The head of the Royal College of Nursing union has called for a double-digit pay rise for nurses in England, raising the stakes in the long-running dispute with the government.
Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the RCN, had previously told members to accept the government’s offer of 5% in March but it was rejected in a vote by 54% to 46%.
The union leader, who has been a nurse for 40 years, praised her members for their “selflessness” for refusing the 5% offer and losing pay on strike days to “stand up for the NHS”, which she believes is “sailing dangerously closely to the wind”.
Members of the NHS staff council, other than the RCN and Unite, voted to accept the government’s offer for 2023-24, which included a one-off payment worth between £1,655 and £3,789.
The RCN is preparing a ballot on whether to strike again on the eve of its annual congress in Brighton.
The deadline to be part of the union’s next ballot is midnight on Sunday and the RCN said the ballot will open for eligible members in England on 23 May.
Cullen has called on Stephen Barclay, the health secretary, to reopen negotiations and said the talks need to “start off in double figures”.
She told the Sunday Times: “Nurses believe it’s their duty and their responsibility because this government is not listening to them on how to bring it back from the brink and the message to the prime minister is that they are absolutely not going to blink first in these negotiations.”
Cullen added: “Looking back on this pay offer, I may personally have underestimated the members and their sheer determination.
“And I think what I would be saying to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is: ‘Don’t – don’t make that same mistake, don’t underestimate them.’”
The RCN had originally called for a 19% pay rise. It is understood that the negotiations covered two financial years and resulted in an offer of a consolidated increase of 9%.
Cullen called for fresh negotiations to “finish the job off” and prevent another six months of strikes leading up to Christmas.
“They [ministers] owe that to nursing staff not to push them to have to do another six months of industrial action right up to Christmas.
“It’s just not right for the profession. It’s not right for patients. But whose responsibility is it to resolve it? It is this government.”
Thousands of nurses walked out on the evening of 30 April in what was described by the RCN as the “biggest strike yet” because it included nursing staff from emergency departments, intensive care and cancer care for the first time.
The 28-hour action came after a high court judge ruled it would be unlawful for the industrial action to continue into 2 May as originally planned.
• This article was amended on 14 May 2023 because an earlier version said members of Unite and other unions voted to accept the government’s offer for 2023-24. In fact members of the NHS staff council, other than the RCN and Unite, voted to accept that offer.
