barclay needs to listen and engage with us about pay. If he can’t talk to us about this most basic workforce issue, what on Earth is he Health Secretary for? The Government could stop this strike in a heartbeat – but they need to wake up and start negotiating on pay.”
The second nurses strike occurred on Tuesday 20 December, from 8am to 8pm.
Nurses are calling for a rise in pay of 5 per cent above RPI inflation – which works out to about 19 per cent at the current rate – although it has indicated it would accept a lower offer – as well as better working conditions amid the huge shortfall in staffing.
Ambulance staff across most of England and Wales walked out on Wednesday 21 December in a dispute over pay.
The public are being advised to only call 999 in an actual emergency, and use the NHS 111 service for other ailments.
The RMT rail workers’ union has announced further strikes from 6pm on Saturday 24 December until 6am on Tuesday 27 December. There will also be a local strike on East Midlands Railway organised by Unite on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 December.
CWU members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters to take national strike action over pay and conditions. The strikes involve roughly 115,000 workers. They are set to walk out on Friday 23 December and Saturday 24 December. The most significant effect is that Royal Mail will not be delivering any letters or parcels on these days, except those sent by special delivery.
These strikes are set to affect driving test centres in different parts of the country at different times as they progress. Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union in Liverpool and Doncaster who are employed by the Department of Work and Pensions are taking action from Monday 19 December until Saturday 24 December.
Border Force strikes will take place at airports, as well as the Port of Newhaven on the Sussex coast, between Friday 23 and Monday 26 December. Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham Glasgow and Cardiff airports are affected. The PCS said it had balloted for strike action after the Government refused to increase a 2 per cent pay rise offer.
Bus drivers working for Abellio in south and west London who are in the Unite union will strike on Saturday 24 December in a dispute over pay.
National Highways traffic officers in the PCS union in London and South East England will strike from Thursday 22 to Sunday 25 December. Control centre staff and traffic officers who work in the aftermath of accidents will walk out.
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