Strikes: is Sunak nearing the end of his unions problem?

Strikes that were set to cause more disruption across the UK’s rail network on two days next week have been called off after the Rail Delivery Group made the RMT union a new pay offer.

Calling off the strikes at train operating companies is “the latest sign” that union bosses, who represent more than 80,000 rail workers, are “willing to work towards ending a series of disputes on the railways that began last summer”, said the Financial Times. The news came days after the newspaper reported that a new offer for NHS workers had paved the way to end their industrial action.

Rishi Sunak said he was “very pleased” that the government and unions representing NHS staff had reached a “fair deal” that would “put disruptive strike action behind us”. But junior doctors announced a further round of walkouts this morning, with four days of industrial action planned for April – and whether union members that have reached proposed deals will vote for them is another obstacle the government will need to clear.

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What did the newspapers say?

“We’ve passed the spring solstice”, but has the “winter of discontent” reached its end, asked Sascha O’Sullivan in City A.M. “Crucially”, the pay offer from train operators has been made only to signal staff and maintenance workers. Other employees “are still picking grievances over pay with the government”.

“After months of wrangling”, the government has offered medical union bosses “a £4 billion deal” in an effort “to end the strikes that have crippled hospitals” in recent months, said the Daily Mail. Under the proposed terms, NHS workers would receive a payment of 2% of their 2022-23 wages, an additional bonus of at least £1,250, and a pay increase of 5% for 2023-24, with bigger increases for lower paid staff.

“Most unions” told their members to “go for it”, said the Mail. Strikes have been suspended while a vote is held. But “many see the agreement as a failure”, added the Mail. Some are “outraged”, and a cross-union group is “organising a revolt” over what they see as a “paltry” deal.

Writing in the Independent, Andrew Grice said: “The NHS pay deal is hardly a triumph for Sunak.” The proposal is “welcome” but “should have happened in early January”.

Thousands of operations and appointments were cancelled during the strikes “and waiting lists are even longer because of his foot-dragging”, said Grice. Sunak’s government should not have “lazily” assumed the public would oppose striking workers.

But after “three months of debilitating strikes” across the public sector, the NHS deal “should provide a platform” for teachers to resolve their disputes, said Grice. And the RMT pay offer shows that “strikes work”, O’Sullivan continued. “It is a sign the tide is turning.”

What next?

Downing Street is “keen to see all the disputes resolved in the coming weeks”, said The Guardian, and Sunak is prepared to make “fresh concessions to end months of debilitating” strikes.

While rail and healthcare union bosses put pay deals to their members, other workers remain in dispute with ministers over pay and conditions. Tens of thousands of university staff took part in three days of industrial action this week, and civil servants joined strikes last week.

There are some signs that further agreements could soon be reached. In a joint statement issued last week, teaching unions promised a “a period of calm for two weeks” as representatives enter into “intensive talks” with the government over pay, conditions and workloads.

But the deals need to gain the support of union members in order to be accepted. Some believe the healthcare workers’ vote “will be close”, said the Mail. And if the deal is rejected, doctors, nurses and other medical staff could resume industrial action.

The British Medical Association (BMA) and Health Secretary Steve Barclay met this week to “try and thrash out a deal” that would prevent further strikes from junior doctors, said the Mail. Those negotiations “reached an almost immediate impasse”, said The Telegraph. The newspaper reported that junior doctors “refused to budge on demands for a 35 per cent pay rise”. This morning, the BMA announced a 96-hour walkout from 11 to 15 April.

“There is still a very real possibility of a return to days of strikes on end,” said O’Sullivan in City A.M. “Pay discussions have offered much needed signs of a reprieve”, but things could “easily kick off again”.