Turning to food banks. Taking up second jobs. Applying for jobs abroad.
These are just some of the lengths that nurses, paramedics and thousands of public sector workers say they’re being driven to as they walk out of their jobs this week in the latest chapter of 2022’s winter of discontent. December will be the worst month for strikes in more than a decade, according to the Office for National Statistics, with more than a million working days expected to be lost this month alone.
Today’s nurses strike — the first in the Royal College of Nursing’s 106-year history — is just the tip of the iceberg. More than 100,000 postal workers are currently approaching the end of 48 hours of strikes and Saturday will be the fourth day of train strikes this week alone as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. There’s no sign of the row thawing in the new year, either: driving examiners, physiotherapists and even firefighters are among the latest industries to announce potential new walkouts in the coming months.
The results could be terrifying, from soldiers being drafted in to drive ambulances to urgent cancer surgery being cancelled, but unions insist the reality without striking would be even more so. Leader of Britain’s nursing union Pat Cullen says nurses are striking “to bring [the NHS] back from the brink and from falling totally over the precipice” and leader of the Fire Brigades Union Matt Wrack insists his proposed strike is a “last resort” to protect public safety. “Our members simply can’t go on like this,” he says of the real-terms pay cuts and staffing shortages his members are facing.
So how do the strikers feel about it all — and are they prepared to quit if they don’t get the action they’re calling for? Here, a paramedic, a postwoman, a nurse and a firefighter tell their stories.
‘The goodwill that drives paramedics is rapidly running out’
Aaron Chisholm, 32, paramedic working in Hackney
Reason for the strike: Pay and staffing levels (unions have rejected the Government’s four per cent pay offer)
When the strikes are taking place: December 21 and 28
Who’s involved: About 25,000 ambulance workers across the country, including paramedics, 999 call handlers and emergency care assistants
What the union says: “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?” says Rachel Harrison, the national secretary of the GMB union, which represents a third of the 50,000 999 call handlers, ambulance technicians, paramedics and more.
In Aaron’s words: I’ve been a paramedic for 12 years and I’m originally from New Zealand, but I came to London four years ago for a bit of a change. I used to really enjoy going to work but in the last couple of years it’s become a drain on me both mentally and physically and I feel I’ve been left with no choice but to join the strikes.
Money is a big part of it. We keep getting applauded by the government and told we do an amazing job, but the repayment we get for that is less and less money in real terms every year. After everything we went through during the pandemic, we thought we might finally get some real appreciation rather than simply the type that comes from clapping on balconies. But once again, we’ve been left disappointed and I think it's just reached a tipping point now. My partner and I already live in a tiny little flat, it’s literally a converted garage. I live eight miles from work because I can’t afford to live closer to work, we’ve had to cut back on energy usage, Netflix and groceries. It’s getting even harder with the cold and Christmas coming into the mix and I’ve reached the point where I’m having to consider going back to New Zealand. I actually had an interview for a job back there last week.
The other reason we’re striking is about recognising that the current system is not working. And I believe a lot of that is to do with money, too. Quite simply, this job is not attractive to people anymore. People are studying for years to get their degrees. It’s long hours. It’s draining both mentally and physically. A normal shift is 12 hours and that’s without a single break. Lunch consists of shovelling a sandwich into your mouth between jobs. We often having to work overtime on top of that, mostly due to hospital delays. Just last week, I sat at the hospital for eight and a half hours with a patient I was waiting to hand over to another team. If your shift is technically over and you’re stuck waiting for three, four, five, six hours with a patient that’s just too bad. So you’re stuck there ringing your partner saying I won’t be home for dinner. You’re ringing your friend asking them to pick up your kids up from school. I don’t make plans after work anymore because by the time I get home, I basically need to cook dinner and go to bed to get enough sleep for the next day. Twelve hours is long and draining enough, let alone when you’re running overtime with huge delays and have to do it all over again the next day.
All of this is making people leave, so that’s making the rest of us work harder and for longer hours. And that’s affecting patients. Just today, I had to transfer a man who was having a heart attack from one hospital to another. He told us that he got sick of waiting for an ambulance and got a taxi to the hospital. On other days we’re turning up to patients who called the ambulance hours ago and by the time we turn up, they’re dead. It’s heartbreaking and embarrassing for us as staff and it’s insulting to the families and the patients. They’re paying their taxes to get a service and they’re just not getting it.
Family members are screaming at us while we’re doing CPR on their loved one, saying ‘you took too long’ – it’s heartbreaking
Most of our patients are understanding, they realise it’s not our fault at an individual level — but they also need someone to blame and we’re the ones standing there in front of them so we take the brunt of it. The number of times we’ve turned up and family members are there tapping their watch at us or screaming at us while we’re doing CPR on their loved one, saying ‘you took too long’. It’s heartbreaking and it’s really starting to affect us all mentally: that feeling that we’re no longer able to provide the service that we’re there to do.
The other part of that is embarrassment. We paramedics are medically trained to deliver short-term, urgent and emergency care. We’re not trained or equipped for long-term care. So when we’re stuck for eight and a half hours with a patient, we run out of medication, we run out of pain relief. We’re unable to provide that long-term care like blood tests and ultrasounds and x-rays and things that would normally happen quite quickly because we don’t have that capability. We’re not trained in it. It’s like a vet being thrown into a hospital for people. And again, it’s embarrassing, sitting there with someone who’s got a broken leg and saying: ‘I’m really sorry, I know you’re sore, but I physically don’t have any more pain relief to give you because I’ve given it all to you already’.
That’s just the forced overtime. The staff shortage also means they’re begging for staff to do voluntary overtime, too. A lot of my colleagues work 70-hour weeks to bring in more money but there’s only so long you can do 60 or 70-hour weeks, so I’ve stopped doing overtime now. I realised that it was putting too much strain on my relationship, plus I’m also trying to study for a full-time master’s degree in critical care on the side.
We need to strike so that the money increases to make this job attractive again, so that we can actually provide the service that we’re supposed to be providing. Our initial one per cent pay offer was a slap in the face really. Since some pushback from the union that offer is currently sitting at around four and a half per cent but it's still just not good enough. It's still a pay cut. We’d be stupid as paramedics if we did this job for the money — there are much better paid jobs out there with much less death and dying. We do the job because we love it, but we still have to be fairly compensated. We need to earn money to live and at the moment it feels like that’s not being provided.
I’m hopeful for the strikes. I hope we’ll come away with some level of a better pay deal, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough to start enjoying the job again. Going back to New Zealand would actually mean a pay cut for me but it’s not about the money at this point: it’s about enjoyment of the job and being able to do what I’m trained to do — and I feel like I just can’t do that here unless something dramatic changes. At the moment it feels like the NHS is fuelled on goodwill. But when you don't get any back, that goodwill sort of runs out after a while.
‘Posties do so much more than deliver letters’
Hannah Carroll, 29, postwoman with the Royal Mail in Whitechapel
Reason for the strike: Pay, jobs and working conditions. The Communications Workers Union (CWU) has rejected Royal Mail’s offer of a nine per cent pay rise over 18 months, saying it wants that offer back-dated along with other job security commitments.
When the strikes are taking place: December 14, 15, 23 and 24 (on top of four other dates earlier this month).
Who’s involved: 115,000 members of the CWU.
What the union says: “Posties are in the fight of their lives against the uberisation of Royal Mail and the destruction of their conditions,” says Dave Ward, general secretary of the CWU.
In Hannah’s words: I’ve been a postwoman for six years and over that time it’s changed dramatically. There used to be flexibility, it was very easy for colleagues who had children to do the school run. But over the years our workload has got heavier and we’re not getting paid for it. We work five days a week, either 6.30am until 2.30pm or midday until 7pm, but the workload in between that is huge. And we’re not being paid for that overtime.
They’re asking us to fit so much more into the working day, and it’s just exhausting people. Colleagues — some of whom have been with Royal Mail for more than 50 years, and particularly women — are resigning left, right and centre because the pressure is too much. They’re drained, both mentally and physically.
Hands down, the nurses and NHS staff who are striking deserve absolutely everything they’re asking for. They literally keep the country alive. But the problem is that some people just assume our job as postmen and women is pushing a piece of paper through a door. That’s just not the reality at all. For me, the most important part of the job is the social aspect. We keep the country connected, we keep in touch with people who might be lonely, from the elderly to the cleaners and caretakers in residential buildings. Some of us even did shopping for the elderly during the pandemic. We’re there for people — those daily five-minute conversations can change people’s day.
I know it sounds like a cliche to go on about how we worked through the pandemic but it’s true: we were essential workers and we put ourselves and our families at risk by going out to work each day. It was hard, mentally, having to keep a safe distance from everyone while still trying to do the job. It became quite lonely. Many of the elderly had no one to talk to during that time and we weren’t able to stand at their doors chatting even if we wanted to because we had so much work to do.
It feels like they’re trying to turn Royal Mail into Amazon or Evri
We were a major part of the community back then, so to tell us we’re not worthy of a pay deal feels like a kick in the teeth. Our main issue isn’t pay, though, it’s protecting our terms and conditions. Royal Mail wants to reduce our sick pay so new starters won’t have any sick pay for at least five years, they want to bring in compulsory redundancies, they want to employ people on 20 per cent less than what we’re already on, they want to take away night allowances and inner London waitings. They want to strip all of that back completely.
The service we’re delivering for the public is changing dramatically, too. It feels like Royal Mail management want to destroy the business that’s been there for 500 years and turn us into an everyday gig economy courier like Amazon or Evri. They don’t want us to deliver letters because apparently letters aren’t a priority anymore — but then who will deliver the letters?
We’re used to delivering hundreds and hundreds of Christmas cards every year, but this year they’re just piling up. Yesterday I was on a delivery shift and I didn’t have time to deliver the letters because I was told they’re not a priority. It’s horrible and you feel like you’re disappointing your customers because that letter could be anything from a Christmas card to a hospital letter.
I want the public to know that we don’t want to be on strike, especially at Christmas. We hoped that a deal might have been reached by now but the CEO of Royal Mail just doesn’t seem to be interested at all and we have to fight back. I personally won’t be resigning because I enjoy the social aspect of the job too much. I’m willing to fight until the end, but with the way this is all going, we won’t have time for those five or 10- minute chats anyway soon. What will happen then?
‘Firefighters are turning to food banks — second jobs have become an essential’
Tommy Lewis, 47, firefighter with the London Fire Brigade in Bexley
Reason for the strike: Pay. The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has rejected a five per cent pay offer, calling for a “substantial pay increase” that reflects the cost-of-living crisis.
When the strikes are taking place: Next year, if they go ahead — the current strike ballot closes on January 30.
Who’s striking: Members of the FBU.
What the union says: “Nobody wants to be in this position. After years of derisory pay increases and a pay offer that is well below inflation, firefighters’ and control staff’s living standards are in peril,” says Matt Wrack, general secretary of the FBU.
In Tommy’s words: I’ve been a firefighter for the last 20 years but I’ll be left with no choice but to leave my job if the current dispute over pay doesn’t get resolved, which is heartbreaking. Yes, there are downsides and we have to deal with things that aren’t very pleasant, but it’s a job I’ve always wanted to do and it’s incredibly rewarding. Particularly the rescues like car crashes and big fire incidents, when you come home and think, “I’ve made a massive difference today”.
There’s a lot more skill involved in firefighting than people realise: it’s not just jumping off the engine and standing there with a hose. There are difficult decisions involved: if you’re cutting open a car to rescue someone and you cut it in the wrong place or at the wrong time, you could kill someone. That’s where experience comes in and what I’m worried about is losing our best and most experienced firefighters if something doesn’t change. The only people who will be able to afford to do these jobs will be youngsters who can still live at home. And they’ll all have to leave after five years or whenever they want a family of their own.
Record numbers of firefighters are leaving the job, including many of my mates, and that’s not only a massive loss to the fire brigade, but to the general public. During the busiest day we’ve had in London since WWII, back in July, we had 39 fire engines out of action due to staff shortages. That was extreme, but we’re regularly looking at 20 fire engines a day off the run, and this is going to become an increasingly regular thing if we don’t sort pay out — and there are going to be no winners. For everyone, this is a do-or-die situation.
Pay is the main catalyst for the strike ballot. It’s far from a new issue: we didn’t just get up this month and say: “Oh look, there’s inflation happening, we need a pay rise.” Our pay had already been cut by 12 per cent between 2009 and 2021, so the government had already been ignoring us for 12 years. Thanks to inflation, we’ve now had a 23 per cent cut in real terms pay since 2009 — so we’re down by nearly a quarter of what we used to earn. It’s reached the point where most of us are struggling to put the heating on or put food on the table. Some of my colleagues are having to use food banks.
We regularly have 20 fire engines out of action across London due to staff shortages
I’m not at the point of using food banks yet, but my wife, three children and I have been left with no disposable income at all. There’s no room for niceties, no room for hobbies, no social lives, no buying new clothes. Life has become about going to work each day, and even that is becoming unviable. My family have lived in central London since the 1700s but we’ve already had to leave Greenwich for Bexley because we can’t afford to live in central London. What next?
We firefighters get a lot of stick for having second jobs. I didn’t have one for my first decade in the job but I had to get one after austerity kicked in nine years ago. It was that or lose our home and, at the end of the day, my obligation is to my family. Today, most firefighters I know have had to take on a second job. I tend to do gardening or anything I can get hold of and hours-wise, that means I do one 48-hour firefighting “tour” of two days and two nights every eight days (roughly 42 hours a week), then a few days of part-time work alongside that. I’m a father of three and my wife is a full-time teaching assistant so I have to fit in childcare alongside that. But I know of firefighters who work a 90-hour week. Obviously, we’re all exhausted. But it’s that or we can’t pay our bills.
Our backs are literally against the wall at this point and it’s not just us, it’s across the whole public sector. Which is heartbreaking after how hard we all worked during the pandemic. I was spending my days cutting open wrecked cars to untangle people as they coughed and spluttered all over me, and my wife was teaching, so we couldn’t go near our kids during the first lockdown because we wanted to protect them. It feels like the people who really carried this country through one of the worst times in living memory are the ones being completely ignored. We’re decent people — why else would we go into these jobs?
The government seems to be trying to legislate its way of this issue instead of sorting out the pay, but I don’t know what they think is going to happen if we all leave. If this mass exodus continues, it’s going to have a massive effect on everybody.
‘I believe strike action is advocating for patients’
Malcolm Bennison, 37, specialist diabetes nurse in central London
Reason for the strike: Pay and working conditions. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is asking for a 19 per cent pay rise.
When the strikes are taking place: December 15 and 20, for the first time in the RCN’s 106-year history.
Who’s striking: up to 100,000 members of the RCN.
What the union says: “Nurses will no longer tolerate a financial knife-edge at home and a raw deal at work,” says Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN.
In Malcolm’s words: When I joined the nursing profession eight years ago, the idea that I’d suffer a real-terms pay cut for nearly a decade didn’t even occur to me. But, somehow, here we are and we’re striking for the first time in nursing history. It’s heartbreaking, but the reason is simple: the care we're able to offer now isn't good enough. And that’s because there aren't enough nurses.
The NHS is losing nurses for lots of reasons, but one of the clearest reasons is pay. None of us came into this profession to get rich or drive sports cars or holiday on superyachts. But we did expect to be able to provide for ourselves, our families and our patients. And at the moment we’re not able to. I’ve got a five-month-old son and my girlfriend and I are living in fear of what the gas bills are going to look like to keep him comfortable. It affects everything I do: should I take the bus rather than the train? What can I afford to eat today? What’s the cheapest meal? Let’s skip that social event.
I’m one of the lucky ones. I chose to take a pay cut to become a specialist diabetes nurse because I wanted to get into this line of work. But lots of nurses can’t afford to do that. Lots of them are stuck doing hideous sets of shifts, often night shifts, or are juggling multiple nursing roles just to try to pay their bills.
Or they’re leaving altogether. I don’t know a single nurse who hasn’t considered leaving the profession in the last year — and that goes for my bosses who have 20 or 30 years of experience and openly talk about the fact that they regret becoming nurses and that they definitely wouldn’t advise their children to become nurses. And it goes for some of my colleagues who’ve only been nurses for a handful of years and are already looking at what else they can do.
Our inpatient team used to be four to six nurses — for several months this year, that dropped to one or two
Not only does poor pay mean we have fewer nurses, but we have fewer nurses with high levels of experience. Experienced senior nurses just aren’t hanging around anymore. They’re choosing to prioritise childcare. They’re starting their own businesses. They’re even working cafes because they find it more rewarding.
The fact is we have so few staff that things are no longer safe. Our inpatient diabetes nursing team in the hospital used to be four to six nurses. But for several months this year, that number dropped to a skeleton crew of one or two, which meant that unless you were having a profound diabetes emergency, chances are you would never see a diabetes nurse during your admission. It feels like we’ve gone backwards, from being a proactive service who went and saw patients on the ward and talked to them about their diabetes diagnosis to an era 20 years ago, where diabetes was far less common. I visit patients on the wards and in A&E so I see many areas of nursing as part of my job and there’s no doubt about it: patient care is quickly deteriorating across the board.
My colleagues and I are furious, frankly, that we’ve been put in this position where we’re actually going on strike. We hate that we’ve had to become the bad guys. A Tory minister [Nadhim Zahawi] recently said our strikes were playing into the hands of Putin. But we’ve spent 10 years being told that now is not the time to talk about pay. And all it’s got us is 10 years further down the line with poor pay, poor staffing and poor working conditions. We have been disrespected, ignored and taken for granted for too long.
Part of our code of conduct as nurses is that we are supposed to advocate for our patients. And I believe that strike action effectively is advocating for our patients beyond the bedside. Striking is against everything we’re taught, which is that we should go into work every day and give our heart and soul to our role. But we know that actually at the moment that’s not good enough, and that won’t change until we get more nurses. And that starts by dealing with pay.
